Part 1
What do you want to do with AI?
Part 2
Is this AI app or extension safe?
On a phone, press and hold the text, choose Select all, then Copy. The check reads the words here; it does not visit the store or the company.
Part 3
Before you install any AI app or extension
- Where is it from? Reach it through the AI company’s own website, or your phone’s or browser’s official store. An APK file (an Android app file downloaded from outside Google Play), a download link in a chat group or a “premium unlocked” copy skips the store’s checks.
- Who made it? Read the developer name in the store. If the app uses a famous AI name, the developer should be the company that makes that service.
- If it’s free, what pays? Look for a price, a paid plan or adverts. “Free and unlimited” with no answer means your data, or something else, may be paying.
- What does it ask for? An AI assistant does not need your text messages, call log, accessibility access, device administrator access or a recording of your screen. An extension that can “read and change all your data on all websites” sees every page you open.
- What does it keep? The privacy policy should say whether your conversations and files are used to train its AI, how long they are kept, and who they are shared with.
- What will you type into it? Never your password, an API key (a secret code that lets software use your account with an AI company, and can run up charges) or a cryptocurrency wallet’s recovery phrase. Take names and account numbers out first.
- Does it promise money? AI tools that promise income and ask for a deposit or a connected wallet follow the pattern of investment scams.
Already installed one that worries you? Remove it, change the passwords for any accounts you used with it, and run your phone’s or computer’s security scan.
What you paste stays on your device
The check runs on your own phone or computer, inside this page. The page’s security setting (a Content Security Policy, a rule the browser enforces) blocks it from connecting to any server after it has loaded, so what you paste stays on your device.
- No account, no sign-up and no cookies.
- Press Clear or close the tab, and what you pasted is gone.
- To confirm it yourself on a computer, open your browser’s developer tools, choose the Network tab, then run a check: no new request appears.
What the safety check looks for
Stop signs
- Installing from outside the official stores: an APK file, a “mod”, “cracked” or “premium unlocked” copy, or a download from a Telegram, WhatsApp or Discord channel.
- A famous AI name used by a different developer, or offered outside the official stores, and “free, unlimited” versions of paid AI plans.
- A request for your password, an API key or your login cookies (small files that keep you signed in, and let anyone who has them use your account).
- A free extension that can read and change everything on every website, with no named company or no word on how it pays for itself.
- Access an AI app does not need: accessibility, device administrator, text messages, call logs, screen recording, or reading what you copy in the background.
- A request to turn off antivirus or other extensions.
- Payment only by gift card or only by cryptocurrency; promised income that needs a deposit or a connected wallet; a request for a wallet’s recovery phrase.
- Pop-ups saying your phone is infected or hacked.
Take care
- “Free and unlimited” with no word on how the service pays for itself.
- Your data used to train its AI, or shared with partners.
- No named company and no privacy policy.
- An extension that reads every website, from a named company.
- Contacts, location or microphone access with no reason given.
- “100% private”, “unhackable”, “undetectable”, or a promise to get past AI detectors.
Good signs
- A named company and the country it is registered in, a privacy policy, a clear statement on training and how long data is kept, an official store listing from a verified publisher, processing on your own device, and clear pricing.
What this check cannot do
It reads only the words you paste. It cannot test the app, see who really owns the company, confirm that a privacy promise is kept, or see what the app does once it is installed. It never says an app is safe, and it never names any AI product as good or bad: when a famous AI name appears, it looks only at how the name is used. A clean result means only that the signs it looks for were not found in the words you pasted. Text that does not look like English never gets a clean result.
How UtilForge tested this tool
Before release, on 24 October 2026, the safety check was run against 48 written test descriptions: clean listings from invented companies, which must not be marked as a stop sign; listings showing each stop sign; lists that say what an app does not ask for, and the same lists followed by a real request; spaced-out letters and misspellings; text in Spanish and German; a genuine-style listing in another language, which must show the language notice and never a clean result; and code pasted into the box, which must be shown as text and never run. The questions in Part 1 were run through 8 combinations of answers, and every link to another UtilForge tool was checked. The page was also checked at phone width. If you find a description it gets wrong, the buttons below open an email you can send.
Questions and answers
How do I find the real app for an AI service?
Start from the AI company’s own website and follow its link to the app store, or search the official store for the company’s name. Then check the developer name shown under the app: it should be the company that makes the service. Apps with similar names and icons can appear in the same search results.
Why do some free AI apps ask for so much access?
Running an AI service costs money, so a free app has to be paid for some other way, such as adverts, your data or a paid plan. Access to your text messages, call log, accessibility settings or screen lets an app see far more than an assistant needs. If it’s free, ask what pays, and allow only what the app explains.
What is a browser extension, and why do its permissions matter?
A browser extension is a small add-on that gives your web browser extra features, such as an AI helper beside the page. When you add one, the browser lists what it can do. An extension that can “read and change all your data on all websites” sees every page you open, including your email and your bank, so choose one only from a company you can name and check.
Should I give an app my API key or my password?
An API key is a secret code that lets software use your account with an AI company, and it can run up charges in your name. Type your password only on the company’s own website or app. Some careful tools for developers ask for an API key; give one only to software from a company you have checked, and set a spending limit with the AI company first.
Can I use AI at work with customer information?
Use only the AI tools your employer has approved for work data, in the way it sets out. Client or customer details pasted into a personal or free AI app leave your organisation’s control. Take names and numbers out first with Hide names from AI, and ask your manager or technology team if no tool has been approved.
Artificial intelligence rules your team can follow
The Artificial Intelligence Tools for Work pack gives a team the checks and plain rules for using artificial intelligence assistants safely with client and customer details, kept on your own computers. The free tools on this site stay free.
See Artificial Intelligence Tools for Work$119, bought once