Privacy Policy

Hugo App Ltd  ·  Effective date: 26 February 2026

Hugo is built on a simple principle: your focus data is yours. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, and what we do not do with it.

Hugo App Ltd ("Hugo", "we", "us", "our") is the data controller for the purposes of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are a company incorporated in England and Wales (Company Number: 17036487), with our registered office at 10 Dryden Court, St Neots, PE19 1QY.

If you have any questions about this policy, contact us at nick@tryhugo.app.

1. What Hugo collects and where it lives

Data stored locally on your device

The vast majority of Hugo's data never leaves your Mac. The following is stored in your macOS Application Support directory or in system preferences on your device only:

• Session history — start time, duration, session type, apps and tabs used, goals, and project name
• Tab justification history — URLs, reasons given, and whether tabs were approved or denied
• Projects — names, allowed apps, allowed URLs, and descriptions
• Weekly review records
• Session blocklist (domains you have chosen to block in Research Mode)
• App preferences — dark/light mode, accent colour, last-used timer duration
• Licence status and trial end date
• A randomly generated device identifier (UUID) used for licence verification
• Your email address, if you have subscribed to Hugo Pro (used only to check your subscription status with Stripe)
• Your consent record for Hugo AI
• Hugo AI trial session count

This data is not transmitted to Hugo's servers and is not accessible by us. You can delete it at any time by removing the Hugo app and its Application Support folder from your Mac.

Data transmitted to Hugo's backend

Hugo's backend is hosted on Vercel and is stateless — it does not store anything permanently. The following is transmitted in specific circumstances:

• On every app launch: your device UUID and email address (if subscribed) are sent to verify your licence status with Stripe. No response data is retained by Hugo.
• When you subscribe: your device UUID, email address, and selected plan are sent to initiate a Stripe Checkout session.
• During Hugo AI sessions only: when you open a new browser tab, Hugo sends the session goal you typed, the new tab's URL and title, a brief page snippet (maximum 300 characters, Chrome only), your currently allowed tab titles, your project name and description if active, minutes elapsed in the session, and the number of tabs blocked so far. This is sent to Google Gemini to make a tab decision. It is not stored by Hugo after the decision is returned.

2. Third parties we work with

Stripe

We use Stripe to process payments. When you subscribe, your email address and device UUID are shared with Stripe as customer metadata. Your payment card details are entered directly on Stripe's hosted checkout page — Hugo never sees or stores them. Stripe processes payments under its own privacy policy and is PCI-DSS compliant.

Google Gemini

Hugo AI uses Google Gemini 2.5 Flash to make tab decisions during Hugo AI sessions. When this feature is active and you open a new tab, minimal session context is sent to Gemini per decision. You must give explicit consent before your first Hugo AI session. Google's API data usage policies apply to data sent to Gemini. Hugo does not retain any data after the decision is returned.

Vercel

Hugo's backend functions are hosted on Vercel. Vercel retains ephemeral platform logs for a short period (typically 1 to 7 days) as part of standard platform operation. These logs may contain IP addresses and request metadata.

3. The Hugo Bridge Chrome extension

The Hugo Bridge extension requires the following Chrome permissions to function: tabs, tabGroups, storage, alarms, and activeTab.

During an active Hugo session, the extension reads the URLs and titles of your open tabs to enforce your focus environment. In Hugo AI mode only, it extracts a brief page snippet (maximum 300 characters) from newly opened tabs to assist with AI tab decisions.

The extension does not read page content outside of Hugo AI mode, does not transmit your browsing history, and does not access cookies, form data, passwords, or any account data on websites you visit. It communicates with the Hugo app exclusively via a local connection on your own machine and is inactive when no Hugo session is running.

4. Safari integration

Hugo controls Safari tabs using macOS AppleScript automation, which requires you to grant Hugo Automation permissions in macOS System Settings. Hugo reads tab URLs and titles and can open, close, or move tabs during a session. Hugo does not read Safari browsing history or cookie data.

5. What Hugo does not collect

Hugo never collects your real name, physical address, phone number, demographic data, precise location, biometric data, health data, or the content of your work such as documents, emails, or messages.

6. Legal bases for processing (UK and EU users)

Where UK GDPR or EU GDPR applies, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Contract performance — processing your email address and device UUID to verify your licence and manage your subscription.
• Legitimate interests — fraud prevention via device UUID, and operating a stateless backend to deliver the service.
• Consent — processing session context data via Hugo AI. You may withdraw consent at any time by disabling Hugo AI in settings.

7. Your rights

Depending on where you are located, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete personal data we hold about you, to object to or restrict processing, and to data portability. Because Hugo stores almost all data locally on your device, you can exercise most of these rights directly by managing or deleting app data yourself.

For data held by Stripe, please contact Stripe directly or use the Stripe customer portal. For any other requests, contact us at nick@tryhugo.app.

If you are in the UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk. If you are in the EU, you may contact your local supervisory authority.

8. California residents (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, to request deletion of your personal information, and to opt out of the sale of your personal information. Hugo does not sell personal information. To exercise your rights, contact us at nick@tryhugo.app.

9. Data retention

Session data, projects, and all local app data are stored on your device for as long as you use the app. You can delete this data at any time by removing Hugo and its Application Support folder. Hugo has no server-side database and no account deletion flow is required on our side.

Stripe retains customer and payment records in accordance with its own retention policy. Vercel retains ephemeral function logs for a short period as part of standard platform operation.

10. Children

Hugo is not directed at children under the age of 13, or under the age of 16 in GDPR jurisdictions. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us at nick@tryhugo.app.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify users via the app or by email where we hold your address. The effective date at the top of this page will always reflect the most recent version.

12. Contact