Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 11, 2026
Black Screen Online is a free set of screen tools at blackscreenonline.com, run by one person, Ali Usman. This Privacy Policy explains what information the site handles when you visit and why. It also says who else receives it, how long it is kept and what choices you have. It covers this website, its tools and the outside services that run on its pages.
You don't need an account to use any tool on Black Screen Online, and no tool asks for your name or email. You can use the whole site without telling me anything about yourself.
What I collect
What information does Black Screen Online collect?
Black Screen Online collects very little. This table shows everything, in one place:
| Information | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Your tool settings, such as the last shade you picked | Saved by your own browser on your device. The tool code does not send them to me. |
| A photo or alarm sound you add to a clock | Saved by your own browser on your device. It is never uploaded. |
| An extra clock font or a YouTube alarm you choose | Loaded from Google Fonts or YouTube, only when you choose it. |
| Your IP address, browser and the pages you open | Kept for a short time in the server's standard visit logs. |
| How people use the site, counted in total | Measured by Google Analytics, with your consent where the law asks for it. |
| Advertising cookies and IDs | Set by Google and other advertising partners when ads run on the site, with your consent where the law asks for it. |
| A message you send me | Saved and emailed to me so I can reply. Kept for 12 months. |
Black Screen Online does not sell your personal information for money. When ads run on the site, some US state laws may count sharing information with ad partners for personalized ads as "selling" or "sharing". The section What are your privacy rights? explains how to opt out.
Why is your information used, and on what legal basis?
Each use of information needs a reason. Under European privacy law (the GDPR), that reason is called a legal basis. This table shows each one:
| Purpose | Information used | Legal basis (EU and UK) |
|---|---|---|
| Showing pages and keeping the site safe | Visit logs: IP address, time, page, browser | Legitimate interests: running a safe, working website |
| Counting visits to improve the tools | Google Analytics data: pages, device, rough location, a cookie ID | Consent |
| Showing ads that help pay for the site | Advertising cookies and IDs | Consent |
| Replying to your message | What you type in the contact form or an email | Legitimate interests: answering the person who wrote |
| Remembering your tool settings | Saved only in your browser, never sent to me | Not handled by me: the data stays on your device |
No decision about you is ever made automatically by Black Screen Online.
What do the tools save on your device?
The tools on Black Screen Online remember your choices, so they are ready next time. Examples are your shade, your clock style or whether the settings panel was open. Your browser saves these choices in its own storage on your device, called local storage. The tool code does not send them to me.
- Every item the site saves this way has a name that starts with bs-, so you can spot them in your browser's settings. Your light or dark theme choice is saved the same way, as bs-theme.
- A photo or alarm sound you add to a clock is saved by your browser on your device, so it is still there next time. It goes in a storage area called IndexedDB and is never uploaded.
- A few short notes, such as "you already saw this tip", are kept only until you close the tab.
This storage belongs to Black Screen Online inside one browser. It is not tied to you or to your other devices. A different browser starts blank. A private window usually forgets it when you close it. I can't restore it for you, because I never had it.
To clear it, open your browser's settings and clear the site data for this website. Each tool also has a Reset to default button that puts its own settings back to the start.
Are the images and videos you make uploaded?
No. When a Black Screen Online tool makes an image or a video, your own device builds the file. Nothing is uploaded to make it.
Some tools put your chosen setup in the page address, so a copied link or the Send to phone code opens the same setup. That address holds only tool settings, such as a shade or a size, and it reaches my server like any page visit. The Send to phone code is drawn on your device, without an outside service.
When you press a share button, your device opens its own share menu. Nothing goes to another app until you pick one. If you follow a link to another website, that website's own privacy policy applies.
Does any tool load content from other companies?
Two optional clock features on Black Screen Online load content from Google, and only when you choose them:
Extra clock fonts
The clock's standard font comes from Black Screen Online itself. If you pick one of the extra fonts, your browser loads it from Google Fonts, which receives your IP address and browser details to send the font. Google explains this in its Google Fonts privacy FAQ.
A YouTube video as your alarm sound
If you paste a YouTube link, the video plays in YouTube's privacy-enhanced player. YouTube receives your IP address and the video request, and it may save information in your browser while the video plays. Google's Privacy Policy applies to it.
Nothing loads from these services unless you choose that font or that video. If your saved clock settings use one, it loads again on your next visit to that clock.
What does the server record when you visit?
Every website runs on a server, and Black Screen Online is no different. Each time you open a page, the server keeps a standard log entry. It records your IP address, the date and time, the page you asked for, the page that sent you here, and your browser and device type. Where a content delivery network is used to send pages faster, it sees the same details.
I use these logs only to keep the site running, to find errors and to stop abuse, such as attacks. I don't use them to build a profile of you, and I don't link them to your tool settings. The logs are deleted automatically after a limited time, and I don't keep my own copies.
How does Black Screen Online use Google Analytics?
