YT re:Watch - YouTube History Extension for Multiple Accounts & Privacy

📚 → New User? Start Here! User-Friendly Guide ←

🔄 YouTube Account Switching Made Easy! Same history across ALL accounts + YouTube history privacy!
🔄 Multi-account extension • 📊 History privacy • ✨ No login required • 🎯 Progress tracking
📖 FAQ | 📚 Complete Guide | 🔧 Developer Docs

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YouTube progress tracking without account limitations - Your viewing history stays private

Main extension interface showing video history, analytics, and settings

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🎯 Perfect for YouTube Multiple Accounts & Privacy

🔄 Tired of losing YouTube progress when switching accounts? Need YouTube history without login?

YT re:Watch is the YouTube history extension that solves account switching problems:

🔄 YouTube Multiple Accounts Support

• ✅ Same history across ALL YouTube accounts - switch freely without losing progress
• ✅ YouTube without login - track videos without any account required
• ✅ Account switching made easy - consistent viewing history regardless of login status
• ✅ Multi-account workflow - perfect for work/personal YouTube accounts
• ✅ Family computer friendly - separate histories without account conflicts

🎯 YouTube Progress Tracking & Visual Overlays

• ✅ Progress bars on YouTube - see completion percentage on video thumbnails
• ✅ "Viewed" labels - customizable overlay showing watched videos
• ✅ Resume where you left off - automatic video position tracking
• ✅ YouTube Shorts tracking - separate tracking for short-form content
• ✅ Playlist discovery - track and organize YouTube playlists

🔒 YouTube History Privacy

• ✅ Local storage only - Google doesn't get your viewing progress data
• ✅ No YouTube tracking - replaces Google's built-in history system
• ✅ Private YouTube browsing - watch without affecting recommendations
• ✅ Unlimited local storage - GB-scale capacity with hybrid IndexedDB system

⚠️ Privacy Transparency

What this extension protects: YouTube viewing history and video progress tracking only
What it DOESN'T protect: IP tracking, cookies, browser fingerprinting, or other Google tracking

For complete privacy: Combine with VPN, ad blockers, and privacy-focused browsers

🚀 Get Started in 30 Seconds

Step 1: Install the Extension

Chrome Users: Get it from Chrome Web Store →

Firefox Users: Get it from Firefox Add-ons →

Step 2: That's It!

• Go to YouTube and start watching videos
• The extension works automatically in the background
• Click the extension icon to see your watch history

🎯 Perfect For These YouTube Users

🔄 Multi-Account Users (#1 Use Case!)

• "I have work and personal YouTube accounts - hate losing progress when switching"
• "My family shares this computer and we need separate YouTube histories"
• "I manage multiple YouTube channels and need consistent tracking"
• "I want to use YouTube without staying logged in"

🔒 Privacy-Focused Users

• "I want YouTube history without Google tracking my viewing habits"
• "I need to research topics without affecting my recommendations"
• "I want to browse YouTube anonymously but still track what I watch"
• "I need a private alternative to YouTube's built-in history"

👨‍🎓 Students & Content Creators

• "I watch educational content across different devices and accounts"
• "I need to track my viewing progress without Google profiling"
• "I want consistent YouTube history for research projects"
• "I need to analyze my viewing patterns privately"

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📱 What You'll See on YouTube

🏷️ Visual Overlays (Key Feature!)

The extension adds smart visual indicators directly on YouTube:

• "Viewed" labels - Customizable text showing watched videos
• Progress bars - Visual completion percentage on video thumbnails
• Custom colors - Choose from blue, red, green, purple, or orange
• Adjustable size - Small, medium, large, or extra-large labels
• Works everywhere - Video listings, search results, recommendations

Additionally, the history list now shows the video’s channel name beneath the title for quicker scanning.

🎛️ Extension Interface

Click the extension icon to access:

• Videos Tab - Your main viewing history with progress tracking
• Shorts Tab - Separate tracking for YouTube Shorts
• Playlists Tab - Discovered playlists with metadata
• Analytics Tab - Interactive charts showing viewing patterns
• Settings Tab - Full customization options

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🗂️ Key Features

🔄 Multi-Account & Privacy

• Account Independence: Same YouTube history across all accounts (or no account)
• Local Storage: All data stored securely on your device only
• No Google Tracking: YouTube doesn't get your viewing progress data
• Export/Import: Backup and restore your YouTube history anytime
• Robust Deletion System: Deleted videos stay deleted across all devices with tombstone-based protection

🎯 Progress Tracking

• Visual Overlays: Customizable "viewed" labels and progress bars
• Auto-save: Tracks video position every 5 seconds
• YouTube Shorts: Separate tracking for short-form content
• Playlist Discovery: Track and organize YouTube playlists

📊 Analytics & Insights

• Interactive Charts: Viewing patterns by hour and day
• Longest Unfinished Videos: Quickly resume long videos you haven't finished (shows channel, time left, and link)
• Top Watched Channels: See your top 5 channels by videos watched (with links)
• Top Skipped Channels: See your top 5 channels where you most often skip long videos (with links)
• Completion Bar Chart: Visualize your completion rate for long videos (skipped, partial, completed) with a bar chart and legend
• Weekly Activity: Visualize your YouTube usage patterns

Analytics now prefer locally persisted, privacy-preserving statistics for better accuracy and performance.

