# Hilite privacy policy **Effective date:** 2026-10-18 **Applies to:** Hilite 1.1.2 Hilite keeps everything on your device. It has no servers, no accounts and no analytics, and it sends nothing to the developer or to any third party. ## What Hilite stores - **Highlights:** the exact text you highlight, a few words either side of it, where it sits on the page, its colour, any note, and when you created or last changed it. When Hilite finds a highlight again after a small edit to the page, it updates that highlight's stored position and context on your device. This is upkeep rather than an edit by you, so it does not change when the highlight was last changed. - **Page addresses and titles:** only for pages that have at least one highlight. Addresses are tidied before storage, with common tracking parameters such as `utm_*` removed. - **Settings:** your colours (including any colour preset you chose), default colour, toolbar and hover options, the scroll marker, side panel and underline switches, and any sites where you have turned Hilite off (hostnames only). - **Reminder state:** when Hilite was installed or updated, when you last exported a backup, and whether you dismissed the backup reminder or the review request. It is used only to decide whether to show those two prompts. When you visit a page, Hilite reads its text on your device only so it can place your highlights. Hilite keeps no list of the pages you visit. A page is recorded only after you highlight something on it, and its record is deleted when its last highlight is removed. The side panel shows the same local data as the popup, and it reads nothing beyond what the popup already shows. ## Where it is stored Everything is kept in `chrome.storage.local`, which lives in your browser profile on your device. Hilite does not use `chrome.storage.sync`, so highlights and settings do not sync between your devices. ## What Hilite does not do - It does not send your data to any server, and it makes no network requests of its own. - It does not need an account or a sign-in. - It does not use analytics, telemetry, crash reporting or advertising. - It does not use third-party services, SDKs or remote code. - It does not sell, rent or share your data, or use it for anything other than highlighting. - It does not read your browsing history or list your open tabs. ## What leaves your device Nothing, except a file you choose to export or a link you choose to share. Export creates a Markdown, JSON or CSV file that your browser saves where you tell it to. Once saved, that copy is yours and Hilite no longer controls it. Import reads a JSON file you choose, on your device. Copy link puts the highlighted words, in a link that also carries the page address, on your clipboard. Nothing is sent unless you share it yourself. The "Report a site" and "Write a review" buttons open a page in a new tab, and "Tell a friend" and "Share Hilite" copy the Chrome Web Store link to your clipboard, only when you click them. "Report a site" opens a new GitHub issue with a short set of prompts and the Hilite version filled in. It does not include the page you were on. ## Deleting your data - **One highlight:** delete it from the highlight's menu, the popup or the library. - **One page:** delete the page in the library. - **Everything:** use the clear-all option in the Data section of the Options page. - **Uninstall:** removing Hilite from `chrome://extensions` deletes the data it stored in your browser. Files you exported are not deleted, so remove them yourself. ## Permissions in plain words - **Storage:** keeps your highlights and settings in your browser. - **Unlimited storage:** lets your library grow past Chrome's default storage limit. - **Context menus:** adds Highlight to the right-click menu. - **Scripting:** starts Hilite on tabs that were already open when you installed it. - **Side panel:** opens Hilite's list of highlights beside the page, when you choose that option. - **Access to web pages (http and https):** runs Hilite on the pages you visit so it can place highlights. Hilite does not ask for the tabs or history permissions. ## Changelog - 2026-10-18: Hilite 1.1.2 is a fix release. It stores nothing new and sends nothing. - 2026-10-17: Hilite 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 add a side panel, Copy link, scroll markers, CSV export, colour presets and an underline option, with their settings stored on your device. Nothing is sent anywhere. - 2026-10-10: Hilite 1.0.1 stores local reminder state and adds the "Report a site", "Write a review" and "Tell a friend" buttons. Nothing is sent anywhere. - 2026-10-08: First version, for Hilite 1.0.0. ## Contact Questions or concerns: open an issue at https://github.com/CodeWithBehnam/hilite/issues. Do not post personal information in a public issue.