Black Screen Online uses Google Analytics, a service from Google, to count how the site is used in total. It shows which pages people visit, how long they stay, what device and browser they use, their rough location (country or city, never a street address) and how they found the site. These totals help me decide which tools to improve and which to build next.
- I look only at totals. I don't use Google Analytics to identify you.
- Google Analytics does not store your IP address.
- Its _ga cookies tell a new visit from a returning one. They last up to two years unless you delete them.
- Analytics data is kept for 14 months, then deleted.
- If you visit from the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, Google Analytics sets no cookies unless you consent. Until you agree, it may send only basic signals without cookies or IDs, which Google uses to estimate totals.
To opt out anywhere, install the Google Analytics opt-out add-on or block cookies in your browser. Google explains how it uses this data in How Google uses information from sites that use its services.
How does advertising work on Black Screen Online?
Where advertising is shown on Black Screen Online, it helps pay for hosting and new tools.
Where advertising is shown on this site, third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this and/or other sites on the internet.
You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some other companies' use of cookies for personalized ads at aboutads.info or, in Europe, at Your Online Choices.
Ads that are not personalized may still use cookies to limit how often you see an ad, to stop fraud and to count results.
Two rules never change. Ads never appear inside a full-screen tool or next to its buttons, so you can't tap one by accident. And no advertiser can pay to change a tool or a guide.
Sharing and keeping
What happens to the messages you send?
The contact form on Black Screen Online saves what you type: your email, the topic and your message, plus your name and the page address if you give them. It also notes your browser and device type and the page you sent it from. The form does not store your IP address. Your message is saved on the website and emailed to me, so I can reply.
Spam check
The form uses a hidden field that people never see. It does not use an outside service.
If you email me directly, your message is kept in my email inbox.
Use
I use your details only to reply to you and to follow up on what you asked, such as a correction.
Kept for
12 months, then deleted.
Who else receives information?
A few companies help run Black Screen Online. Each one receives only what it needs for its job:
The web hosting company that runs the server and keeps the visit logs.
Google, for analytics, for the extra clock fonts and YouTube alarm videos you choose, and, when ads run, for the consent message and for advertising.
Other advertising partners, when ads run on the site.
My email provider, which delivers and stores the messages you send me.
I don't sell or rent email lists. I will share information only if the law requires it, for example to answer a valid court order.
Is your information sent to other countries?
Some of these companies handle information in countries other than yours, including the United States. Where the law asks for it, they protect it with approved safeguards, such as the European Commission's standard contract clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
How long is your information kept?
Black Screen Online keeps information only as long as it is needed:
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Visit logs on the server | A limited time, then deleted automatically |
| Google Analytics data | 14 months |
| Messages you send me | 12 months |
| Your consent choice, once the consent message runs | As long as Google's consent tool needs to remember it |
| Tool settings and files in your browser | Until you clear them. I never hold them. |
How is your information protected?
Black Screen Online uses HTTPS, so everything you send travels encrypted. I collect as little as I can, and I use well-known providers. No website can promise perfect security, though. Please don't put anything in the contact form that you would not put in an email.
Your rights
What are your privacy rights?
Your rights depend on where you live, and you can use them at any time.
In the European Economic Area and the UK, you can ask me to:
- show you the information I hold about you
- correct it or delete it
- limit how I use it, or stop using it
- give you a copy of it
You can take back your consent at any time. This does not change what happened before. You can also complain to your local data protection authority (in the UK, the ICO).
In California and other US states with a privacy law, you can ask to know what I hold about you, to delete it or to correct it. You can also opt out of the sale or sharing of your information for personalized ads. I will never treat you differently for using these rights. Black Screen Online handles these kinds of information:
| Kind of information | Example | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | IP address, cookie IDs, your email if you write to me | Your device and you |
| Internet activity | Pages you open, the page that sent you here | Your device |
| Rough location | Country or city, worked out from your IP address | Your device |
| Sensitive information | None |
Before advertising runs, Google's consent message for US states will add a "Do Not Sell or Share" choice. The site will also respect Global Privacy Control signals where the law asks for it.
Do Not Track: browsers can send a "Do Not Track" signal, but there is no common standard for it. Black Screen Online does not respond to it.
How to ask: write to me through the contact page and choose "A privacy or data request". I may ask a question to make sure the request comes from you. I reply within the time the law in your area sets: one month for requests under European law, and 45 days for requests under US state privacy laws. Your tool settings are in your own browser, so you can delete those yourself at any time.
Is Black Screen Online meant for children?
No. Black Screen Online is not aimed at children under 13, and I don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you are a parent and believe your child sent me information, please contact me and I will delete it.
How will you know if this policy changes?
When this Privacy Policy changes, I update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page by hand. If a change is big, such as a new kind of information being collected, I also show a notice on the site.
Who is responsible for your information?
Ali Usman runs Black Screen Online and is the data controller, the person responsible for the information described in this policy.
You can reach me through the contact page or by email at ali@blackscreenonline.com. The About page explains who makes the site and how.