Reading Spotlight Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 3, 2026

Reading Spotlight is a Chrome extension that improves reading focus on the active web page. It runs locally in the browser and does not send page content, current-tab URLs or hostnames, browsing activity, settings, or reading progress to any external server.

Data Processed Locally

After a user action, such as opening the popup, using the keyboard shortcut, or choosing the context menu item, Reading Spotlight reads the active tab's page structure and visible text so it can place the focus layer, reading ruler, progress indicator, and typography controls. It also uses the active tab's URL and hostname to determine whether the site is excluded and, when reading progress saving is enabled, to create a hashed page key.

This processing happens locally in the browser. Reading Spotlight does not monitor background tabs and does not transmit page content or browsing activity.

Data Stored by the Extension

Reading Spotlight stores two kinds of data:

• Synced settings: visual preferences such as focus mode, overlay opacity, typography, dark mode, safe mode, and reading aid toggles are stored with chrome.storage.sync.
• Local-only data: excluded hostnames and optional reading progress are stored with chrome.storage.local on the current browser profile.

Reading progress is off by default. When enabled, Reading Spotlight stores a hashed page key, focused block index, short text hash, scroll position, timestamp, and whether the page used text-node grouping. This data is used only to restore the last focused block when the user revisits a page. Progress older than 24 hours is ignored.

Data Not Transmitted or Used for Tracking

Reading Spotlight does not sell, transmit, or share:

• Full page content
• Personal information entered into forms
• Account information
• Analytics or telemetry events
• A browsing history or cross-site activity profile

Excluded hostnames are stored only when the user chooses to exclude a site. Optional reading progress stores hashed page keys rather than full URLs, stays on the current browser profile, and is used only for the reading progress feature.

Data handled by Reading Spotlight is used only for the user-facing reading focus features described in the extension and Chrome Web Store listing. It is not transferred or sold to third parties, used for advertising, or reviewed by humans.

Permissions

Reading Spotlight uses activeTab and scripting to inject the reading layer only after a user action on the current tab. It uses storage to save user preferences and optional local progress. It uses contextMenus to provide a toggle command from the page context menu.

User Controls

Users can open the extension options page to clear reading progress, clear excluded sites, or reset settings. Users can also disable reading progress from the popup settings.

Contact

For support or privacy questions, contact: chowxec.extensions@gmail.com