{"course":{"slug":"choosing-your-tools","title":"Choosing and Using the Tools","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/choosing-your-tools","level":"beginner","track":"work"},"lesson":{"slug":"extensions-and-wrappers","title":"Extensions, wrappers and the permission dialog","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/choosing-your-tools/extensions-and-wrappers","position":26,"of":76,"minutes":8,"answer":"An AI browser extension usually requests permission to read and change every page you visit, so check publisher, age, recent reviews and the data disclosure before installing.","keyIdea":"An AI browser extension usually requests permission to read and change every page you visit, so check publisher, age, recent reviews and the data disclosure before installing, and never hand a third-party app a key you cannot cheaply revoke."},"body":{"format":"markdown","text":"## The category with the worst average quality\n\nApp stores and browser extension stores contain thousands of AI assistants. A minority are good. A large share are a thin layer over an API somebody else runs, charging a monthly fee for access you could have free, and a meaningful number are worse than that.\n\nThis is the part of the field where people lose money and data, and it catches people who are being sensible everywhere else. It catches them hardest where the official products are hard to reach or hard to pay for, which is exactly where the need is greatest.\n\n## Reading a browser extension's permissions\n\nWhen you install an extension, the browser tells you what it may do. The line that matters is this one, or wording close to it:\n\n> **Read and change all your data on all websites**\n\nThat is what it says. An extension with that permission can read every page you visit (your webmail, your bank's dashboard, your employer's internal systems, anything you have logged into) and modify what appears on them. Most AI extensions request it, because reading the current page is the feature.\n\nThe permission is not automatically wrong. It is what a \"summarise this page\" button needs. But it means the extension deserves the same scrutiny as a person you are handing your browser to, because functionally that is the transaction.\n\nBefore installing, check four things, in about three minutes:\n\n1. **Who publishes it.** A named company with a website, or an anonymous developer account created recently.\n2. **How many users, and how old.** Ten thousand users over two years is a different proposition from thirty thousand in three weeks.\n3. **Recent reviews, sorted by newest.** Extensions get sold. The classic pattern is a useful extension acquired by someone else, followed by an update that inserts tracking or ad injection into a tool that already has permission to change every page.\n4. **The privacy disclosure.** Stores require a data-use declaration. Read it. \"Collects browsing activity\" in an AI summariser means the pages go somewhere.\n\n## The wrapper business\n\nThe other pattern is simpler: an app that takes your question, sends it to a major provider's API, returns the answer, and charges you monthly for the privilege. Sometimes it adds genuine value: a good interface, a domain-specific set-up, offline queuing, a payment method that works in your country. Often it adds nothing but a price.\n\nHow to tell in two minutes:\n\n- **Does it name the model?** Honest products do. \"Powered by advanced AI\" means no.\n- **What does it charge relative to the underlying cost?** A wrapper charging $15 a month for something that costs $1.50 of API usage is selling convenience, and you should know that is what you are buying.\n- **Does it need an account and a card for a free trial?** Not disqualifying, but check the renewal terms before entering anything.\n- **Is your data in the deal?** Many free wrappers are free because your conversations are the product.\n\nThe honest cases are worth naming too. In markets where the official apps are unavailable or unpayable, a local wrapper that accepts local payment methods and answers in the local language is providing real value, and paying a margin for access you otherwise would not have is a reasonable trade.\n\n## Where the risk concentrates\n\n**Anything asking for a key.** A third-party app that wants your OpenAI or Anthropic key can spend it. Give it a key with a low limit that you can revoke, never your main one.\n\n> Figure: Three minutes before you install a browser extension. Steps: 1. Read the permission line (Read and change all your data on all websites covers your webmail, your bank and your employer's internal systems.); 2. Check who publishes it (A named company with a website, or an anonymous developer account created three weeks ago.); 3. Check users and age (Ten thousand users over two years is a different proposition from thirty thousand in three weeks.); 4. Sort reviews by newest (Useful extensions get sold, and the update after the sale is where tracking and ad injection arrive.); 5. Read the data disclosure (Collects browsing activity, in a summariser, means the pages go somewhere.). The permission is not automatically wrong: reading the current page is the feature. It does mean the extension deserves the scrutiny you would give a person you were handing your browser to, because functionally that is the transaction.\n\n**Anything asking to sign in with Google or Microsoft.** Read the scopes on the consent screen. \"See, edit, create and delete all of your Google Drive files\" is a request some AI apps make, and once granted it stays granted until you revoke it in your account settings. Check that page occasionally; most people have forgotten half of what is on it.\n\n**Anything on your work machine.** The extension has the same access to internal systems that you do, and installing it may breach a policy you agreed to.