Data, attributes, and privacy

Checkout Buddy saves some information on your orders. Some of it is for you, such as answers from form fields. Some is for the app, used for analytics and discounts.

What’s added to orders

What	Where you see it in Shopify	Added by
Form field answers	Additional details on the order, labeled with each field’s Cart attribute key (Custom fields) or the block’s Name (older form fields)	Form fields
__buddy_data	Additional details on the order	Any block in the Checkout Buddy (v1) app block that customers see at checkout, such as older product offers. Content blocks, Product offers and Custom fields forms don’t add it.
__buddy_offers_seen	Additional details on the order	Product offers with Record views for Analytics on. It lists the IDs of the offers the buyer saw, such as 12,40.
_buddy_offer_link	Additional details on the order	Thank you page and customer account Product offers with Record sales for Analytics on, on orders placed with their buttons. It names the block and the variants its button added, such as 874:44012,44013.
_buddy_data	Under the line item, on items the app added or changed	Product offers, older product offers, Checkbox product offer, Line item upsell, Cart line editor
_buddy_offer, _buddy_place, _buddy_fee	Under the line item	Product offers: _buddy_offer on every item an offer adds, _buddy_place on items added on product and cart pages, and _buddy_fee on a fee
_cb_box	Under the line item	Build a box, on the box a buyer filled
Cart attributes you set	Additional details on the order, under your key	Set a cart attribute automations
Order note	Notes on the order	Custom fields text fields saved as The order note, or with Also add to the order note; older Order note blocks, and older form fields set to add to the note
Metafields	Metafields on the order	Form fields set to save as a cart metafield (Checkout Buddy creates the order metafield definition), or older ones set to save as a checkout metafield (once you’ve created a definition)

From older blocks, __buddy_data and _buddy_data contain the block ID and a timestamp. __buddy_data also records the block type and whether the customer accepted the offer. They power analytics, the Block IDs and Line item added by Checkout Buddy conditions, and product discounts for checkout components.

Items a Product offer adds carry hidden line properties: _buddy_data with the offer’s ID, and _buddy_offer, which marks the item as the offer’s own. Items added on product and cart pages also carry _buddy_place, which says where: PRODUCT_PAGE, CART_PAGE or OTHER_PAGE. A fee carries only _buddy_fee, so no Checkout Buddy discount reaches it. Product offers use them to keep their gifts and add-ons right, and Analytics and product discounts use them to find those items. __buddy_offers_seen is only added when an offer has Record views for Analytics on. It’s on for offers made since November 8, 2026, and off for older ones until you turn it on.

Stop adding tracking data

Choose how much to turn off in each Checkout Buddy (v1) and Cart line item app block in the Checkout Editor. The setting only affects blocks shown in that app block, such as older product offers. It doesn’t change Product offers, which are in their own app block: to keep __buddy_offers_seen off your orders, turn off Record views for Analytics in each offer’s Analytics card.

Setting	Stops adding	What stops working
Misc. features set to Disable __buddy_data order attribute	__buddy_data	Analytics and the Block IDs condition
Disable custom attributes	__buddy_data and _buddy_data	Analytics, the Block IDs condition, product discounts set to Checkout components, and the added by Checkout Buddy conditions

Form field answers are saved either way.

Keep __buddy_data off your orders

Some apps copy every order attribute into their own notes. For example, ShipStation adds __buddy_data to Notes From Buyer, which can print on packing slips. To stop it while keeping discounted offers and free gifts working:

1. In the Checkout Editor, select the Checkout Buddy (v1) app block.
2. Under Misc. features, choose Disable __buddy_data order attribute.
3. Repeat for each Checkout Buddy (v1) app block, and each Cart line item app block.
4. Save.

Screenshot needed

The Misc. features dropdown in the Checkout Buddy (v1) app block settings, open, with Disable __buddy_data order attribute selected

Checkout Editor → Checkout Buddy (v1) app block → Block settings → Misc. features, opened. Capture after the extension deploy.

Items added from a block still get the hidden _buddy_data property. Product discounts set to Checkout components need it to recognize those items.

Orders placed before you change the setting keep their __buddy_data.

Caution

Misc. features holds one option at a time. Choosing this option turns off Hide component product if already in cart or Disable component refresh for that app block.

Turn off all tracking data

Turn on Disable custom attributes in the app block. __buddy_data and _buddy_data are no longer added to orders from that app block.

Caution

This turns off analytics for those blocks, stops product discounts set to Checkout components from applying, and stops the added by Checkout Buddy conditions from working. Form field answers are still saved.

Hide the data from your theme and emails

Names that start with an underscore (_) are private by Shopify convention. Most themes and Shopify’s default notification templates already hide them. If your theme shows _buddy_data in the cart or __buddy_data or __buddy_offers_seen in an order confirmation, update the loop that prints properties or attributes to skip private ones:

{% for property in item.properties %}
  {% assign first_character = property.first | slice: 0 %}
  {% unless first_character == '_' %}
    {{ property.first }}: {{ property.last }}
  {% endunless %}
{% endfor %}

Variable names differ between themes. The idea is to skip anything whose name starts with _. See Shopify’s guide to hiding line item properties. This keeps analytics working.

Use the data in emails and Shopify Flow

Form field answers are order attributes, keyed by each field’s Cart attribute key (Custom fields) or the block’s Name (older form fields). In a notification template, such as the order confirmation, use:

{{ attributes["Gift message"] }}

In Shopify Flow, the same values are available as the order’s custom attributes, so you can use them in conditions, such as “tag the order when Delivery date is set”. See where Custom fields answers are saved.

What Checkout Buddy stores

• Your store: name, email addresses, phone number, owner’s name, currency, Shopify plan, time zone, and your Checkout Buddy plan.
• Your customizations: blocks are stored in your store’s metafields and in the app’s database. Functions are stored in Shopify.
• Orders and customers: Checkout Buddy doesn’t store orders or customer data. Analytics reads orders from Shopify when you open it. Anything customers type into form fields is saved by Shopify on the order, not by the app.

When you uninstall

• Your subscription is cancelled and the app’s access to your store is removed.
• Blocks stop showing, and Shopify removes Checkout Buddy’s app blocks from its checkout editor, and the Product offers block and app embed from your theme.
• Shopify deletes the discounts, checkout rules, and payment and shipping rules Checkout Buddy made. Reinstalling doesn’t bring them back: they’re listed in the app as Deleted in Shopify, to delete there and create again.
• Your block settings are kept, so if you reinstall, your blocks are still there and show again once you add the app blocks back. Email kyle@keylayapps.com if you’d like them deleted.
• Data already on your orders, such as form field answers and __buddy_data, stays on those orders.

See the privacy policy for full details.