IdleForest logo
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THE FREE TREE PLANTING APP YOU INSTALL ONCE AND FORGET

IdleForest is a free Chrome extension and desktop app that funds verified tree-planting projects with your idle internet bandwidth. Install it once and let it run while you browse.

Chrome Web Store

Featured as a free tree planting extension.

4.8 Star Rating

Rated by the IdleForest community across 33 reviews.

Verified Impact

Verified tree planting funded by unused bandwidth.

Partnership announcement

IdleForest is partnering with Mossy Earth.

The Mossy Earth forest is now live on IdleForest. Join it for free, install IdleForest once, and future background activity can help generate passive funding for Mossy Earth's conservation and rewilding work.

Now liveMossy Earth forest
Free to joinInstall once
Adds fundingFor rewilding work

700K+

YouTube subscribers

ÂŁ408K

to rewilding in Q1 2026

30+

partnership projects

Verified Impact

Verified tree-planting partners

We fund reforestation through trusted partners with published planting records, traceable receipts, and projects chosen for carbon, biodiversity, and community impact.

Trees for the Future logo

Trees for the Future

Trees for the Future plants food forests with smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa. Their Forest Garden model trains farmers to grow trees, vegetables, and cash crops on the same land, restoring soil while supporting long-term local income.

Visit their site
Tree-Nation logo

Tree-Nation

Tree-Nation restores native forests in 35+ countries, including Madagascar, Senegal, and Tanzania. They focus on species native to each region, which gives planted forests stronger survival rates and better long-term ecological value than monoculture planting.

Visit their site
1ClickImpact logo

1ClickImpact

1ClickImpact funds planting projects with traceability across certificates, project records, and impact reporting. We link their verified planting records in our transparency work so you can follow where funded trees go.

Visit their site
0 trees planted by our community

How the tree planting app works

Install IdleForest once. Browse normally. Your unused bandwidth quietly funds verified tree planting in the background.

Screenshot 1
1.

Install in One Click

Add IdleForest to Chrome from the Web Store, or download the desktop app for Mac or Windows. No signup, payment method, or browser-setting changes required.

2.

Browse Normally

IdleForest stays in the background and uses only the bandwidth you are not using for small, sessionless backend tasks. Your browser stays fast and your data stays on your machine. Read the full technical explanation

3.

Watch Your Forest Grow

Every gigabyte of idle bandwidth generates revenue that funds tree planting with partners like Trees for the Future, Tree-Nation, and 1ClickImpact.

Different Ways To Support Nature

Ecosia, Mossy Earth, direct donations, and IdleForest all help in different ways. IdleForest is the extra passive layer: install it once, keep your habits, and let it add funding in the background.

Passive layer

IdleForest

A passive layer that runs beside the browser and computer you already use.

Best at
Background impact
Funding route
Idle bandwidth revenue
User action
Install once; keep browsing
Pairs well with
Ecosia, memberships, donations

Ecosia

A search engine that turns everyday searches into funding for tree planting.

Best at
Search-led planting
Funding route
Search ad revenue
User action
Use Ecosia for search
Pairs well with
People who search often

Mossy Earth

A field-led rewilding membership with biologists, project updates, and deep conservation work.

Best at
Hands-on rewilding
Funding route
Member funding
User action
Join, follow, or support projects
Pairs well with
People who want direct conservation

Direct donations

Straightforward support for charities or local projects you already trust.

Best at
Immediate giving
Funding route
Your chosen donation
User action
Give when you want
Pairs well with
Specific causes and campaigns

Stack your impact

You can use Ecosia, support Mossy Earth, donate directly, and still add IdleForest in the background.

Different strengths

Search tools are great for daily habits. Rewilding memberships fund expert field teams. IdleForest adds passive funding without replacing either.

Background impact

How Idle Bandwidth Funds Trees

Read the full technical explanation

Idle bandwidth is the part of your internet connection you are not using. Most of the time, your connection sits at a small fraction of its capacity. The rest is wasted.

IdleForest puts that unused capacity to work. The app routes small data tasks through your connection, like checking website uptime or running market research queries. These tasks are sessionless: they do not carry personal data, cookies, or browsing history.

