Privacy-first

Privacy & Trust

Our platform is designed to collect honest opinions without identifying people. This page explains what we collect, what we don’t, and how anonymity is protected.

✓ No accounts ✓ Single-use vote links ✓ Emails stored as hashes × No IP tracking × No profiling
Our promise
What we collect
Email addresses
Security & retention

Our promise

Anonymous Polls exists for one reason: to allow people to share honest opinions without fear of identification or repercussions.

Privacy is not a feature of our platform — it is the foundation.

What we believe

  • People give better feedback when they feel safe.
  • Anonymity must be real and visible, not just claimed.
  • You should never need an account to speak honestly.

What we collect

  • Poll questions and answer options
  • Anonymous vote counts
  • Anonymous free-text comments (if enabled)
  • Basic operational data (e.g. timestamps)

What we do not collect

  • Names or user accounts
  • IP addresses or location data
  • Device fingerprinting
  • Tracking cookies for profiling

Email addresses

When a poll creator enters email addresses to send invitations:

  • Email addresses are never stored in plain text.
  • They are converted to one-way cryptographic hashes.
  • They’re used only to enforce one vote per invitation.
  • They are never shared, sold, or reused.
Why hashing matters:
A hash can’t be reversed back into the original email address. It allows us to prevent duplicate invitations and duplicate voting without storing personal data.

Email preferences

  • You can opt out of emails at any time using the link in an email.
  • If you later wish to receive emails again, you can re-enable them via our email preferences page.

Single-use vote links

Each participant receives a unique voting link that:

  • Can be used once
  • Does not require a login
  • Cannot be guessed or reused
  • Prevents duplicate voting while preserving anonymity

Anonymous comments

If a poll allows comments:

  • Comments are stored without identifiers.
  • They are not linked to emails, vote links, or votes.
  • Even we cannot determine who submitted a comment.

Results visibility

Poll creators can choose to:

  • Show results immediately
  • Hide results until the poll closes
  • Hide results until a minimum number of votes is reached
This helps prevent early bias while keeping the final results transparent.

Security & data retention

We use standard security practices to protect the platform, including secure token generation and hardened storage of sensitive references.

We also minimise data by design — so even in the unlikely event of a breach, there is little meaningful information to expose.

We keep poll data only for as long as it is useful to the poll creator. Polls may be deleted after a period of inactivity or closure.

What we will never do

  • Sell data or monetise user behaviour
  • Add tracking or profiling
  • Introduce accounts or identity linking
  • Use poll content for advertising

Contact

If you have questions about privacy or data handling, contact:

Anonymous Polls
Email: info@anonymouspolls.co.uk

In short

We collect opinions, not people.
No accounts. No IP tracking. Emails stored as hashes. Vote links are single-use. Comments are anonymous.