Usage analytics

Usage analytics helps us understand whether people return to Backs and which Backons they find useful. This page explains that measurement and its controls.

Your website preference

The website measures visits to public pages, clicks to the Chrome Web Store and campaign sources. When enabled, Google Analytics uses browser identifiers and cookies. Page addresses and referral sources are restricted to public values; search terms and private link details are excluded.

Your choice applies to this website in this browser profile. Usage analytics is enabled by default unless you switch it off or your browser sends a supported privacy signal. An installed Backs extension can also pass its disabled preference to the website.

In the extension

Change the usage analytics toggle in Account and settings in Backs. The new measurement records a random identifier for each installation, the time and type of an action, focused dashboard time, browser and its major version when available, installation source, app version, and broad sign-in and Premium status. We do not collect the full user-agent string or minor and patch browser versions. When you sign in, a separate random account identifier lets us count your free or paid account once across profiles. Signed-out installations remain separate; we do not guess which guests are the same person.

Actions include saving a configuration, creating or switching Spaces, saving a note, creating or completing a task, and creating or opening a shortcut. Sharing and campaign events help us understand discovery. This update reaches users with the next extension release; older versions use the earlier measurement system.

These analytics do not include note or task text, shortcut destinations, browsing history, private Space contents, screenshots or session recordings. Feature data used to operate your account, sync and tools is separate from usage analytics.

Where the measurements go

Backs validates measurements on its Firebase backend. The new extension measurements are sent to PostHog in the EU for product charts and Google BigQuery in the EU for historical analysis. Google Analytics supports website and extension reporting. Analytics identifiers are pseudonymous: they distinguish installations without including your name or email.

Switching off and keeping history

Switching off stops new collection and clears pending measurements on that device. For a linked signed-in account, the server also blocks account-linked measurements from other profiles once it receives the preference. A request already in flight, or accepted by the server before an offline device communicates its preference, may finish delivery. Switching off does not erase measurements already received.

Billing and email records

Stripe remains the record of payments and subscriptions, and Resend remains the record of email sending and delivery. We also import provider records into our private PostHog workspace for billing and delivery analysis. These records can include billing details, email addresses, email subjects, contact details and subscription or delivery status. They are separate from the content-limited extension events described above.

Our delivery-status events contain a template, message identifier, outcome and time, without message text or action links. We do not use email opens or clicks as product engagement measures. Turning off optional product analytics does not stop account/security emails or required billing records. It also does not erase existing provider records.

We retain measurements for launch comparisons, feature trends and return analysis, and review whether keeping them remains necessary. There is currently no automatic age-based deletion of the Backs analytics archive; provider limits also apply. Contact us about access or deletion requests.

Questions about your data? Email Backs. Updated 16 September 2026.