Z Translator — Privacy Policy
How we handle (or don't handle) your data.
100% offline by design
Z Translator is a browser extension that hover-translates English and Arabic words on any webpage. It is built on a simple principle: your translation activity is your business — not ours, not anyone's. This page explains exactly what the extension does and does not do with your data.
What we do not collect
- We do not collect, transmit, or store the words you hover or look up.
- We do not record the websites you visit, the URLs you load, or the content of pages.
- We do not collect your name, email, IP address, device identifiers, or any personal information.
- We do not use cookies, analytics, telemetry, fingerprinting, or any tracking technology.
- We do not sell, share, or transfer any data to third parties — because there is no data to sell.
How translation works
Translation runs entirely on your device. The extension ships with two local dictionaries (English → Arabic and Arabic → English) packaged as JSON files inside the extension itself. When you hover a word, the extension reads only the single word under your cursor, looks it up in the local dictionary, and shows the translation in a tooltip. The word never leaves your device.
What is stored on your device (and only on your device)
The extension uses the browser's chrome.storage.local API to remember your preferences
so the extension behaves the way you want it to next time you open it. This data lives only on your
machine, is not synced to any cloud, and is never transmitted anywhere. It includes:
| Setting | Why it is stored |
|---|---|
| Enable / disable state | Remembers whether you have the extension on or off. |
| Hover trigger and delay | Whether hover requires a modifier key (Alt, Ctrl, Shift) and how long to wait before showing the tooltip. |
| Theme (dark / light) | Remembers your visual preference. |
| Voice, rate, pitch, "speak on hover" | Remembers your speech-output preferences. |
| UI language (auto / English / Arabic) | Remembers your interface-language preference. |
Speech (text-to-speech)
When you click the speaker icon, the extension uses the standard Web Speech API that is built into your browser. The voices available depend on what your operating system and browser provide.
Most voices on your system (for example, Microsoft David / Zira / Mark on Windows, Samantha / Alex on macOS, Microsoft Naayf for Arabic) are local and play back entirely on your device with no network involvement.
A small number of voices that ship with Chrome (typically named "Google …", and marked with a ☁ online badge in the extension's voice dropdown) are cloud-based. When you select one of these voices and play audio, your browser — not this extension — contacts the voice provider (Google's text-to-speech infrastructure) to generate the audio. The Z Translator extension never sees, stores, or initiates that request; it is a Chrome browser feature, surfaced through the Web Speech API. If you want to remain 100% offline, simply choose any voice without the ☁ badge.
Network activity
The Z Translator extension itself makes zero outbound network requests. Translation, lookup, settings, voice enumeration, and UI rendering are all local. The only optional outbound connection that can occur as a result of using the extension is:
- If you click the optional "Support development" coffee icon at the bottom of the popup, your browser opens paypal.me/zaidalhulaiba in a new tab. Whether or not you donate, what you see and do on PayPal is governed by PayPal's own privacy policy.
- If you select a ☁ cloud voice (described above) and press play, Chrome may issue a request to the voice provider's servers.
Neither of these connections is initiated automatically by the extension; both require an explicit user action.
Permissions the extension requests, and why
| Permission | Why it is needed |
|---|---|
storage |
To save your settings on your device so they persist between browser sessions. |
| Access to page contents (from the content-script declaration) | To detect which English or Arabic word is under your cursor when you hover. The extension reads only that single word; it never extracts, transmits, or stores any other page content. |
Children's privacy
Z Translator does not collect any data, including from children. The extension is suitable for users of any age who can read English or Arabic.
Changes to this policy
If the data behavior of the extension ever changes — for example, if a new feature would involve a network call — this page will be updated and the extension's listing on the Chrome Web Store will reflect the change. Material changes will also be communicated via the extension's release notes.
Effective date: May 2026. Last reviewed: May 2026.