Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-10-09

1. Overview

TagTube is a Chrome extension that helps you organize your YouTube subscriptions with your own tags. This policy explains what TagTube reads, what it stores, where it stores it, and what leaves your computer.

TagTube can run in two different ways, and they differ in exactly the ways that matter for privacy. Section 2 tells you which one applies to you, and the rest of this policy is marked accordingly.

Which version you have

Version 1.2.7.8 removes sign-in. Chrome updates extensions by itself, but not on the same day for everyone, so for a while some people will still have version 1.2.7.7 or earlier. This policy covers both. You can see your version on your browser's extensions page (chrome://extensions). Where something applies to one version only, it is marked "(1.2.7.8 and later)" or "(1.2.7.7 and earlier)".

Summary

The sections below give the detail. In short, for a new installation of version 1.2.7.8 or later, which runs in local mode:

• What is collected. The list of channels you are subscribed to, with their names and thumbnails. The tags you create and which channels carry them. Your settings. For usage analytics: which features you use and whether they worked, how many subscriptions and tags you have (as numbers), basic information about your browser, and a random ID for your installation. Sections 3, 4, 6 and 7.
• How it is used. Only to show you your subscriptions organized by your tags, inside the extension, and to tell us which features are used and where they fail. Nothing else. Section 8.
• How it is handled. Processed on your own computer. Any network request it needs goes over HTTPS. Sections 8 and 12.
• Where it is stored. In your browser's extension storage, on your computer. For a new installation there is no cloud copy and no account. Section 9.
• Who it is shared with. Your tags are shared with nobody. Your subscription list is not sent to us or to anyone else. To show a channel's recent videos, TagTube asks YouTube for that channel's public video list, so YouTube can see which channel is being asked about. The usage analytics go to Google Analytics. We do not sell your data, do not use it for advertising, and have no other recipients. Sections 13 and 14.
• How long it is kept, and how to remove it. On your computer until you delete it or uninstall TagTube. Analytics are kept for 14 months after your installation was last active. Section 10, and your controls are in section 11.

If you signed in with a Google account before TagTube stopped asking for sign-in, some things are different: your tags and recently opened channels are also stored in a cloud copy, and your name, profile picture and Google account ID are held by Google's sign-in service. That includes everyone using version 1.2.7.7 or earlier, because those versions require sign-in. Sections 5 and 9 cover that, and section 11 explains how to leave it.

2. Two ways TagTube can run

Local mode (1.2.7.8 and later)

There is no account and no sign-in. TagTube reads your subscription list from your own YouTube subscriptions page in your browser, and everything it saves stays on your computer. Your tags, the names you give them, and the identities of the channels you are subscribed to are never sent to us and are not stored on any server.

Apart from asking YouTube for your channels' recent videos, one thing leaves your computer: usage statistics, which include how many subscriptions and how many tags you have, as numbers only. Section 6 lists exactly what they are, and how to switch them off.

From version 1.2.7.8, every new installation runs in local mode. Earlier versions required signing in with a Google account, so they have no local mode.

Google account mode

In this mode you are signed in with your Google account. TagTube reads your subscriptions through YouTube's official interface for apps (the YouTube Data API), and saves your tags to a private cloud copy in our database, so they are available on your other computers.

On version 1.2.7.7 and earlier, every user is in this mode. From version 1.2.7.8, only people who were already signed in when they updated stay in it. Nobody new can enter it.

In version 1.2.7.8, the side panel shows your Google profile picture and offers a Disconnect account action. Disconnecting copies your tags to your computer, withdraws TagTube's access to your Google account, and moves you to local mode for good. Section 10 says what happens to the cloud copy.

TagTube never moves you out of this mode by itself, except in one case (1.2.7.8 and later): if your Google sign-in stops working, for example because you revoked TagTube's access. Then TagTube switches to local mode so you are not locked out, using the copy of your tags already on your computer. It does not read the cloud copy to do this. If there is no copy on your computer, you start in local mode with no tags, and the Options page offers to bring your tags back from your Google account (section 5). TagTube tells you when this has happened.

