Key Information Regarding Your Data on whitescreen.tv
Last updated: November 2, 2026.
What we store when you rate a page or answer the poll
The screens, presets, downloads and screensavers run in your browser. Your settings are saved in your browser's local storage and are not sent to us, and there are no accounts. Two optional features send a small amount of data to our database, which runs on Cloudflare (Cloudflare D1). Nothing is sent until you click a star or tap an answer.
Star ratings
When you click a star under a tool or a screensaver, we store:
- the page or screensaver you rated, without the language part of the address (for example /black-screen/ or /screensavers/northern-lights/);
- your rating, from 1 to 5;
- a one-way hash (SHA-256) of your IP address and your browser's user-agent string combined with a fixed secret value. It lets a returning visitor change their rating instead of adding a second one. The IP address and the user-agent string themselves are not stored;
- the date and time of the rating.
Purpose: to show each page's average score and number of ratings, to rank the most-loved screensavers on the screensavers page, and to show a page's score in search results once it has enough ratings. Ratings are kept for as long as these scores are shown on the site. Your browser also keeps your own rating in local storage, so the stars stay lit when you come back.
The use poll: "What are you using the screen for?"
On the home page and the solid-color pages you can answer this question with one tap. When you tap an answer, we store one row with these fields and nothing else:
| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Answer | One of six options: light for a video call, cleaning the screen, checking for dead pixels, reading or night light, photo, art or tracing, or something else. |
| Page | The color page you answered on, for example /black-screen/. The home page counts as the white screen. |
| Site language | The language of the page, for example en. |
| Country | The two-letter country code that Cloudflare derives from your connection, for example DE. Empty when Cloudflare does not provide one. |
| Date | The day in UTC, for example 2026-10-28. No time of day. |
| Device type | Phone, tablet, desktop/laptop or unknown. Estimated automatically from browser information; no device model is requested. |
| Operating-system family | A broad category such as Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS, Android, ChromeOS, Linux or other/unknown. |
| Browser family and major version | A category such as Safari, Chrome/Chromium, Edge or Firefox, and its major version when available. The User-Agent header is parsed for these categories, then discarded; the full string and minor versions are not saved. |
| Survey and classification editions | The question edition (the original English use-1 or multilingual use-2) and the version of the rules that form the device/browser categories. Earlier answers keep their original edition and missing background stays unrecorded. |
This background is attached automatically only when you tap an answer; it does not add extra questions. Browser information can be reduced or changed, so device, system and browser categories are approximate. No background sample is added to this poll database just because you visit a page.
We do not store your IP address, a hash of it, your full user-agent string, a cookie or a visitor identifier with an answer. Answers are not joined to your ratings or other visits. Without a visitor identifier, we cannot find or delete a single person's answers on request.
One answer per browser every 30 days: your browser remembers in its local storage that you answered, which option you chose and when, so it can show you the results instead of the question. This stays on your device. To limit abuse, our server also accepts at most three answers per network address per hour and a fixed number of answers per day. The hourly check uses a hash of your IP address, a secret value and the date, held for up to one hour in Cloudflare's temporary cache and never written to the database.
Purpose: to show everyone the live results after they answer, and to publish statistics and articles about how people use a white screen. We publish totals and percentages only, never single rows. Groups by country, page, language, device type, system, browser, browser major version or survey edition need at least 30 answers before their distributions are published.
Retention: answers are deleted 3 years after the day they were given. Published totals and articles can stay online after that.
The Screen Use Report shows totals and eligible groups, with CSV and JSON downloads of published aggregates. It does not publish individual answer rows. A group needs at least 30 answers before its distribution is shown.
WhiteScreen Lab notebook
The optional measurement notebook on WhiteScreen Lab stores the screen and meter descriptions, date, distance, brightness setting, light readings and notes you enter in this browser's local storage. These entries are not uploaded or included in public results. You can remove individual entries on the Lab page or clear the site's local storage to remove the entire notebook. CSV exports are downloaded to your device.
Hosting, analytics and ads
Cloudflare hosts the site and the database. Like any web host it processes connection data such as IP addresses to deliver pages and protect the site; see the Cloudflare privacy policy. We use Google Analytics to count visits and clicks (a star rating is also sent to it as an event; poll answers are not), and we show ads. Both can set cookies, as described below.
a. No Personal Data Storage: whitescreen.tv is committed to your privacy. We do not store any personal data such as email addresses or phone numbers in our database. Our color screen tool is accessible without the need for providing such personal information. Star ratings and use-poll answers are described in full above.
b. Social Media Sharing: When you choose to share your color screen image on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, only the necessary information for sharing (such as your screen image and accompanying text) is transmitted to the respective platform. This data may be temporarily cached by these social media services to facilitate the sharing process. Please be aware that this interaction falls under the data policies of the respective social media platforms once it is shared outside of our Site.
This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which whitescreen.tv collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a "User") of the whitescreen.tv website ("Site"). This privacy policy applies to the Site and all products and services offered by whitescreen.tv.
Personal identification information
We do not collect any personal identification information from Users. Users may visit our Site anonymously. We will not ask for and do not collect personal identification information from Users.
Non-personal identification information
We may collect non-personal identification information about Users whenever they interact with our Site. Non-personal identification information may include the browser name, the type of computer and technical information about Users means of connection to our Site, such as the operating system and the Internet service providers utilized and other similar information.
Web browser cookies
Our Site may use "cookies" to enhance User experience. User's web browser places cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about them. User may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If they do so, note that some parts of the Site may not function properly.
How we use collected information
We may use feedback you provide to improve our products and services.
How we protect your information
We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of data stored on our Site.
Sharing your personal information
We do not sell, trade, or rent Users personal information to others. We may share generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personal identification information regarding visitors and users with our business partners, trusted affiliates and advertisers for the purposes outlined above.
Advertising
Ads appearing on our site may be delivered to Users by advertising partners, who may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement to compile non personal identification information about you or others who use your computer. This information allows ad networks to, among other things, deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This privacy policy does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.
Google Adsense
Some of the ads may be served by Google. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to Users based on their visit to our Site and other sites on the Internet. DART uses "non personally identifiable information" and does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, etc. You may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at [https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fpolicies.google.com%2Ftechnologies%2Fads)
Changes to this privacy policy
whitescreen.tv has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the top of this page. We encourage users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.
Your acceptance of these terms
By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of this policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our Site. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.