Privacy Policy
Last updated: 9 August 2026
The short version. We show you your own IP address and location. To do that your IP is sent to one third party (ipinfo.io) and held in memory for up to an hour. We do not sell your data, we do not show adverts, and we do not keep logs of your lookups. Most of the tools on this site never send your input anywhere at all.
Who we are
IP Pigeon (ippigeon.co.uk) is operated by BD Digital Creations, based in the United Kingdom. For the purposes of UK GDPR we are the data controller. You can reach us athello@bddc.co.uk.
What we process, and why
Your IP address
Showing you your IP address is the core purpose of this site, so we necessarily process it. Specifically we:
- read the address your connection arrives from, and display it back to you;
- send it to ipinfo.io to look up the approximate city, region, country, coordinates and network operator associated with it;
- hold the address and its lookup result in server memory for up to one hour, so repeat visits do not trigger a fresh lookup;
- count requests per address for up to one minute, to enforce rate limits that stop the tools being abused.
None of this is written to a database or a log file that we retain. When the server restarts, it is gone.
Request metadata
Your browser sends a user agent string, language preference and referring page with every request. We echo these back to you in the lookup result so you can see what sites learn about you. We do not store them.
Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager to understand which pages are used. This sets cookies in your browser and shares data with Google. See ourCookie Policy for the detail and how to opt out.
Bot protection
The IP lookup is protected by Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks that you are a person rather than an automated script. Cloudflare receives your IP address and some browser signals in order to make that assessment. Turnstile is designed as a privacy-preserving alternative to traditional CAPTCHAs and does not track you across websites.
The developer tools
The tools behave in two distinct ways, and the difference matters for your privacy.
Tools that never transmit your input
These run entirely inside your browser. What you type is never sent to us or anyone else, and we could not see it even if we wanted to:
- URL Encoder / Decoder
- Base64 Encoder / Decoder
- HTML Entity Encoder / Decoder
- JSON Formatter
- Hash Generator
- Password Generator
- IP Converter
- Subnet Calculator
Generated passwords in particular are produced locally using your browser's cryptographic random number generator and are never transmitted or logged.
Tools that query external services
These have to reach out to work. When you use them, the domain, URL, IP address or email address you enter is sent from our server to the relevant third party:
| Tool | What is sent, and where |
|---|---|
| DNS Lookup | The domain, to Cloudflare or Google public DNS resolvers |
| WHOIS Lookup | The domain, IP or ASN, to IANA and the authoritative registry (RDAP) |
| SSL Checker | A TLS connection is opened to the host you name |
| HTTP Headers | An HTTP request is made to the URL you name |
| Website Status | HTTP requests are made to the URL you name |
| Email Validator | Only the domain part is queried via DNS; the mailbox name never leaves our server |
These requests originate from our server, so the destination sees our IP address rather than yours. We do not keep a record of what you looked up.
Third parties who receive data
| Service | Purpose | Their policy |
|---|---|---|
| ipinfo.io | IP geolocation | Privacy policy |
| Cloudflare | Turnstile bot protection, public DNS resolver | Privacy policy |
| Analytics and Tag Manager | Privacy policy | |
| Hostinger | Web hosting | Privacy policy |
We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it with advertisers.
Advertising
We no longer serve adverts. Google AdSense was previously used on this site and has been removed entirely, along with its tracking scripts and advertising cookies. Some pages contain affiliate links to products we recommend; if you follow one, that provider will know you arrived from here, but we do not pass them any information about you.
Legal basis for processing
- Legitimate interests — processing your IP to deliver the service you requested, and to protect the site from abuse through rate limiting and bot checks.
- Consent — analytics cookies, which you may accept or decline via the banner and change at any time.
How long we keep things
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| IP address and geolocation result | In server memory, up to 1 hour |
| Rate limiting counters | In server memory, up to 1 minute |
| Tool inputs and lookup history | Not retained |
| Your cookie choice | In your own browser until you clear it |
| Analytics data | Held by Google under their retention settings |
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you;
- have inaccurate data corrected;
- have your data erased;
- restrict or object to processing;
- data portability;
- withdraw consent at any time.
In practice we hold almost nothing about you: there are no accounts, and the only personal data is a transient in-memory record of your IP that expires within the hour. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, emailhello@bddc.co.uk. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
International transfers
The site is hosted in the United Kingdom. Some third parties above (notably Google, Cloudflare and ipinfo.io) process data outside the UK and EEA, under the safeguards described in their own policies.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS with HSTS. We apply a Content Security Policy and other standard protective headers, rate-limit the API to prevent abuse, and validate all input to the network tools so they cannot be pointed at private or internal systems. No system is perfectly secure, but we do not hold a store of personal data that would be attractive to an attacker.
Children
This site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal data.
Do Not Track
There is no agreed standard for how sites should respond to Do Not Track, so we do not act on it. Declining cookies via our banner is the effective control.
Changes
We will update this page when our practices change and revise the date at the top. Material changes will be reflected in the cookie banner.
Please note. This policy is a plain-English description of how the site actually works. It is not legal advice, and it has not been reviewed by a solicitor. If you rely on it for compliance purposes, have a qualified adviser check it against your circumstances.