Cookies Policy

1. What cookies and similar technologies are

A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. When you return, the browser sends the cookie back, which lets the site recognise your session, remember settings, and understand how the site is being used. Cookies can be temporary or longer-lived: a session cookie is erased when you close your browser, while a persistent cookie stays until it expires or you delete it.

We also use technologies that behave like cookies even though they are not, strictly speaking, cookie files. These include local storage and session storage in your browser, software development kits, and tracking pixels or web beacons (tiny image or script tags that report whether a page or email was opened). Throughout this Policy, the word "cookies" is shorthand for all of these methods unless we say otherwise.

Cookies may be set by us (first-party cookies served from our own domain) or by a partner acting on our behalf (third-party cookies served from another domain, such as an analytics or advertising provider).

2. The categories of cookies we use

We group the cookies on our site into four categories, based on what they do rather than who sets them.

Strictly necessary cookies keep the site secure and functional. They authenticate your session, protect the checkout and sign-in flows against fraud and cross-site request forgery, balance server load, and remember the cookie preferences you have expressed. Because the Service cannot operate without them, they are always active and do not depend on your consent.

Preference cookies remember choices you make so the site feels consistent from one visit to the next. Examples include your language or region, your display preferences, and whether you have already dismissed a notice. They make the experience more convenient but are not essential to delivering the Service.

Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors find and use the site, in aggregate. They tell us which pages are viewed, how people move between them, roughly where traffic comes from, and where users encounter errors or drop off, so we can fix problems and improve the Service. We only set these after you opt in.

Advertising cookies let us measure and improve the paid campaigns that bring people to the site, and help limit how often you see the same promotion. They can record that you arrived from a specific advert and later completed an action such as starting a trial, so we can gauge whether our marketing is effective. We only set these after you opt in.

3. Examples of the cookies we set

The list below is representative rather than exhaustive; exact names, providers, and lifetimes can change as we update the Service, and some cookies are only set once you consent. Each entry describes the cookie name (or family), who sets it, its category, what it does, and roughly how long it lasts.

Session and authentication (first party, strictly necessary): keeps you signed in and ties requests to your account during a visit. Typically a session cookie that expires when you close the browser, or lasts up to a few hours.

Security token (first party, strictly necessary): guards forms and the checkout against cross-site request forgery. Session-length, removed when you leave.

Consent choice (first party, strictly necessary): records the categories you accepted or declined in our cookie banner so we do not ask on every page. Persistent, usually up to 6–12 months, after which we ask again.

Google Analytics 4 (third party, analytics): distinguishes and counts visitors and measures how the site is used, in aggregate. Set as _ga and related identifiers, typically persisting for up to about 2 years, with shorter-lived session identifiers. Only set after you opt in to analytics.

Google Ads and conversion measurement (third party, advertising): attributes visits and trial sign-ups to our paid campaigns and helps cap ad frequency. Cookies such as those in the _gcl family typically persist for up to about 90 days. Only set after you opt in to advertising.

4. Consent and Google Consent Mode v2

On your first visit we show a cookie banner. Strictly necessary cookies load immediately because the site needs them, but no analytics or advertising cookies are placed until you make a choice. You can accept all categories, reject the non-essential ones, or open the settings to decide category by category.

We implement Google Consent Mode v2. Until you opt in, the relevant analytics and advertising signals are set to "denied," which means Google's tags either do not run or run in a restricted, non-identifying way and do not write advertising or analytics cookies. When you accept analytics and/or advertising, the matching signals switch to "granted" and the corresponding cookies described above are then set. If you decline, those signals stay denied for the duration of your choice.

In short, analytics and advertising cookies only ever operate after you have opted in, and your decision is honoured across the pages you visit.

5. How to manage or withdraw your consent

You can change your cookie choices at any time. Reopen the cookie banner or preferences link on our site to grant or withdraw consent for any non-essential category; your updated choice takes effect straight away and is remembered for future visits.

You can also control cookies through your browser. Most browsers let you view, block, or delete cookies and clear local storage from their privacy or security settings, and some offer a "do not track" or private-browsing mode. Deleting the cookie that stores your consent choice will simply cause our banner to appear again on your next visit.

Please note that blocking or deleting strictly necessary cookies may stop parts of the site working as intended: you may be unable to stay signed in, complete checkout, or use features that depend on remembering your session. Withdrawing consent does not undo processing that already, lawfully took place while your consent was active.

6. Third parties and international transfers

The main third party we rely on is Google, which provides Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads. When these are active with your consent, Google processes information such as your device and browser details, a randomised identifier, the pages you view, and how you interact with our campaigns, acting as a data processor or, for its own purposes, as an independent controller under its own terms.

You can learn more about how Google uses information from sites that use its services, and the controls Google offers, in Google's own privacy and advertising documentation. Because these providers operate globally, enabling them may involve transferring data to countries outside your own, including the United States; where that happens we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses or an approved transfer framework.

7. Do not sell or share my personal information

TraceHero does not sell your personal information for money. However, using advertising and analytics cookies can count as "sharing" or a "sale" of personal information under some US state privacy laws, such as those in California, because data may be disclosed to partners like Google for cross-context behavioural advertising.

You can opt out of this at any time by declining or withdrawing consent for advertising cookies in our banner or preferences panel. We also honour recognised opt-out preference signals, such as Global Privacy Control, sent by your browser: when we detect one, we treat it as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information through cookies for that browser.

8. How long cookie data is kept

Cookies remain on your device only for the lifetime shown in your browser or described above, which ranges from the length of a single session to around two years, and they are removed automatically when they expire or when you delete them.

The information collected through cookies is retained only as long as we need it for the purpose it was gathered. We keep aggregated analytics for a limited period to observe trends, and advertising measurement data for the shorter windows our providers apply, after which it is deleted or anonymised. Records of the consent you gave are kept for as long as needed to demonstrate that we obtained it properly.

9. Changes to this Cookies Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the technologies we use, our partners, or the law. When we make a material change we will update the date shown at the top of this page, and where appropriate we will ask for your consent again through the cookie banner. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically so you stay informed about how we use cookies.

10. Contact us

If you have questions about this Cookies Policy or how we use cookies, email us at support@tracehero.com and our team will be glad to help.