Your information, explained.

When you work on this device

When you work without an account, your draft answers stay in this browser on this device. You can return to your draft here.

Anyone with access to this browser may be able to read the answers. Clearing browser data, using private browsing, or losing the device can mean losing your drafts.

When you use an account

An account saves your applications on the server so you can continue on another device. A few answers are the exception: they stay on the device where you give them, as the next section explains. We also store account details and sign-in session records.

We send address-confirmation and password-reset emails through an email delivery provider, which receives your email address and the message.

You choose which existing local drafts to add to your account. New applications started while signed in are saved to the account automatically.

This browser also keeps a working copy. Signing out does not erase it.

Encryption and account protection

HTTPS encrypts information sent between your browser and Pencilstep. Server data is stored on encrypted disks.

Passwords are protected with one-way hashing. Access to saved applications is checked against your signed-in account.

How account answers are handled

Pencilstep’s software saves and loads account answers automatically so you can continue across devices. Authorized server administrators can read the stored answers. Those never include the answers that stay on your device: we never receive them.

Keeping and removing your applications

Local drafts stay in this browser until you remove them or its data is cleared. After removing a local draft, use Undo in the confirmation notice to restore it. Undo ends if you dismiss the notice, remove another application, reload or close the tab.

When you remove an account application, it stays in Removed applications for 30 days. You can restore it during that time or delete it permanently sooner. After 30 days, the next server cleanup deletes it from the active database.

Server backups

Server backups support recovery of stored information. After each successful daily backup, the backup process removes copies that are 14 days old or older.

Deleted information can remain in older backups until that cleanup. If a daily backup fails, cleanup is delayed.

Cookies, usage records and technical information

Browser storage keeps your drafts and preferences, and cookies keep you signed in. On these public pages it also keeps a note that you closed the offer to read a page in Russian, or chose English or Russian at the top of a page, so that the offer is not shown again; the note stays in this browser and is never sent. Pencilstep uses no advertising trackers and no analytics cookies.

To learn which parts of Pencilstep work well and which need improving, Pencilstep records how its pages and the app are used: the pages and screens opened (for a guide or a news post, only that one was opened, not which; for “Your visa journey”, only that it was opened, nothing it shows), the controls used, such as starting a draft, opening help or copying a value, and how some actions ended, such as a sign-in refused, a password reset requested or a draft that could not be saved. What was typed and the text of the server’s answer are not recorded; for a failed request only a general category is kept: refused, too many requests, or service unavailable. Each record includes the interface language and the screen size: phone, tablet or desktop. The start of each visit also notes where it came from (the kind of site, such as a search engine, or where a Pencilstep link was shared, such as Telegram or email, and for a link Pencilstep tagged, the broad kind of channel, campaign and content it was tagged with, such as “messenger”, “launch” or “video”) and whether this device already had an application on it. The records never contain your answers.

Each visit gets a random code so the steps of one visit can be seen together. The code is kept in no cookie and no browser storage, only in the memory of the open page, until the page is reloaded or closed; and when you follow a link in the same tab from one of these public pages to another or into the app, the link carries the code once and the next page drops it from the address; another tab gets its own code; and after 30 minutes with nothing recorded the next record starts a new one. A link that does carry a code, such as one copied before the page dropped it, puts everyone who opens it into the same visit, on the public pages and in the app; none of them is shown anything about the others. Pencilstep’s analytics server keeps the code with that visit’s records and deletes them together. The code is made at random, not from your IP address, and is never linked to your account or your applications.

To estimate the country, region and city you connect from, your IP address is sent with the records to Pencilstep’s analytics server. The server looks it up in a location database and keeps only the estimate; it does not store your IP address. The address is also used in working out the identifier under which the server keeps a visit’s records together, and is not stored there either. A VPN or proxy can make the estimate inaccurate. Turning recording off below also stops your IP address from being sent to Pencilstep’s analytics server.

The records stay on servers Pencilstep runs, are not shared and are deleted after 25 months; backup copies may keep them for about two weeks longer. You can turn recording off for this browser below.

Requests to the service include technical information such as your IP address and browser details. Account and operational records support sign-in, reliability and abuse prevention.

Separately from the usage records, on these public pages but not in the app, Pencilstep counts visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics. Your browser loads its script from Cloudflare, a US company, and tells Cloudflare which page you opened, which site linked you to it and how quickly it loaded. As with any request, Cloudflare receives your IP address and browser details. Cloudflare states that this uses no cookies or browser storage and that it does not fingerprint visitors for its analytics. Turning recording off below stops this too, from the next page you open.

Your choices

Choose local storage or an account, decide which existing drafts to add to your account, and remove applications when you need to. You can also turn usage records off for this browser in the section above, or clear this site’s data in your browser.

Use your own device for sensitive information. Get permission before entering another person’s information.

About this notice

This notice describes the current version of Pencilstep and will be updated as the service develops. Pencilstep is operated by BLUEPRINT SQUARE LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 10113072), with its registered office at PO Box 4385, 10113072 - Companies House Default Address, Cardiff, CF14 8LH. For privacy questions, write to privacy@pencilstep.com.