Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-10-06

Open Book Reader is designed to be completely private.

What we collect

Nothing. The extension does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data, browsing history, or page content to us or any third party. The only data that ever leaves your device is a message you deliberately choose to send us — see Reporting a problem below.

Network activity

Core reading is fully local: article extraction and pagination (and the image-gallery layout) happen entirely in your browser, and the Mozilla Readability library is bundled inside the extension — nothing is fetched from external servers for reading.

The extension makes network requests in one case only: when you explicitly download images from the image-gallery mode. To save an image, or to bundle several into a ZIP, your browser fetches those image URLs (the same images the page already shows). This happens only on your action (clicking a download / ZIP button), the bytes go only to your device, and nothing is ever sent to the developer or any third party.

Reporting a problem

The reader and image-gallery toolbars have a ⚠ Report button. It opens a small report page (part of the extension) where you describe the problem and choose how to send it — both entirely up to you:

By email — opens your own email client with a pre-filled message. The extension only prepares the draft; you review and send it from your own account.
By web form — submits your message to a Google Form (so reporting still works if you have no email client set up). This goes to Google as the form provider, sends only what you typed plus the diagnostics shown on the page, and only when you click Send.

Either way, the message includes the address of the page you were on (path only — any ?query string is stripped), the mode you were using, and the extension version, so the bug can be reproduced. Your email address is included only if you choose to add it for a reply. The extension never transmits anything on its own — nothing leaves your device until you submit.

The back-cover page at the end of an article, and the reader's ⋯ menu, have a Share this article button. It opens a small menu that builds a link to openbook.peach-studio.com/read carrying the article's address and title, with tracking tags such as utm_ parameters removed first. You choose what happens to it: your system's share sheet, your clipboard, an email draft, or a social network's own share page (X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, WhatsApp, Telegram, and LINE, Weibo or VK in some languages). Nothing is sent anywhere until you pick one, and a network's share page receives only the link and title you chose to share there, under that network's own privacy policy.

The address and title sit after a # in the link, the part a browser never sends to a server, so opening the link does not tell the developer or the site's host what was shared. The page then asks the Open Book extension in your friend's browser, if they have it, whether it is installed, so it can either show how to get it or, when it is installed, take them on to the article. Only that site can ask, the extension answers only whether it is installed and whether it may already open that article in reading mode (because its owner opted in below, or already gave Open Book access to that site), and the answer stays in their browser.

Opening shared links straight in reading mode (optional). On that page, someone who has Open Book can choose Always open shared links in reading mode. That asks Chrome for access to all sites, which is what lets Open Book open the reader on the shared article without a keypress. From then on, when they open a shared link, Open Book takes that tab to the article and opens the reader there, entirely inside their browser. Nothing is collected or sent, and they can turn it off any time in Open Book's Site access settings or in chrome://extensions. They can instead choose Always open that one site in reading mode, which turns on auto-open for that site (below) and asks Chrome for access to that site only.

Uninstall survey

When you remove the extension, your browser may open a short one-question page asking why you left. Answering is optional and works exactly like reporting a problem (a Google Form, or your own email — only what you choose to send). You may add your email if you'd like us to let you know when we fix what made you leave, but it is never required — leave it blank and the feedback stays anonymous.

So that "it didn't work on this site" can be fixed, the survey link your browser holds carries the address of the last page you opened (or tried to open) the reader on (path only — any ?query string is stripped; never a page from an incognito window). It sits after a # in the link, the part a browser never sends to a server, so opening the survey does not send that address to any server. If you say the extension didn't work on a site or grabbed the wrong text, the survey shows that address in a Report the problem site box, checked and editable. It is sent only if you submit the form with the box checked — uncheck it, or clear it, and it is left out. Like any page you open, the survey tab's address — that page address included — is recorded in your browser history.

Data stored on your device

Everything below is written by your own browser and is never sent to the developer — except the survey link's page address, and only if you choose to send it with the survey. Removing the extension clears it from this device. Preferences and per-site choices synced through your Google account may come back if you install the extension again, and the survey tab's entry stays in your browser history (see Uninstall survey).

Synced across your signed-in Chrome devices (Chrome's storage.sync, through your own Google account — never through us):

Reading preferences — font size, theme, book width, spine width, line height, and your gallery layout choices.
Per-site choices you made deliberately — a saved content pick, images you hid as repeated noise, per-site gallery settings, and the sites you turned auto-open on for. These are keyed by site name, so the list of sites you set something up on syncs along with them.

Kept on this device only (Chrome's storage.local, never synced):

Reading positions — where you stopped in an article and how long you spent on it, so the reader can offer to resume. An entry records the site and the page path (any ?query string is dropped), which makes it a record of the articles you opened the reader on. It stays on this device.
Your own counters — articles finished and total reading time, used only to show your stats on the back-cover page and to decide whether to ask you for a rating.

Held by Chrome itself:

The uninstall-survey link — it names the last page you opened the reader on (see Uninstall survey). Each new page replaces it, and it is used only if you remove the extension.

Incognito windows leave no reading record. Reading in one saves no position, no reading time and no counters — nothing about it outlives the session. Changes you make deliberately there, such as switching the theme, still save as preferences.

Permissions

Requested at install (the minimal set):

activeTab / scripting — used only to render the reading view (text or image gallery) on the page you explicitly activate it on.
storage — used only to remember your preferences and the reading data described above.
contextMenus — used only to add the extension's own right-click menu items.

Optional — never requested at install; asked for only when you first use the feature that needs it:

downloads — used only to save images you explicitly download from the image gallery.
host access (<all_urls>) — used only to fetch image bytes when you ask to download a ZIP of selected images, and to open the reader on the shared articles you open. It is one permission for all of these: granting it from either place (the ZIP download's Allow all sites, or a shared-link page's Turn on & read) enables both, and it also covers the sites you turned auto-open on for — so removing it pauses those too until you allow them again. It is never used to monitor or transmit page content.
per-site host access — granted only if you turn on auto-open for a site (right-click → Auto-open on this site, or Always open that site in reading mode on a shared-link page). It lets the extension check that one site's pages as they load — entirely inside your browser — to open reading mode on content pages. Nothing is read for any other purpose and nothing is transmitted; you can revoke it any time in the site's rules or in chrome://extensions.

The extension only runs when you click its icon or press its keyboard shortcut — on sites where you explicitly turned auto-open on — or, if you turned on opening shared links in reading mode, on a shared article you open from a share link. It does not run in the background or on any other page.

Contact

For questions about this policy, open an issue at the project's repository or email the developer.