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Privacy Policy

Last updated: February 2026

Introduction

LucidRead is a free Chrome extension that processes everything locally on your device. We are committed to your privacy. This policy explains what data we do and don't collect — and the short answer is: we collect nothing.

Information We Collect

None. LucidRead does not collect, transmit, or store any personal information. There are no accounts, no analytics, no tracking. We have no servers that receive your data. We don't know who you are, what you read, or how you use the extension.

How LucidRead Works

All text processing, styling, text-to-speech, dictionary lookups, annotations, and every other feature happen entirely within your browser. No data ever leaves your device. LucidRead modifies the visual presentation of web pages locally using standard browser APIs — nothing is sent to external servers for processing.

Permissions Explained

LucidRead requests the following Chrome permissions, each for a specific purpose:

  • storage — Saves your preferences (font size, color settings, enabled features, etc.) using Chrome's built-in chrome.storage.sync and chrome.storage.local APIs. This keeps your settings consistent across your Chrome devices without any external server.
  • activeTab — Allows LucidRead to access and modify the content of the currently active tab when you activate the extension. This is required to apply typography changes, color overlays, reader mode, and all other visual modifications to the page you're reading.
  • contextMenus — Adds LucidRead options to the right-click context menu, allowing you to quickly access features like text-to-speech, dictionary lookup, or highlighting for selected text.
  • sidePanel — Opens the LucidRead control panel as a Chrome side panel, giving you easy access to all settings and features without leaving the page you're reading.
  • alarms — Powers the focus timer and reading session features. Alarms run locally within Chrome and do not communicate with any external service.

Optional Host Permissions

LucidRead also declares two optional host permissions that are only requested when you enable specific features:

  • tapspeaksymbols.blob.core.windows.net — Used only when the Picture Dictionary feature is enabled. Fetches TapSpeak symbol images to display visual representations alongside word definitions. No personal data is sent — only the symbol filename is requested.
  • jimrtyler.github.io/lucidread-lang — Used only when the Bilingual Tooltips feature is enabled. Downloads language pack files to provide hover-over translations. No personal data is sent — only the language pack filename is requested.

Data Storage

LucidRead uses chrome.storage.sync to save your preferences (font size, color settings, enabled features, profiles, etc.) across your Chrome devices. This is Chrome's built-in sync mechanism tied to your Google account, managed entirely by Chrome itself.

Per-page data such as highlights, sticky notes, and annotations is stored in chrome.storage.local, which stays on your device.

This data never leaves Chrome's built-in storage system. LucidRead has no external database, no cloud storage, and no server infrastructure.

Third-Party Services

LucidRead does not use any analytics services, advertising networks, or tracking tools. The only optional external requests are:

  • TapSpeak Symbols CDN — Only when the Picture Dictionary feature is enabled. Fetches symbol images for visual word representations.
  • Language Packs — Only when the Bilingual Tooltips feature is enabled. Downloads translation data for hover-over bilingual tooltips.

Both of these are opt-in features that you must explicitly enable. When disabled, LucidRead makes zero network requests.

Children's Privacy

LucidRead is safe for children of all ages. Because we collect no personal information from anyone — including children — we fully comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). There is no data to collect, store, or share. See our COPPA compliance page for details.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Because LucidRead collects no data, policy changes will generally relate to new features or permission explanations rather than data practices.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at jim@tapspeak.org.