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Troubleshooting

Most issues come down to a toggle, a stale tab, or a signed-out session. Work through the checks below in order — they're sorted by how often they're the fix.

The extension isn’t detecting anything

  1. Check the master toggle

    Click the ShieldWays icon in your toolbar. If the master switch is off, all protection is paused — flip it back on.

  2. Check the per-tool toggle

    AI Guard can be disabled for individual tools. In the popup’s quick toggles or on the dashboard’s AI Guard page, confirm the tool you’re on (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity) is enabled.

  3. Check the category

    If a specific kind of data isn’t caught, make sure its category is enabled. Note that Source code is off by default, and PHI and Source code require the Pro plan.

  4. Reload the extension, then the tab

    Go to chrome://extensions, click the reload icon on the ShieldWays card, then reload the AI tool’s tab. Content scripts only attach when a page loads, so a tab opened before the extension (re)loaded won’t be protected until you refresh it.

  5. Confirm the pill is present

    On a supported AI site you should see the floating Protected pill. If it’s missing after a refresh, the page may not be supported yet — tell us which site and we’ll add a profile.

Quick self-test. Paste 4242 4242 4242 4242 (a standard test card number) into the AI tool’s input and press Enter. If AI Guard is running, it will catch it.

Popup shows “Couldn’t load settings”

The popup couldn’t fetch your synced configuration. Protection is not off — the extension keeps running with your last-known local settings. To fix the popup:

  1. Click Retry

    Transient hiccups usually clear on the first retry.

  2. Make sure you're signed in

    Open the dashboard in a tab and sign in if needed. The extension picks up your session from the dashboard page; visiting it while signed in re-links the two.

  3. Check your connection, then reopen the popup

    If you’re offline or the ShieldWays API is unreachable, the popup can’t sync. Once you’re back online, close and reopen the popup.

Dashboard changes aren’t reaching the extension

  • Make sure the change was actually saved on the dashboard (watch for the save confirmation on the AI Guard page).
  • Confirm the extension is signed in as the same account: the popup should show your plan badge, not a Sign in prompt.
  • Reload the AI tool’s tab — a page that was open before the change keeps its config until the content script re-syncs.
  • Still stale? Reload the extension at chrome://extensions and reopen the tab.

Pro features look locked after upgrading

Tier changes propagate to the extension when it refreshes your session. Open the dashboard while signed in, then close and reopen the popup. If the badge still shows the old plan after a minute, reload the extension.

Reporting a bug

If none of the above helps, contact us with:

  • Your Chrome version (chrome://version).
  • The site where it happened and what you expected.
  • Steps to reproduce, if you have them.
Never include the sensitive data itself. Describe the kind of data (“a test API key wasn’t detected”) — don’t paste real keys, card numbers, or personal information into a bug report. We can’t see your content by design; let’s keep it that way.