\n\nThe safe default is boring and effective: use the official app or the official website, add a small number of extensions you have actually checked, and treat the rest of the category as advertising."},"check":{"question":"A browser extension with 30,000 users and good older reviews shows recent complaints about injected adverts. What is the most likely explanation?","options":[{"text":"A recent browser update broke the extension, and the adverts come from pages it now fails to clean up.","correct":false,"tempting":"Blames a platform change for content the extension is inserting, which a broken cleaner would not add on its own."},{"text":"The users complaining have other extensions installed, and are attributing another extension's behaviour to this one.","correct":false,"tempting":"Explains away a pattern that appears specifically after an update to this extension, rather than across unrelated installs."},{"text":"It was sold or its update was compromised, and its page-changing permission now serves adverts.","correct":true},{"text":"The publisher has added an advertising tier and the complaints are from users who did not read the updated terms of service.","correct":false,"tempting":"Assumes a disclosed change; ownership transfers followed by silent monetisation are the documented pattern for this category."}]},"prev":{"slug":"coding-routes","title":"Where a coding assistant lives","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/choosing-your-tools/coding-routes"},"next":{"slug":"phone-first-and-low-bandwidth","title":"When the phone is the computer","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/choosing-your-tools/phone-first-and-low-bandwidth"},"authorship":"Founder and series editor: Dr Mustafa Mun. Written by AI models to a written standard. Exam keys checked blind by a second model: 3,665 of 3,666 agreed. Academic review invited.","review":{"status":"Draft, open for academic review"},"cite":"Addaly (2026) 'Extensions, wrappers and the permission dialog', in Choosing and Using the Tools. Edited by M. Mun. Addaly. Available at: https://addaly.com/learn/choosing-your-tools/extensions-and-wrappers (Accessed: 13 October 2026).","licence":{"name":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/"},"reader":{"schema":1,"title":"Extensions, wrappers and the permission dialog","courseTitle":"Choosing and Using the Tools","module":{"index":3,"slug":"the-routes-in","title":"The routes in"},"answer":null,"keyIdea":"An AI browser extension usually requests permission to read and change every page you visit, so check publisher, age, recent reviews and the data disclosure before installing, and never hand a third-party app a key you cannot cheaply revoke.","hero":{"kind":"figure","figure":{"t":"figure","label":"Figure","figure":{"type":"flow","steps":[{"label":"Read the permission line","detail":"Read and change all your data on all websites covers your webmail, your bank and your employer’s internal systems."},{"label":"Check who publishes it","detail":"A named company with a website, or an anonymous developer account created three weeks ago."},{"label":"Check users and age","detail":"Ten thousand users over two years is a different proposition from thirty thousand in three weeks."},{"label":"Sort reviews by newest","detail":"Useful extensions get sold, and the update after the sale is where tracking and ad injection arrive."},{"label":"Read the data disclosure","detail":"Collects browsing activity, in a summariser, means the pages go somewhere."}],"title":"Three minutes before you install a browser extension","caption":"The permission is not automatically wrong: reading the current page is the feature. It does mean the extension deserves the scrutiny you would give a person you were handing your browser to, because functionally that is the transaction."},"alt":"Figure: Three minutes before you install a browser extension. Steps: 1. Read the permission line (Read and change all your data on all websites covers your webmail, your bank and your employer’s internal systems.); 2. Check who publishes it (A named company with a website, or an anonymous developer account created three weeks ago.); 3. Check users and age (Ten thousand users over two years is a different proposition from thirty thousand in three weeks.); 4. Sort reviews by newest (Useful extensions get sold, and the update after the sale is where tracking and ad injection arrive.); 5. Read the data disclosure (Collects browsing activity, in a summariser, means the pages go somewhere.). The permission is not automatically wrong: reading the current page is the feature. It does mean the extension deserves the scrutiny you would give a person you were handing your browser to, because functionally that is the transaction."}},"blocks":[{"t":"h2","id":"the-category-with-the-worst-average-quality","runs":[{"text":"The category with the worst average quality"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"App stores and browser extension stores contain thousands of AI assistants. A minority are good. A large share are a thin layer over an API somebody else runs, charging a monthly fee for access you could have free, and a meaningful number are worse than that."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This is the part of the field where people lose money and data, and it catches people who are being sensible everywhere else. It catches them hardest where the official products are hard to reach or hard to pay for, which is exactly where the need is greatest."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"reading-a-browser-extension-s-permissions","runs":[{"text":"Reading a browser extension’s permissions"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"When you install an extension, the browser tells you what it may do. The line that matters is this one, or wording close to it:"}]},{"t":"quote","runs":[{"text":"Read and change all your data on all websites","b":true}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"That is what it says. An extension with that permission can read every page you visit (your webmail, your bank’s dashboard, your employer’s internal systems, anything you have logged into) and modify what appears on them. Most AI extensions request it, because reading the current page is the feature."