Last updated 2026-08-09.
The Searched browser extension reads Google search titles from your browser history (last 30 days) and keeps only the ones phrased as questions: searches that are at least three words long and whose first word is one of the following:
What, Why, How, When, Where, Who, Whose, Whom, Which, Was, Were, Do, Does, Did, Have, Has, Can, Will, Should, Could, Would, Is, Are, Difference, Top, Best, Worst, Minimum, Maximum, Least, Most, Average, Recommended, Cheapest, Latest, Highest, Largest, Biggest, Greatest, Fastest, Slowest, Smallest, Nearest, Farthest, Easiest, Hardest, Trending, Budget, Finest.
Nothing else in your history is read or sent: not other search text, not visited pages, not non-Google searches.
The extension does not read your history until you turn data collection on. It starts off by default. You can turn it on or off at any time from the extension's data permissions page (opened automatically on install, or reachable from the extension's popup). Turning it off stops future reads immediately and clears the extension's local cache of previously extracted questions.
While it's on, the extension's toolbar popup shows a live, local preview of the searches currently matched from your last 30 days, so you can see what would be shared before you ever create or join a room. Opening the popup doesn't upload anything by itself; uploading only happens when you actually create or join a room.
When you create or join a room, the extracted question text is uploaded and stored as part of that room's question pool, tied to your player in that room. The extension also generates a random, per-install identifier (not tied to your name or any account) that the app uses to skip re-scanning your history if you rejoin or create another room from the same browser. This identifier is stored both on your player record and in a separate lookup cache keyed by the identifier itself. It is sent directly from the extension to our server, and the Searched web page itself never has access to it. The page only hands the extension a short-lived, single-purpose token proving which player it's acting on behalf of, so the extension can authenticate that request without needing the identifier to pass through the page.
The app also sets a session cookie when you create or join a room, containing your player id, signed so it can't be tampered with. It's used only to recognize which player record is yours on later requests, and isn't used for tracking across sites or sold or shared with anyone.
Use “Revoke & delete” in the app (available wherever the consent checkbox is shown) to delete your data. This immediately deletes your player record and your device's cached import, and turns off the extension's data collection switch. If you were the only player left in a room, the room and its questions are deleted with you. If other players are still in the room, questions you already contributed remain part of that room's game until the room itself is cleaned up (rooms are removed automatically after they go inactive).
Searched uses the following infrastructure providers to run the app. None of them are permitted to sell your data or use it for advertising.
Ably powers real-time sync between players in a room. Whenever room state changes (players joining, questions imported, rounds starting, guesses submitted), the full room state, including question text and player nicknames, is sent through Ably to broadcast it to everyone currently in that room.
Upstash provides two pieces of infrastructure: Redis, used for rate limiting (importing questions and submitting guesses are rate-limited by your player ID; revoking consent is rate-limited by your IP address, since revoking deletes the player record itself and a new one would otherwise let the limit be bypassed by repeating the revoke-and-rejoin flow), and QStash, which triggers a recurring background job that cleans up rooms left sitting in the lobby too long. Neither receives your question text.
Sentry is used for error monitoring and diagnostics, on both the app's server and in your browser. On the server, if an error occurs while handling your request, details about that error (which may include parts of the request) are sent to Sentry. In your browser, Sentry also runs continuously on every page load to collect performance traces and session replay (a recording of on-screen activity and interactions) for a sample of sessions (10%, or 100% of sessions in which an error occurs); text and media are masked by default.
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