Read Text Aloud is a Chrome extension that reads web pages, selected text or text you paste
aloud with the voices built into Chrome, and highlights the sentence being read. This policy
describes exactly what it does with your data.
The short version
The extension collects nothing. There is no account, and there are no analytics or trackers.
The extension makes no network requests of its own.
By default, a voice on your computer reads, and your text stays on this computer.
If you choose one of Google’s online voices, Chrome sends the text being read to Google to
make the sound.
How it works
The extension works only on the tab where you click its icon, press its keyboard shortcut or
choose one of its items in the right-click menu. On that tab it finds the main text of the page,
or takes the text you selected, splits it into sentences and passes them one at a time to the
speech engine built into Chrome. The highlight and the small player are shown on top of the page
and do not change the website itself.
The Paste text page is part of the extension: text you paste there is read the
same way.
Voices
Voices marked On device come with your operating system. They work offline,
and the text stays on this computer. One of them is used by default.
Voices marked Online are Google’s voices built into Chrome. They need the
internet: to speak with them, Chrome itself — not the extension’s code — sends the text being
read to Google. They are used only if you choose one yourself. Google handles this text under
the Google Privacy Policy.
What stays in your browser
In the extension’s storage on this computer (chrome.storage.local): your reading
speed, the voice you chose for each language, whether highlighting is on, whether you have
seen the first-run tip, and the last text you pasted on the Paste text page — until you click
Clear.
Also in chrome.storage.local, for the rating request: the dates of up to five days
on which you used the extension, how many times you clicked Not now, the date
until which the request stays hidden, and whether you have clicked a star. Which star you
clicked is not stored.
In session memory (chrome.storage.session), cleared when you close Chrome: the
text you are listening to and your place in it; for up to 10 tabs where you stopped reading,
the page address, its text and the place you stopped; and technical details of the last
failed start, if there was one.
None of this is synced to your other devices or sent to the developer, and all of it is deleted
when you remove the extension.
Permissions, explained
activeTab — to read the text of the tab where you clicked the icon, pressed
the shortcut or chose a menu item. It gives no access to your other tabs.
scripting — to add to that tab the script that finds the text, highlights the
sentence being read and shows the player.
contextMenus — to add Read selection aloud and
Read from here to the right-click menu.
tts — to speak the text with the voices built into Chrome.
storage — to keep the settings, the pasted text and the rating-request record
listed above on this computer.
The extension does not ask for access to all websites: it can read a tab only after you use it
there.
Pages the extension opens
After installation it opens a one-time welcome page, and after removal your
browser opens a page that asks why you removed it.
After you have used the extension on five different days, its popup asks Is Read Text
Aloud useful? and shows five stars. Clicking 4 or 5 stars opens the extension’s reviews
page in the Chrome Web Store; clicking 1 to 3 stars opens a short feedback page.
Not now hides the question for 30 days, and a second click hides it for good.
The extension itself sends nothing when you click a star, and the address it opens contains no
information about you.
The welcome, removal and feedback pages are ordinary web pages hosted on GitHub Pages. They may
use standard, anonymous web analytics. Like other websites, these pages and this policy are
served by third parties: GitHub Pages hosts them and Google Fonts provides the typeface. Both
receive your IP address and basic browser details when a page loads.
Feedback you choose to send on the removal page or the feedback page goes to the developer
through Google Forms, and only when you press Send feedback. It contains only
what you pick and type; the pages add no identifiers.
The Change link in the extension’s settings opens Chrome’s own keyboard
shortcuts page.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this address with a new date
above.
Contact
The only way to contact the developer is GitHub Issues. To ask a question about this policy or
your data, open an issue here:
github.com/anastasialekasova-hub/read-text-aloud-privacy/issues.
You need a free GitHub account to do this. Issues are public, so do not include anything you
want to keep private.