Support

Need help with Cipher? Here are the most common questions. If yours isn't covered, email us and we'll respond within 1–2 business days.

Contact

Email info@visionion.dev — every message is read by a human.

Pricing

Cipher is free forever. No purchase, no subscription, no account. MIT-licensed open source.

What exactly does Cipher do?

Two things, via Chrome's native declarativeNetRequest engine:

1. Strips tracking parameters from URLs. When you click a link decorated with ?utm_source=…, ?fbclid=…, ?gclid=… and dozens of others, Cipher rewrites the URL to drop those parameters before the request leaves your browser.
2. Blocks tracking pixels and analytics requests. Requests to known tracker hosts — Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Segment, FullStory, LinkedIn Insight, TikTok Pixel and 20+ more — are dropped before they're sent.

A site I use broke. What do I do?

Some affiliate flows or analytics dashboards genuinely need their tracking parameters. Click the Cipher icon in your toolbar and turn on "Pause on this site". The allowlist lives only on your device.

If a site stops working when Cipher is active, please also email us so we can adjust the rules for the next release.

How is Cipher different from an ad blocker?

Cipher is a tracker stripper, not an ad blocker. It removes the identifiers advertisers attach to URLs and blocks analytics-only hosts; it doesn't hide ad creatives or content on the page. Many users run Cipher alongside an ad blocker.

Where does Cipher get its rules?

Inside the extension package — there is no remote rulelist. Both ruleset files (tracking-params.json, tracking-hosts.json) ship inside the version installed on your device. Updates require a new Chrome Web Store release, which you can review on GitHub first.

Does Cipher track me?

No. The extension makes zero outbound network requests of its own — no telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporting, no third-party SDKs. The popup counter is purely local: it asks Chrome "how many of my rules have matched recently?" and Chrome returns rule IDs + counts, not URLs.

What's in the per-site allowlist?

The hostnames you've paused Cipher on (e.g. example.com). Pause via the popup; manage the full list in Settings (right-click the icon → Options). Sync is off by default — the list lives only on the device you set it on.

How do I reset the counter?

Open Settings → click Reset counter. This only resets the two integers in your local storage; it has no effect on rules.

Does Cipher work in Incognito?

Yes, if you allow it. Visit chrome://extensions/, find Cipher, and toggle Allow in Incognito. Same rules apply.

Source code

Cipher is open source: github.com/visionion/cipher. The code shipped to the Chrome Web Store is minified but not obfuscated. Every line is human-readable; both rule files are checked in as plain JSON.

Reporting a missing tracker

If you spot a tracker we miss — a new ad-network click ID, a new analytics SaaS — please send the parameter name or hostname to info@visionion.dev. We ship monthly rule updates.