Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 19, 2026
This policy explains what YouTube Transcript collects, why it is collected, and which service providers process it. YouTube Transcript is a Chrome extension and companion website for reading, translating, summarising, and asking questions about YouTube captions.
Information processed by the extension
- Caption data: the extension reads captions from the current YouTube video so it can display and search a transcript. When a browser-side caption request cannot be completed, the video ID and language information may be sent to our API as a fallback.
- AI feature data: when you explicitly request Summary, Chat AI, translation, or improved translation, the relevant caption cues and, for Chat AI, your question and limited conversation history are sent to our API to provide that feature.
- Anonymous installation identifier: the extension creates a random installation ID used to issue short-lived API sessions and apply abuse limits. It is not an account ID and is not used to identify your name or email address.
- Product analytics: we collect limited event metadata such as which feature was used, whether it succeeded, the extension version, language, cache status, and request timing. Analytics events do not contain transcript text, Chat AI questions, Chat AI answers, or full video URLs.
Why we use this information
Caption and AI feature data is processed only to provide the feature you request, operate the service, prevent abuse, troubleshoot failures, and improve reliability. Product analytics is used to understand feature usage, conversion, errors, latency, and aggregate product performance. We do not use extension data for personalised advertising or sell it to data brokers.
Service providers
- Railway: hosts the FastAPI backend and temporary bounded caches used to reduce repeated caption and AI-provider requests.
- PostHog (EU Cloud): receives the limited product and technical analytics described above. The API sends pseudonymous event IDs, not names or email addresses.
- OpenAI: may process caption cues, summaries, questions, and limited chat history when you explicitly use AI features. In the current production configuration, OpenAI is the configured AI provider. These requests are made through our backend; API credentials are never included in the extension.
- Vercel: hosts this companion website and its small serverless functions.
- Supabase and Resend: uninstall feedback submitted through the uninstall page is stored in Supabase and may be forwarded by email via Resend when those notifications are configured.
Storage and retention
The extension stores settings, anonymous session material, translation choices, and limited Chat AI history locally in Chrome. Chat history is automatically pruned after 30 days. The backend may retain bounded cached translations and AI responses temporarily to reduce repeated processing; those caches are keyed by content and model metadata rather than by your installation ID. PostHog and other providers retain data according to their applicable policies and account configuration.
Your choices
You can stop local extension processing by disabling or uninstalling the extension. You can clear the extension's local data through Chrome's extension settings. AI features are opt-in at the moment they are requested. If you have a privacy request, contact feedback@youtubetools.app.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the extension, its analytics, or its service providers change. The latest version will remain available on this page.