Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 17, 2026
In short: Out Loud reads text aloud entirely on your own device. The text you read or type never leaves your machine — it is never transmitted, sold, or shared. The desktop app sends only anonymous, content-free usage statistics, which you can turn off.
Who this covers
This policy applies to the Out Loud Chrome extension and the Out Loud desktop application (together, “Out Loud”), which read text aloud using on-device text-to-speech.
What the extension accesses
When you select text and start playback, the extension reads that selected text and sends it to the Out Loud desktop application running locally on your own computer (http://localhost:51730) to generate speech. The audio is played back in your browser and words are highlighted as they are spoken.
Your preferences — selected voice, language, playback volume, and word-highlighting setting — are stored locally in your browser using the browser’s storage. They never leave your device.
What we do not do
- The text you read or type — and the audio generated from it — is processed only on your own device. It is never transmitted to us or to any third party, and it is never sold, rented, or shared.
- The Chrome extension contains no analytics, tracking, advertising, or fingerprinting. It only reads your selected text and talks to the Out Loud app on your own machine.
- We do not use or transfer your data to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.
Permissions and why we use them
- activeTab & host access — to read the text you select on the page you are reading and to highlight words as they are spoken, and to connect to the local Out Loud app on your machine.
- storage — to save your voice, language, and volume preferences locally.
- sidePanel — to show the reading controls (voice picker, volume, play/pause) alongside the page.
- contextMenus — to add the right-click “Read out loud” action on selected text.
Anonymous usage analytics
The Out Loud desktop app sends anonymous, content-free usage statistics that help us understand how the app is used and where to improve it. This is limited to shape — never content.
What is sent: a random install identifier (not tied to your identity), app version, operating system, processor architecture, language/locale, session length, and event names with coarse metadata such as the selected voice, language code, and bucketed text lengths (for example “501–2k characters”).
What is never sent: the text you read or type, document contents, file names or paths, titles, URLs, error messages, or anything derived from your content (including hashes of it).
If you choose to enter your name or email in the optional “Stay in touch” field in the app, those are attached to your install so we can recognise it. This is entirely opt-in, blank by default, and you can clear it at any time.
Analytics are processed by PostHog on EU servers. You can turn analytics off by setting the OUT_LOUD_TELEMETRY_DISABLED environment variable, and builds compiled from source without an analytics key send nothing at all. The Chrome extension never sends analytics.
Data retention & deletion
The text you read and your local preferences are never stored on our side, so there is nothing there for us to retain or delete. Local preferences are removed when you uninstall the extension or clear the browser’s extension data. Anonymous usage statistics are retained by our analytics processor; to have any optional name or email you provided removed, contact us on GitHub.
Source available
Out Loud is source-available under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0 — free to use, modify, and share for any non-commercial purpose. You can review exactly what it does in the source code on GitHub.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, we will update this page and revise the “Last updated” date above.
Contact
Questions? Open an issue on GitHub.