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The permission is not automatically wrong. It is what a “summarise this page” button needs. But it means the extension deserves the same scrutiny as a person you are handing your browser to, because functionally that is the transaction."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Before installing, check four things, in about three minutes:"}]},{"t":"ol","start":1,"items":[[{"text":"Who publishes it.","b":true},{"text":" A named company with a website, or an anonymous developer account created recently."}],[{"text":"How many users, and how old.","b":true},{"text":" Ten thousand users over two years is a different proposition from thirty thousand in three weeks."}],[{"text":"Recent reviews, sorted by newest.","b":true},{"text":" Extensions get sold. The classic pattern is a useful extension acquired by someone else, followed by an update that inserts tracking or ad injection into a tool that already has permission to change every page."}],[{"text":"The privacy disclosure.","b":true},{"text":" Stores require a data-use declaration. Read it. “Collects browsing activity” in an AI summariser means the pages go somewhere."}]]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-wrapper-business","runs":[{"text":"The wrapper business"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The other pattern is simpler: an app that takes your question, sends it to a major provider’s API, returns the answer, and charges you monthly for the privilege. Sometimes it adds genuine value: a good interface, a domain-specific set-up, offline queuing, a payment method that works in your country. Often it adds nothing but a price."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"How to tell in two minutes:"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"Does it name the model?","b":true},{"text":" Honest products do. “Powered by advanced AI” means no."}],[{"text":"What does it charge relative to the underlying cost?","b":true},{"text":" A wrapper charging $15 a month for something that costs $1.50 of API usage is selling convenience, and you should know that is what you are buying."}],[{"text":"Does it need an account and a card for a free trial?","b":true},{"text":" Not disqualifying, but check the renewal terms before entering anything."}],[{"text":"Is your data in the deal?","b":true},{"text":" Many free wrappers are free because your conversations are the product."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The honest cases are worth naming too. In markets where the official apps are unavailable or unpayable, a local wrapper that accepts local payment methods and answers in the local language is providing real value, and paying a margin for access you otherwise would not have is a reasonable trade."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"where-the-risk-concentrates","runs":[{"text":"Where the risk concentrates"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Anything asking for a key.","b":true},{"text":" A third-party app that wants your OpenAI or Anthropic key can spend it. Give it a key with a low limit that you can revoke, never your main one."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Anything asking to sign in with Google or Microsoft.","b":true},{"text":" Read the scopes on the consent screen. “See, edit, create and delete all of your Google Drive files” is a request some AI apps make, and once granted it stays granted until you revoke it in your account settings. Check that page occasionally; most people have forgotten half of what is on it."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Anything on your work machine.","b":true},{"text":" The extension has the same access to internal systems that you do, and installing it may breach a policy you agreed to."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The safe default is boring and effective: use the official app or the official website, add a small number of extensions you have actually checked, and treat the rest of the category as advertising."}]}],"check":{"question":[{"text":"A browser extension with 30,000 users and good older reviews shows recent complaints about injected adverts. What is the most likely explanation?"}],"options":[{"text":[{"text":"A recent browser update broke the extension, and the adverts come from pages it now fails to clean up."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Blames a platform change for content the extension is inserting, which a broken cleaner would not add on its own."}]},{"text":[{"text":"The users complaining have other extensions installed, and are attributing another extension’s behaviour to this one."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Explains away a pattern that appears specifically after an update to this extension, rather than across unrelated installs."}]},{"text":[{"text":"It was sold or its update was compromised, and its page-changing permission now serves adverts."}],"correct":true,"tempting":null},{"text":[{"text":"The publisher has added an advertising tier and the complaints are from users who did not read the updated terms of service."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Assumes a disclosed change; ownership transfers followed by silent monetisation are the documented pattern for this category."}]}],"order":[3,2,0,1],"why":null},"prev":{"slug":"coding-routes","title":"Where a coding assistant lives","minutes":9},"next":{"slug":"phone-first-and-low-bandwidth","title":"When the phone is the computer","minutes":9}}}