Privacy

Plain-language summary of what Slate does and doesn't do with your data.

What stays on your device

Everything you draw, every board, every narration you record, and every .slate file you save is stored locally in your browser and in the files you choose to download. Slate does not upload your work anywhere on its own. Recorded audio is held in the board and written into the file you save, never sent to a server.

Live collaboration

When you use the collaboration feature, a small amount of coordination data is handled by our backend provider (Supabase) so that participants can find and join the same session:

• Access codes and room codes are checked to start and join a session. Access codes are validated on the server and are never exposed to other participants.
• Display names that participants type when joining are shown to the host and to others in the session so the host can admit them. They are not kept by any server. (A teacher who saves a lesson with spot questions in it keeps names in that file — see Student work in a lesson.)
• Sketches are sent peer-to-peer (directly between participants' browsers using WebRTC, encrypted end to end) and are not stored on any server.
• The relay, when a direct link is not possible. Some school and office networks block direct connections. When that happens — or when the host chooses Relay only — that participant's session traffic (the board, and whatever else the session sends, such as spot-question work, questions and names) is passed through a small relay that Slate runs on Cloudflare’s network. The connection to it is encrypted (HTTPS/WSS), but unlike a direct link it is not encrypted end to end: the relay forwards each message as it arrives and does not read, keep or log what is in it. Only the host can open a relay room, using a pass issued when their access code is accepted, and the relay accepts connections only from Slate’s own site.
• Voice, if you switch it on. Turning on the microphone sends live audio to the other participants over the same direct peer-to-peer connection as the sketches. It is not recorded, and it does not pass through or get stored on any Slate server.

Session records (the room code, the cap, and activity time) are kept only to keep a room open while it's in use and are removed or expired shortly after a session ends. For a relay room, the relay keeps only what it needs to run it — the room’s pass and the random connection ids of admitted participants (never names, never content) — and deletes them when the session ends or the room goes idle. Its operational logs record that a participant joined or left, by that random id, and nothing else. Finding a direct route uses standard public STUN servers, which see only network addresses, never content.

Student work in a lesson

A few session features carry work between a student and the teacher, and only between them:

• Spot questions. A student’s handwritten or typed answer goes to the teacher only, never to other students. If the teacher saves the lesson, the hand-ins, their marks and the students’ display names are saved in the teacher’s own lesson file, and in any PDF the teacher saves — nowhere else. Show to class places one student’s working on the board without the name unless the teacher chooses to show it. While a question is open, a student’s unfinished working is also kept in their own browser so it survives a reload.
• Ask a question. A student’s question and its position go to the teacher only, and last for the session.
• Rejoining. So a student who reloads comes back as themselves, a random id for that browser tab is kept in the tab and forgotten when it closes.

Teachers: treat a lesson file with spot questions in it as containing pupils’ work and names, and share it accordingly.

Microphone and recordings

Slate uses your microphone in two places, and never without you asking it to. Your browser will prompt for permission the first time, and you can withdraw that permission at any point in your browser's site settings.

• Narration. Recording a lesson captures your voice on your device and stores it inside the board. Nothing is uploaded. The audio is saved into the .slate file along with the drawing, so it plays back with the lesson — and travels with the file if you send it to someone. It is also included when you export the replay as a video. If a recording contains something you would rather not pass on, remove it before sharing the file.
• Live voice. Switched off in the current version — sessions run alongside your usual video call. When it is available, the microphone is off until you turn it on, and switching it off stops it at the source. Audio flows straight to the other participants; Slate neither records nor keeps it.

Whether others can hear you is governed by the microphone button in the session, not by Slate. If you are unsure, turn it off — the button reflects its true state.

Saved collaboration files

A .slate file saved from a collaboration session can be marked view-only, so it can be opened and replayed but not edited. This is a convenience marker within the file, not a security guarantee.

Children

Slate is a tool operated by whoever runs it. If you use Slate with children, you (or your organisation) are responsible for obtaining any consent required in your region. Consider using first names or initials rather than full names when joining sessions.

If you write to us

The suggestions page does not submit anything itself. It composes a message in your own email app, addressed to myslate@zohomail.com.au, and you send it — so no form service sits in between. Whatever you choose to include, including your address if you send it, is what we receive. Nothing from your boards is attached.

Your control

You can clear Slate's local data at any time through your browser's site-data settings. Deleting a .slate file removes that copy of your work.