Why Sign-in to SearchScene?

Never lose your search counter or charitable votes and synchronize them across all your devices by signing in to SearchScene.

To sign-in on desktop computers, click on the avatar located at the top-right of the header bar.

To sign-in on mobile devices, click on the avatar icon which is located at the top of the side menu. Simply click on the menu button (the one that looks like three horizontal dashes) at the top right of the screen to open the side menu. The avatar icon is at the top.

How does it work?

Once you sign-in to SearchScene, we'll grab your SearchScene search counter off your computer, tablet or mobile phone and store that counter on our servers next to your encrypted email address. If you then sign-in on another device, we'll add the counter from that device to our servers too. If you log out, we'll keep counting your searches locally on your device and add them to our servers when you next log-in. We do this with your charitable votes, as well as your overall search counter. You can synchronise unlimited devices, e.g. you mobile phone, tablet, home computer and work computer.

Signing-in with your Google, Facebook or Apple Accounts

You can sign-in with your Google, Facebook or Apple account. If you do that, your email address will be available to us, which we will encrypt and store on our servers next to your search counter and charitable votes. This is the easiest way to sign-in to SearchScene.

If you prefer not to sign-in with Google, Facebook or Apple (or you don't have these accounts), you can request a magic-link instead...

What is a magic link?

A magic link is a special link that we send to your email address. It is an easy, secure, password-free way of signing-in to SearchScene. Simply enter your email address and we'll send you a magic link. Click on this link (or copy and paste it into your browser) and you'll be signed-in to SearchScene. We will then store your searches and charitable votes next to your encrypted email address, just as we did if you signed in with Google, Facebook or Apple. But you better hurry - this link will expire in 15 mins!

What do I do if my magic link expired?

If your magic link expired, don't worry! Just request another one by signing-in again to SearchScene.

I didn't get my magic link - what do I do now?

If your magic link didn't arrive, then...

1. Maybe it went into your spam folder? This can happen a lot so please check.
2. Maybe you mis-typed your email address?
3. If you used a company or school email address, maybe they blocked our email. Try using a private email address instead!
4. Maybe our system is down. Try again later and if that doesn't work, please contact us. In the meantime, you could try logging in with your Google, Facebook or Apple accounts.

My magic link opened in the wrong browser!

It is important to open your magic link in the same browser in which you want to sign-in to SearchScene. By default, your magic-link will open in your default browser. If you want to sign-in to SearchScene on a browser other than your default browser, you will need to copy the link and paste it into the browser on which you're using SearchScene. This is sometimes an issue if you're using the SearchScene Browser app on your phone but it is not set as your default browser. You will need to copy your magic link and paste it into your SearchScene Browser app (or make the SearchScene Browser your default browser first!)

 

I signed in on multiple devices but my search counter is not synchronizing properly!

We store your search counter and charitable votes against your encrypted email address. So, for instance, if you signed in with your Google account one one device and your Google account is linked to one email address, but you signed in with Facebook on another device and your Facebook account is linked to a different email address, then your search counters and votes will not synchronize properly. Always use accounts that are set-up with the same email address to sign-in on different devices. To be sure it works properly, we suggest you use the same method to sign-in to all your devices.

If you used a magic-link to sign-in, ensure you use the same email address when signing in to each device.

Does signing-in affect my privacy?

No - not at all!

It is important to know that we do not store your search queries or your IP address next to your email address, so signing-in doesn't affect your privacy in any way.

It is also important to know that we store your email address in an encrypted, hashed format. When you log-in with your email address, we encrypt it and store your searches and charitable votes next to your encrypted email address. Your email address is impossible for us or anyone else to decrypt.

We do not ask for your password, so we do not store your password on our servers.

What if I don't want to sign-in? Will my votes and searches still count?

Yes! You do not have to sign-in to SearchScene. Whether you're signed in or not, all your searches still count as charitable votes and these are stored on aggregate on our secure servers, so all your searches will still help to save the planet.

Your personal search counter is just a way for you to keep track of your own searches and charitable votes. If you're not signed in then these are stored locally on your computer, tablet or phone. However, sometimes you may clear your browsing data, in which case your personal counter will reset to zero - but don't worry, all your past searches will still count towards saving the planet. Signing-in is a way to prevent your search counters from resetting to zero if you clear your browser data, because your search counters and votes will be stored on our secure servers as well as being stored locally on your device.

If you sign in to SearchScene on all your devices then your search counter and votes will also be synchronized across all your devices.

The bottom line is that signing-in is optional.

You can view your personal votes for each charity by scrolling to the bottom of this page.