Hidden Character Remover — Privacy Policy
In one line: Hidden Character Remover collects nothing, sends nothing, and makes no network requests. It removes invisible characters from text on your computer and does not keep that text.
Who we are, and what this policy covers
Hidden Character Remover is published by VibeCode Labs ("we"). This policy explains what the Hidden Character Remover browser extension ("the extension") does with your data, in every version published in the Chrome Web Store.
What we collect
Nothing. The extension does not collect, transmit, sell, or share any personal information, browsing history, page content, or usage analytics.
There is no account, no sign-in, no API key, and no server for the extension to send anything to. It contains no analytics, telemetry, crash reporting, advertising, or third-party scripts.
What the extension reads
Two things, both because you asked it to:
- The text you have selected on a page, when you invoke the extension with the "Remove hidden characters" context menu item or the keyboard shortcut. It reads that selection once, to clean it.
- The text you paste into the extension's popup, which is yours to paste into.
Both are processed entirely on your device, inside the extension, and neither
is ever sent anywhere. The extension uses the activeTab permission,
which grants access to a tab only at the moment you act on it; it declares no
host permissions and no content scripts, so it has no standing access to any
site. It does not run in the background and does not read anything on a page you
have not invoked it on.
It does not read your clipboard. Copying a result only writes to the clipboard, when you click the copy button.
What the extension stores
In Chrome's local extension storage on your own computer, never in cloud-synced storage:
- whether you chose to keep smart quotes and dashes;
- whether you chose to also strip HTML tags;
- whether you dismissed the one-time onboarding hint;
- the cleaned result of the most recent page action, together with its per-character counts, so the popup can show you the receipt. It is overwritten by your next run and is never transmitted anywhere;
- a one-time flag recording that a page could not be read — for example a
chrome://page or the Chrome Web Store, which no extension may script. The flag is cleared when the popup has explained it.
Nothing survives uninstalling the extension.
What the extension does not do
- No account, sign-in, or API key.
- No analytics, telemetry, or crash reporting.
- No advertising or third-party scripts.
- No reading of your clipboard — copying only writes to it.
- No editing of the page you are reading: it hands the cleaned text to the popup instead of rewriting the page.
- No access to pages you have not invoked the extension on.
- No AI model, and no judgement about who or what wrote the text. The extension compares characters against a fixed table of code points.
Sharing
We have nothing to share. No data is collected, so none is disclosed, transferred, or sold to anyone, and none is used for advertising, credit, lending, or any purpose unrelated to removing characters from text.
Chrome Web Store Limited Use
Hidden Character Remover's use of information received from Chrome APIs adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Children
The extension is a general-purpose text utility, is not directed at children, and collects no data from anyone.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version is published at this URL and the extension's version number is increased. The date at the top of this page is the date of the last change.
Contact
Questions about this policy or the extension: contact VibeCode Labs via support.