Extension privacy details
Effective October 6, 2026. This page describes HookSignals Research for Chrome and supplements the HookSignals privacy policy.
Automatic and selected public video research
Automatic research is enabled by default. On an active YouTube tab, the extension sends the current video ID and IDs from visible video cards to hooksignals.com to retrieve public metadata and statistics from the YouTube Data API. Card requests contain up to 20 IDs per batch, with at most 60 automatically checked cards per page visit. These IDs reveal which public videos are being researched. Full page URLs, search text, YouTube cookies, private watch-history records and activity on unrelated websites are not sent. Manual Inspect and Compare send the IDs you select. Pause automatic research at any time in Settings.
Local research and snapshots
Saved video IDs, your notes and save dates remain in Chrome's local extension storage. They are not synchronized to HookSignals or Chrome Sync. The extension retains at most 200 references and 100 cached video snapshots. Snapshot caches expire for normal use after 30 minutes and are not displayed after 24 hours. Expired cache entries are removed during extension use and browser startup. Your notes remain until you remove them or uninstall the extension.
Local packaging preview
An image selected in the extension's Preview tab is decoded in this panel and kept in memory. The extension does not upload or save that image. Removing it or closing the panel releases it. The planned title also stays in memory; clicking Continue in Thumbnail Tester sends that title to the website in the link. Website tools have their own upload and credit rules.
Optional account connection
Connecting uses your existing HookSignals account. A one-time code and PKCE verifier establish a token scoped to reading public research data. The token is stored in Chrome session storage, is not exposed to page scripts, and expires after at most 7 days. The server stores a hash of the token, the account identifier, scope and expiry. Disconnecting revokes that token. This connection cannot edit YouTube channels, access private YouTube Studio analytics, change billing or spend AI credits.
The server excludes public snapshots older than 24 hours and removes them in scheduled maintenance. Expired connection records are also removed during that maintenance. Cleanup runs with the research-data refresh job; expiry checks still apply when a scheduled job is delayed.
Service providers and operational data
Vercel hosts the HookSignals service, Supabase stores public snapshots and connection records, and Clerk handles the optional HookSignals sign-in. Google provides the YouTube Data API and public thumbnail images. The server receives the network information necessary to answer requests, including an IP address; the application hashes it for rate-limit keys. Public thumbnails load from YouTube image servers, which receive the ordinary network request. The extension contains no advertising or analytics SDK and does not sell personal data.
Permissions
Storage keeps your local research and session connection. Side panel displays the research interface. Identity opens the secure HookSignals connection flow. Access to hooksignals.com makes the API requests. A content script on YouTube shows public metrics on the current video and visible cards, and extracts video IDs from links. No access to all websites, downloads history, private cookies or channel editing is requested.
Your choices
You can use public lookups without connecting an account, disconnect in Settings, pause automatic research, clear snapshot caches, export your notes, remove individual references or uninstall the extension. Contact support@hooksignals.com for questions or account data requests.
YouTube
The extension uses YouTube API Services. YouTube data remains subject to the YouTube Terms of Service and Google Privacy Policy. HookSignals is independent and is not endorsed by YouTube or Google.
HookSignals' use of information received from Google APIs follows the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. That information is used to provide the requested research features and protect the service, and is not used for personalized advertising.