Privacy Policy

Introduction

Hawzu is a test case management platform operated by Snoowl. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the information you share with us.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and how it is handled when you use Hawzu and related services.

Information we collect

Hawzu may collect the following categories of information:

• Account information such as name, email address, and workspace details
• Usage data including actions performed within the application for operational, audit, and security purposes
• Authentication data such as login events and security-related metadata
• Technical data such as IP address, browser type, and device information

How we use your information

Information is used only for legitimate and necessary purposes, including:

• Providing and operating the Hawzu platform
• Authenticating users and enforcing access control
• Maintaining audit logs and execution traceability
• Improving reliability, performance, and security
• Communicating important service-related information

Data storage and security

Hawzu stores data on managed cloud infrastructure and follows industry-standard security practices.

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest where appropriate. Access to systems and data is restricted and monitored.

Data sharing

Hawzu does not sell your data.

Data may be shared only with trusted service providers where necessary to operate the platform (such as infrastructure, monitoring, and analytics providers), and only under appropriate safeguards.

Hawzu Recorder browser extension

Hawzu Recorder is a Chrome extension that records a test you perform, so it can be saved to a Hawzu test case as readable steps and automation scripts. It acts only in the separate Chrome window it opens for a recording, and only after you press Start recording in that window. In your other tabs it does nothing.

The extension can also open that window so you can pick a single element again for Hawzu's Object Repository; it then records nothing, reads only the locators of the element you pick and the address of the page you pick it on, and hands them to your Hawzu tab, keeping them in your browser for at most an hour until that tab takes them.

While a recording is running, the extension reads, in that window only:

• clicks, key presses, and the text you type into fields
• options you select and boxes you check
• the names of files you choose to upload, never their contents
• the addresses of the pages you visit
• the text, labels and attributes of the elements you interact with, which it uses to build locators for the scripts

When you type into a field the extension recognises as a password, a one-time code or a card number, or a field you mark as Secret, only an environment variable name such as HAWZU_PASSWORD is saved, not what you typed. Recognising these fields is a best effort, and other values are saved as you typed them, so mark any sensitive field as Secret before typing into it.

The extension does not send what it records to any server itself. It hands the recording to your signed-in Hawzu tab, which saves it to your Hawzu workspace, where it is stored and protected like the rest of your workspace data and visible to members who can view test cases. A recording that has not been saved yet waits in the extension's storage in your browser for up to 7 days; the recording in progress is cleared when the browser closes.

We do not sell this data, use it for advertising, or use it for anything other than recording and saving your tests. The extension contains no analytics. Access to all sites is requested the first time you record, and is used only in the recording window. You can delete recordings in Hawzu at any time, and removing the extension removes the data it keeps in your browser.

Cookies and analytics

Our public websites — the main site, the documentation site, and the blog — set a small number of cookies, and none of them are set until you allow them. We do not use advertising cookies unless you allow the advertising purpose described below, and we do not sell or share this data with advertisers.

On your first visit you will see a banner asking what we may use cookies for. There are two separate purposes, and you can allow either, both, or neither — Customise on the banner turns them on and off independently. Nothing in the two categories below is written until you allow it. If you choose Reject all, or simply ignore the banner, none of it is stored — the sites work exactly the same either way.

• Analytics — cookies _ga and _ga_<id>, set by Google Analytics 4. These record aggregate usage of our public websites — pages viewed, approximate location by country or region, referring site, device and browser type — so we can understand which content is useful. They contain a randomly generated identifier, not your name or email address.
• Advertising — cookies _gcl_aw and related _gcl_* cookies set by Google Ads, together with our own hawzu_attr cookie. If you reached us by clicking one of our ads, these record which ad or campaign it was, and tell us when a visit turned into an account, so we can see which campaigns are worth paying for. hawzu_attr is first-party, written once on your first visit, never shared with third parties, and read only if you later create an account. We do not use these cookies to build an advertising profile of you or to show you ads elsewhere.

Separately, a consent cookie (hawzu_consent) records your answer to the banner so we do not ask again on every page or on each of our three sites. It stores only which of the two purposes you allowed, and lasts six months. It is set whichever answer you give — including when you decline everything — because remembering that you declined is the only way to honour it.

Google acts as our processor for both purposes. We have disabled Google Signals and ad personalisation on our property, so this data is not used to build advertising profiles or to track you across devices, and we do not run remarketing. Google Analytics does not record full IP addresses. Until you allow a purpose, the Google tag runs in a restricted mode for it that sets no cookies and reads no identifier.

Analytics data is retained for 14 months. You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer of any of our sites — turning a purpose off afterwards deletes the cookies described above for it. You can also opt out of Google Analytics on any website using Google's browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout, or by blocking cookies in your browser settings. Blocking or declining these cookies does not affect your ability to use Hawzu.

The Hawzu application itself loads no third-party analytics. The one exception is the page shown after you create an account, which reports the signup to Google Ads — and only if you allowed the advertising purpose above. If you did not, nothing is loaded or reported there.

Data retention

Data is retained only for as long as necessary to provide the service, comply with legal obligations, and support audit, security, and operational requirements.

Your rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete your personal information.

Requests can be made through official Snoowl support channels.

Changes to this policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. Any changes will be reflected on this page with an updated effective date.