Privacy policy for Better YouTube Life

Last updated: October 5, 2026. Applies to version 0.1.0.

Better YouTube Life is an independent Chrome extension maintained by EkeMinusYou. It adds keyboard navigation and shortcuts to YouTube. It is not affiliated with YouTube or Google.

What the extension accesses

The extension runs only on https://www.youtube.com/*. It reads the current page's address, visible video links and titles, layout, player and chat controls, and keyboard/focus state to navigate videos and operate YouTube's existing controls. It ignores shortcut handling while you type in editable fields or use Japanese IME composition. It does not maintain a keystroke log.

Data stored in your browser

To restore your position when you go Back, the extension saves navigation state for up to 20 page addresses in the current tab:

• The page path and query string, which can include search terms and video IDs.
• The selected video ID and list position, if a video is selected.
• The horizontal and vertical scroll position and navigation mode.

This state is stored in YouTube-origin sessionStorage under better-youtube-life:navigation:v1, with an in-memory fallback if storage is unavailable. It is local browser storage, not a database operated by the maintainer. It is shared with the YouTube page's origin rather than being private extension storage, so scripts on that origin can access it.

Older entries are removed as more than 20 distinct page addresses are saved. The data normally lasts for the tab's browsing session, including page reloads; browser session restoration may preserve it after reopening a tab. You can remove it by clearing YouTube's site data in your browser. Disabling or uninstalling the extension does not itself clear this site storage.

Your extension preferences are saved in private extension storage.local under keys beginning with better-youtube-life:. These include the interface language, shortcut enablement, hint visibility and duration, automatic selection mode, position restoration, popup theme, sequence timeout, and chosen key bindings. English is the default language. Preferences stay in this browser, are not synced or transmitted, and are removed when you uninstall the extension. The storage permission is used for these preferences. Only the bindings you choose are saved; the extension does not record what you type.

You can restore the default preferences from Settings. Turning off position restoration clears this extension's saved navigation state in open YouTube tabs and stops saving new positions. Other YouTube site storage is left alone.

The extension does not persist account details, comments, live-chat drafts, payment information, or a full browsing history. Search terms may be retained as part of the page addresses described above.

Transmission and sharing

The extension does not send the accessed or stored data to the maintainer or to any external service. It has no analytics, advertising, telemetry, or remote code loading, and does not sell or share user data. Navigating to videos, searching, and using playback or chat controls still interact with YouTube itself; YouTube's own data practices are governed by Google's policies.

Chrome Web Store User Data Policy

Better YouTube Life's use of user data complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Data accessed from YouTube is used only to provide the extension's keyboard navigation, playback/chat shortcuts, and optional position restoration. It is not used for advertising, profiling, credit decisions, or any unrelated purpose.

The maintainer does not receive or read your YouTube activity, search terms, video selections, or typed content through the extension. Local processing and storage still constitute data handling; the sections above explain what is accessed, where it is stored, how long it is retained, and how to disable or clear saved navigation state.

Voluntary financial support

All extension features are free. The popup includes a voluntary support screen. The support button opens the maintainer's Buy Me a Coffee page in a separate tab, only when you choose to open it. Support is for the maintainer's development of free software, including this extension, and does not unlock any features. Buy Me a Coffee and its payment processor handle information you submit there under their own policies. See the Buy Me a Coffee privacy policy and Stripe privacy policy. Supporter information you choose to provide, such as a name or message, may be visible to the maintainer through that service. The extension does not read or store payment information, load a payment SDK, contact the service in the background, or transmit YouTube activity to it.

Support and changes

For questions about this policy or to report a bug, use the Google Forms contact form, also linked from Contact in the extension popup. The form opens only when you choose the link. Information you submit is handled by Google and made available to the maintainer to respond to your inquiry. See the Google privacy policy. The extension does not automatically collect or submit inquiry information.

Changes to data handling will be reflected in this policy and the release notes.

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