Privacy Policy

The short version

The names, lists and photos you put into this site stay on your device. There is no account, no login, and nothing to sign up for. The site does use Google Analytics to count how it is being used, and Google AdSense to show ads, and both of those set cookies. The rest of this page explains exactly what that means.

Your entries stay in your browser

When you type names into a picker, or save a list, that text is written to your browser’s local storage. It is not sent to a server, because there is no server to send it to: every picker runs entirely in the page in front of you.

Clearing your browser data removes those saved lists, and they will not come back. They are not backed up anywhere, and nobody else can see them, including us.

Photos

The Photo Picker works the same way. Photos you add are opened and resized inside your browser and are never uploaded. The resized copies, and any names you give them, are saved in your browser’s IndexedDB storage on that device so they are still there next time. Nobody else can see them, including us.

To delete them, use Remove all photos in the Photo Picker, or clear site data in your browser. On a shared or school computer, removing them when you finish keeps the next person from seeing them.

If you make a result image to share, the picked photo is drawn into it inside your browser too. The image goes only where you send it.

Analytics records that a photo draw happened and how many photos were in it, the same as any other draw. It never records the photos, their names, or which one won.

Share links

If you use the share button, your list is encoded into the link itself rather than stored on a server. Anyone with that link can see the entries in it, so treat a share link the same way you would treat the list. The list travels after the # sign, which browsers do not send to our server. The page removes it from the address bar once the list has loaded, but until then, scripts running on the page, such as Google’s analytics and ad scripts, can read the full page address.

Secret Santa

A Secret Santa draw runs in your browser like every other picker. Each person’s result is written into their own private link, after the # sign. Browsers never send that part of a link to a server, so names and pairings never reach the site. When someone opens their link, the page moves the result out of the address bar as early as it can and keeps it only in that browser tab. As with share links, scripts running on the page, such as Google’s analytics and ad scripts, can read the full page address while it is there.

Anyone who has a person’s link can see who that person is buying for, so send each link only to its owner.

So you can copy a link again later, your latest draw is kept in your browser’s local storage on that device, along with the event name, budget, date and exclusions you entered. Drawing again replaces it, and clearing site data removes it. Analytics records that a Secret Santa draw happened and how many people were in it, never their names or who drew whom.

Analytics

This site uses Google Analytics to understand which parts of it get used. It records page views, and a small number of events: that a draw was made, which picker it was made with, which pre-made list it came from, and how many entries were in the list at the time. If you make a result image to share, it records that you shared or saved one and with which picker, not what was on it.

The result image itself is drawn in your browser. It isn’t uploaded anywhere, and it only goes where you send it.

It does not record the entries themselves, the name you gave a list, or the result of any draw. That line is deliberate, and it is the reason the event records a count rather than the contents.

Advertising

Ads on this site are served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies to show ads based on your previous visits to this or other websites.

You can opt out of personalised advertising in Google Ads Settings, or opt out of third party advertising cookies more broadly at aboutads.info.

Cookies and local storage

Local storage holds your saved lists, your latest Secret Santa draw and your preferences, such as whether sound is on, and IndexedDB holds any photos you add to the Photo Picker. Both are read only by the site itself, in your browser.

If you add a label or caption to a result image, the last ones you used are kept in local storage too, so they are filled in next time. Anyone using the same browser will see them. Clear the two fields, or clear site data, to remove them.

Cookies are set by Google Analytics and Google AdSense, as described above. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The pickers will still work if you do.

Children

This site is suitable for classroom use and does not ask anyone for personal information, at any age. If you are a teacher using it with pupils, nothing a pupil types into a picker is transmitted or stored outside the browser on that device.

Your choices

You can clear your saved lists, photos and Secret Santa draws at any time by clearing site data in your browser. You can block analytics and advertising cookies with your browser settings or an ad blocker. Because there is no account, there is no stored profile to request or delete: the site holds nothing that identifies you.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or anything else, can go to hello@funrandompickers.com. Your email is used only to reply to you. More on the contact page.

Changes

If what the site collects changes, this page changes with it, and the date at the top will move.