Privacy Policy

My Morse Code Translator is a free tool built by one person who cares about privacy. This policy explains, in plain language, what information is and isn't collected when you use the site. The short version: your translations and secret messages are processed in your own browser and are never sent to or stored on a server. The longer version is below.

Your translations stay in your browser

When you type text and convert it to Morse code — or paste dots and dashes to decode them back to text — that work happens entirely on your device, in your browser, using JavaScript. The message you type is not transmitted to any server, not logged, and not stored by us. When you close or refresh the page, it's gone. We literally never see what you translate.

Secret messages are encoded in the link, not on a server

The shareable “secret message” feature works by encoding your entire message directly into the URL — the part after the # or in the query string of the link you generate. Because the message lives inside the link itself, there is no copy on any server for us or anyone else to read. When your recipient opens the link, their browser reads the encoded text out of the URL and decodes it locally. This has one important consequence for you: anyone who has the full link can read the message, so treat these links like the contents of a note, not like an encrypted vault. It also means we cannot recover, delete, or even view a message once you've created its link.

Cookies and analytics we do use

To understand how the site is used and to keep it free, we rely on a few well-known third-party services. These may set cookies or use similar technologies in your browser:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Helps us see aggregate, anonymized traffic — which pages are popular, roughly where visitors come from, and which features get used — so we know what to improve. It does not tell us who you are. You can read Google's handling of this data in the Google Privacy Policy.
• Microsoft Clarity. Provides anonymized, aggregated insight into how people interact with pages (such as general click and scroll patterns) so we can find confusing layouts and fix them. Microsoft describes its practices in the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
• Google AdSense. If advertising is shown, Google and its partners may use cookies to serve and measure ads, and in some regions to personalize them. You can review and adjust your ad settings at Google Ad Settings and learn more at How Google uses cookies in advertising.

These services set their cookies under their own control, not ours. None of them are given the contents of what you translate — remember, that never leaves your browser in the first place.

Managing cookies

You're in charge of cookies. Every major browser lets you block or delete them from its settings, and you can browse in a private or incognito window to limit them for a session. You can also opt out of personalized Google ads at Google Ad Settings. Blocking analytics and ad cookies won't stop the translator from working — the core tool runs entirely on your device regardless.

What we don't do

• We don't require an account, name, or email to use the tool.
• We don't store your translated text or secret messages.
• We don't sell or rent personal information to anyone.
• We don't run our own email newsletter or add you to marketing lists.

What counts as personal data here

Most of what this site does involves no personal data at all — the translator runs in your browser and what you type never reaches us. The limited data that does get processed comes from the analytics and advertising services described above, and is handled by them rather than held in any database of ours. In practice that means:

• Approximate location — derived from your IP address by analytics, at country or city level, never a precise position.
• Device and browser information — screen size, browser and operating system, used to keep the site working across devices.
• Pages viewed and referring site — which pages were opened and where the visit came from.
• Cookie identifiers — random identifiers set by the services above so repeat visits are not double-counted, and, if advertising is enabled, so ads can be shown.

We do not ask for, and have no way to receive, your name, email address, postal address or payment details. There is no account system, so there is no profile to build.

Your rights over your data

Depending on where you live you have specific rights over personal data relating to you. We honour these for every visitor regardless of location, because drawing a line by geography would be arbitrary for a site this small.

• Access — you can ask what data relating to you has been processed.
• Deletion — you can ask for it to be erased.
• Correction — you can ask for inaccurate data to be corrected.
• Objection and restriction — you can object to processing, including analytics and personalised advertising.
• Portability — you can ask for a copy in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent — where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, and clearing cookies in your browser takes effect immediately.
• No sale of personal information — we do not sell or share personal information as those terms are used under California law, so there is nothing to opt out of.

If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area, the GDPR applies to you and the lawful bases relied on are consent for analytics and advertising cookies, and legitimate interest for keeping the site secure and working. You also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority. If you are in California, the CCPA and CPRA give you the access, deletion and opt-out rights listed above, and you will never be treated differently for exercising them.

To exercise any of these, use the contact page. Because no account exists and nothing you type is stored, most requests are answered by explaining what the analytics and advertising providers hold and how to clear it — and you can act on much of that yourself immediately through the cookie controls described above.

Where your data is processed

The site is hosted on Vercel's global network, and the analytics and advertising services named above are operated by companies based in the United States. That means the limited data described here may be processed outside your own country, including in the United States. Those providers rely on the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission for such transfers.

Children's privacy

This is a family-friendly tool, but it isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. Because the translator needs no account and stores nothing you type, there's little for a child (or anyone) to expose in the first place.

Changes to this policy

If the site's data practices change — for example, if a new feature or service is added — this page will be updated and the effective date at the top will change. Because it's a small project, updates are infrequent, and material changes will be reflected here rather than emailed.

Questions

If anything here is unclear, the contact page explains how to get in touch, and the about page tells you who's behind the site.