PRIVACY POLICY – BETTER LYRICS FOR CHROME
Last Updated: October 2026
At Better Lyrics, we believe that your music listening habits and personal browsing data should remain entirely private. This Privacy Policy clearly describes how our extension operates, why specific browser permissions are requested, and our unwavering commitment to zero data collection.
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1. OUR CORE PRIVACY PROMISE
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• Zero Personal Data Collection: We do not collect, log, track, or transmit any personally identifiable information (PII), such as your name, email address, IP address, browsing history, or keystrokes.
• No Tracking or Analytics: Better Lyrics does not include Google Analytics, advertising trackers, tracking pixels, or third-party behavioral monitors.
• No Data Selling or Monetization: Your data is never sold, leased, traded, or shared with advertisers, brokers, or data analytics firms.
• 100% Local Execution: Everything from lyric timing alignment to font rendering runs locally within your browser.
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2. DETAILED BREAKDOWN OF REQUESTED PERMISSIONS
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Better Lyrics adheres strictly to Google Chrome's Least Privilege Model. We request only the absolute minimum permissions required for core features to work:
1. "storage"
• Why it is needed: Saves your display preferences locally on your machine.
• What is stored: Visual theme selection (Emerald, Cyan, Violet, OLED), preferred font size (e.g., 18px), auto-scroll toggle state, and manual sync offset values (-0.5s / +0.5s).
• What is NOT stored: No passwords, no login tokens, no search history, and no profile data.
2. Host Permissions: "https://music.youtube.com/*" and "https://www.youtube.com/*"
• Why it is needed: To inject the lyrics overlay and read the metadata (song title, artist name, and playback timestamp) from the player bar.
• What it does: Enables real-time synchronization, lyric line highlighting, and allows you to seek playback by clicking on any lyric line.
• Scope: Strictly limited to YouTube Music and YouTube domains. It cannot access any other website or tab in your browser.
3. Host Permission: "https://lrclib.net/*"
• Why it is needed: To query the free, community-driven, open-source LRCLIB lyrics database.
• What is transmitted: Only the song title and artist name (e.g., "Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen") and song duration to fetch matching time-synced LRC files.
• What is NOT transmitted: No user identity, no account info, and no personal data.
4. Host Permission: "https://api.lyrics.ovh/*"
• Why it is needed: Serves as an open-source fallback to retrieve plain text lyrics if synchronized LRC data is not found for rare or indie tracks.
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3. ARE ALL THESE PERMISSIONS REALLY NECESSARY?
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YES, every single permission listed above is strictly necessary, and here is why no fewer permissions can be used without breaking core functionality:
Q: Could we remove the "storage" permission?
A: Without "storage", your personal settings (lyric font size, color theme, and sync timing adjustments) would be erased every time you close your browser tab or restart Chrome. "storage" is the safest standard way in Chrome to preserve non-sensitive display preferences locally.
Q: Could we remove host permissions for "music.youtube.com"?
A: No. Chrome extension security prevents extensions from reading text or injecting custom UI into web pages unless explicit host permissions are granted. Without this, Better Lyrics would not be able to read what song you are listening to, could not highlight the active line, and could not seek playback when you click a line.
Q: Could we remove host permissions for "lrclib.net" and "api.lyrics.ovh"?
A: No. YouTube Music does not provide timestamped synchronized lyrics for millions of songs. The extension must contact an external public lyrics database (LRCLIB) to download the synchronized timestamp data (.lrc). Without this network access, synced lyrics would be impossible to deliver.
Q: Did we avoid broad, invasive permissions?
A: Absolutely! Many low-quality extensions request dangerous permissions such as "<all_urls>", "webRequest", "cookies", "history", or "management". Better Lyrics explicitly DOES NOT request any of these:
✓ No activeTab (redundant permission removed to keep privileges minimal).
✓ No access to all websites (limited strictly to YouTube Music / YouTube and the lyrics API).
✓ No access to cookies or session credentials.
✓ No access to browsing history or bookmarks.
✓ No background network interception.
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4. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES & APIs
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To display time-synced lyrics, the extension sends automated requests to LRCLIB (https://lrclib.net) and lyrics.ovh, recognized open-source lyric projects.
• Requests contain only song titles and artist names.
• Neither service requires user authentication or API keys.
• No personal information is provided to these services.
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5. DATA SECURITY & USER CONTROL
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All user preferences are kept within Chrome's sandboxed local storage. You maintain 100% control over the extension at all times:
• You can toggle the in-page lyrics overlay on or off at any moment.
• You can clear saved extension data simply by resetting settings in the extension popup or removing the extension from chrome://extensions.
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6. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
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If future updates require architectural changes or new optional features, this Privacy Policy will be revised accordingly with a clear revision date. We will never introduce data collection or tracking mechanisms.
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7. CONTACT
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If you have questions, feedback, or concerns regarding our privacy practices, please contact us via our GitHub repository or support channels.