3. What TagTube reads from YouTube

In both modes TagTube reads the same thing: the list of channels you are subscribed to, with their names and thumbnail images. It does not read your watch history, your comments, your playlists, your likes, or anything else in your YouTube account. It never subscribes, unsubscribes, or changes anything on YouTube.

In local mode (1.2.7.8 and later)

• When you ask TagTube to load or refresh your subscriptions, it opens your YouTube subscriptions page (youtube.com/feed/channels) in a tab, reads the list from the page, and closes the tab again. This is the same page you can open yourself. If you open that page yourself, TagTube reads the list from it too. It never does this on a timer or in the background. It needs your permission to access youtube.com to do this, and asks for it before the first read.
• To show recent videos for a channel, TagTube fetches that channel's public video list from youtube.com (its public feed, or its public videos page if the feed is not working). No sign-in is involved.
• Your subscription list is saved on your computer so the extension works without re-reading the page every time. It is not sent anywhere.

In Google account mode

• TagTube reads your subscription list through the YouTube Data API, using the read-only permission you granted when you signed in.
• Recent videos come from the same public feeds and videos pages, with the YouTube Data API as a fallback.
• Your subscription list is saved on your computer. It is not copied to our cloud database.

On YouTube pages you open yourself

Once you have granted access to youtube.com, TagTube also runs a small script on the YouTube pages you open yourself, so that it can offer features inside YouTube rather than only in the side panel. That script:

• adds a TagTube button to the YouTube header
• notices when you click Subscribe on a channel, so TagTube can refresh your subscription list
• notices when you go fullscreen, so it can close the TagTube side panel while you watch
• can move YouTube's "You" tab back to its original place in the YouTube menu, above Subscriptions

Each of these four can be switched off individually in TagTube's Options page.

The same script also reads your subscriptions page when it is open. In local mode that is how your subscription list is read, as described above, and the list stays on your computer. This part has no separate switch, because local mode has no other way to get your list. You can stop it by withdrawing TagTube's access to youtube.com. In Google account mode it is used only for the measurement in section 7.

The script reads only what it needs from the page you are already looking at. It does not record which videos you watch, does not build any history of your browsing, and does not send anything about these pages to us or to anyone else. The single exception is the measurement described in section 7, which reports counts only and has a switch of its own.

4. Your tags and organization

This is the information you create by using TagTube:

• The tags you create, and their names
• Which channels you have put under which tags
• Which channels you opened in TagTube, when you last opened each one, and how many times, so TagTube can offer them for quick access
• Which tags you opened, when you last opened each one, and how many times, for the same reason
• Your extension settings

In local mode, all of this is stored on your computer, in your browser's extension storage, and nowhere else. We cannot see it.

In Google account mode, all of this is stored on your computer, and everything except most of your settings is also saved to a private cloud copy in our database. The settings that do go to the cloud copy are the sort orders you choose for the channels under your tags. This is so they are available on your other computers. That cloud copy can be read only by your own signed-in account.

5. Your Google account information

Google account mode only.

When you signed in, TagTube asked Google for two permissions and no others:

• Your basic profile: your name, your profile picture, and your Google account ID. The name and picture are shown in the extension so you can see which account is signed in. When you sign in, Firebase Authentication (Google's sign-in service for apps) gives you a user ID that only TagTube uses. That user ID names your own private cloud copy, so that TagTube can find your tags and nobody else's.
• Read-only access to your YouTube account: used only to read your subscription list, as described in section 3.

Your name, profile picture and Google account ID are stored on your computer and in Firebase Authentication.

