Frequently Asked Questions

  • General

    • How is BlockSurvey different from SurveyMonkey, TypeForm & Google Forms?

      BlockSurvey enables digital rights for the users. Meaning, the account or identity ownership and data ownership is with the user and not with the platform provider. With BlockSurvey, all your data is encrypted end to end and you have the keys for them. This prevents data breaches, leaks, harvesting and trust issues. We strongly believe all your ideas and insights gathered from people through data collection is valuable and it needs to be protected. BlockSurvey enables that with a modern privacy focused design system using BlockStack's Blockchain.

    • What are the benefits of using BlockSurvey?

      1. Share Answers, Not Identity. Go Anonymous while answering.
      2. End of End Encryption of Data.Your data is safe and secure.Only you can unlock it to read it.
      3. Modern Design System to make the survey design and taking enjoyable.
      4. Advanced Analytics which helps you to gather insights in zero time.

    • What is the difference between surveys, polls & forms? Can I create them with BlockSurvey?

      A survey is a form with questions specifically designed to gather information about people's experiences, preferences, wants, and needs. Surveys can be long, so a poll is a survey with just one question—a simple survey. And a form could be anything—a survey, a poll, an order form, a quiz, an RSVP sheet, or anything else where you need to gather data. Today, using BlockSurvey you can create any of them to your choice.

    • Do I need to know coding?

      No, you don't have to. BlockSurvey is a no-code tool. All forms can be created without requiring any coding knowledge. We have also created templates so that you need any survey creation knowledge.

    • Is there any student, non-profit or other discounted pricing available?

      Yes. We offer discounted and special pricing for students, independent researchers and not for profit organizations. Please write a request to [email protected]

    • Do you store any data about my usage or run analytics?

      No, we take data privacy very seriously. There are no trackers, cookies or fingerprinting done. And we store no application or user data.

    • Can you describe your data security and privacy practices?

      BlockSurvey by design enables the digital rights for the users. By this, the users are in control of their data and not anyone else. You have your keys and only your key can unlock the data.

    • Does BlockSurvey work on both web and mobile?

      Yes. BlockSurvey is a Web App and works fine on any modern browsers and it is device agnostic.

    • Is BlockSurvey open source?

      BlockSurvey is not currently open source, because it is in the early stages of development. With the current team, we are developing and forming initial ideas and shaping up. The aim is to make it accessible on the road when we need community help to create it.

    • Contact Us

      Write to us at [email protected] for any feedback, feature requests and queries.

  • Billing

    • Do I need to be a paid user to use BlockSurvey?

      No, you can use the free plan to get a feel for the entire product. It includes three forms/surveys. There is no need for a credit card. When you're satisfied with the product, upgrade to a paid plan.

    • I already have an account, how do I upgrade?

      Head over to accounts & billing page, choose the plan that is right for you.

    • Can I cancel at any time?

      Yes. There is a cancel subscription option on your accounts & billing page. You will still have access to BlockSurvey's features till your billing cycle ends, after that you will be downgraded.

    • Is pricing based on monthly or annual plans? Can I choose?

      Yes, we have both the monthly and yearly plans. You'll be able to choose from them.

    • What’s your cancellation policy?

      Our contracts are monthly or annual and are therefore pre-paid for a month or 12 months. If you choose to cancel in-between the billing period, you will not be billed for the next period or cycle.

    • Do you offer any Guarantee or Refunds?

      We offer 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee! If we did not help you - simply cancel your account at any time before 30 days after payment. 100% refund no questions asked.

    • What forms of payment are possible?

      BlockSurvey has integrated with Stripe for payments and it is self serving for personal plans. We also support by raising invoices for enterprises and business plans.

    • I still have some questions, how to contact you?

      Please mail us for any questions at [email protected]. We provide support 12x5 and are really fast in replying by emails.

  • Team

    • If I remove a member from the team, can the member still see results? How are they prevented access?

      No. Every save and fetch operation with respect to teams is validated against multiple checks including the user's presence in the team and the user's role. Hence a removed member wont have access to the results even with its link.

    • How are results encrypted as a team? Can BlockSurvey see results?

      Results are encrypted using the team's public key identity which is generated using TweetNaCl.js, a cryptographic library. It is generated on the team's creation in the team owner's machine. It is encrypted using each team member's Stacks public key and stored on the server. Hence BlockSurvey can see neither the keys nor the results.

    • How does the decryption of results take place?

      The encrypted results are fetched by the team member's machine along with the encrypted team private key. The member's Stacks DID private key is used to decrypt the team private key and this team private key is used to decrypt the results.

    • How is real-time collaboration taking place?

      We use CRDT for team collaboration. Yjs is the CRDT implementation we use here.

    • Where is the data stored? How is it different from personal workspace?

      Data is stored in Firebase, a centralized storage platform. The data in personal workspace in BlockSurvey is stored in GAIA, a decentralized storage provided on Stacks blockchain.

    • Why go for centralized storage? Is it safe?

      Data Security is the primary goal of BlockSurvey. GAIA has provision only for reading data from other users' storage, not for writing. Hence, in a team environment, where collaboration is the key, centralization with end-to-end encryption serves as a valid tradeoff. Since the data is end-to-end encrypted, it can only be accessed by the members of the team.

