BassBoost — Chrome extension

Privacy policy

Last updated 5 September 2026 · applies to version 0.1.1

BassBoost handles the selected tab's audio locally in volatile memory. It temporarily reads the current tab title and URL solely to identify the tab and prevent capture on restricted pages. Audio, titles and URLs are never recorded, retained, transmitted or shared. Nothing is transmitted to the developer or to any third party, and the extension makes no network requests.

Before any of that happens, the extension shows you a notice describing exactly this and waits for you to agree.

Limited Use

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

Your agreement comes first

The first time you open BassBoost it shows a notice:

BassBoost locally uses the title, URL and audio of the tab you choose to identify the tab, avoid incompatible pages and apply the effects. This data is never recorded or transmitted.

Until you choose Agree and continue, the extension does not read the tab's title, does not read its URL, and does not request audio. Choosing Cancel simply closes the popup. The keyboard shortcut is subject to the same check: without your agreement it refuses to start and reports that the notice has not been accepted.

What is stored when you agree is a single number — the version of the notice you agreed to — in chrome.storage.local. The text of the notice itself is not stored, and nothing about you is.

What the extension handles, and for how long

Tab audio — processed locally, never retained

When you press the button (or use the keyboard shortcut) on a tab, Chrome hands the extension a live audio stream for that tab. The audio passes through Web Audio filters in memory and is played straight back to your speakers.

Only the few milliseconds the filters need are held at any moment: a low-shelf filter and the output stage's look-ahead buffer (about 5 ms). Nothing is written to disk, nothing is accumulated, nothing is analysed or transcribed, and nothing is sent anywhere. When you turn the boost off — or the tab closes, navigates, or its stream ends — the audio nodes are disconnected, the stream tracks are stopped and the audio context is closed.

The audio of a tab can contain anything that tab is playing, including a call or a voice message. That is why it is worth being precise: the extension is a filter in the playback path, not a recorder. It has no code that can store or send audio.

Tab title — shown while the popup is open

While the popup is open it displays the title of the current tab, so you can see which tab you are about to affect. The title is read when the popup opens and is discarded when it closes. It is not stored and does not leave the browser.

Tab URL — checked, not kept

When the popup opens, the extension reads the current tab's URL to decide whether Chrome will allow capture at all. Pages such as chrome://, the Chrome Web Store, DevTools and local files cannot be captured, and checking first is what lets the popup explain that instead of failing with an obscure error.

The URL is used for that check and then discarded. It is not stored, not logged, not transmitted, and no history of visited pages is built.

Preferences — stored locally

Five values are saved with chrome.storage.local: the selected preset, the custom boost value, the output mode, the theme, and the version of the notice you agreed to. They stay in your browser profile, are not synchronised across devices, and contain nothing that identifies you.

Session state — cleared when the browser closes

While a tab is being processed, its on/off state is held in chrome.storage.session, which Chrome clears when the browser closes. It holds tab ids and effect settings — no titles and no URLs.

What the extension does not do

The optional donation link

BassBoost contains an optional link to support the project. It is not required, it unlocks nothing, it changes no audio and it removes no limitation.

Status: the address is https://ko-fi.com/obzelo, a page on Ko-fi. It is the only external address in the extension. Nothing is added to it: no query string, no fragment, no identifier of any kind. Opening it is the only thing that ever leaves this extension, and only when you click the button. If you never click, nothing about Ko-fi ever runs and no request is made to it.

Ko-fi is an independent service. Once you are on their page, their own terms and privacy policy apply, and whatever you do there is between you and them.

Permissions and why they exist

PermissionPurpose
tabCapture Provides the audio of the tab you chose, after you act. This is the only source of audio.
offscreen Keeps the audio processing running once the popup closes.
storage Saves the five preferences above, plus ephemeral session state.
activeTab Gives temporary access to the current tab's title and URL, so the popup can name the tab and detect pages Chrome refuses to capture. It does not provide the audio.

The extension declares no host permissions.

Data sharing

None. Nothing is transmitted to the developer or to any third party, so there is nothing to share, sell or disclose — for any purpose, including advertising, credit assessment or the training of models.

Children

The extension is a general-purpose audio tool and is not directed at children, and nothing about any user is transmitted or retained.

Your control

Everything the extension stores is in your browser profile. Removing the extension from chrome://extensions deletes it, including your recorded agreement. You can also clear it at any time through Chrome's site and extension data controls.

Changes to this policy

If a future version changes what the extension handles, this page will be updated before that version is published, the date at the top will change, and the notice will be shown again for a fresh agreement.

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