Privacy

The short version: sparkytools is free, and it pays its way like most free study tools — through advertising and through anonymous data about which diagrams and drills get used. Your drill answers are marked in your browser and aren't sent anywhere. Below is exactly what is collected, and what you can do about it, in plain terms.

What stays on your device

Kept in your browser's local storage, on your device and readable only by this site: your drill streak and best streak, and a private tally of which pages you open so your most-used can show first. Clear your browser data and they're gone.

What the site records

So we can see which material is worth building more of — and so the site can earn its keep — sparkytools records first-party usage data on its own servers: the pages you view, a coarse random visitor id kept in your browser (so return visits can be counted without knowing who you are), and which site referred you. This is first-party — it goes to sparkytools' own systems, not a third-party tracker following you around the web. It may be reported in aggregate or shared with partners as trends; it is not a public profile of you.

If you make an account

An account is optional and never required. If you sign in — with a one-tap email link, no password — we store your email address and your synced data (drill streaks, most-used) so they follow you between your devices. The sign-in link is sent through a transactional email provider on our behalf. Your email is used to sign you in and, if you opt in, for the occasional note when new material goes up. Sign out or ask us to delete the account and it's gone.

If you add a work profile

Signed-in apprentices can optionally leave a short "looking for work" profile — level, location, contact details and a note. If you do, we store it so we can pass suitable apprenticeship or job leads your way or reach out ourselves, and we may share it with employers looking to hire apprentices. Don't add one and none of that applies; ask and we'll delete it.

If you enter your email in the newsletter box, it's stored on our own Cloudflare database with which of our sites you signed up from, and used to send the occasional note. It's never sold as a standalone list, and every email carries a one-click unsubscribe.

Advertising

sparkytools may carry advertising to stay free. Where an ad network is used it can set its own cookies and collect data under its own policy; where ads are sold directly they're a static image and a link with no third-party script. This page will always say which is in use.

Your choices

Clearing your browser's site data removes everything stored on your device, including the visitor id. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter in one click, sign out of an account at any time, and email [email protected] to have your account, work profile or newsletter entry deleted. If you'd rather not be counted at all, a browser in private mode or with tracking protection on will limit what any of this can record.

Learn one thing a week

Now and then a new diagram, drill, or reference sheet goes up. Leave your email for a short heads-up when it does — no spam, no selling it on, one click to leave.