Privacy Policy

Last updated October 19, 2026

Read It, Dude is a browser extension by Glitchmodo LLC that reads selected or requested webpage text aloud. The paid release uses Freemius for trial registration, purchases, and licensing. It contains no advertisements, analytics, or reading-history service. Earlier free test builds do not contain checkout or licensing.

Preferences stored in your browser

Read It, Dude saves your voice, reading speed, language filter, theme, and feature preferences locally in your browser profile. Glitchmodo does not receive these preferences. Reset to defaults restores the extension’s default preferences; uninstalling removes its local preference storage.

Trial, purchase, and license activation

The paid release uses Freemius for a 30-day trial, a one-time household purchase, license activation, receipts, refunds, and the customer portal. Freemius acts as authorized reseller and Merchant of Record. Registration and checkout happen on Freemius’s website. Freemius processes the email, name, billing information, and payment details you provide under its privacy policy. Glitchmodo can access customer, order, and license records through its Freemius seller account to provide access and support. The extension does not receive your card details.

When you enter a license key, the extension sends that key and a randomly generated installation ID to api.freemius.com to activate and validate it. Activation also includes the generic title “Read It, Dude browser extension”; it does not include a computer name, hardware fingerprint, reading text, or webpage address. Freemius receives ordinary connection information, including your IP address.

The key, random installation ID, Freemius installation ID, last verified license status, expiry, and check timestamps are saved in this browser’s local extension storage. They are not synced between browsers. After initial activation, the extension attempts a license check when used after 24 hours; it also checks when you request a refresh on the License page. Failed connection attempts are retried later. A cached purchase remains usable offline; a cached trial retains its original expiry. A detected cancellation or refund blocks new readings. The current passage can finish.

Reset to defaults preserves license information and voice files. Remove license from this browser deactivates this installation through Freemius and clears its saved key and entitlement. It does not delete your purchase or reset a trial. Uninstalling removes the extension’s local data. Freemius retains customer and transaction records under its policies and applicable requirements. For purchase-record or privacy questions, contact support@glitchmodo.com.

Text used for reading

Selected text, requested page text, and voice-preview text are used to provide speech. Reading text is held temporarily for playback and word highlighting. Read It, Dude does not save the text as a reading history or send it to a Glitchmodo server. It does not store page addresses.

On-device and online voices

Read It, Dude offers its own on-device voices and voices provided through supported browser speech APIs. With an on-device voice, speech is produced on your device. With an online browser voice, text may be transmitted to and processed by the voice provider under that provider’s policies. Available voices depend on your browser and device.

Browser-reported online voices are allowed by default. Turn on Use only on-device voices in Settings to restrict the voice list to Read It, Dude voices and voices the browser identifies as local. Firefox also requests its optional website-content transmission permission before enabling online voices. Provider retention and processing practices are governed by the provider’s policies.

Read It, Dude voices and model downloads

Read It, Dude voices generate speech locally without sending your reading text to a speech service. Edge and Chrome include the voice models with the extension. Firefox includes the engine, runtime, configuration, and voice presets, then downloads approximately 244 MB of model data after installation from the public Glitchmodo/ReadItDudeModels GitHub release. Setup shows progress and provides Cancel and Retry. Browser voices remain available before setup finishes.

Model downloads do not include reading text, webpage addresses, webpage referrers, analytics, or user identifiers. GitHub receives ordinary connection information, such as the downloading device’s IP address. Read It, Dude verifies the model files and caches them in extension-owned browser storage so subsequent reading can work offline. Reset to defaults keeps these files; uninstalling removes extension-owned preferences and model data.

During local playback, browser session storage temporarily holds the active speech chunk and source-routing information to recover from an interrupted audio context. This state is cleared on stop, completion, or error. It is not saved as reading history in persistent storage.

Website access

Read It, Dude requests access to ordinary HTTP and HTTPS webpages so it can detect text selections, show the selection button, and highlight spoken words. Turn off Show selection button to disable automatic selection detection. You can also manage website access through your browser’s extension controls. Disabling the selection button does not itself remove the browser permission.

Read It, Dude refuses password fields and does not analyze images. Image descriptions are off by default; enabling them reads supplied alternative text. Browser-protected pages and some embedded content cannot be accessed.

Children and family use

Read It, Dude is for a general audience. A parent or guardian can register and manage a household license; children do not need separate Glitchmodo accounts or reading profiles. Parents and guardians can choose on-device voices and manage website permissions in the browser. Online voice providers have their own policies and requirements.

Support and this website

If you email support, we receive the information you choose to include and use it to respond to your request. Do not include sensitive reading passages or account credentials. This website’s handling of information is described separately in the Website Privacy Policy.

Changes and contact

We may update this policy as the extension changes. Privacy questions may be sent to support@glitchmodo.com.