After you disconnect (1.2.7.8 and later), TagTube keeps three things on your computer: your Google account ID, its last saved copy of your cloud data, and Firebase's saved sign-in record (which includes your name and picture). The first two are what lets the Options page show your cloud data reference (section 10) and bring your tags back. The sign-in record is simply never removed. TagTube no longer shows your name or picture. All of it is removed when you uninstall TagTube.

Your email address

TagTube does not ask Google for your email address, and never stores or sends one. Chrome lists an email-related permission for TagTube only because Chrome requires it before an extension can check whether the browser is signed in to Google; TagTube uses just the yes or no answer. This applies in both modes and in every version.

Bringing your tags back (1.2.7.8 and later)

This is the one other case where sign-in is offered. If you used TagTube with a Google account in this browser profile and are now in local mode, TagTube's Options page offers to sign in once and copy your tags back from your cloud copy. It warns you first that this replaces the tags on this computer. This works only while TagTube is still installed in the same browser profile where you used your Google account. It is not offered after you uninstall TagTube, or on a new computer. That sign-in uses the same two permissions above, reads your existing cloud copy, and does not put you back into Google account mode. TagTube stays local afterwards.

6. Usage analytics

TagTube sends usage data to Google Analytics 4 so we can see which features are used and find problems. This happens in both modes. The data does not contain your name or any account details. It is not anonymous, though: it carries a random ID for your installation, described at the end of this section.

What is sent:

• Which screens you open in the extension, and which features you use, for example creating a tag, switching tags, opening a channel or a video, running a search, or changing the view
• Whether an action succeeded or failed, and why it failed, for example that loading your subscriptions failed, or that saving to your device was refused
• Counts, not contents: how many subscriptions you have, how many tags you have created, and how many of your channels are tagged. These are numbers only.
• Basic technical information: which browser and which version of it, which operating system and which version of it, the type of device (for example desktop), your browser's language setting, the extension version, whether you have granted access to youtube.com, which sign-in method TagTube uses on your browser, and which of the two modes in section 2 you are in (1.2.7.8 and later)
• If TagTube cannot understand how YouTube words the age of videos (such as "3 days ago") in your language, a short sample of that wording, at most once a day. This is YouTube's own text, not anything you typed or watched.
• The random ID for your installation, and a visit number (the time the visit started), so that events from the same visit can be grouped together
• Your IP address reaches Google as part of each request, as with any request your browser makes. TagTube does not send it as data, and never receives or stores it.

What is never sent:

• The names of the tags you create. When an event involves one of your own tags, it is reported as a placeholder rather than by name.
• The names or IDs of the channels you are subscribed to, click, or tag
• The titles of videos you open
• Your name, profile picture, email address, or Google account ID
• Anything you type into the search box

Turning it off (1.2.7.8 and later): use the switch "Share usage data" in TagTube's Options page, under "Improving TagTube". It is on unless you turn it off. Turning it off stops all of it, and nothing at all is then sent to Google Analytics.

1.2.7.7 and earlier have no switch for usage analytics. On those versions it is always on, and the only way to stop it is to uninstall TagTube. Version 1.2.7.8 adds the switch, and Chrome installs that update for you once it is available.

The random installation ID. TagTube creates it in your browser the first time it runs. It is not made from your Google account and is not linked to it. It stays the same until you uninstall the extension or clear its storage. So we cannot tell who you are from it, but we can tell that two visits came from the same installation.

7. Subscription reading measurement

Google account mode only, in all current versions.

Local mode reads your subscriptions from your YouTube subscriptions page, and we need to know that this works reliably for different kinds of accounts. To check it, when you visit that page yourself, TagTube reads the list from the page and compares it with the list it already has from the YouTube Data API.

Only the comparison leaves your computer: how many channels each method found, how many matched, and if the read failed, the reason it failed. The channel identities are used to compute the overlap and are then discarded. They are never stored and never transmitted.

You can turn this off at any time in TagTube's Options page, under "Improving TagTube", with the switch "Help improve subscription syncing". This switch is in all current versions. It is on by default. In 1.2.7.8 and later, turning off usage analytics also stops this measurement.

