Tool
Browser companion
Free
A small extension that sleeps tabs you have not used, so your Mac has more memory.
What it does
- Sleeps tabs idle for 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour (30 minutes by default), using the browser's own tab discard. A slept tab reloads when you click it.
- Shows how much memory the whole browser is using, measured by the Mac app and marked as an estimate, plus the state of your tabs.
- After tabs sleep, Hedroom writes a receipt from the browser's memory before and after.
- Works with Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc and Firefox, linked to the Mac app. Setting it up writes a small file into each browser's folder, only after you click Set up browser companion in Tools. Uninstall removes it.
What it never does
- Send tab titles or URLs anywhere. The message format between the extension and the Mac app has no field for a URL, title, host name or tab. A test fails if one is added.
- Make any network request. The extension has none.
- Sleep a tab that is playing audio, pinned, the one you are looking at, a browser page, on your never-sleep list, or (if you turn the guard on) has a form with unsent typing.
- Sleep tabs on its own unless you turn on automatic sleep, which is off by default.
Free or Pro
Free. The automatic tab-sleep rule in Hedroom's Rules is part of Pro.
Honest limits
- No per-tab memory. Chrome has no stable way to read it, so Hedroom shows the whole browser.
- Safari is not supported, because Safari extensions cannot put tabs to sleep.
- The form guard is optional and asks for permission to run in pages only when you turn it on. It reports one yes or no per tab and never reads what you typed.
- The extension is installed from your browser's store. The listings go live with launch.