ExtensionBrowser extension
Permissions and privacy
What the browser extension can see, what it sends, and what it never collects.
What the extension asks for, and why
| Permission | Why the extension needs it |
|---|---|
Read and change data on youtube.com | Reads the video you're watching and the player's current time, so the panel can show the right feed and keep the timeline in sync. It touches only the video's playback state. The one visible change: while the panel is open, it hides the YouTube page's own scrollbar so the shared edge stays clean; scrolling still works, and the scrollbar returns when you close the panel. |
Read and change data on vidreceipts.com | Talks to the Vid Receipts backend: your sign-in, and every receipt, vote, comment, and feed action. It also lets the extension notice when a tab is on vidreceipts.com, so it can keep the panel out of the way there by default (you can turn that off in the account section). |
| Side panel | The product surface itself, the panel that shows the feed beside the player. |
| Storage | Caches your current draft and the panel's last-known state on your device, so a service worker restart or a brief network drop doesn't lose your place. |
| Identity | Powers Google sign-in from the panel. |
The extension doesn't ask for access to any other site, your browsing history, or your downloads.
What data goes where
- Your sign-in and anything you post (receipts, comments, votes, feed memberships) go to the first-party Vid Receipts backend, the same one the web app uses. Nothing is sold or shared with third parties.
- The video ID and playback time you're watching on YouTube are read locally so the panel can show the matching feed and sync the timeline; the video ID is sent to the backend to look up its feed.
- Video titles, thumbnails, channel names, and durations shown in the panel come from YouTube through the YouTube Data API, served to the panel by the Vid Receipts backend. See our YouTube API Services & Limited Use disclosure for how we handle YouTube-sourced data more broadly, and our Privacy Policy for the extension-specific Limited Use statement.
What the extension never does
- No analytics. The extension ships with no analytics tracking of any kind.
- No crash reporting. Nothing about your session is sent anywhere unless you explicitly post a receipt, vote, or comment.
- No file uploads. Anything you add in the composer, formatted text, a GIF, an embedded video, or a trimmed clip, is saved as a link, never uploaded to storage.
- No content added to the YouTube page. The extension doesn't add buttons, banners, or overlays to the YouTube page itself; everything lives in the side panel. The only change it makes to the page is hiding its scrollbar while the panel is open (to keep the shared edge clean), which reverts the moment you close the panel.
Signed out
You can read every public receipt without signing in and without the extension sending anything about you beyond the video ID needed to load that video's feed.
Related
Browser extension
A YouTube companion side panel for reading and posting timestamped receipts, right next to the video.
How the extension works
The side panel, the receipt timeline, composing, voting, feeds, and Surprise Me, in the browser extension.
Data & privacy
What data Vid Receipts collects, how it's used, and the controls you have over your information.
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