Cookie Policy

This page provides comprehensive information about how we use cookies on our website to enhance your browsing experience, improve website performance, and deliver personalized content. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device when you visit our site. They help us understand how visitors interact with our website, allowing us to offer a smoother and more efficient user experience. In the table below, you will find detailed information about each type of cookie we use, their purpose, and how long they remain on your device. We are committed to respecting your privacy and providing transparency about the data we collect through cookies. For more information on how we handle your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.

Essential

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.

Cookie ID Purpose Duration
wpconsent_preferences This cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences. 30 days

Comments

These cookies are needed for adding comments on this website.

Cookie ID Purpose Duration
comment_author Used to track the user across multiple sessions. Session
comment_author_email Used to track the user across multiple sessions. Session
comment_author_url Used to track the user across multiple sessions. Session

Statistics

Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.

Learn more

Cookie ID Purpose Duration
_gac_ Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together. 90 days
__utma ID used to identify users and sessions 2 years after last activity
__utmt Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests 10 minutes
__utmb Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server. 30 minutes after last activity
__utmc Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session. End of session (browser)
__utmz Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server 6 months after last activity
__utmv Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server. 2 years after last activity
__utmx Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test. 18 months
_ga ID used to identify users 2 years
_gali Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked 30 seconds
_ga_ ID used to identify users 2 years
_gid ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity 24 hours
_gat Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager 1 minute

Additional Cookies Used on https://app.storysteps.net

In addition to the cookies listed above, our web application at https://app.storysteps.net uses cookies and related technologies to support secure login, user preferences, analytics, personalized content, and image upload. Below is an overview of the relevant cookie categories.

Essential and Functional Cookies

Cookie ID Purpose Duration
.AspNetCore.Cookies Maintains secure user sessions (Blazor Server) Session
StorySteps.Session Stores session data (e.g., active story, last visited step) Session
StorySteps.TutorialState Tracks tutorial progress and dismissal of help overlays 7 days
StorySteps.Preferences Saves UI preferences such as theme and filters 30 days

Authentication (via Auth0)

Cookie ID Purpose Duration
auth0, auth0_compat Stores session and authentication state Varies (up to 7 days)
did, did_compat Device identifiers for fraud detection 1 year
_legacy_auth0 Fallback for older browsers Session

Analytics and Performance

Cookie ID Purpose Duration
_ga, _gid Google Analytics for user behavior tracking See main table

Advertising (Google Ads)

Cookie ID Purpose Duration
IDE, NID Personalized ads, frequency capping, performance tracking See main table
__gads Ad delivery management and fraud protection See main table

Image Upload (Backblaze B2)

Backblaze B2 is used for secure image upload and storage. By default, B2 does not set cookies on end-user devices. However, if file URLs are accessed via public links through the B2 infrastructure (rather than proxied through your server or CDN), temporary cookies may be set by the CDN edge provider.

Note: B2 may log IP addresses and request metadata for access control, rate limiting, or analytics — but this is handled server-side and does not typically result in cookies on the client.

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