8. How we use this information

The sections above say what TagTube reads. This section says what it is for, which is a shorter list.

• Your tags, and which channels carry them are used only to show you your own tagged feeds inside the extension, and in Google account mode to keep them the same on your other computers. We do not analyse them and we do not use them to build an audience or a profile.
• The channels and tags you opened recently are used only to offer them to you for quick access.
• Your subscription list is used only to fill the extension's channel list and the video feeds you open.
• Your name, picture and Google account ID (Google account mode only) are used only to show you which account is signed in, to find your own cloud copy, and to show you your cloud data reference.
• Usage analytics are used only to count how often features are used and how often they fail, so we can decide what to fix and what to build next.
• The subscription reading measurement is used only to judge whether reading the page is as reliable as the API, so that local mode works for everyone.

That is the whole of it. We do not use any of this for advertising. We do not sell it. We do not transfer it to data brokers or advertising platforms. We do not use it to assess creditworthiness or for lending. No person at TagTube reads your tags, the channels you are subscribed to, or anything you type into the search box; the only thing we look at is aggregated analytics.

TagTube processes all of this on your own computer. Where a network request is needed, it goes to YouTube, to Google, to our database, or, in Google account mode on some browsers, to our sign-in helper (section 14). It always goes over HTTPS. Section 12 covers that.

9. Where your data is stored

On your computer

In your browser's extension storage: your subscription list, the recent videos TagTube has loaded for your channels, your tags and which channels carry them, your recently opened channels and tags, and your settings. In Google account mode, also your name, profile picture and Google account ID, a saved copy of your cloud data, and Firebase's saved sign-in record. After you disconnect, TagTube keeps your Google account ID, its last saved copy of your cloud data and Firebase's saved sign-in record, as section 5 explains.

In the cloud

Google account mode only. Your tags, which channels carry them, the sort orders you chose for them, and the channels and tags you opened recently (with when and how many times) are stored in a private cloud copy in our Firebase Firestore database, hosted by Google. Each cloud copy can be read and changed only by the account that owns it. Firebase Authentication holds your name, profile picture and Google account ID.

In local mode nothing is stored in the cloud at all, and there is no account for anything to be stored under.

10. Retention and deletion

Data on your computer

• Deleted when you uninstall the extension.
• You can delete your tags at any time from within the extension, and you can clear the extension's storage from your browser's settings.

Data in the cloud

This means everything in your cloud copy: your tags, which channels carry them, their sort orders, and your recently opened channels and tags. It also means your sign-in record in Firebase Authentication (your name, profile picture and Google account ID). That record is kept on the same terms as the cloud copy, and whenever we delete your cloud copy, on request or when we shut down cloud sync, we delete that record too.

