Privacy Policy

Unlock YouTube Comments ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our Chrome Extension.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect limited information required to provide the core functionality of the extension:

• Identity Information: When you log in via Google OAuth2, our servers briefly receive your Google user ID, name, email address, and profile picture from Google to verify your identity on each request. We do not access your Google account password. Our database only permanently stores your Google user ID and profile picture — we do not write your email address or full name to our database.
• Generated Nickname: The display name shown on your comments is not related to your email address or your Google name. It is a random nickname (an adjective, a noun, and a random number, e.g. "@CheerfulFalcon4821") generated once for your account. This nickname is permanently linked to your Google user ID in our database, so the same nickname is reused for all of your future comments, and is displayed publicly alongside them.
• App Data: We store comments, replies, likes/dislikes, and notification states that you actively create within our custom comment section.
• IP Address: We temporarily process your IP address to enforce rate limits (e.g. limiting how many comments can be posted per minute) and prevent spam and abuse. IP addresses are not written to our database and are not used for tracking or advertising.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected data strictly to:

• Authenticate your identity so you can post comments under a unique nickname and profile picture.
• Deliver real-time notifications inside the extension popup when another user replies to your comment.
• Render the custom comment threads on YouTube video pages.
• Prevent spam and abuse (e.g. rate-limiting comment submissions by IP address and account).

3. Local Storage on Your Device

After you log in, the extension stores your Google user ID, name, email address, profile picture URL, and a temporary Google OAuth access token in your browser's local storage on youtube.com pages. This is used to keep you signed in and to authenticate requests to our backend without requiring you to log in again on every page. This information stays in your browser's local storage until you log out, until the access token expires, or until you clear your browser data. It is stored only on your device and is not part of our server-side database.

4. Permissions and Justifications

Our extension requires the following Chrome permissions to function:

• activeTab: Used to safely detect the current YouTube video URL to fetch the correct comment thread.
• identity: Used to authenticate you securely via Google OAuth2.
• scripting: Used to inject the custom comment UI onto the YouTube watch page.
• tabs: Used to listen for video navigation changes so the comment section loads without a full page reload.
• Host Permissions (youtube.com): Ensures the extension runs only on official YouTube watch pages.

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal data to third parties. Your data is never used for tracking, advertising, or creditworthiness assessments. Your Google email and profile data pass through Google's own servers to verify your identity but are not shared with any other third party.

6. Data Security

We implement standard security measures on our hosting platform (Render/MongoDB) to protect your data from unauthorized access, alteration, or disclosure. Because your access token and profile information are stored in your browser's local storage (see Section 3), we recommend keeping your browser and extensions up to date and logging out on shared devices.

7. Changes to This Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can reach us through our contact page.