Privacy Policy
Summary
YouTube Video to Transcript is a Chrome extension that lets you view, search, copy, and export the caption text of YouTube videos. The extension runs entirely in your browser. We do not collect transcript text, video URLs, video titles, or any personally identifying information. Starting with v1.1.0, the extension can send anonymous, aggregated usage counts to help us decide which features to improve — see "Anonymous usage analytics" below for exactly what is and isn't collected, and how to turn it off.
What the extension accesses
| Data | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
Caption (timedtext) data from the current YouTube watch page |
To display the transcript, allow search and timestamp navigation, and export TXT / SRT / VTT files | Stays in your browser. Read directly from YouTube on the page you opened; never sent to us. |
| Your preferences (last selected caption language, view mode, panel state, analytics opt-in) | To restore your settings on the next video | Stored locally via Chrome's storage API. Never leaves your browser unless you have Chrome sync enabled (in which case Google syncs it to your other Chrome installs under your account). |
| Anonymous usage event counts (optional — see below) | To learn which features get used so we can prioritise improvements | Sent to Amplitude (United States dataset) under a random per-install device identifier. No transcript text, video URLs, video titles, or account data. Opt-out at any time. |
Anonymous usage analytics (v1.1.0+)
What it is. A short list of event names (for example: transcript_loaded,
copy_clicked, download_clicked) and a small set of non-identifying properties (the
chosen export format, whether the "include timestamps" toggle is on, the length of a search query but never
the query text itself, your browser's UI language). Each event carries a random device_id that is
generated on your device and stored only locally — it is not linked to your name, email, Google account,
IP address, or any personal identifier.
Default behavior. If you install version 1.1.0 or later for the first time, anonymous analytics are on by default. The welcome page tells you this, and you can turn it off at any time in the side panel under More → Privacy → "Share anonymous usage". If you upgraded from an earlier version, analytics stay off by default — you originally installed under a "no analytics" promise, so we won't change that without your explicit consent. The toggle in More → Privacy is available if you ever decide to opt in; until you do, nothing is collected.
What is never collected. Transcript text. Video URL, video ID, or video title. Search query
text. Selected text. Your YouTube account or any other Google account information. Your IP address is not
used to build a profile; Amplitude may temporarily see it as part of the HTTPS connection but it is not
stored against your device_id.
Processor. Amplitude Inc., US dataset (servers in the United States). Amplitude's privacy commitments and Data Processing Addendum cover the international transfer for non-US users. See https://amplitude.com/privacy.
How to disable. Side panel → More menu (three dots) → Privacy → uncheck "Share anonymous
usage". The change takes effect immediately and no further events are sent. To purge the local
device_id, uninstall and reinstall the extension.
What the extension does NOT do
- No account or sign-in is required.
- No advertising; no ad networks; no cross-site tracking pixels.
- No third-party SDKs other than the Amplitude analytics SDK described above, and only when you have analytics enabled.
- No remote code execution. All JavaScript is bundled at build time from local sources, including the Amplitude SDK.
- No transmission of transcript text, video titles, watch history, search queries, or any content you select to us or to third parties.
- No AI or external API calls beyond YouTube's own caption endpoint and the analytics endpoint described above.
Permissions used
sidePanel— to render the transcript reader UI in Chrome's side panel.storage— to persist your local preferences (described above), including the analytics opt-in flag.- Host permission
https://www.youtube.com/*— to read the public caption data on YouTube watch pages. - Host permission
https://api2.amplitude.com/*— to send anonymous usage events when analytics are enabled. No requests are made to this host when analytics are disabled.
We request only the permissions strictly required to deliver the feature you installed the extension for.
Children
The extension is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone.
Third-party services
- YouTube —
https://www.youtube.com/*. Read-only access to caption data on the page you are already viewing. YouTube's own privacy policy applies to your use of YouTube itself: https://policies.google.com/privacy. - Amplitude —
https://api2.amplitude.com/*. Anonymous usage analytics, US dataset, only when enabled. Their privacy policy: https://amplitude.com/privacy.
Changes to this policy
If we ever change how the extension handles data, we will update this page and the effective date above. Material changes will also be noted in the extension's Chrome Web Store changelog.
Contact
Questions or requests: mishasworlds@gmail.com