Privacy Policy
WebPick — Element Inspector does not collect, store remotely, or transmit any user data, to us or to anyone else. Everything it does happens locally, in your browser, on the tab you activate it on.
The short version
WebPick has no server, no accounts, and no analytics. Nothing you inspect, copy, or download is ever
sent anywhere outside your own browser. The only data it keeps is a small amount of local extension
state, stored on your device with Chrome's built-in
chrome.storage.local
API.
What WebPick does not collect
- General browsing history — only pages where you actually pick something are ever noted, and only on your device
- Page content, form data, or personal information
- Analytics or usage statistics
- Location, device, or account information
WebPick does make network requests when you inspect an asset it needs to fetch directly — see "What WebPick fetches directly" below — but never for tracking, analytics, or anything you didn't click on. There is no telemetry, no third-party analytics, and no third-party data sharing of any kind.
What WebPick fetches directly
Most of the time, WebPick reads an element's image, icon, or font straight out of the page — no network request needed. But some assets aren't fully loaded in the page itself (a protected image, an SVG referenced by URL, a font's stylesheet, a Lottie animation file, or a video's HLS/DASH playlist). For exactly those cases, WebPick fetches that one URL directly:
- The request is scoped to the specific asset you clicked on — never anything else on or off the page.
- It goes out without your cookies, so the request can't be tied back to your logged-in session on that site.
- The response is checked against the file type WebPick expected (image, font, playlist, etc.) before it's accepted — anything else is discarded.
- Nothing about the request or its result is sent anywhere except into the panel in front of you.
Separately, watching for video and audio streams works by observing which playlists and media files a tab has already loaded — WebPick doesn't fetch anything for this on its own, and it never blocks, redirects, or modifies a single request. DRM-protected and encrypted streams are refused outright, not downloaded and discarded — WebPick never attempts to bypass copy protection.
What WebPick accesses, and why
WebPick requests the following permissions in its manifest. Each one is used only for the specific feature described below — nothing more.
activeTab permission lets WebPick run on the tab you click the toolbar icon on, for that session. This is what triggers the dimmed page, hover highlighting, and inspector panel — WebPick does nothing on any tab until you click its icon.
scripting permission is used to inject the content script that dims the page, highlights hovered elements, and renders the in-page inspector panel showing HTML, computed styles, link URLs, and media previews.
host_permissions: <all_urls> is requested because WebPick inspects whatever page you're currently viewing, and there's no way to know in advance which site that will be. The same access lets it do two other things tied directly to what you click: fetch the exact image, icon, font file, or stream playlist you're inspecting when the page itself can't hand it over (see below), and watch — never modify — which video and audio playlists a tab has loaded, so the stream list has something to show you.
storage permission is used for two things, both local: your panel preferences (side, theme, shortcuts), and your pick history — the last 100 elements you've inspected, including their HTML, SVG, and media snippets. Both live in chrome.storage.local and are never synced to an account or sent anywhere.
clipboardWrite permission powers the 'Copy' buttons in the inspector panel, so you can copy an element's HTML, a computed style value, or a link URL to your clipboard. It is only used when you press one of those buttons.
downloads permission powers the 'Save' buttons in the inspector panel, so you can download an inspected image, video, audio file, or HTML snippet directly to your computer. It is only used when you press one of those buttons.
The panel is closed to the page
The page you're inspecting can't read anything in the panel, and it can't press its buttons either
— clicks generated by a script instead of a real person are ignored. A handful of extra libraries
(for playing Lottie animations, encoding GIFs, and handling video streams) load only the moment a
page actually needs one of those features, and none of them ever uses eval.
GitHub Sponsors link
WebPick's UI includes an optional link to github.com/sponsors/Jassozng, for anyone who wants to support development. It is not a paywall — every feature works without it. Clicking it takes you to GitHub in a new tab; WebPick does not track whether or when you click it, and no data is exchanged until you're on GitHub's own site, governed by GitHub's own privacy policy.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the "Last updated" date at the top of this page will change with it. Since WebPick collects no data, changes would only ever clarify existing behavior or reflect new, equally local-only features.
Contact
Questions about this policy or how WebPick works can be sent to [email protected], or through the support page.