    • What happens if I lose my secret key? Can I get access to my team back?

      The team secret key is encrypted and stored centrally, so it cannot be lost. However, if the Stacks identity is lost, it is not possible to recover it. In that case, you can use another account and ask a member of the team to invite you back.

    • Should the team members be paid members to join the team?

      No. Only the Team owner has to be a paid member. Others can join the team without being paid members.

    • How to change Owner if owner chooses to leave?

      Currently, changing owners is not possible. Write to [email protected] if needed.

  • Sign up and Sign in

    • What's a Secret Key?

      A Secret Key is a password. It's used to create your account and encrypt/decrypt your data. It's generated when you sign up. Nobody but you will have your Secret Key, to make sure that only you can decrypt your data and see the content inside.

    • Where should I save my Secret Key?

      Save your Secret Key in a place where only you can find it. For example:
        * A password manager such as Bitwarden.
        * Your notes app, protected with a password.
        * Written down and kept somewhere safe.

      Don't save it anywhere where others can find it, or on a website, you do not trust. Anybody with your Secret Key will have access to your data.

    • Why don't I have a password?

      Your Secret Key is your password. It's needed to be multiple words for the encryption mechanism and it's needed to be long enough to prevent brute force attacks.

    • What if I lose my Secret Key?

      If you lose your Secret Key, it will be lost forever. Only you know your Secret Key, which means that no one can help you recover it.

    • When will I need my Secret Key?

      You'll need your Secret Key to prove it's you when you sign in on a new device such as a new phone or laptop.

    • Can I change or reset my Secret Key?

      Your Secret Key cannot be changed or reset. As your Secret Key is used to encrypt your data, each file individually, if you change your Secret Key, every file needs to be decrypted with your old Secret Key and encrypted again with your new Secret Key.

  • Email and Third-Party Social Authentication

    • How to sign up using email?

      Once you provide your email address, we will send an email with an OTP and a Magic link to your provided mail. You can either provide the OTP or click on the magic link to verify your email address.

    • Which all third-party social auth do you provide for signing up with BlockSurvey?

      We offer a couple of third-party social login options that allow you to sign up quickly with BlockSurvey. Some of them are Google, Apple, Github, and Facebook. More social logins will be coming soon.

    • Can I create multiple accounts with the same email address using email or third-party social auth sign-up methods?

      You cannot create more than one account with the same email address.

    • Is there any expiry time for OTP and Magic Link?

      Both OTP and Magic link will expire after 15 minutes. You need to trigger a new mail for generating a new OTP and Magic link.

    • Do I need to set password for sign up with email?

      Password is not needed. We will generate a secret key which will be used for creating your account and for encrypting/decrypting your data.

    • Will we get a secret key if we sign up using third-party social authentication?

      We do provide every account with a unique secret key that will be required to log in to the BlockSurvey account using different devices.

    • Can I use the same secret key for signing in without providing email?

      No, if a secret key is generated while signing up using an email address, then same email sign in method have to be used for using BlockSurvey.

    • How many days will my session last for sign up with mail or third-party social authentication?

      It will last for 100 days after which you will have to sign in again using the same method with which you created your account in BlockSurvey.

    • Is it possible to change my email address once I have signed up?

      Email address cannot be changed once an account is created with BlockSurvey.

    • I don't see my OTP or Magic Link in my email box?

      Please check if the email has a typo. If no, please check your spam box once. If still you cannot locate, write to [email protected]

  • Magic Recovery Code

    • What is Magic Recovery Code?

      Magic Recovery Code is a recovery code that can be used to recover your BlockSurvey Secret Key if you lose it and sign in back to your BlockSurvey account.

    • How safe is it to use the Magic Recovery Code?

      We generate Magic Recovery Code using a cryptographic key derivation function named PBKDF2(Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2) to reduce vulnerabilities of brute-force attacks.

    • How does this Magic Recovery Code help me to restore my account and secret key?

      Using the generated Magic Recovery Code, we encrypt your Secret key using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption technology and we store this encrypted secret key in our database. It will be safe and only you will be able to decrypt the secret key to sign in back to your account. Not even BlockSurvey will be able to recover your account. The Magic Recovery Code will only be sent to your email address and downloaded locally on your system.

    • Where can I get my Magic Recovery Code?

      While creating a new account with BlockSurvey, if the 'Need magic recovery code?' box is checked, we will send this Magic Recovery Code to your email address and also download it locally so that you can keep it somewhere safe.

    • Can I use Magic Recovery Code to recover my BlockSurvey Wallet and Hiro/Xverse Wallet account?

      Unfortunately, we are currently only able to offer account recovery via email or third-party social authentication.

    • Will I be able to regenerate the Magic Recovery Code?

      Yes, you can regenerate your magic recovery code if you wish to. You need to navigate to your dashboard and click on your profile settings to view your secret key. Here you will find an option to generate a new Magic Recovery Code.

    • Upon regenerating the Magic Recovery Code, can I use the old one to retrieve my secret key?

      No, the previous recovery code becomes invalid. Use the most recent code to sign in in the future.

    • What if I lose my Magic Recovery Code?

      Once lost it’s lost forever, so save it somewhere you won’t forget. BlockSurvey cannot restore your account for you.

Have a question that we haven't covered?

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