• How long it is kept. Your cloud copy is kept until you ask us to delete it, or until we shut down cloud sync, whichever comes first. There is no shutdown date yet. When there is, it will be announced in this policy.
• While you are signed in, deleting your tags in the extension deletes them from the cloud copy too, because that is where the extension saves them.
• Disconnecting does not delete it (1.2.7.8 and later). When you disconnect, TagTube copies your tags to your computer, checks the copy, and then switches you to local mode. It refuses to disconnect if that copy cannot be made. The cloud copy is left in place. While TagTube is still installed in the same browser profile, the Options page can copy your tags back from it if your local copy is lost. This does not work after you uninstall TagTube, or on a new computer.
• Signing out does not delete it either (1.2.7.7 and earlier). Signing out leaves the cloud copy in place, and signing back in uses it again.
• While you are in local mode TagTube neither reads nor writes the cloud copy, apart from the one-off recovery you can start yourself from the Options page. The move to local mode is one-way.
• Deletion on request, within 7 days. Write to the address in section 18. We will delete your cloud copy within seven days of receiving your request with your cloud data reference. TagTube never asks for your email address, so an email from you does not by itself tell us which stored data is yours. The reference does. The Options page shows it (1.2.7.8 and later), and it stays there even after you disconnect. On 1.2.7.7 and earlier it is not shown; once TagTube has updated to 1.2.7.8 it appears. If you write without it, we will reply and ask for it.
• Before you ask for deletion, stop using the cloud copy. If you are still signed in, the next time TagTube saves a change it would create the cloud copy again. So on 1.2.7.8 and later, disconnect first. On 1.2.7.7 and earlier, download a backup of your tags from the Options page and then sign out.
• Backups. Our database keeps automatic short-term backups, provided by Google, so that data can be restored after a mistake. After we delete your cloud copy, these backups can still hold it for up to seven more days. They then expire on their own. The sign-in record has no such backup; once deleted, it is gone.
• If you no longer have your reference, for example because you uninstalled TagTube, we cannot tell which cloud copy is yours. In that case your cloud copy is deleted when we shut down cloud sync.
• Revoking access does not delete it. If you revoke TagTube's access to your Google account (section 11), TagTube can no longer reach your cloud copy, but the copy is not deleted, and nothing tells us that you revoked access. To have it deleted, write to us with your reference. Otherwise it is deleted when we shut down cloud sync.

TagTube keeps two kinds of YouTube information on your computer: your subscription list, and the recent videos it has loaded for your channels (their titles, thumbnails, links and dates). Both go when you uninstall. The recent videos are kept when you sign out or disconnect, because they are not tied to an account. In Google account mode your subscription list is refreshed from YouTube at least daily while you use the extension. In local mode it is refreshed only when you ask TagTube to, or when you open your subscriptions page yourself. In Google account mode, your cloud copy also holds the IDs of the channels you tagged or opened, because those IDs are what your tags and recent channels point at.

Analytics

• Held by Google Analytics. Data linked to your installation is kept for 14 months after your installation was last active, and then deleted by Google Analytics. Totals that are not linked to any installation may remain in our reports.

11. Your choices

• Withdraw access to youtube.com at any time from Chrome's extension settings. TagTube keeps working, but most recent videos stop loading and its features on YouTube pages stop. In local mode it can also no longer read your subscription list. In Google account mode your subscription list still loads, because it comes through the YouTube Data API. You can grant access again at any time.
• Turn off the usage analytics in section 6 (1.2.7.8 and later), and the measurement in section 7 (all current versions), in TagTube's Options page under "Improving TagTube". Both are on until you turn them off. Section 6 explains what this means for 1.2.7.7 and earlier, which have no analytics switch.
• Leave Google account mode with Disconnect account inside the extension (1.2.7.8 and later). Your tags are copied to your computer first, and TagTube offers you a backup file on the way out. Versions 1.2.7.7 and earlier have no local mode to move to. Their Sign out action stops TagTube using your account until you sign in again.
• Revoke TagTube's access to your Google account at https://myaccount.google.com/permissions. This does not delete your cloud copy; section 10 explains how to have it deleted.
• Take your tags with you: the Options page can download your tags as a file, and restore them from one. This is worth doing in local mode, where your computer holds the only copy.
• Delete everything by uninstalling the extension. If you also want your cloud copy removed, write to us with the cloud data reference from the Options page (1.2.7.8 and later), as described in section 10. Note it down before you uninstall, because uninstalling removes the Options page too.

When usage analytics are turned off, nothing is saved up to send later, and nothing is sent about the fact that you turned them off.

12. Security

• All communication with YouTube, Google, our database and our sign-in helper is over HTTPS.
• You sign in on Google's own sign-in page. TagTube never sees or stores your password. On some browsers our sign-in helper handles the sign-in keys that Google issues, as section 14 describes. It does not store them.
• Cloud copies are protected by database rules that allow access only to the account that owns them.

