Clear by design

Privacy

ClearSearch does not create accounts, profiles, saved searches, query analytics, or click histories.

What stays on your device

Your SafeSearch, language, new-tab, and AI-answer preferences are stored only in your browser under clearsearch.preferences.v1. AI cited answers are off by default. Reset Settings removes that record. ClearSearch does not put searches or result activity in localStorage, IndexedDB, or Cache Storage.

Aggregate visitor and sponsorship counts

ClearSearch counts page loads, OpenVeil recommendation impressions, and clicks as aggregate daily totals. A daily rotating HMAC of the Cloudflare-provided IP is kept only in memory to estimate unique visitors, then expires. Raw IPs, queries, user agents, cookies, and persistent identifiers are not stored with these metrics. The private dashboard shows totals and click-through rates only.

OpenVeil recommendation

The OpenVeil placement is a ClearSearch-sponsored recommendation. Clicking it increments an aggregate placement counter and redirects to openveil.app/private-ai/chat. OpenVeil receives the normal network request under its own policy; ClearSearch does not append a visitor identifier or search term.

Bookmarkable search URLs

To make Back, refresh, bookmarks, and sharing work without form-resubmission warnings, a results URL contains the search term and selected filters. It may therefore appear in your browser history or in a URL you share. ClearSearch keeps page titles query-free and does not write query-bearing application access logs.

What happens during a search

The query is handled transiently by ClearSearch and forwarded by SearXNG to the external providers configured for the selected category. Those providers and Cloudflare may process network and request data under their own policies.

Cited answers

When you enable AI cited answers, the first Web results page may send the question and selected source text to Phala's server-side inference API. The API key never reaches your device. If the setting is off, ClearSearch does not start the answer request. If that service is disabled, unavailable, or cannot produce validated citations, ordinary search results continue to work.

Abuse checks

A short-lived Valkey counter uses a daily rotating HMAC of the Cloudflare-provided client IP. The raw IP and query are not stored in the counter. After rapid use, Cloudflare Turnstile may be loaded and validated once.

Images and caches

Result images are fetched through SearXNG's signed image proxy. The PWA caches only versioned application-shell assets—never searches, result pages, thumbnails, settings, cited answers, source pages, metrics responses, or Turnstile responses. Server-side answer caches use opaque HMAC keys and short time limits.

Last updated August 5, 2026.