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Preview of Stop Auto-Refresh Anchor

Stop Auto-Refresh Anchor by Swalter Factories

Blocks websites from auto-refreshing when you switch tabs. Saves your exact scroll position so you never lose your place.

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About this extension
You switch tabs for two minutes. You come back. The page has refreshed and everything you were reading is gone.This is one of the most complained-about browser behaviors on the internet — and it happens on nearly every major website. News sites, Facebook, Reddit, sports score pages, forums, long articles. The moment you look away, the page resets itself and your scroll position disappears with it.Anchor stops it completely.The moment a page loads, Anchor locks it in place. It intercepts every method a website can use to trigger an auto-refresh — meta refresh tags, JavaScript reload calls, history manipulation, and the Page Visibility API tricks that sites like Facebook use to detect when you've switched away. When you come back, the page is exactly where you left it, down to the pixel.What it blocks:
Auto-refresh triggered by meta tags baked into the page's HTML. JavaScript calls to location.reload() fired on a timer. History API manipulations used by single-page apps to reset feed content. Facebook's specific mechanism of watching tab visibility and refreshing the feed the moment you return. Dynamic meta refresh tags injected into the page after load. Any fetch request that attempts to reload the current page while you're on another tab.Scroll position saving:
Every time you scroll, Anchor silently saves your position. If a refresh somehow slips through, or if you navigate away and come back, your scroll depth is restored automatically. Works on standard pages and inside scrollable containers on single-page apps.Per-site control:
One toggle to disable protection on any individual site. If a specific page needs its refresh behavior intact, turn it off for that site without affecting anything else.Stats:
The popup shows how many auto-refreshes have been blocked on the current page, across all sites lifetime, and a ranked list of the worst offending sites.Your privacy:
Everything runs locally. No data leaves your browser. No servers, no accounts, no telemetry.
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Permissions and data

Required permissions:

  • Display notifications to you
  • Access browser tabs
  • Access your data for all websites

Data collection:

  • The developer says this extension doesn't require data collection.
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Version
1.0.0
Size
19.79 KB
Last updated
14 days ago (May 6, 2026)
Related Categories
  • Feeds, News & Blogging
  • Privacy & Security
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