Privacy
Last updated
The short version: what you type is converted on your device and is not sent to us. Only two features send text, and only when you choose them: voice typing, and server translation on the translation pages. We have no accounts and no cookies. We count page views with cookieless analytics that never see your text.
Your Text
Typing, transliteration, the on-screen keyboard and the font converters all run inside your browser. The words you type or paste into them are not sent to our server or to anyone else. Copy, Download and Share also work on your device: Download creates the file in your browser, and Share hands the text to your phone’s own share menu.
Voice Typing Is the Exception
Voice typing uses your browser’s built-in speech recognition. In most browsers that means your audio goes to the browser maker’s speech service to be turned into text. In Chrome, that is Google. Edge uses Microsoft’s service. Their privacy policies cover that part. Where a browser can recognise Tamil on the device itself, the page uses that and tells you so under the text box. Either way, our website never receives your audio or the transcript, and we keep no recordings.
Read Aloud
The editor’s Listen button uses your browser’s built-in speech voices. Most of them, including the Tamil voices you add in Windows, Android, iOS and macOS, run on your device. Some browsers also offer online voices: in Microsoft Edge, voices with “Online” in their name send the text to Microsoft to be spoken. The editor picks a voice on your device when there is one, and tells you under the text when it is using an online voice. Our website never receives the text.
Translation
The translation pages try three things, in this order, and the status line under the box always says which one translated your text:
- Your browser’s built-in translator. In Chrome on a computer it runs on your device, after a one-time language pack download. Your text stays on your device. The checked phrasebook is also looked up on your device.
- Our translation server, only if you allow it. Where your browser cannot translate, the page offers Translate with our server and tells you first that this sends your text to us. If you press it, the text you type is sent over an encrypted connection to our translation service, which runs on Cloudflare Workers AI with open translation models. The text is translated and sent back. We do not store it, log it or use it for anything else. To stop, press Stop sending text; that also forgets your choice. Your choice is remembered on your device (
tto:tr-server), so the page does not ask every time. - Google Translate, as a link. Open in Google Translate opens Google’s site with your text filled in. That link is clearly labelled, and your text only goes to Google if you click it. Google’s privacy policy covers what happens there.
To keep the free service fair for everyone, our server limits how much each visitor can translate per minute and per day. It does that with a short code made from your IP address and the date (a one-way hash that changes every day), kept for about a day. The code is never stored with your text.
What Is Saved on Your Device
So that your work survives a closed tab, the tools save a few things in your browser’s local storage. This stays on your device; it is not a cookie and is not sent to us.
| What | Why | Storage key |
|---|---|---|
| Your drafts on each tool, and the language pair you last chose | So the text is still there when you come back | tto:doc:…, tto:conv:…, tto:fontconv:…, tto:tr:… |
| Your recent translations (the last 30) and whether you allowed server translation | So History can bring a translation back, and so the page does not ask again | tto:tr-history, tto:tr-server |
| The list of your saved drafts in the Tamil editor: their names, word counts, when you last edited them, and which one is open | So you can switch between drafts | tto:drafts:… |
| Words you picked from the suggestions | So your choices rank first next time | tto:history |
| Typing practice and test progress | So your lessons, scores and settings carry on where you left off | tto:practice:v1, tto:practice-hints, tto:history:v1, tto:letters:v1, tto:trainer, tto:test-visits |
| Saved phrases and your font sample text | So your favourites and preview text stay | tto:phrase-favs, tto:font-sample |
| Light or dark theme | To remember your choice | tto:theme |
| Text size | To remember your choice | tto:size |
| Tamil or English input, transliteration style, voice and typewriter language, read-aloud speed | To remember your settings | tto:lang, tto:scheme, tto:voice-lang, tto:voice-opts, tto:tw-lang, tto:kb-physical, tto:conv-view, tto:read-rate |
| Tips and hints you have already seen | So they are not shown again | tto:tips, tto:install-hint |
Your browser also keeps an offline copy of the pages you visit and their files (a service worker cache), so those tools open without a connection. If you install the app or press Save all tools for offline use, it saves every tool at once. That copy contains only our pages, never your text. Word lists the tools need are downloaded from our own domain in the same way, and those requests do not include anything you typed.
To delete a draft, use Clear text in the tool’s More menu, or the delete button next to it under Drafts in the Tamil editor. To delete your translation history, open History on any translation page and press Clear history. To delete everything, including the offline copy, clear this site’s data in your browser settings (often listed as “Cookies and site data”). On a shared computer, clear your text before you leave, or use a private window, which forgets everything when you close it.
Cookieless Analytics, No Ads
This site sets no cookies and shows no ads. To learn which pages are useful, we count page views in two cookieless ways. Neither ever receives what you type, your search terms or anything after the page address: only the page path (for example /tamil-fonts/), the page you came from, your browser type and a rough location worked out from your IP address.
- Plausible Analytics, open-source software we run on our own server. It uses no cookies and no identifiers, does not follow you across sites, and keeps no IP addresses: it counts unique visitors with a daily changing hash that is thrown away after 24 hours.
- Google Analytics in consent mode with every kind of storage turned off. It sets no cookies and no device identifiers, and Google signals and ad personalisation are off. Google still receives the basic request details listed above.
If your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, neither runs. Ad blockers usually block both, and the site works the same either way.
Server Logs
Like any website, the pages are delivered by a hosting provider (Cloudflare). To deliver pages and protect against abuse, its servers process standard request details such as your IP address, browser type and the page you asked for. These requests never include your text. The one exception is a server translation you asked for, described under Translation above.
If you email us, we receive your address and whatever you write, and use it only to reply and fix the problem you reported. We do not add you to a mailing list.
Children
The site has no accounts and never asks for personal details, so students can use it without signing up or sharing anything.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update the date at the top and note it in the changelog.
Questions People Ask
Can TypeTamilOnline see the words I type?
Ordinary typing and font conversion run in your browser without uploading your text. Optional server translation sends text after you allow it, voice typing uses your browser’s speech service, and the Google Translate link passes text when opened. Check the relevant tool’s status and the explanations above before entering sensitive material.
Can another person using this browser read my saved drafts?
A person using the same browser profile may be able to reopen locally saved drafts. Local storage keeps text on the device, but does not make it private from someone with access to that profile. Clear drafts before leaving a shared computer. The document builders are different: their forms stay only in page memory.
How do I stop sending text to the translation server?
Press Stop sending text on the translation tool. This turns off server translation and removes the remembered permission on that device. Check the status under the text box to see the active translation method. Stopping server use does not erase previously saved local translation history; use History → Clear history for that.
How do I remove my drafts and translation history?
Use the tool’s clear action for its text, delete saved editor drafts under Drafts, and use History → Clear history on a translation page. To remove all local settings and cached pages as well, clear this site’s data in your browser. Exact browser menus vary, so use its site-data settings.