Privacy

The short version

• EchoSearch has no accounts and no server that receives documents or searches. There is nowhere for them to be sent.
• The PDFs you add, their text and your own spelling rules are kept in your browser, on your device.
• EchoSearch sets no cookies.
• Two features use the internet: Hindi and Marathi typing suggestions (from Google) and usage analytics (our own Umami). Neither receives your documents, and analytics never receives what you search for.

Who we are

EchoSearch is a personal project run by Zaid Shaikh (zaidshaikh.com). This policy covers the EchoSearch app at /app and the pages around it. Contact: contact@zaidshaikh.com.

What we never receive

We never receive, store or have any way to see:

• the PDF files you add, or the text read from them;
• the names or words you search for;
• your results, or which pages you open.

Reading PDFs, reading scanned pages (OCR), matching names and showing pages all happen inside your own browser.

What is kept on your device

EchoSearch keeps these in your browser's own storage, which only this site on this device can read:

IndexedDB

• each PDF you add (the original file, so it can be shown again) and the text read from it;
• the spelling rules you add yourself;
• a copy of the built-in spelling rules, so search works offline.

localStorage

• a random id made on this device, and the week it was made (used for analytics, below);
• the date you last opened the app, and which first steps you have taken (added a document, searched, opened a result);
• whether you closed the install suggestion.

Deleting a document in EchoSearch removes it and its text at once. Clearing this site's data in your browser, or uninstalling the app, removes everything. Because nothing is copied to us, we cannot recover it for you, and there is nothing we could hand to anyone else.

Hindi and Marathi typing

If you choose Hindi or Marathi typing and type a name in English letters, the word you are typing is sent to Google Input Tools (inputtools.google.com) to suggest the Devanagari spelling. This needs an internet connection and is covered by Google's privacy policy. Typing in English, or typing Devanagari directly, never sends anything. The app says this next to the setting.

Usage analytics

We use Umami, a cookie-free analytics tool that we run ourselves, to learn which parts of EchoSearch are used and where people get stuck. It records pages visited and events we define, such as that a search was run, which match setting was chosen, roughly how many results came back (“6 to 20”), or that a scanned page needed reading. Umami works out the country from your connection and does not keep your IP address.

To see how people use EchoSearch over time, events are tied to the random id above. It is made on your device and is not linked to your name, email or anything else about you.

Analytics never receives the content of your documents, file names, the names or words you search for, or any text from a PDF. Every event and every value it can carry is listed in one file in the source, so nothing extra can slip in.

Cookies

EchoSearch sets no cookies. Google may set its own when its typing service is used; that is governed by its policy.

Your choices and rights

You can delete everything EchoSearch keeps at any time, as described above. Clearing this site's data also resets the random analytics id. If you have a question, or want to exercise a data protection right, write to contact@zaidshaikh.com. EchoSearch is not directed at children.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Questions: contact@zaidshaikh.com.

This page describes how EchoSearch actually works. It is not legal advice.