🔄 Data Portability & Local Storage

• Unlimited local storage: GB-scale capacity with IndexedDB + localStorage hybrid system
• Manual export/import: Transfer data between devices via JSON files
• Bulletproof reliability: Core functionality works even if IndexedDB unavailable
• Privacy protection: All data stays local, no cloud storage required
• Performance optimized: Fast queries with indexed search and memory-efficient pagination

Community tools

• YouTube history converter by @tannery495: Converts Google Takeout watch-history.json into a YT re:Watch import file. Repo: github.com/tannery495/youtube-history-converter.

🎨 User Experience

• Modern Interface: Clean, card-based layout
• Dark/Light Theme: Automatic system theme detection
• Smart Search: Find videos quickly in your history
• Responsive Design: Works perfectly on all screen sizes

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🤝 Community & Support

• 🌐 Visit our website - Complete documentation and guides
• 💬 Join our community forum - Get help, share tips, and connect with other users
• 💬 Telegram community - Real-time chat and support
• 📖 Read our documentation - Complete guides for all skill levels
• 🐛 Report bugs on GitHub - Help improve the extension
• ⭐ Rate us on browser stores - Support the project

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📥 Installation

🔥 Recommended: Install from Browser Stores

Chrome Users:

Firefox Users:

🔧 For Developers: Manual Installation

Click to expand developer installation instructions

Chrome:

1. Run ./build.sh to build the extension
2. Open Chrome → chrome://extensions/
3. Enable "Developer mode"
4. Click "Load unpacked" and select the dist/chrome folder

Firefox:

1. Run ./build.sh to build the extension
2. Open Firefox → about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox
3. Click "Load Temporary Add-on" and select the manifest.json file from the dist/firefox folder

Storage System

This extension uses a hybrid storage architecture combining IndexedDB and localStorage for optimal performance and unlimited capacity:

• IndexedDB: Unlimited storage for complete video/playlists history with full metadata
• localStorage: Fast overlay for recent/active content and lightweight configuration
• Merged reads: Seamless access to complete history with local changes taking priority
• Extension-scoped: IndexedDB is never created under YouTube origin for privacy protection

Persistent Statistics

For faster and more consistent Analytics, the extension maintains a small, local statistics snapshot:

• totalWatchSeconds: cumulative seconds watched
• daily: last 7 days of totals keyed by local date YYYY-MM-DD
• hourly: array of 24 totals for each hour of day

These stats are calculated and stored locally only. On first upgrade, they are seeded from your existing history when possible.

Hybrid Storage Migration

The extension automatically migrates from legacy storage to the new hybrid system on first run. The migration process:

1. Verified migration: Each batch is written to IndexedDB and verified before cleanup
2. Fail-safe: Local data is never deleted until IndexedDB archival is confirmed
3. Resumable: Migration continues from last successful batch if interrupted
4. Stats rebuild: Analytics statistics are recalculated from migrated data
5. Graceful fallback: Extension continues working during migration process

Data Structure

The extension stores three types of data:

• Video History: Video IDs, timestamps, progress, titles, and URLs
• Playlist History: Playlist IDs, titles, and URLs
• Settings: User preferences for overlay appearance, cleanup, and theme preferences
• Statistics: Aggregated watch‑time summaries used for analytics (local only)

Usage

1. Install the extension following the instructions above
2. Visit YouTube and start watching videos
3. Your progress is automatically saved every 5 seconds with smart timestamp loading to prevent video interruption
4. Click the extension icon to view your watch history across multiple tabs:
   • Videos: Regular YouTube videos with progress tracking
   • Shorts: Dedicated interface for YouTube Shorts
   • Playlists: Saved playlists with metadata
   • Analytics: Interactive charts and viewing statistics
   • Settings: Customize appearance, data management, and preferences
5. Export/import data anytime for backup and transfer between devices

Settings

🎨 Appearance

• Theme: Choose between System (follows your OS theme), Light, or Dark theme with instant switching
• Overlay Title: Text to show in the overlay (max 12 characters)
• Overlay Color: Color of the progress bar overlay (blue, red, green, purple, orange)
• Overlay Label Size: Size of the overlay label and progress bar (small, medium, large, extra large)

🗂️ Data Management

• Auto-clean Period: Automatically remove history entries older than specified days (1–180 days), or choose Forever to disable auto-cleanup
• Items per Page: Number of items to show per page in history view (5-20)
• Debug Mode: Enable debug logging for troubleshooting

🔄 Data Management

• Export History: Download complete history as JSON file for backup
• Import History: Restore or merge data from backup files
• Data Portability: Transfer history between devices manually
• Migration Status: Monitor hybrid storage migration progress

Theme System

The extension supports a comprehensive theme system:

