Privacy Policy for Less Yap

Last Updated: April 2026

Overview

Less Yap is a Chrome extension that extracts and displays recipe content from web pages. From version 1.4.0 onward the extension can connect to a backend service operated by the project maintainer, so that you can sign in and sync your saved recipes across devices. This policy describes what data is collected when you use those optional account features, and what stays local on your device.

What stays local

If you do not sign in, the extension behaves like earlier versions:

  • All recipe extraction happens in your browser.
  • Your preferences (auto-activate, theme, etc.) and saved recipes are stored only on your device using Chrome's storage API.
  • No data is transmitted to any server.

What is collected when you sign in

When you create an account or sign in (with email/password or with Google), the backend stores:

  • Account data: email address, optionally a display name and profile picture (Google only), and a hashed password (when you use email/password). Passwords are hashed with Argon2id and never stored or transmitted in plain text.
  • Saved recipes: the URL of the source page, the recipe title and image URL, and a structured copy of the recipe content (ingredients, steps, times, etc.). This is what powers cross-device sync.
  • Sessions: an opaque session token used to keep you signed in. Tokens are stored as salted HMAC-SHA-256 hashes server-side and can be revoked at any time by signing out.

Usage telemetry

To help us improve site coverage and fix broken parsers, the extension can send anonymised "extraction events" describing whether a recipe was successfully extracted on a given site.

By default, only the host (e.g. seriouseats.com) of a page where the extension was applied is sent — never the full URL or page contents. This default applies to both signed-in and signed-out users.

You can opt in to full-URL telemetry from the extension settings. When opted in, the full URL of pages where the extension was applied is included with each event so we can investigate parsing regressions on specific recipes. You can opt out at any time; existing data is retained according to the retention policy below.

We do not:

  • Collect browsing history outside of pages where the extension was applied.
  • Use cookies, fingerprinting, or third-party trackers.
  • Sell or share collected data with third parties.

Sign-in with Google

If you choose to sign in with Google, the extension uses Google's OAuth 2.0 flow to obtain an ID token, which is verified by the backend. We receive your Google account ID, email address, and (if available) name and profile picture. We do not request access to any other Google data.

Where data is stored

The backend runs on infrastructure operated by the project maintainer. Data is stored in a self-hosted PostgreSQL database. No data is shared with other parties.

Retention

  • Saved recipes are kept until you delete them or close your account.
  • Extraction events are retained for up to 12 months.
  • Sessions expire 60 days after sign-in or when you sign out, whichever comes first.

Your rights

You can:

  • View what is stored about you by signing in to the extension.
  • Delete saved recipes individually from the saved-recipes view.
  • Sign out, which revokes the session token from the backend.
  • Request account deletion (and full data deletion) by opening an issue on the project's GitHub repository.

Permissions

  • activeTab, scripting: to extract recipe content from the page you are viewing.
  • storage: to save your preferences and cache saved recipes locally.
  • alarms: to schedule periodic background flushes of the telemetry buffer.
  • identity: to perform the Google OAuth sign-in flow.
  • contextMenus: to provide the right-click "Extract Recipe" entry.
  • host_permissions: <all_urls>: required to detect and extract recipes on any site that uses standard recipe markup.

Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.

Contact

If you have questions or want to request data deletion, please open an issue on our GitHub repository.

License

This extension is open source and released under the MIT License.