Cookies
This notice explains which cookies and similar technologies smartapple.co (the "Site"), my personal website, uses, why, and how you can control them. It complements the Privacy Policy.
1. What are cookies and local storage?
Cookies are small text files that a website stores in your browser.
Similar technologies work in a comparable way. On this Site they are:
- local storage: data kept in your browser until you or the Site delete it;
- Cache Storage: a browser store used by web apps to open faster and work offline;
- service worker: a small script your browser runs for the Site so that it can be installed as an app, work offline and receive push notifications.
Under Article 4(5) of Romanian Law no. 506/2004 (which implements Article 5(3) of the EU ePrivacy Directive), information may be stored on or read from your device without your consent only when it is strictly necessary to provide a service you asked for. Anything else needs your consent first.
2. My approach
- No advertising cookies and no cross-site tracking.
- No third-party analytics (no Google Analytics).
- The Site's own audience measurement stores nothing on your device: no cookie, no local storage, no identifier (see section 3.2 of the Privacy Policy).
- Posts from other sites (Instagram, YouTube and similar) load only after you click.
- Everything the Site stores is first party, says nothing about who you are, and only remembers choices you made or keeps the Site working.
For these reasons the Site shows no cookie consent banner.
3. Items the Site uses (strictly necessary or remembering your choices)
These are needed for the Site, or a feature you asked for, to work, or they remember a setting you chose. They do not need consent. You can delete them in your browser settings, but the Site will then forget your choices.
| Name | Type | Purpose | Duration | When it is set |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sa_lang | Cookie | Remembers the language you chose (English, Japanese, Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese), so the Site opens in it next time | 1 year | Only when you change the language |
| sa-sound | Local storage | Remembers whether you want the music on or off | Until you change it or clear your browser data | When you enter the Site or switch the sound |
| sa-intro | Local storage | Remembers that you have already seen or skipped the intro, so it does not play on every visit | Until you clear your browser data | After the intro has played or been skipped |
| Service worker (sw.js) | Service worker | Makes the Site installable as an app, shows an offline page when you have no connection, and receives push notifications if you turn them on | Until you clear site data or remove the app | When the Site loads |
| smartapple caches | Cache Storage | Keeps copies of the Site's files, icons, story images and recently visited pages so the Site loads fast and works offline. Contains no personal data | Replaced on each Site update; deleted when you clear site data | When the Site loads and as you browse |
| Push subscription | Browser push storage (managed by your browser) | Lets the Site send you the notifications you asked for | Until you turn notifications off or clear site data | Only after you turn notifications on and allow them |
| Vercel security cookie | Cookie | Set by the hosting provider, Vercel, only if a request has to pass a security check (for example during a bot attack) | Short, set by Vercel | Only when a security check is shown |
| sa_session | Cookie (HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Lax) | Keeps editors logged in to the admin area. Never set for visitors | 30 days, or until logout | Only when an editor logs in |
4. Third-party items (only after your click)
| Name | Type | Purpose | Duration | Party | When it is set |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookies and identifiers of Instagram (Meta), YouTube (Google) or another service whose post appears in a story | Cookies and similar | Set by that service when its post loads, for its own purposes, which may include analytics, security and advertising | Set by that service | Third party | Only after you click to load the post |
These cookies are not under my control. See the service's own cookie policy, for example Meta's at https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policies/cookies/.
5. Motion sensors
On phones and tablets, the collage moves slightly when you tilt your device. This uses your browser's access to the motion sensors, not cookies. Where your browser asks for permission, your browser stores that permission, not the Site. Sensor readings stay on your device. The Site does not use your camera or microphone.
6. How to manage your choices
- Language, sound and intro: change them on the Site at any time. To make the Site forget them, clear the Site's data in your browser.
- Analytics: nothing is stored on your device. To stop it completely, turn on Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track in your browser; the Site then records nothing.
- In your browser: you can view, delete and block cookies and site data in your browser settings. Help pages: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge.
- Installed app: removing the app from your home screen or device deletes its stored data on most devices.
- Notifications: turn them off on the Site, or in your browser or device settings.
7. Changes
This notice is updated whenever a cookie or storage item is added, removed or changed. The tables above always have to match what the Site actually does.
8. Contact
Questions about this notice: a direct message on Instagram.
Last updated: 16 October 2026