Privacy for a personal YouTube monitor

Last updated: September 1, 2026

Summary

YouTube Playlist Monitor is a personal, locally run automation tool. It is designed for the account holder's own YouTube subscriptions and playlist. It does not sell personal information, run advertising, or use third-party analytics.

Information the monitor uses

The monitor may process the following information on the user's Mac:

the user's signed-in YouTube subscriptions feed;
video IDs, titles, channel names, URLs, and visible publishing text;
the configured YouTube playlist ID and returned playlist-item IDs;
an OAuth refresh token, stored locally; and
local SQLite state and diagnostic logs used to prevent duplicate additions.

How information is used

The monitor uses the YouTube Data API scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.force-ssl only to insert an eligible video into the configured playlist, check playlist access, or remove a playlist item previously stored by the monitor. It never deletes the underlying YouTube video.

Sharing and storage

Playlist requests are sent to Google/YouTube to perform the requested API operation. The browser profile, OAuth token, monitor database, and logs remain on the user's Mac. If the user configures an optional notification service, the notification summary is sent to that service according to the user's own configuration.

Controls and deletion

Users can revoke this application's Google access from their Google Account security settings, delete the local OAuth token, or delete local monitor data from their Mac. Removing a playlist item with the monitor removes only that playlist entry, not the YouTube video itself.

Contact

For questions about this personal application, contact: josh@monkeymetal.com.