Nothing leaves your browser
Short version: Showsteps has no server, no account and no analytics. What you record stays on your computer until you export a file yourself.
What Showsteps stores, and where
- Guides, step text and screenshots are stored in your browser's IndexedDB on your computer.
- Your settings (for example the highlight colour and which kinds of data to mask) are stored in the extension's local storage. While a recording runs, its state is kept in Chrome's session storage, which lives in memory and is cleared when the browser closes, so a recording survives Chrome suspending the extension's background worker.
- Exports are files you save. Showsteps does not track where you send them.
What leaves your computer
Nothing. The extension makes no network requests after install: no analytics, no crash reporting, no update pings of its own (Chrome updates extensions itself), and no AI service. When you press a support link, your browser opens this website in a normal tab; that is separate from the extension.
Passwords and sensitive fields
While you record, Showsteps looks for password fields and for card numbers, tax IDs, IBANs, API keys and tokens, both in form fields and in text on the page. The typed value is not saved, and what was found is masked before the screenshot is stored, so the original never reaches the guide. Numbers that only look similar, such as order numbers and timestamps, are left alone. Auto-detection is a safety net, not a guarantee: it cannot know that a name in a table is a real customer. Review every screenshot before sharing, and use the blur and crop tools.
Permissions, and why
These are the sentences we give Chrome Web Store reviewers for each permission, word for word. Showsteps asks for nothing else: no tabs, webNavigation, downloads, webRequest or cookies.
| Permission | Why Showsteps needs it |
|---|---|
activeTab | Lets the user start a recording on the current tab with one click on the toolbar button, and lets Showsteps screenshot pages that extensions cannot otherwise capture (browser-internal pages), only for the tab the user invoked it on. |
scripting | Injects the recorder that notices the user's clicks and typing (and the code that finds sensitive fields to blur) into the pages the user visits while a recording is running, and removes it when the recording stops. |
storage | Keeps the small "recording in progress" state and the user's settings so the recorder keeps working if Chrome suspends the extension's background worker mid-recording. |
sidePanel | Shows the recording controls and the step list in Chrome's side panel next to the page being recorded. |
unlimitedStorage | Saves the user's guides and their screenshots in the browser's local database without the default quota or automatic eviction, so a long recording is never silently deleted; nothing is uploaded. |
| Access to all sites (optional) | Requested only when the user presses Record. Needed so Showsteps can capture screenshots and notice clicks in every tab and website the user visits during the recording (a guide often crosses several tabs and sign-in redirects); Chrome only allows screenshots of arbitrary sites with this permission. It is not used when no recording is running, the user can revoke it in Chrome at any time, and no page content ever leaves the device. |
Check it yourself: no network
You do not have to take our word for it. Chrome will show you every request the extension makes. It takes about five minutes.
- Open
chrome://extensionsand switch on Developer mode (top right). - Find Showsteps and click service worker next to Inspect views. DevTools opens for the extension’s background worker.
- Open the Network tab and leave the window open. Keep Preserve log ticked.
- Record a short task on any page, using made-up data, then stop, edit a step and export a file.
- Look at the list. It should hold no requests to any domain. Do the same in the side panel or editor: right-click inside it, choose Inspect, and watch its Network tab.
For a check that covers the whole browser, open chrome://net-export, start logging, do the same recording, stop and read the saved log for the extension’s traffic. To see it work offline, turn Wi-Fi off and repeat the recording; nothing should change.
Pressing a support link is the one exception, and it is not the extension talking: Chrome opens this website in a normal tab.
This website
The site you are reading has no analytics, no cookies and no third-party requests. Its fonts are served from the same origin.
Payments
Support payments are handled by Stripe on Stripe's own pages. Showsteps never sees your card details, and the extension does not know whether you have given.
Changes and questions
The source is on GitHub, so any change to this behaviour is visible in the history. Questions can go to the issue tracker.