In short: you can use every lesson and test without giving us any personal information. Your progress is stored in your own browser. If you create an account, we keep your email address and your progress so you can use them on other devices. If this site shows adverts, Google and its partners may use cookies to show and measure them. We never sell your personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal information Niche Bloggers LLC (“Typingo”, “we”, “us”) collects when you use typingo.net, why, how long we keep it, who we share it with and the choices and rights you have. It applies to this website and the typing course, tests and tools on it.
Who is responsible for your data
The controller of your personal information is Niche Bloggers LLC. You can contact us about privacy at any time at support@typingo.net or through the contact form.
Information stored only in your browser
The lessons, tests and practice run entirely in your web browser. What you type is checked on your device, not sent to us. To remember your progress without an account, the site keeps the following in your browser’s local storage:
- which days you have passed, your results, the history of your sessions and a daily practice calendar;
- how accurately and quickly you type each key, used to find your weakest keys;
- your settings, such as sound, keyboard display, test length and practice mode;
- text you paste into “My own text” on the Practice page, and a recording of your last typing test so you can replay it;
- the name or nickname you choose to print on a certificate or share card.
This information stays on your device. We cannot see it, and it is not sent to us unless you create an account (see below). It remains until you delete it: use “Reset progress” on My Progress, or clear this site’s data in your browser settings. My Progress also lets you download a backup file, which you keep and control yourself.
Information you give us
Optional learner account
An account is optional. It lets your progress follow you to other devices. When you sign up we collect your username, email address and password (stored only in scrambled, hashed form), and whether you have confirmed your email address. While you are logged in, the progress described above is copied to your account and kept in step between your devices, with one exception: text you paste into “My own text” never leaves your browser.
To protect accounts against abuse, we also record the IP address and country you sign up from and last logged in from. IP addresses are deleted after 365 days; the country is kept while the account exists.
We send you an email to confirm your address and, if you ask, to reset your password. If you choose to (you can change this at any time on your account page or with the link in every email), we also send a short practice reminder on days you have not practised and a progress update on Days 7, 14, 21, 28 and 30. To send reminders at your local time, your account stores your time zone. We do not send newsletters or marketing emails unless you separately agree to receive them.
Certificates
If you graduate while logged in and ask for a certificate, we keep the name you choose to print, your graduation speed and accuracy, the dates and the certificate’s ID. Anyone who has the ID or scans the QR code can see these details and whether the certificate is valid on our verification page, which search engines are asked not to index. We may review, suspend or revoke a certificate that does not appear to reflect genuine work. Your certificate is deleted if your account is deleted or you ask us to delete it.
Contact form and emails
When you use the contact form or email us, we receive your name, email address, the topic and your message. The form sends your message to our support mailbox; it is not stored in the website’s database. We use it only to answer you and to keep a record of the conversation.
Comments
If you leave a comment on an article, we collect the name, email address and website you enter, the comment itself, your IP address and your browser’s user agent, to show the comment and to help detect spam. If the site shows profile pictures, an anonymised string made from your email address (a hash) may be sent to the Gravatar service to check whether you have one.
Information collected automatically
- Server logs. Like almost every website, our hosting provider records technical information about each request, such as IP address, date and time, the page requested, the referring page and your browser type. These logs are used to keep the site secure and working, and are deleted after a limited period set by the host.
- Security and abuse protection. To stop spam and password guessing on the sign-up, log-in and contact forms, we keep a short-lived counter linked to a one-way scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address. It is deleted automatically within an hour.
- Cookies. We use a small number of cookies. Our Cookie Policy lists them.
- No analytics by default. The site does not include analytics or tracking scripts of its own. If we add a statistics service in future, we will update this policy first.
Advertising
To keep the course free, this site may show adverts served by Google AdSense. Adverts never appear in or next to the typing area. When adverts are shown:
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve adverts based on your previous visits to this website or other websites.
- Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve adverts to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
- You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google’s Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some third-party vendors’ use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info or, in Europe, youronlinechoices.eu.
- In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, you are asked for consent before personalised adverts or advertising cookies are used, through a consent message. You can change your choice at any time from the link in that message or in the site footer.
- Google explains how it uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Google acts as an independent controller for the data it collects through its advertising services. Its privacy policy applies to that data.
Why we use your information (legal bases)
- To provide the course and your account (performance of a contract with you): saving and syncing progress, logging in, confirming your email and resetting your password.
- To answer you (our legitimate interest in replying, or steps you ask us to take): contact messages and support emails.
- To keep the site safe and working (legitimate interests): server logs, spam and abuse protection, fixing errors.
- Advertising cookies and personalised adverts (your consent, where the law requires it). You can withdraw consent at any time.
- To meet legal obligations, for example answering lawful requests from authorities.
Who we share information with
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with service providers who help us run the site, under agreements that require them to protect it and use it only on our instructions:
- our web hosting provider, which stores the website, its database and server logs;
- our email provider, which delivers account emails and receives contact messages;
- Google, when adverts are shown (see Advertising above);
- Automattic’s Gravatar service, if profile pictures are shown next to comments;
- YouTube (Google) or Vimeo, only when you press play on a lesson video. Until then nothing is loaded from them.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect our rights or the safety of users, or as part of a sale or transfer of the website, in which case this policy would continue to apply.
International transfers
Our providers may process information in other countries, including the United States. Where the law requires it, transfers are protected by appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision.
How long we keep information
- Browser storage: until you reset your progress or clear this site’s data.
- Account and synced progress: until you delete your progress or ask us to delete your account.
- Contact messages: for as long as needed to deal with your request, and then for up to two years as a record, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
- Comments: for as long as the comment is published.
- Security counters: up to one hour. Server logs: as set by our host, usually a few weeks.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- have inaccurate information corrected;
- have your information deleted;
- receive your information in a portable format (the backup download on My Progress already gives you your progress);
- object to, or ask us to limit, how we use it;
- withdraw consent at any time, without affecting what was done before;
- complain to your data protection authority. In the UK this is the Information Commissioner’s Office; in the EU, the authority in your country.
To use these rights, contact us at support@typingo.net. We may need to confirm your identity, usually by replying from the email address on your account. We answer within one month, and we do not charge for reasonable requests.
California residents
California law gives you the right to know what personal information we collect, to delete it, to correct it and to opt out of its “sale” or “sharing” for cross-context behavioural advertising, without being discriminated against. We do not sell personal information for money. Where personalised adverts could count as “sharing”, you can opt out with Google’s Ads Settings, by turning on Global Privacy Control in your browser, or by contacting us.
Children
The course is suitable for learners of all ages and can be used without giving any personal information. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Children under that age should not create an account, comment or send us messages. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Security
The site is served over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). Passwords are stored only as hashes, forms are protected against automated abuse, and access to our systems is limited to the people who need it. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and will tell you and the authorities about a breach where the law requires.
Links to other websites
Articles and adverts may link to other websites. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices; please read their policies.
Changes to this policy
We update this policy when the site or the law changes. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when. If we make a significant change, we will say so on the site or by email to account holders before it takes effect.
Contact
Questions about this policy or your information: support@typingo.net or our contact page.