Is it safe to analyze your data export online? Three ways to check

An Amazon or bank export contains addresses, purchases, card digits and habits. You should not have to trust a stranger’s promise before opening one. Here is how to verify, in a minute, that a tool like ExportDecode never sends your file anywhere — and how to apply the same checks to any other site.

1. The airplane-mode test

1. Open the analyzer page and let it finish loading.
2. Turn on airplane mode, or disconnect Wi-Fi.
3. Drop in your file or use the sample data.

If the analysis still works, the tool cannot be sending your data to a server, because there is no connection to send it over. Tools that need a server fail here.

2. Watch the network tab

1. Press F12 (or Cmd+Option+I on a Mac) and open the Network tab.
2. Clear the list, then analyze a file.
3. Look for new requests or large uploads. For ExportDecode none appear while analyzing; the only downloads are the files you save yourself.

3. Read the Content-Security-Policy

View the source of the app page (exportdecode.com) — in your browser choose View page source — and look for the Content-Security-Policy tag near the top of the document. It is declared in the HTML as a <meta http-equiv> tag rather than sent as a response header, and it contains connect-src 'none', which tells your browser to refuse network requests (fetch, XHR, WebSocket) from the page, plus form-action 'none', which blocks form posts. That is enforced by your browser, not by our good intentions.

What else is worth knowing

• The app is one file. The whole analyzer is a single HTML file. You can save the page and run it from your own disk.
• Nothing is stored. Files live in memory in your tab and are discarded when you close or reload it. ExportDecode does not use cookies or local storage.
• “Copy summary” copies one sentence of totals, never raw rows.
• Browser extensions can see pages. For maximum isolation, use a private window with extensions disabled.
• Your downloaded export is still sensitive. Store it in an encrypted folder, avoid sharing screenshots that show order numbers or addresses, and delete it when you’re finished.

How to judge any similar tool

• Does it ask you to create an account or give an email before analyzing? Why would it need to?
• Do you see an upload progress bar, or does the result appear instantly even for a large file?
• Does it ask for your Amazon, Instagram or bank password? Never give it. Real exports do not need it.
• Does the privacy policy say the file is processed on the server or kept for a period?
• Does it still work offline?

Questions