read-it-aloud

Privacy Policy — Read It Aloud

Last updated: June 12, 2026 Effective: When you install or update to v1.3.0 or later

Summary in plain English

• We don’t run a server. There is no Read It Aloud backend.
• The extension takes text you select on a web page and sends it to ElevenLabs so they can generate audio for you. That’s the only data that leaves your browser.
• Your ElevenLabs API key is stored locally in your browser (browser.storage.local / chrome.storage.local) and is sent only to ElevenLabs’ servers (https://api.elevenlabs.io).
• We do not collect analytics, telemetry, crash reports, or any identifier about you. We do not have a database. We do not sell or share anything because we don’t have anything.

What data the extension handles

Data	Where it lives	Where it’s sent	Why
Your ElevenLabs API key	storage.local on your device only	api.elevenlabs.io as the xi-api-key HTTP header	Required to authenticate TTS requests
Selected text on a web page	RAM (transient) and the extension’s offscreen audio document	api.elevenlabs.io in the TTS request body	Required to generate the audio you asked for
Your voice & playback settings (voice ID, model, speed, stability, etc.)	storage.local on your device only	api.elevenlabs.io as part of TTS request body	Required so generation matches your preferences
Generated audio bytes	RAM and the offscreen audio document; discarded when you stop or close the tab	Stays on your device	Played back to you, optionally downloadable

Nothing is sent to any other party. The extension makes no network calls to any host except api.elevenlabs.io.

What we do NOT collect

• No analytics or telemetry
• No browsing history, page content, or URLs (beyond what you select)
• No personally identifiable information
• No advertising identifiers
• No cookies, fingerprints, or device IDs
• No data is sent to the extension author

Third-party services

The selected text and your voice settings are sent to ElevenLabs, the TTS provider. ElevenLabs is governed by their own privacy policy: https://elevenlabs.io/privacy. You hold an account directly with ElevenLabs (this extension uses your API key) and your relationship with them is between you and ElevenLabs.

Permissions and what they’re for

• storage — to save your API key and preferences locally on your device
• activeTab / scripting — to read the text you select on the active tab when you ask the extension to read it
• contextMenus — to add the “Read It Aloud” right-click menu item
• offscreen (Chromium browsers) — to play audio in an extension-owned offscreen document (technical requirement on strict-CSP sites; never accesses page content)
• host_permissions: https://api.elevenlabs.io/* — to call the ElevenLabs TTS API. The extension cannot make requests to any other domain.

The exact set of permissions may vary slightly by browser due to platform differences (Chrome / Edge / Firefox / Safari implement extension APIs slightly differently). The underlying data practices above are identical across all versions.

Your rights

• Stop using the extension at any time. Removing it from your browser deletes the locally stored API key and settings.
• Reset your data at any time from the extension settings.
• Revoke your ElevenLabs API key in your ElevenLabs dashboard at any time. The extension will stop working immediately.

Changes to this policy

We’ll update this document if the data practices change. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the current version. Material changes will be noted in CHANGELOG.md.

Contact

For questions about this policy, open an issue at https://github.com/JPF1111/read-it-aloud/issues.

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