Set up Panoptic
- Sign in to Panoptic on the web, open Settings, and download Panoptic for Windows.
- Install and open the Panoptic application on your Windows computer.
- When Panoptic asks, select Connect this computer and complete the connection in your signed-in browser.
- Panoptic opens the Chrome Web Store. Select Add to Chrome, then Add extension. Panoptic continues to Today after Chrome confirms the connection.
If you have not joined early access, start from the early-access page.
The extension cannot connect
- Confirm the Panoptic Windows application is installed and running.
- Open
chrome://extensions, find Panoptic, and select Reload. - Close and reopen Chrome, then restart Panoptic.
- If you recently upgraded Panoptic, confirm Chrome shows the expected extension version.
For a store-installed extension, do not load a second unpacked copy at the same time. Duplicate copies can make connection and reminder behavior difficult to diagnose.
A site or application is missing
- Panoptic records the one Windows application that owns keyboard focus. An application merely visible on another monitor is not the foreground application.
- A website hostname is attached only while a supported Chrome window is in the foreground and the extension can provide fresh browser context.
- Lock, sleep, restart, connection loss, or unavailable browser evidence can appear as a gap or unavailable context rather than invented activity.
- Allow a short time for locally recorded evidence to synchronize before checking the web timeline.
A reminder did not appear
- Check that the rule or reminder is enabled and scheduled for the current time.
- Confirm Chrome notifications are allowed for Panoptic.
- Keep the Panoptic Windows application installed and running; reminder delivery does not depend on the main app window being open.
- Rules are choices you create. Panoptic does not add restricted sites or default judgments about your activity.
Privacy controls
Panoptic records website hostnames, not full URLs or page content. Private-window hostnames are off by default and require both the Panoptic Sites in private windows choice and Chrome incognito access.
You can remove Chrome incognito access from the extension details page at any time. The next accepted observation returns private browsing to the generic private context.
See the privacy policy for the complete collection, storage, sharing, retention, and deletion explanation.
Contact support
Tell us what happened, which step you were on, your Windows and Chrome versions, and the Panoptic desktop and extension versions. Screenshots of Panoptic itself are useful, but please remove personal information first.
Do not send passwords, sign-in codes, device credentials, raw browsing data, or other secrets.
Email Panoptic support