Privacy policy

Datenschutzerklärung · Last updated: 19 October 2026

Who is responsible

Haitham Maryaniwal
Grevenweg 71, 20537 Hamburg, Deutschland
Email: support@merkbar.app

In short

• The free browser extension keeps your saves only in your browser. Nothing is sent to us.
• With a Merkbar account (Pro), your saves are stored on servers in Germany to provide search, sync and exports.
• No advertising, no tracking cookies, no selling or sharing of your data, no AI training on your content.

The browser extension

To show and search your saved Reddit posts, the extension reads, in your own logged-in reddit.com session: your Reddit username, your saved list, and each saved post or comment (title, text, author name, subreddit, date, score, link, NSFW flag, and up to 10 top comments). It does not read private messages, passwords or cookie contents, and it never posts, votes or changes anything on Reddit. On reddit.com it also notices when you click Save, to add the new save right away; this sends no page content anywhere.

For X, the extension reads your own bookmarks in your logged-in x.com session, when you start an import or while you have x.com open: for each bookmarked post its text, author handle and display name, date, language, links, media addresses and image descriptions (alt text), and the quoted post if there is one. It does not read your timeline, likes, direct messages or password, and it never posts, likes or bookmarks anything. Your X cookies and session tokens are used only by your browser to talk to x.com; they are never stored by the extension or sent to us.

For YouTube, the extension reads your own “Watch later” and “Liked videos” lists in your logged-in youtube.com session, when you start an import or while you have youtube.com open: for each video its title, channel, length, thumbnail address, description, publish date and, where YouTube offers captions, the transcript. It does not read your watch history, subscriptions, comments or messages, and it never likes, saves or changes anything. Your YouTube cookies are used only by your browser to talk to youtube.com; they are never stored by the extension or sent to us.

TikTok favorites and Instagram saved posts come from the data download you request from those services yourself. When you import it, in the extension or on this website, it is read in your browser; only the parts with your saves are opened (TikTok: the favorite videos list; Instagram: saved_posts.json and saved_collections.json), the rest is neither read nor uploaded. For TikTok favorites, each video’s public page is then read for its caption, author and date, without your TikTok login or cookies: by the extension in your browser, or, for saves in your account, by our server in Germany. TikTok sees that the public page of that video was requested.

When you share a post to Merkbar (from your phone’s share menu, an iPhone Shortcut or the bookmark), only that link and the text the app hands over are sent to your account. To show what the link is, our server then asks the platform’s public, signed-out services: YouTube’s and X’s embed services for a video’s title or a post’s text, TikTok’s public video page, and, for short links (vm.tiktok.com, reddit.com/…/s/…), the short link itself to find the full address. These requests carry no login, cookies or details about you; the platform sees that the public post was looked up.

• Free (no account): your saves from every platform stay in your browser’s local storage on your device. We receive nothing.
• Connected account (Pro): the fields above, for every platform, are sent to your Merkbar account and stored in Germany. Legal basis: performance of the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
• Reddit data export: if you import your export ZIP, it is read in your browser. Only saved_posts.csv and saved_comments.csv are opened; the rest of the file is neither read nor uploaded.
• Optional downloads permission: requested only when you click “Get all of them”, to notice when Reddit’s export file has finished downloading. The contents of your downloads are not read.

Removing the extension deletes all data it stored on your device.

This website

The website is hosted by Vercel Inc. (440 N Barranca Ave #4133, Covina, CA 91723, USA), served from Frankfurt. When you visit, Vercel processes technical data such as your IP address, browser type and the requested page to deliver the site and keep it secure (legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Vercel is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and bound by standard contractual clauses. This website sets no cookies unless you sign in.

Launch news (waitlist)

If you enter your email address in the “Notify me” form, we send you one confirmation email first; only after you click its link do we store your address, to tell you when Pro, the Chrome Web Store listing or Firefox support is ready (consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can withdraw your consent at any time. We keep the address until you unsubscribe. The list is run by Brevo (Sendinblue SAS, France).

Your Merkbar account (Pro)

• Email address, to sign you in with one-time links or Google, and to send the optional weekly digest.
• Your saves (Reddit, X, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram) as described above, and the search data computed from them, on servers in Germany.
• Usage counts without content or search text, to keep the service running.
• One strictly necessary session cookie when you are signed in.

Other people’s usernames inside saved content are shown only to you and are never profiled.

When you open a saved post or video in your account, its images and thumbnails load directly from the platform’s own image servers (for example pbs.twimg.com or i.ytimg.com), as they would on the platform itself. That server sees your IP address.

Service providers (processors)

• Hosting of accounts and saves: servers in Germany.
• Sign-in, digest and launch-news emails: Brevo (Sendinblue SAS, France).
• Payments: Paddle.com Market Ltd. (United Kingdom), our reseller and merchant of record, under the UK adequacy decision. We never see your card details.
• Optional “Continue with Google”: Google Ireland Ltd.; we receive only your verified email address.
• Website hosting: Vercel Inc. (see above).

How long we keep data

As long as your account exists. Deleting your account in Settings removes your saves, search data and account without undue delay. Legally required invoice records are kept for the statutory period.

Your rights

You can request access, correction, deletion, restriction, data portability, and object to processing (Art. 15–21 GDPR), and withdraw consent at any time. You can download all your saves at any time. Write to support@merkbar.app. You also have the right to complain to a data-protection authority, for example Der Hamburgische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit.