Legal · Pocket-Bookmarks
Privacy Policy
The short version
Pocket Bookmarks has no servers, no accounts and no analytics. It does not collect, transmit, sell or share your data, because there is nowhere for your data to go. Everything the extension stores stays on your own device or in your browser's own bookmark store.
There is one thing worth understanding clearly, and it is explained in full below: your bookmarks are real browser bookmarks, so if you have browser sync switched on, your browser — not this extension — syncs them the same way it syncs every other bookmark you have.
What the extension stores, and where
Your bookmarks live in your browser's own bookmark store. Saving a page creates an ordinary bookmark, identical to one you made yourself with the star button. The extension reads and writes that store through the browser's bookmarks API. It never keeps its own copy on a server.
Everything else stays on your device, in your browser's local IndexedDB storage for this extension:
- tags, notes and highlights you create
- the offline reader cache — the readable text and images of articles you chose to save for reading later
- reading progress and reading status
- the local search index built from the above
- your settings, and a local undo history
None of this is transmitted anywhere. It is readable only by this extension, on this device.
Browser sync — the one way data leaves your device
Because your saved links are ordinary browser bookmarks, they participate in your browser's sync exactly like the rest of your bookmarks. If you are signed into Chrome, Edge or Firefox with sync enabled, your browser uploads your bookmarks to your own account with that browser vendor and copies them to your other devices.
This is the point of the design — it is how your library follows you without this extension needing an account — but it should be stated plainly:
- The transfer is performed by your browser, not by Pocket Bookmarks.
- It goes to your Google, Microsoft or Mozilla account, under that vendor's privacy policy, not to the authors of this extension.
- It covers bookmarks only. Your tags, notes, highlights and reader cache are not synced and never leave the device they were created on.
- Turning off browser sync stops it entirely, and the extension keeps working.
Page content and the reader
When you save a page for reading later, the extension can extract that page's readable text so you can read it offline. This runs inside the page you are already looking at, and the result is stored locally. No page content is sent anywhere.
This requires the optional scripting permission, which is requested the first time you save with reader mode and can be declined. If you decline, saving still works — only the offline copy is skipped. You can revoke the permission at any time in your browser's extension settings.
The extension only ever looks at a page when you explicitly act on it — by clicking the toolbar icon, using a keyboard shortcut, or choosing a context-menu item. It does not read pages in the background, does not observe your browsing, and does not read your browser history.
Permissions, and why each exists
- bookmarks — Read and write your bookmarks. This is the core of the product.
- activeTab — Read the URL and title of the page you are saving, at the moment you save it.
- tabs — Read titles and URLs when you choose "save all open tabs".
- contextMenus — Add the right-click save options.
- storage, unlimitedStorage — Store settings and the local data listed above. The offline reader cache can exceed the small default quota.
- downloads — Save exported backup files to your computer, when you ask for an export.
- sidePanel — Draw the side-panel interface (Chromium browsers).
- favicon — Show site icons for saved pages, using icons your browser has already cached. This makes no network request.
- scripting (optional) — Extract article text for offline reading. Requested only when you first use reader mode, and declinable.
The extension requests no host permissions, so it has no standing access to any website.
What the extension does not do
- No accounts, no sign-in, no user profiles.
- No analytics, telemetry, crash reporting or usage statistics of any kind.
- No advertising, and no data sold, rented or shared with anyone.
- No remote code: all code is bundled in the package you install, and nothing is downloaded or executed at runtime.
- No tracking of your browsing, and no access to your browser history.
Your data, and deleting it
You are always in control:
- Export your library at any time from the extension, as a file on your computer.
- Deleting a bookmark removes the browser bookmark immediately. Its notes, tags, highlights and cached article are kept on your device, detached from the deleted bookmark, so that undo can restore them and so that a bookmark which reappears through browser sync gets its notes back rather than losing them. They are not shown in your library while detached, and they are not sent anywhere — but they are retained locally rather than erased. See below for how to remove them.
- Remove data from deleted bookmarks, in Settings, permanently erases everything detached in this way — notes, tags, highlights and cached articles — after telling you how many deleted bookmarks are affected. It cannot be undone, and undoing an earlier delete afterwards brings the bookmark back without its notes.
- Clearing the reader cache in Settings removes the offline article copies, including detached ones, without touching your bookmarks or notes.
- Uninstalling the extension removes all of its local data from your device, detached notes and cached articles included. Your bookmarks remain, because they belong to your browser rather than to this extension.
There is no data held by us to request, correct or delete, because none is collected. Rights under the GDPR, UK GDPR and CCPA are satisfied on the basis that no personal data is processed by the extension's authors.
Children
The extension collects no data from anyone, including children under 13, and is not directed at children.
Changes to this policy
If a future version changes what is stored or introduces any transmission of data, this policy will be updated before that version is released, and the change will be described in the release notes. The "last updated" date above will change accordingly.
Contact
Questions about this policy: legal (at) rippre (dot) com.