# Privacy, security and permissions

> Where your data lives, and the controls you have over websites.

Source: https://sidewhisper.app/docs/privacy-security-and-permissions/

## What stays on your PC

Browsing history, open tabs, website sessions and cookies, site permissions, voice recordings, transcripts and game telemetry stay on your PC. So do your sidebar, templates, themes, Dictionary, Snippets and settings, unless you turn on Sync with Pro. There is no usage analytics and no crash-dump upload.

> **Note.** A few requests leave your PC on their own. What you type in the address bar, Add link and Quick Search goes to DuckDuckGo for suggestions, and icons for suggested sites come from DuckDuckGo's icon service. Each time Side Whisper starts, the ad blocker downloads its filter lists from GitHub. The [Privacy Policy](https://sidewhisper.app/legal/privacy/) lists every case.

## What the account service stores

Your email address, consent records, your plan and your registered PCs (up to 3). With Pro and Sync on, it also keeps one copy of your sidebar, templates, themes, Dictionary, Snippets and portable browser settings, so your other PCs match. Cookies, sign-ins, open tabs, shortcuts, game profiles, HUD settings and voice models never sync. Turn Sync off under Account, then Sync, and your local data stays as it is. Synced copies are deleted with your account.

## Ad blocking

Side Whisper blocks ads with the Ghostery engine and the ad lists from EasyList, Peter Lowe and uBlock Origin. It blocks network requests only, so pages are never restyled. The shield in the browser toolbar turns it on or off for every site, and its count covers requests blocked across all sites since blocking was last switched on. The lists are pinned to a fixed release and checked against a SHA-256 hash before use; new lists arrive with app updates.

## Site permissions

A prompt offers Allow for this document, Always allow on this site and Block on this site. Closing it, or pressing Esc, saves no choice. Access allowed for a document ends when the page navigates or closes. Site settings list each site as Ask, Allowed or Blocked, and Reset permissions clears them.

## Panic button

> **Note.** The Panic button is free and off by default. Turn it on in Settings, under Browser.

When it is on, press `Alt+Shift+H`: Side Whisper closes browser popups, mutes the browser window and covers its page with a safe page you chose (your search engine's home by default). Tabs and the address bar stay visible. Press it again to restore everything.

## What is not supported

Password and passkey import is not supported, because Electron has no supported API for it. Website session import is a local, reviewed JSON flow.