Why a real person can be flagged

Cipher works with probabilities. It is designed to keep false flags rare, and some genuine respondents still behave in ways that look unusual, so a few will be flagged. Here are the most common reasons and how to handle them.

Common reasons

Fast readers and experienced respondents. Someone who reads quickly, or who has answered many surveys, can move through short questions much faster than average. Speed is one signal among many, and together with others it can lead to a flag.

Assistive technology. Screen readers, switch access, voice control and dictation produce different timing, typing and pointer patterns from a mouse and keyboard. Dictated answers, for example, can appear with little or no typing behind them.

Autofill and password managers. Browsers and extensions can fill in names, emails and other details instantly, which looks like text appearing without being typed.

Writing elsewhere first. Some people draft a long answer in a notes app or a document and paste it in. Others step away to check a fact and come back. Both are honest, and both can look like copying.

Shared networks. Responses from the same office, school, library or household arrive from the same network. If you sent your survey to a team or a class, several responses from one network is expected.

VPNs and privacy tools. Many people use a VPN, a privacy-focused browser or extensions that hide device details. On higher tiers these can count against a response, and Block VPNs and proxies turns them away entirely.

Phones on a desk. A phone resting on a table, or a device that doesn't share its motion sensors, gives Cipher less to work with. Cipher allows for this, but the score can be less certain.

Honest but repetitive answers. Someone who genuinely agrees with every statement in a grid will look like they straightlined it.

What to do

1. Read the response. Open it in Insights, then Results, and read the flags, the Reasoning line and the answers themselves. Thoughtful, specific answers are a strong sign of a real person.
2. Look at what tripped the flag. One strong reason, such as Likely a bot or Automated browser, is rarely innocent. Several weak reasons, such as a fast finish plus a paste, often are.
3. Mark it. Under Is this response genuine?, choose Genuine if you are satisfied it is real. This is saved as feedback for Cipher. It doesn't remove the flag, so if you want to keep the response in your own analysis, use an export and include it there.
4. Adjust the survey if a pattern repeats. If one check keeps flagging people you know are genuine, you can switch that check off for this survey under Settings, then Cipher, then Individual signals. If you expect many responses from one network, avoid Block VPNs and proxies and Network restriction unless you need them. See Cipher settings and plans.

If a respondent was turned away

Cipher itself never refuses a response. A respondent can only be blocked if the survey uses Block VPNs and proxies ("VPN / proxy connections are not allowed for this survey.") or Network restriction ("This survey can only be submitted from an authorized network."). If a genuine respondent sees one of these messages, ask them to try from a different connection, or relax the setting in Quick settings, under Integrity.