Clients pay for those tasks. We take that revenue and send it to our reforestation partners. The result: you plant trees with bandwidth you were not using anyway. The cost to you is zero.

This model is why IdleForest is free. We do not need your money, your search history, or your email. We just need the gigabytes you would have wasted.

Start planting trees in 10 seconds

Install IdleForest, browse like you always do, and let unused bandwidth fund verified reforestation. It is free, background-friendly, and built so you can forget it is running.

WINDOWS

Download IdleForest for Windows and plant trees with idle bandwidth while your computer is on.

Download for Windows

MAC OS

Download IdleForest for macOS and contribute to verified reforestation while your computer is idle.

Download for Mac OS

Our Impact

0
TREES TO BE PLANTED
0
TOTAL REQUESTS
0
ACTIVE USERS
$0
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Join 1,000+ Users Planting Trees Just by Browsing

See what the community is saying about IdleForest on the Chrome Web Store.

What we achieved & where we're heading

BROWSER EXTENSION

COMPLETED

Launched our flagship browser extensions for Chrome and Edge. This key milestone allows users to seamlessly contribute to reforestation during their daily browsing, making eco-friendly actions more accessible.

DESKTOP APP

BETA

Our desktop application expands Idleforest beyond the browser, enabling contributions even when you're not actively browsing.

REFERRAL SYSTEM

IN DEV

Invite friends and businesses to multiply impact. Earn bonus trees for successful referrals and help grow the forest faster.

MOBILE APP

PLANNED

Bring Idleforest to iOS and Android so you can contribute on the go with smart, energy‑efficient usage.

CORPORATE IMPACT CERTIFICATION

PLANNED

A verification program for companies to certify and showcase their environmental contributions powered by Idleforest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Got questions? We've got answers. Learn more about how IdleForest works and what to expect.

Yes. There is no subscription, no donation, no signup, and no paid tier. IdleForest is funded by revenue from idle bandwidth tasks, not by you.

No. IdleForest uses only the bandwidth you are not using. When you start a video call, open a heavy site, or download a file, IdleForest steps back.

You can also pause it at any time from the extension menu.

The app uses your unused internet bandwidth to power small backend tasks for paying clients. Revenue from those tasks funds tree planting with partners like Trees for the Future, Tree-Nation, and 1ClickImpact.

You can see the live count of trees funded on our transparency page.

Idle bandwidth is the part of your internet connection that is not being used. Most home connections sit below their full capacity most of the time.

IdleForest uses that unused capacity to generate revenue, then routes that revenue to verified reforestation.

Yes. IdleForest does not change how you browse or what search engine you use. It works alongside Ecosia, Brave, Chrome, Edge, and other browsers.

You can stack the impact from IdleForest with other environmentally focused tools.

None of your personal browsing data. The traffic that runs through IdleForest is sessionless, meaning it does not carry cookies, personal identifiers, or browsing history.

The app does not read your tabs, bookmarks, or search history. See our privacy policy for the full breakdown.

No. Tasks are limited to uptime monitoring, market research, and similar passive data collection from public sites.

IdleForest does not participate in ad fraud, crypto mining, scraping private data, or malicious activity. We publish more detail in our transparency report.

IdleForest has funded 0 trees through our partners, based on the current live counter.

See the transparency report for the latest breakdown by partner and region.

Active desktop users usually generate around $2-$5 per month, depending on location, how often the app is running, and how much spare capacity is available. One person's contribution is modest, but across a community it becomes steady funding for verified trees.

The more users join, the more idle bandwidth becomes available, and the more trees can be funded.

Not yet. IdleForest runs as a Chrome extension and as a desktop app for Mac and Windows.

Mobile is on the roadmap, but mobile networks usually have less idle bandwidth than home connections, so the impact per user would be lower. We will launch when the math works.

Yes. Remove the Chrome extension from your extensions menu, or uninstall the desktop app like any other application.

Once uninstalled, no bandwidth is used and no data is collected. The trees you have already helped fund stay funded.

IdleForest is a browser extension and desktop app for reforestation. Not associated with the "Idle Forest" mobile game.

Start Planting Trees in 10 Seconds

Install IdleForest. Browse like you always do. Watch trees get planted.