Usage telemetry, remote analytics, advertising identifiers, ad profiles, and centrally stored browsing history.
Privacy, in plain English
PearBrowser doesn't track you.
No telemetry. No remote analytics. No ads. No tracking SDKs. No central account. PearBrowser never uploads your browsing history to an analytics, advertising, or profiling service.
The short answer
Never collected by PearBrowser
Off by default
On by default
Private search on launch
Your browser data is local-first and under your control.
Browsing history and local full-text page indexing. If enabled, they are stored on your device.
Content Shield, HTTPS-only navigation, tracking-link cleanup, third-party cookie blocking, and fingerprint farbling.
PearBrowser Home sends no search analytics and excludes submitted DuckDuckGo queries from its optional persistent visit log.
Verifiable by design
A promise backed by shipped defaults.
The privacy claim is not a vague policy statement. It is encoded in the browser's defaults and covered by automated tests.
Telemetry cannot be enabled
The backend forces telemetry to false even if a caller tries to turn it on. PearBrowser has no remote analytics collector.
History requires an opt-in
History and local search indexing start disabled. Turning history off also clears previously stored visits.
View the privacy defaults →Tracker blocking starts on
Content Shield blocks common advertising and tracking requests before they leave the browser and stores counters, not visited URLs.
View Content Shield →
The honest boundary
Private does not mean anonymous.
PearBrowser minimizes data collection by the browser itself and blocks common web tracking. It does not hide every network interaction.
Regular websites
A website may receive your IP address and the request data required to load its content. PearBrowser's protections reduce tracking; they do not make a website blind to your connection.
P2P peers
Direct peer-to-peer connections can expose network metadata to the peers exchanging data with you.
HiveRelay operators
A relay can receive the requests routed through it. Signed records are verified client-side, so a relay is a transport and replication point rather than a trust authority.
Tor transport
Some HiveRelay operators support optional Tor endpoints for relay-layer IP obscuring. PearBrowser Desktop does not yet detect and route browser traffic through those endpoints automatically, so do not treat current browsing as Tor-protected.
Privacy FAQ
Direct answers.
What data does PearBrowser collect?
PearBrowser does not collect usage telemetry, remote analytics, advertising identifiers, or a central browsing profile. History and local search indexing are off by default and stay local when enabled unless you explicitly choose device sync.
Does PearBrowser send telemetry?
No. PearBrowser has no telemetry collector, and its telemetry setting is hard-disabled.
Is PearBrowser anonymous?
No. PearBrowser is privacy-first but is not an anonymity network. Websites, relay operators, and P2P peers may receive network information required to serve content.
Does PearBrowser use Tor?
Some HiveRelay operators support optional Tor endpoints, but PearBrowser Desktop does not yet route browser traffic through Tor automatically.
Does PearBrowser block ads and trackers?
PearBrowser enables Content Shield by default to block common advertising and tracking requests. HTTPS-only navigation, tracking-parameter stripping, third-party cookie blocking, and fingerprint farbling are also enabled by default.
Does PearBrowser include private web search?
Yes. PearBrowser Home and blank new tabs use DuckDuckGo. PearBrowser sends no search analytics and excludes submitted queries from the optional persistent visit log. DuckDuckGo receives the query and network address to return results; its policy says it does not save or share search history. Private search is not anonymity.
Browse without becoming the product.
PearBrowser is free, open source, and available as an unsigned desktop preview for macOS, Windows, and Linux.