13. How your data is shared, and with whom

TagTube is made by one small developer and there is no business built on your data. In plain terms:

• We do not sell your information, and we never have.
• We do not use it for advertising, and we do not transfer it to anyone for advertising, profiling or any form of ad targeting.
• We do not use it to build a profile of you, and we do not use it for creditworthiness or lending decisions.
• The only parties that receive any of it are the services listed in section 14: Google's services, and our own sign-in helper. They receive it only so that TagTube can do the job you installed it for: signing you in, holding your cloud copy if you are in Google account mode, showing channel videos, and counting feature usage. There are no other recipients, no data brokers and no partners.
• We do not read your tags or your subscription list. In local mode we could not, because your tags and subscription list never leave your computer. In Google account mode we open your cloud copy only if you ask us to, for example when you ask us to delete it.
• We disclose data if the law requires it. If we were ever compelled by valid legal process, we would comply. Where we have a way to reach you, we would tell you, unless we were forbidden from doing so.

Section 16 states formally that our use of information received from Google APIs follows Google's Limited Use requirements, which is what the bullets above amount to.

14. Third-party services

TagTube relies on these services. All but the last are run by Google:

• YouTube: your subscription list and channel videos.
• Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore: sign-in and your cloud copy, in Google account mode.
• Google Analytics 4: the usage data in section 6.
• Our sign-in helper: a small service of our own, hosted on Google Cloud. It is used only in Google account mode, and only on browsers where Chrome's built-in sign-in is not used: Chrome when the browser itself is not signed in to Google, and Edge, Brave, Opera and other browsers. When you sign in, it receives the one-time code Google gives TagTube, exchanges it with Google for sign-in keys, and passes those keys back to TagTube. Later it renews those keys in the same way. It does not receive your name, profile picture, tags or subscriptions, and it does not store anything it receives. If an exchange fails, it records the error Google returned, with the sign-in keys removed. Google Cloud, which hosts it, keeps its own standard records of requests.

In Google account mode TagTube uses YouTube API Services. By using it you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service, and your data is also handled under the Google Privacy Policy.

TagTube is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official product of YouTube or Google.

15. What each browser permission is for

Chrome shows you a list of permissions when you install an extension, and that list is not self-explanatory. Here is every one TagTube asks for and why.

• storage: saves your tags, your subscription list and your settings on your computer.
• sidePanel: lets TagTube appear in the browser's side panel, which is where it lives.
• alarms: in Google account mode, schedules saving your changes to your cloud copy, a couple of minutes after you make them. In 1.2.7.8 and later it also makes sure a subscriptions tab that TagTube opened is closed again if reading it does not finish. It is never used to read YouTube on a schedule.
• activeTab and scripting: let TagTube read your subscriptions page and add its features to YouTube pages, as described in section 3. They are used only on youtube.com, and only once you have granted access to youtube.com.
• identity: sign-in, which applies in Google account mode (every user of 1.2.7.7 and earlier) and to bringing your tags back, as described in section 5.
• identity.email: required by Chrome before an extension may ask whether the browser is signed in to Google at all. TagTube does not use your email address. Section 5 explains this.
• Access to youtube.com: optional. You grant it, TagTube asks before the first time it is needed, and you can withdraw it at any time from your browser's settings.

16. Compliance and Limited Use

TagTube's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements, and to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

TagTube also follows:

• Chrome Web Store Developer Program Policies
• YouTube API Services Terms of Service and Developer Policies

Children. TagTube is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. When we do, the new version is posted here with an updated date at the top.

18. Contact

For questions, or to ask us to delete your cloud data, write to helpzonedev@gmail.com. For a deletion request, please include the cloud data reference shown in TagTube's Options page (1.2.7.8 and later). We delete your cloud copy, and your sign-in record in Firebase Authentication with it, within seven days of receiving your request with the reference. Section 10 explains why the reference is needed and what to do first.