Summary
- You can take tests and print certificates without an account.
- We collect only what we need to run tests, keep the records you ask us to keep, answer your messages and keep the site secure.
- We never sell your personal data and we don't send marketing emails.
- Ads appear only on content pages, and Google personalises them only if you agree.
- You can download or delete your data at any time, and you can complain to us or to the ICO.
Who we are
Typing Gauge (TypingGauge.com) is operated by [Registered company name], a company registered in England and Wales (company number [Company number]), registered office [Registered office address]. We are the controller of the personal data described in this notice, and we are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number [ICO registration number]).
Contact our privacy team at privacy@typinggauge.com, through our Contact Us page, or by post at the address above. We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer. Our privacy team handles all data protection matters.
Employer assessments are different. When an employer sends you a Typing Gauge assessment link, that employer is the controller of your candidate data and Typing Gauge processes it on the employer's behalf. See Candidates taking an employer assessment.
The personal data we collect
| Category | What it includes | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Test results | Speed, accuracy, errors, consistency, scores, test type, duration, date, device type (desktop, tablet or mobile) and integrity signals (paste attempts, large text insertions, how often the page lost focus). We do not keep the text you typed. | You, when you take a test |
| Account details | Name, email address, a securely hashed password (never the password itself), confirmation that you are 16 or over, and the date you accepted our terms. If you use Google sign-in: your name, email address and profile picture from Google. | You, or Google if you choose Google sign-in |
| Certificate details | The name you choose to print on a certificate and its certificate ID. | You |
| Messages | Your name, email address and whatever you tell us when you contact us or make a request or complaint. | You |
| Employer account details | Name, work email, company name and the assessments you create. | You |
| Usage statistics | A random identifier stored on your device and events such as "test started" or "test completed". | Your device, unless you opt out |
| Technical and security data | IP address and request information, used briefly for rate limiting and kept in our hosting provider's logs. | Your device |
| Advertising data | Cookie identifiers, IP address and browsing information collected by Google on our content pages. Personalised advertising happens only with your consent. | Your device, via Google |
We do not ask for special category data (such as health information). Please don't include it in messages unless you need to tell us about an accessibility need, in which case we use it only to help you.
Why we use your data and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis (UK GDPR Article 6) |
|---|---|
| Running tests, calculating your results and showing your results page | Legitimate interests: providing the free service you have asked to use |
| Creating and running your account, history and dashboard | Contract: providing the account service you sign up for |
| Creating certificates and public verification pages | Contract or legitimate interests: providing the certificate you request and letting others check it is genuine |
| Public result links (only if you choose to share) | Legitimate interests: providing the sharing feature you request |
| Answering messages, rights requests and complaints | Legal obligation (rights requests and complaints handling) and legitimate interests (answering enquiries) |
| Usage statistics to improve the service | Legitimate interests: understanding how the site is used so we can improve it. You can object at any time on Privacy choices. |
| Keeping the service secure, preventing abuse and keeping results trustworthy (rate limiting, paste blocking, integrity signals) | Legitimate interests: security, fraud prevention and the integrity of results and certificates |
| Personalised advertising through Google AdSense | Consent, given through the consent message shown on your first visit. You can withdraw it at any time on Privacy choices. |
| Non-personalised ads and measuring ad delivery | Consent for the cookies and similar technologies involved (PECR), and legitimate interests in funding a free service |
| Employer assessments | We act as a processor on the employer's instructions. The employer decides the lawful basis. |
| Meeting legal, tax and accounting duties, and defending legal claims | Legal obligation and legitimate interests |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have balanced our interests against yours and keep the data to the minimum needed. You can ask for details of that balancing test.
You don't have to give us any personal data to take a test. If you want an account or a certificate, we need the details listed above to provide it.
Scores, profiling and automated decisions
Your Job Readiness Score, pass status and, for employer assessments, whether you met the employer's thresholds, are calculated automatically from your test. This is a form of profiling. Typing Gauge does not make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects. Employers make their own hiring decisions and our Employer Terms require them to involve a human. If you disagree with a result, contact us (or the employer for an employer assessment) and a person will review it.