• System Theme: Automatically follows your operating system's dark/light mode preference
• Manual Themes: Choose Light or Dark theme regardless of system setting
• Dynamic Switching: Theme changes are applied immediately without page refresh
• Browser Integration: Detects and responds to browser theme changes
• Persistent Settings: Your theme preference is saved and restored across sessions

Progress Display

The history view now shows enhanced progress information:

• Watched Time: Shows the actual time you've watched (e.g., "5:30")
• Percentage: Shows the percentage of the video you've completed (e.g., "45%")
• Combined Display: Shows both time and percentage (e.g., "5:30 (45%)")
• Accurate Tracking: Only shows percentage when video duration is available
• Progress Indicators: Modern progress bars and visual indicators for each video and playlist

Analytics Dashboard

The Analytics tab provides comprehensive insights into your YouTube viewing habits:

📈 Viewing Patterns

• Watch Time Distribution by Hour: Interactive charts showing when you watch the most content
• Weekly Activity Tracking: Visualize your daily YouTube activity over the past 7 days
• Content Type Comparison: Pie charts comparing time spent on regular videos vs Shorts

📊 Performance Metrics

• Completion Rate Statistics: Track how often you finish videos you start watching
• Total Watch Time: Cumulative time spent watching videos and shorts
• Video Count Statistics: Track total videos watched and completion rates

🎨 Visual Features

• Interactive Charts: All analytics presented with interactive, theme-aware visualizations
• Real-time Updates: Charts update automatically as you watch more content
• Dark Theme Support: Analytics adapt to your chosen theme preference

Privacy

• No Data Collection: The extension does not collect, transmit, or store any data outside your device
• Local Storage Only: All data is stored locally using the browser's secure storage API
• No External Servers: The extension does not communicate with any external servers

Security

The extension uses the browser's built-in storage API (chrome.storage.local/browser.storage.local) which provides:

• Encrypted Storage: Data is stored in an encrypted format
• Access Control: Only the extension can access the stored data
• No Console Access: Data cannot be easily dumped through browser developer tools

Troubleshooting

Extension Not Working

1. Check YouTube Page: Make sure you're on a YouTube page (youtube.com)
2. Refresh and Retry: Refresh the page and try again
3. Extension Status: Verify the extension is enabled in your browser
4. Debug Mode: Enable debug mode in settings for detailed logging

History Not Loading

1. Popup Refresh: Close and reopen the popup interface
2. Page Refresh: Refresh the YouTube page completely
3. Console Logs: Check browser console for error messages (F12 → Console)
4. Storage Check: Verify extension has storage permissions
5. Improved Diagnostics: Benefit from enhanced error messages and loading states

Storage & Migration Issues

1. Migration Status: Check popup for hybrid storage migration progress
2. Storage Space: Ensure sufficient disk space for IndexedDB storage
3. Browser Storage: Verify extension has storage permissions enabled
4. Fallback Mode: Extension continues working if IndexedDB unavailable
5. Export Backup: Always export data before major troubleshooting

Migration Issues

If you experience issues with data migration from older versions:

1. Automatic Retry: The extension will automatically retry migration on next startup
2. Export First: Export your data before troubleshooting to preserve it
3. Clear and Restart: If problems persist, clear extension data and start fresh
4. Import Backup: Use the import feature to restore previously exported data

Development

Project Structure

├── src/                      # Source files
│   ├── background/          # Background script
│   ├── content/             # Content scripts
│   ├── popup/               # Popup interface
│   ├── shared/              # Shared utilities and components
│   └── manifest/            # Manifest templates
├── dist/                    # Distribution packages
├── helpers/                 # Build helper scripts
├── build.sh                 # Build script
└── youtube-local-history.user.js  # Userscript version

Building

1. Make changes to the source files in the src/ directory
2. Run ./build.sh to build both Chrome and Firefox extensions
3. Test the built extensions in your browser
4. The built extensions will be available in the dist/ directory

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Release Notes

See CHANGELOG.md for detailed release notes and version history.

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🎯 Summary: Why Choose YT re:Watch?

YT re:Watch is the ultimate YouTube history extension for users who:

• Switch between multiple YouTube accounts (work/personal)
• Want YouTube history without login requirements
• Need YouTube progress tracking with visual overlays
• Prefer YouTube privacy over Google's tracking
• Want consistent viewing history regardless of account status

Key Search Terms: YouTube multiple accounts, YouTube account switching, YouTube history extension, YouTube progress tracking, YouTube without login, YouTube privacy extension, YouTube progress bar, YouTube viewed videos, YouTube multi-account, YouTube local storage

Perfect for: Multi-account users, privacy-conscious users, students, researchers, content creators, families sharing computers, and anyone who wants reliable YouTube progress tracking without Google surveillance.

⭐ Install now from Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons

Multilanguage Support

This extension supports multiple languages:

• English (en)
• German (de)
• Spanish (es)
• French (fr)
• Bulgarian (bg)

Note: All non-English translations are currently machine-generated. If you are a native speaker and notice any issues, please consider contributing improvements! See src/_locales/README.md for translation guidelines.

❤️ Support the Project

If you find YT re:Watch useful, consider supporting development on Patreon!