Last updated · 2026-05-02
Privacy policy
Redirect Radar is a Chrome extension built around a single principle: your URLs, headers and cookies stay on your device. This page documents every permission we use, every byte we store, and every byte we don’t.
The 30-second version. Trace data — URLs, headers, cookies, request bodies, page content — never leaves your browser. The extension does send anonymous usage stats (event names + a per-install UUID) to Google Analytics 4 to help prioritise improvements. No URLs, headers, cookies or page content are ever transmitted.
What stays on your device
- Trace data — URLs, statuses, headers, timing, cookie metadata for the active tab. Read in-memory, rendered in the popup, and discarded when you close it.
- Settings — theme, auto-trace toggle, etc. Stored locally in chrome.storage.sync.
- Local UUID — a random per-install identifier in chrome.storage.local, used only as the GA4 client_id. Not linked to any account.
What anonymous stats we send
We use Google Analytics 4 (Measurement Protocol) to count how features are used, so we know what to prioritise. The full inventory of events:
| Event | Extra payload (besides session_id) |
|---|---|
| extension_install | — |
| extension_update | — |
| popup_opened | — |
| tab_switched | tab: 'trace' | 'insights' | 'settings' |
| trace_completed | hop_count: number |
| theme_changed | theme: 'light' | 'dark' | 'system' |
| export_used | format: 'curl' | 'markdown' | 'json' | 'har', hop_count: number |
What we never send: URLs, hostnames, IPs, headers, cookies, page content, request or response bodies — none of your trace data is ever transmitted.
Chrome permissions explained
| Permission | Why we need it |
|---|---|
| webRequest | Subscribe to onBeforeRedirect / onCompleted / onErrorOccurred to capture each hop status, method, protocol and timing. |
| webNavigation | Detect JS-driven redirects (location.href, meta refresh, OAuth client-side) and stitch them onto the chain. |
| tabs | Bind the trace to the active tab and update the per-tab badge with the current hop count. |
| storage | Persist user settings (theme, auto-trace) and a per-install anonymous UUID for usage analytics — locally only. |
| alarms | Periodic keepalive ping to prevent the MV3 service worker from suspending mid-trace. |
| favicon | Show site icons next to URLs in the trace UI. |
| <all_urls> | Observe redirects from any site you visit. Only metadata (status, headers, timing) is read — never request or response bodies. |
| google-analytics.com/* | Send anonymous usage telemetry — event names only (e.g. popup_opened, tab_switched). No URLs, no headers, no cookies, no page content. |
Third parties
Google Analytics 4 is the only third-party service the extension contacts. Read Google’s privacy policy for what they do with the event names and the per-install UUID.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or a bug to report? Email lewawebextensions@gmail.com.