Who we share your data with
We share personal data only with:
- Service providers (processors) who host and run the service for us under contract, including our hosting provider (for example Vercel Inc.), our database provider (for example Supabase Inc.) and, if enabled, Plausible Insights OÜ for cookieless statistics.
- Google: Google Ireland Limited / Google LLC provides advertising through AdSense and the consent message on our content pages. If you choose Google sign-in, Google provides that sign-in.
- The employer that sent you an assessment link, for candidate results.
- Anyone you share a link with: public result pages and certificate verification pages show your name (if given) and scores, never your email address or history.
- Professional advisers, regulators, courts and law enforcement, where the law requires it or to protect our legal rights.
- A buyer or successor if our business is sold or reorganised, under equivalent protections.
International transfers
Some of our providers process data outside the UK, including in the European Economic Area and the United States. We only allow this where the transfer is protected by UK adequacy regulations (for example the EEA, or US organisations certified under the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework), or by the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. Contact us for a copy of the safeguards.
How long we keep your data
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Account, account test history and practice sessions | Until you delete your account, which you can do at any time from your dashboard |
| Test results taken without an account | 12 months, then deleted automatically |
| Certificates and the results they verify | 5 years from issue, so verification links keep working, unless you ask us to delete them sooner |
| Employer assessment and candidate data | As instructed by the employer. By default, 12 months after the assessment deadline (or after it was created, if there is no deadline) |
| Contact messages, rights requests and complaints | Up to 2 years after we resolve them |
| Usage statistics events | 13 months |
| Rate-limiting data | Minutes, in memory only. Hosting logs are kept for the provider's short log period |
| Records we must keep by law (for example accounts) | As the law requires, typically 6 years |
Your rights
You have the right to:
- be informed about how we use your data (this notice);
- access your data and receive a copy;
- rectification: have inaccurate data corrected;
- erasure: have your data deleted;
- restrict how we use your data;
- data portability: receive your data in a machine-readable format;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests, including usage statistics;
- withdraw consent at any time, for example for personalised ads, without affecting earlier processing;
- not be subject to solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects, and ask for human review.
Signed-in users can download their data or delete their account from the dashboard. Anyone can make a request through Contact Us or by emailing privacy@typinggauge.com. Requests are free. We respond within one month, which we can extend by up to two months for complex requests (we will tell you why), and we may need to confirm your identity first. Read our data protection guidelines for step-by-step instructions.
Children
Typing Gauge is designed for job seekers and employers aged 16 and over. Accounts are only for people aged 16 or over, and we don't knowingly collect data from children under 13. Our defaults protect privacy: results are private unless you choose to share them, ads are personalised only with consent, and statistics never feed advertising. If you think a child has given us personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.
Security
We use encryption in transit (HTTPS), hashed passwords, secret random links and certificate codes, access controls, rate limiting and server-side checks. If a personal data breach is likely to put you at risk, we will tell the ICO within 72 hours where required, and tell you without undue delay where the risk is high.
Cookies and similar technologies
See our cookie policy for the full list, and use Privacy choices to change your settings at any time.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we use your data, please tell us first through Contact Us (choose "Complaint") or by emailing privacy@typinggauge.com. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and investigate it without undue delay. See our complaints procedure.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, telephone 0303 123 1113, or write to Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Candidates taking an employer assessment
If an employer sends you a Typing Gauge link, the employer is the controller and is responsible for telling you how it uses your results. Typing Gauge processes your name, email address, results and integrity signals for the employer, and shows them only to that employer. We keep them for the period the employer chooses (by default 12 months after the assessment deadline). For access, correction, deletion or a retake, please contact the employer. If you contact us, we will pass your request to the employer and help them respond.
Changes to this notice
We will update this notice when our practices change, and tell signed-in users about significant changes. This version was last updated on 5 October 2026.