Using this site on a shared device

Everything you write on this site is stored by your own browser rather than sent to us. For most people that is the safest possible arrangement. On a device that other people can get into, it becomes the thing to think about — a family iPad, a library computer, a work laptop with monitoring software, or a phone someone else checks.

You have three options, and they suit different situations.

1. Switch to session-only storage

This keeps everything working for as long as your tab is open, and wipes it the moment you close that tab. Nothing is left behind in the browser.

The trade-off is real: your safety plan will not be there tomorrow. If you use this, print your plan or save a backup file somewhere you control before you close the tab.

2. Use a private or incognito window

A private window achieves much the same thing at the browser level, and also keeps the site out of your history. Open one with Ctrl+Shift+N in Chrome or Edge, or Ctrl+Shift+P in Firefox — on a Mac, Cmd instead of Ctrl.

Be aware that private browsing hides your activity from other people using the same browser. It does not hide anything from software installed on the device by an employer, a school, or someone controlling your phone.

3. Do not store anything here at all

You can use every page on this site without saving a single thing. Read what you need, write your plan on paper, and keep the paper somewhere you choose.

Paper is not a lesser option. It works when the battery is dead, it does not sync anywhere, and it cannot be read remotely.

Quick exit

Every page has a Quick exit button in the bottom corner. Pressing it — or pressing Escape three times quickly — leaves the site immediately for a weather page and removes this site from your Back button.

It deliberately does not erase anything you have saved. Someone likely to need quick exit is also someone likely to have a safety plan worth keeping, and a panicked keypress should not destroy it. Use the control above if you want nothing kept.

If someone is monitoring your device

If you think someone has installed something on your phone or computer to watch what you do, the safest thing is to use a device they have never had access to — a friend's phone, or a computer at a library — rather than trying to cover your tracks on the monitored one. Changing your habits on a monitored device can itself be noticed.

If that is your situation, the organisations on our domestic abuse listings have people who do this every day and can talk it through with you properly.