Last updated: April 1, 2026
Overview
Text Highlighter is a Chrome extension that provides word-by-word reading highlighting and voice-activated follow-along. We are committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what data the extension handles and how.
Data we collect
None. Text Highlighter does not collect, transmit, or share any personal data, browsing history, or website content to any server or third party.
Data stored locally
The extension stores your preferences using Chrome's built-in storage API (chrome.storage.local). This includes:
- Highlight color, style, and animation speed settings
- Word group size and line count preferences
- Last reading position (for resume-on-refresh)
- Whether the highlighter was active on a particular site
- Voice follow on/off state
This data stays on your device and is never sent to us or any third party.
Microphone access
The voice follow feature uses your device's microphone to listen to you read aloud and advance the highlight automatically. Microphone access is:
- Only activated when you press V or toggle voice follow on
- Processed locally in your browser using the Web Speech API (Chrome's built-in speech recognition)
- Never recorded, stored, or transmitted by the extension
- Stopped immediately when you press V again or close the tab
Chrome's built-in speech recognition may send audio to Google's servers for processing as part of Chrome's standard speech recognition service. This is a Chrome platform feature, not controlled by this extension.
Website access
The extension automatically activates on the following sites:
docs.google.com/presentation/*(Google Slides)abbaselama.org/*(Orthodox prayer texts)bibleonline.geezexperience.com/*(Tigrinya Bible)www.biblegateway.com/*(Bible Gateway)
The extension can also be manually activated on any webpage by clicking the extension icon or pressing Option+H. This requires the optional "all sites" permission, which Chrome will prompt you to grant. On all sites, the extension reads text content solely to identify words for highlighting. No page content is stored, transmitted, or logged.
Third-party services
Text Highlighter does not use any analytics, tracking, or advertising services. The only external service interaction is Chrome's built-in speech recognition when voice follow is active (see Microphone Access above).
Changes to this policy
If this policy is updated, the changes will be posted on this page with a revised date.
Contact
If you have questions about this privacy policy, please open an issue on our GitHub repository.