PanicPoll

Privacy

PanicPoll has no user account. This page says what is stored, who can see it, and when it goes away.

No account

You do not sign in. There is no email, password, or profile. You start a room, or you join one with a six-digit code, a QR code, or a link.

What gets typed

The host writes questions, poll options, and word-cloud prompts. A participant picks a nickname, or lets Surprise me suggest one. The name has to be unique in the room. In a poll or a reaction, each person has one answer and can change it until the host locks. In a ranking, each person orders the whole list and can move it until the host locks. In a word cloud, each person sends their own words.

Who can see it

Everyone in the room sees the result as it happens: totals and percentages for a poll or a reaction, points for a ranking, and the words in a word cloud. The result screen does not put a name on a single vote or a single order.

In the file on the server, each answer, each order, and each word stays attached to the participant. That is how one person keeps one answer and can change their own. The word cloud shows the words and how often they were sent, not who wrote them. The ranking shows the points, not who ordered the list that way.

Nicknames are shown to the host. Everyone connected to the room also receives the list of nicknames. Drafts are visible only to the host. Anyone with the code can join and see the open activity, or the last locked result.

Where it is stored

The room lives in memory on the machine running PanicPoll, and is written to one JSON file on that same machine. There is no separate user database. A room is deleted 12 hours after it was created, even if someone answered later.

Whoever runs that server can read the file. PanicPoll does not store IP addresses and does not keep a visit log. If the traffic goes through a Cloudflare tunnel, Cloudflare sees the connection it needs to deliver the site. That is not written into the room.

What the browser remembers

The browser remembers enough for you to come back as the same host or participant, and which language you chose. It stays on this device and is not tied to an account.

• The host key for rooms you started. It is not the room code, and only that browser can run the room.
• The latest room, so the home page can offer a way back.
• The participant key and nickname for rooms you joined.
• The language choice, Norwegian or English.
• Whether theme sound on the host screen is on or off.

Another browser, or a private window, starts without this. You remove it by clearing this site’s saved data in the browser.

Shared image

Share result draws a picture in the browser. PanicPoll does not upload it. A download or a share happens only when you do that yourself. The picture contains the question or prompt, the result, and the room code.

News feed

The host can attach one public RSS or Atom address. The PanicPoll server fetches that address and keeps the feed title plus a short list of headlines, refreshing about every five minutes. Everyone in the room can see the headlines. The address and any fetch error are shown only to the host. The server refuses addresses that point at the machine itself or at a private network. Headlines are deleted with the room, 12 hours after it was created.

What does not happen

No ads, no analytics, and no tracking cookies. What is in a room is not sold and is not shared with advertisers.