Privacy Policy
Last updated: 14 October 2026
Most of what Swift Search does happens entirely on your device. Your highlights, saved passages, notes, PDF annotations, settings and search history never leave your computer. The exception is the AI features: when you ask Swift AI to do something, the text you selected is sent to our server and on to an AI provider so it can be answered. This policy explains exactly what is sent, when, and to whom.
Who we are
Swift Search is operated by Sinope, based in the United Kingdom. For the purposes of UK data protection law we are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. You can contact us at support@swiftsearch.online.
What Swift Search does
Swift Search is a Chrome extension. Highlight text on any webpage and a floating menu appears, letting you search that text across your chosen websites, highlight it permanently, save it to your Library, or ask Swift AI about it. It also includes a built-in PDF viewer and a keyboard-triggered Swift AI Box.
Data stored only on your device
The following is held in Chrome's local storage on your computer. It is not transmitted to us and we cannot see it:
- Your list of saved websites, their order, and any site groups
- Your preferences — dark mode, menu theme, display mode, shortcut numbers, and so on
- Your search history, used to power the suggestions dropdown. Individual entries can be deleted from within the extension at any time
- Your usage stats — total searches, searches today, streak, best day, searches per site
- Web highlights: the words and phrases you have highlighted, their colours, scope and any groups
- Saved passages and noted words in your Library, including the text, source URL, timestamp, word count and any notes you add
- PDF annotations — highlights and notes you make in the built-in PDF viewer
- Whether you have seen the onboarding message
If Chrome Sync is enabled on your Google account, Chrome may sync your settings across your own devices. That process is handled entirely by Google; Swift Search has no involvement in it and no access to the synced data.
Data sent to our servers
Swift Search runs a backend service, hosted on Render in the EU, which handles sign-in and AI requests. This is what reaches it.
If you sign in
Signing in is required to use the AI features. It is not required for search, highlighting, saving passages or the PDF viewer. Swift Search only offers "Sign in with Google". We do not receive or store your email address, your name or a password. Google tells us only an anonymous account identifier, which we use to count your AI usage.
- An anonymous Google account identifier — a long random-looking number that is not your name or email
- Your usage record — how many credits you have used this month, which model, and when your free trial started
Our hosting and infrastructure providers (Render, and Google for sign-in) may keep ordinary technical server logs, which can include IP addresses. We do not use them to identify you and we do not store IP addresses in our own database.
When you use an AI feature
Each time you use Summarize, Rewrite, Explain, Define, Translate, or ask the Swift AI Box a question, the following is sent to our server and forwarded to the AI provider you have selected:
- The text you highlighted, or the question you typed
- Any images you attached to the question
- The text of any text files or PDFs you attached to the question. The file is read on your device and only its extracted text is sent, never the file itself
- The recent conversation, so follow-up questions make sense
- For some features (such as expanding an acronym or Summarize), the page title, the site name and the page headings, to give the AI context. This is sent only when you click that feature
- The visible text of the page — but only if you switch on the page context button, which is off by default and resets itself when you move to a different page
We do not store the content of your AI requests after they have been answered. Your questions and the text you send are not used to train any AI model, and are not sold or shared with anyone beyond the provider that answers them.
Analytics
Swift Search sends anonymous usage events to Google Analytics so we can see which features are used and where things break. The events pass through our own server, which forwards them to Google and does not keep a copy. An event is a short note such as "the menu opened" or "a search was run". Each event can include: counts and lengths (for example how many characters were highlighted, never the text itself), timings (for example how many seconds the menu was open), the feature used, the name of the search site you chose (for example "YouTube" or a site domain picked from your own list), and a random identifier generated on your device that is not linked to your name or email.
Analytics does not include the address or title of the page you are on, the text you highlight, what you search for, your name, or your email address.
If something goes wrong inside the extension, an error report containing the first 150 characters of the technical error message and where it came from may also be sent. These are technical messages and are not meant to contain anything you wrote. Analytics events are sent only when you actively use a Swift Search feature — not as you browse.
Other services your browser contacts
Some features cause your browser to contact a third party directly. Unless a row says "via our server", the request goes from your computer to them, not through us.
| Service | What is sent | When |
|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini, xAI (Grok), Z.ai (GLM) | Your selected text or question, via our server | When you use an AI feature |
| Google Analytics | Feature usage events (counts, lengths, timings, search-site names), random device identifier, via our server | When you use a feature |
| Google speech recognition | Your microphone audio, transcribed by Chrome's built-in speech service | Only while you hold the microphone button |
| Google and DuckDuckGo favicon services | The domain name of a website in your list | To show site icons in the menu |
| Wiktionary (Wikimedia Foundation) | The single word you are looking up | When you use Define. If no entry is found, Swift AI answers instead, via our server |
| Datamuse | The single word you are looking up | When you use Define, to find synonyms |
| A website you add | A test search for the word "swiftsearchprobe", to check how that site searches | When you add a new website to your list |
| Google search suggestions | What you type in the search bar | Only if you enable suggestions in Settings — off by default |
| Google Translate | The highlighted text, in the URL of a new tab | When you use Translate |
| The websites you search | Your search query, in the URL of a new tab | When you run a search |
Each of these is governed by that company's own privacy policy, not ours.
Permissions, and why each is needed
- storage — to keep your websites, highlights, saved passages and settings on your device
- tabs — to open results in a new tab and to know which tab is active when you use a keyboard shortcut
- scripting — to place the floating menu on the page
- alarms — to keep the background service worker responsive
- identity — to sign you in with Google when you choose to use the AI features
- offscreen — to run speech recognition for the microphone button
- host permissions (all sites) — the floating menu has to be able to appear on whatever page you are reading, and there is no way to know in advance which pages those will be. This permission is not used to read or collect pages you visit
How long we keep things
- Usage records — for as long as your account exists, and deleted when you ask us to delete it
- AI request content — not retained after your answer is returned
- Rate-limiting records — tied to the anonymous account identifier, and automatically expire within minutes
- Data on your device — until you delete it, or uninstall the extension
Your rights
If you are in the UK or the EU, data protection law gives you the right to access a copy of your personal data, correct it, delete it, object to how it is used, and take it elsewhere. To exercise any of these, email us at support@swiftsearch.online and we will respond within one month.
Our legal basis for processing is: contract, for the sign-in and usage records needed to provide the service you have signed up for; and legitimate interests, for rate limiting and anonymous analytics used to keep the service working and improve it.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
International transfers
Our AI providers and Google Analytics may process data outside the UK and EU, including in the United States. Those transfers rely on the safeguards those providers have in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
Deleting your data
Everything held on your device can be removed by clearing it in the extension or by uninstalling Swift Search. To delete your account and everything associated with it on our servers, use the Delete account button in Settings, or email support@swiftsearch.online and we will remove it.
Children's privacy
Swift Search is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly create accounts for them. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this address and the "Last updated" date above will be revised. Where a change is significant, we will make it visible in the extension rather than relying on you to check this page.
Contact
Questions about this policy, or about your data, can be sent to support@swiftsearch.online.
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