You install a tab manager and Chrome warns that it can "read your browsing history". That sounds alarming, but the warning is broader than what most extensions actually do with it. Here is what it means and how to judge it.
What triggers the warning
Chrome shows this warning for permissions that expose the addresses and titles of your tabs. Any extension that has to know which tabs are open, in order to save, sort or restore them, needs one of these. Chrome's wording can change between versions.
What it does not mean
Seeing a tab's title and address is not the same as reading the page. Reading what is on a page, such as text, forms or what you type, needs separate site access, which Chrome words as "read and change all your data on all websites". If an extension does not ask for that, it cannot read your pages.
How to check any extension
- Open
chrome://extensionsand choose Details for the extension. - Look at its permissions and site access.
- Ask whether each permission matches something the extension does. A tab saver needs tab addresses. It should not need all-sites access.
- Read its privacy policy for what leaves your computer, and whether that is optional.
How KeepIt handles it
- KeepIt uses only each tab's title, address and icon to save and reopen it. It does not read page contents, what you type or your passwords.
- Your tabs stay on your device unless you sign in and choose to sync or share them.
- "Show notes on tabs" is off by default. Turning it on asks Chrome for site access, and turning it off removes that access.
- There are no ads and no tracking.
Each permission KeepIt asks for, and why, is listed in the permissions section of the privacy policy, and the security page covers how data is protected.