Chrome Extension Privacy Policy Generator

If it handles any user data, yes. The Chrome Web Store requires an accurate, up-to-date privacy policy, linked in the Developer Dashboard, for every extension that handles user data (Privacy Policies). "Handle" means collecting, transmitting, using or sharing, and "user data" is broader than most developers expect (User Data FAQ):

• Personally identifiable information, such as a name, email address or username
• Authentication information, including logins, passwords and authentication cookies
• Website content and resources, form data and user-generated content
• Web browsing activity, including the domains and URLs the browser visits
• Financial, payment and health information, and personal communications

An extension that reads or changes the pages people visit almost always handles at least one of these. Google's FAQ is explicit that you must disclose how you handle user data even when it is processed or stored only on the user's device.

Limited Use sets what you may do with user data once you have it (Limited Use):

1. Use it only to provide or improve your extension's single purpose.
2. Transfer it only when that purpose needs it, to comply with the law, to protect against malware, spam, phishing or fraud, or in a merger or acquisition with the user's explicit prior consent.
3. Do not let humans read it, except with the user's explicit consent for specific data, for security, to comply with the law, or when it is aggregated and anonymized for internal operations.
4. Never use or transfer it for personalized ads, sell it to ad platforms or data brokers, or use it to judge creditworthiness.

You must also publish an affirmative statement that you comply, on a website belonging to your extension, for example in its privacy policy. Google's suggested wording, which the generator includes:

The use of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Your data practices have to line up in three places, and reviewers compare them:

Collecting browsing activity is allowed only for a user-facing feature described prominently in your store listing and interface; collecting it for ad targeting or other monetization is not. User data must be sent over a secure connection such as HTTPS or WSS and stored with strong encryption. The store's violation reference names the usual failures: no privacy policy for an extension that collects user data, no prominent disclosure, insecure transmission, and browsing activity collected without a user-facing feature.

Be concrete about the browser. For each kind of user data, say what you read, whether it leaves the device and where it goes:

• What you read: for example, the URL and title of the active tab when the user clicks the toolbar button.
• Where it is stored: in chrome.storage on the device, on your server, or with a third-party API.
• Who receives it: your backend, an analytics service, a translation or AI API, a payment provider. Name each one.
• How long you keep it and how users delete it: removing the extension clears its local storage; explain how copies on your servers are deleted.
• Limited Use: the statement above, word for word or in your own clear words.

A line such as "we may collect information to improve our services" tells a reviewer nothing. Answer the generator's questions specifically and the policy will be specific too. If your extension has a companion website, the website privacy policy generator covers it, and if you charge for premium features, add terms and conditions. Like every output here, the policy is a template rather than legal advice, so check it against what your code actually does before you submit.