YT re:Watch

About

Tired of losing your YouTube progress? YT re:Watch offers a robust, private, and flexible way to track your viewing history across all accounts—or no account at all. This major update focuses on reliability, scalability, and local-only storage for Chrome users.

NEW IN THIS VERSION

Hybrid Local Storage: Replaced old sync logic with a new hybrid storage engine (extension storage + IndexedDB) designed for large histories and long-term use.
Stronger Chrome Reliability: Reworked background and content interaction to keep tracking stable even when Chrome suspends background tasks or changes how pages load.
Smarter Popup Handling: Clicking the extension icon now focuses an existing history window where possible instead of opening duplicates.
Improved Resume Logic: Better handling of SPA navigation, channel pages, and complex YouTube flows so videos are more likely to resume near your last position.
Enhanced Import/Export: Export your complete history as JSON and import it later, with Merge or Replace modes for manual cross-browser or cross-device transfer.
CORE FEATURES

ACCOUNT INDEPENDENCE

Unified History: Switch freely between YouTube accounts in the same Chrome profile without losing your progress.
No Login Required: Track your history even when you are not signed into Google.
Multi-Account Workflow: Works well for work/personal accounts, side projects, and shared computers (per browser profile).
VISUAL PROGRESS TRACKING

Smart Overlays: See progress directly on thumbnails with configurable “viewed” labels and progress bars.
Shorts Support: Tracks YouTube Shorts separately so they do not clutter your long-form history.
Resume Anywhere: Saves video position regularly so you can pick up close to where you left off whenever possible.
ANALYTICS AND STATISTICS

Analytics Dashboard: View total watch time, completion rates, top channels, and more.
Charts and Summaries: Understand when and how you watch, with daily and hourly breakdowns.
Direct History Management: Remove individual videos from your local history with a single click.
YOUTUBE HISTORY PRIVACY

Local Storage Only: Your viewing data stays in the browser’s own storage; it is never sent to external servers by this extension.
Separate from Google History: The extension does not use YouTube’s built-in history and does not write back to your Google account.
Manual Data Portability: Export/Import gives you explicit control over when and how your data moves between browsers or devices.
KEY FEATURES CHECKLIST

Hybrid local storage for large, long-lived histories.
Improved stability and navigation handling in modern Chrome.
Multilanguage interface: English, German, Spanish, French, Bulgarian.
Customizable overlays: change colors, text, and size in Settings.
Export/Import for manual backup and migration of your history.
Real-time tracking: saves video position at regular intervals.
Smart search and pagination in the history view.
Light/Dark theme with optional system-theme following.
Open source: code and documentation available on GitHub.
PRIVACY TRANSPARENCY

What this extension protects:

Your YouTube viewing history and video progress, stored locally in your browser.
Playlist discovery data used only by the extension.
What this extension does not protect:

Your IP address, cookies, or browser fingerprint.
YouTube’s recommendation, analytics, or advertising systems.
Any other site or network-level tracking.
For broader privacy, combine YT re:Watch with a trusted VPN, content blockers, privacy-focused browser settings, and cookie controls.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Users with multiple YouTube accounts who want consistent progress per browser profile.
Privacy-conscious viewers who prefer not to send viewing history to Google.
Students and researchers who rely on long-form content and need reliable local tracking.
Families or shared computers where each Chrome profile should have its own independent history.
SUPPORT AND COMMUNITY

Documentation: A complete user guide and FAQ are included in the project docs.
Issues: Report bugs or request features on GitHub.
Community: Optional chat channel is available for questions and discussion.
YT re:Watch is designed to give you reliable, account-independent YouTube history that stays under your control, with clear boundaries around what it does and does not handle.