Skip to content
ReaderTube

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 28 October 2026

Welcome to reader.tube (the “Service”). We value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy (“Policy”).

1. Account and YouTube Data

Clerk handles account registration and sign-in, including account identifiers, email addresses and profile information. When you connect Google and give consent through Google sign-in, ReaderTube reads your YouTube playlists, subscriptions and video metadata and stores cached copies to provide the service.

Google sign-in uses the openid, email and profile scopes. ReaderTube requests read-only YouTube access through the scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.readonly. ReaderTube's use of Google user data follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including Limited Use. We use that data to provide the features you request, not for advertising.

You can revoke ReaderTube's access in your Google Account permissions. YouTube data use is also subject to the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy. Revoking access stops future authorized access; contact us to request deletion of stored copies.

2. Transcripts, Summaries and Sharing

Transcripts are fetched by ReaderTube's transcript service and Supadata. Summaries are produced on operator-run machines using OpenAI (Codex), Anthropic (Claude) or local models. OpenAI is also used for transcript processing. These providers process the content needed for the requested operation. Shared summary links are public: anyone with a shared link can read its content.

3. Service Providers and Payments

Vercel hosts the website; PlanetScale provides database storage; Cloudflare R2 stores processing artifacts; Google Cloud Run hosts transcript services. Clerk provides authentication. Stripe processes subscription payments. ReaderTube does not store card numbers. We share data with service providers as needed to operate these features and when required by law.

4. Cookies and Analytics

ReaderTube uses essential Clerk cookies to keep you signed in. Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights provide cookieless usage and performance measurements. These measurements may include pages visited, browser and device information, and performance timings. See Vercel's analytics privacy information. We do not sell personal data and we do not use advertising.

5. Retention and Deletion

We retain account data and cached content as needed to provide the service, maintain security and meet legal obligations. You can request deletion of your account data and stored copies at support@reader.tube. We review requests and delete data subject to any legal retention requirements.

6. Security

We employ commercially reasonable measures to protect your personal data. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure.

7. Links to Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by us. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Policy on this page. Changes are effective when they are posted.

9. ReaderTube Chrome Extension

The ReaderTube Chrome extension (“Save to ReaderTube”) has one purpose: when you click its toolbar button on a YouTube video page and choose Save video, it adds that video to the “Saved Videos” playlist in your ReaderTube account. It works only for people signed in to reader.tube in the same Chrome profile.

What the extension reads

  • The current tab's address and title, when you open the extension popup (Chrome's activeTab permission). The extension uses them to recognise a YouTube video, show its title and to know which video to save. The thumbnail shown in the popup is loaded from YouTube's image server (i.ytimg.com).
  • The address and title of YouTube pages you open, through a content script that runs only on youtube.com. It is used only to show a “+” badge on the toolbar icon when you are on a video page. This stays inside your browser and is never sent to ReaderTube or anyone else.
  • Your reader.tube sign-in session cookie (__session, set by Clerk), through Chrome's cookies permission. The extension reads only this one reader.tube cookie, and uses it only to authenticate your save request to reader.tube. It reads no other cookies, on reader.tube, YouTube or any other site.

What the extension sends

Only when you click Save, the extension sends the YouTube video's address over HTTPS to reader.tube, with your session as authorisation. ReaderTube then adds the video to your Saved Videos and retrieves the video's details as described in section 1. The extension sends nothing else and contacts no server other than reader.tube (plus YouTube's image server for the thumbnail).

What the extension does not do

  • It does not collect your browsing history. On a page that is not a YouTube video, opening the popup only checks the tab's address and keeps nothing.
  • It does not record which videos you watch; only videos you choose to save reach ReaderTube.
  • It does not store data in your browser, and it contains no analytics or advertising code.
  • It does not load or run remote code; all of its code ships in the extension package.

Use and sharing of extension data

Data handled by the extension is used only to save videos to your ReaderTube account. We do not sell it, do not use it for advertising or creditworthiness purposes, and do not transfer it to third parties except the service providers in section 3 that host and operate ReaderTube. Our use of information received from the extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

You can remove the extension at any time from chrome://extensions. Videos you saved stay in your ReaderTube account until you delete them or ask us to delete your data (section 5). Help with the extension is on the Support page.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@reader.tube.