Privacy Policy — Semantic Search for Telegram Web

Last updated: July 7, 2026

Semantic Search for Telegram Web ("the extension") is an unofficial browser extension and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Telegram.

Summary

The extension is local-first. Your Telegram messages, search index, and workspaces are stored only in your browser (IndexedDB) on your own device. Nothing is uploaded to any server operated by us — there is no backend; we do not have servers and cannot see your data. The extension does not access your Telegram account credentials, session tokens, or API keys.

Two features send data to third parties, and both are strictly opt-in and off by default:

1. Cloud AI summarization (opt-in)

If you enable "Cloud features" in Settings and enter your own Anthropic API key, the text of messages you choose to summarize is sent directly from your browser to Anthropic's API (api.anthropic.com) to generate a summary. This happens only when you explicitly trigger a summary while cloud features are enabled. If cloud features are off (the default) or no API key is set, summaries are generated entirely on-device using a local extractive algorithm, and no message text leaves your device.

Your Anthropic API key is stored only in local browser storage and is never transmitted anywhere except directly to Anthropic's API as part of that request.

We do not control Anthropic's handling of data sent to their API — see Anthropic's privacy policy for how they process it.

2. Google Sign-In (opt-in)

If you choose to "Sign in with Google" in Settings, the extension requests only your name, email address, and profile picture from Google (via the userinfo.email and userinfo.profile OAuth scopes) to display your signed-in identity in Settings. No Telegram message content, search index, or other extension data is sent to Google. No Google Drive or other Google service access is requested.

You can sign out at any time, which removes the cached credential from the browser.

Local AI model download

To enable semantic (meaning-based) search, the extension downloads a small open-source embedding model (approximately 23 MB, from Hugging Face's model hub) the first time you enable that feature. This is a one-time download of model weights — it does not send any of your data anywhere. All embedding computation afterward happens entirely on your device.

Data storage and retention

Messages, search indexes, and workspaces are stored locally in your browser's IndexedDB.
Older messages may be moved to a locally-encrypted (AES-GCM) archive to manage storage size; the encryption key never leaves your device.
You control retention: adjust or disable automatic archiving in Settings, and use "Clear all data" to permanently delete everything the extension has stored.
Uninstalling the extension removes all locally stored data along with it.

What we don't do

We do not harvest or access your Telegram login credentials or session tokens.
We do not operate any server that receives or stores your messages.
We do not sell or share your data with advertisers or data brokers.
We do not track your browsing activity outside of the Telegram Web domains this extension operates on.

Permissions used

Permission	Why
`storage`	Save your settings and indexed data locally
`alarms`	Schedule periodic background maintenance (archiving old messages, refreshing device-capability checks)
`sidePanel`	Show the extension's UI in Chrome's side panel
`offscreen`	Run the local embedding model in a background document
`identity`	Support "Sign in with Google" (see above)
Host access to `web.telegram.org` / `k.web.telegram.org`	Read messages visible in your open Telegram Web tabs to build your local search index
Host access to `api.anthropic.com`	Only used when you enable cloud summarization (see above)
Host access to `www.googleapis.com` / `oauth2.googleapis.com`	Only used for Google sign-in (see above)

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this same URL with a new "Last updated" date.

Contact

galatawako222@gmail.com