Privacy
Short version: no account, no cookies, no ads, no tracking. What your child types stays on this device.
What stays on this device
Pencilhop keeps a few things in this browser's local storage so practice can carry on from day to day:
- personal best times for each tool and setting;
- a small practice log (date, tool, number of problems, number right, time taken) for the weekly summary;
- your settings: school year, paper size, ○ or ✓ marks;
- word lists and dictation lists you make or paste, and any voice recordings you make for dictation (kept in the browser's IndexedDB storage).
None of this is sent to us or anyone else. Clear this device, at the bottom of every page, deletes all of it at once. Clearing your browser's site data does the same.
Pencilhop also keeps a copy of its own pages and files (not anything you type) so the tools you have opened work without a connection. Clear this device deletes that copy too.
What reaches our server
Only anonymous counts. When a page opens or a set is finished, the page may send one tiny message such as "view, /tools/100-cell/, from a search engine". The server adds 1 to that day's total and keeps nothing else: no IP address, no user ID, no device fingerprint, nothing your child typed.
To keep the totals honest, the server also looks at the browser's name (its user agent) to leave out search robots and test tools, and then forgets it. Visits it leaves out are counted only as a number per day and reason (for example "robot"), with no page and no person.
We use these totals to see which tools are used and whether visitors come back.
If you pre-register for Plus
The pre-registration form on the Plus page asks only for your email and a tick to confirm you are a parent or teacher aged 18 or over. We store your email, the language of the page and the day you signed up, and use them only to tell you when Plus opens. You can ask us to delete it at any time; we will also delete the list if Plus doesn't go ahead.
Parent live view (only if you turn it on)
Live view is off until a parent taps Watch from your phone on a tool page and scans the code with their own phone. While it's on, the practice screen sends small messages through our relay: the problem number, the answer when it is a number, right or wrong, and the time. From word cards, dictation and typing only the item number, right or wrong, and the time are sent, never words. The phone can send back preset stamps and its own nickname.
Everything is encrypted on the device with a key that is only inside the code you scan; the key never reaches our server. The relay can't read the messages, stores nothing, and closes the room after 15 minutes without messages or 3 hours in all. A badge stays on the child's screen while anyone watches. Hold to stop sharing makes a new room and key, so old links stop working.
What we never do
- no accounts and no sign-up;
- no cookies;
- no advertising and no ad networks;
- no third-party scripts, analytics or fonts: everything loads from pencilhop.com;
- no AI: problems and answers are computed by plain code.
Children
Pencilhop is set up by parents and teachers and handed to children on their screen. Children never create anything that leaves the device, and we never ask for a child's name. Names typed on certificates or sheets stay on the device and are printed in ink colour.
Questions
Pencilhop is a small independent project. This page will be updated, with a new date, before anything about what we store changes.