Last updated 11 September 2026
Cookie Policy
Each cookie we set, named, with its purpose and lifetime — and how to turn off the ones you don't need.
The short version: we set a small number of cookies, most of them are required for the product to function. Analytics (Google Analytics and PostHog) and browser diagnostics on this site start only after you agree, and Essential only or a Global Privacy Control signal keeps them off. Partner referrals work differently: if you arrive through a partner’s link, we keep that partner’s referral and carry it to the signup service so your signup and purchase are credited to them. That is part of the signup you came for, so it is not switched off by Essential only or a Global Privacy Control signal. If you do not want a partner credited, sign up without their link or email us.
1. Every cookie we set
| Cookie | What it does | Lifetime | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session / authentication | Keeps you signed in and ties requests to your account | Session, or up to 30 days if you choose to stay signed in | Essential |
| Security & CSRF token | Stops another site submitting forms as you | Session | Essential |
| Load balancing | Routes you consistently to a healthy server | Session | Essential |
| Preferences | Remembers interface choices so they survive a reload | 12 months | Essential |
| Cookie consent record | Remembers what you chose here, so we stop asking | 180 days | Essential |
| Partner referral (Affonso: affonso_referral, affonso_data) | Credits the partner whose link you followed for your signup and purchase. Set only when you arrive through a partner link, whatever your cookie choices | Up to 60 days | Partner links |
| Google Analytics (_ga, _ga_*) | Pseudonymous measurement of which pages and calls to action are used; advertising features are switched off | Up to 2 years | Optional |
| PostHog product analytics (ph_*) | Pseudonymous record of which features are used, and session recordings of page interactions with typed input masked, to decide what to build | 12 months | Optional |
| Error diagnostics | Attaches a session identifier to crash reports so we can fix them | Session | Optional |
2. What the categories mean
Essential cookies are required to deliver a service you asked for. They do not need your consent, and there is no way to keep you signed in without them. If you block them, sign-in stops working.
Optional cookies are set only if you agree. Refusing them costs you nothing — every feature works identically. If a product ever degrades because you declined analytics, that is a bug and we want to hear about it.
3. Your choices
- Our banner defaults to refusing optional cookies. Nothing optional is set before you actively agree — no “continuing to browse means consent”.
- Change your mind at any time from cookie settings in the footer. Withdrawing consent is exactly as easy as giving it.
- Your browser can block or clear cookies for this site; every major browser offers this in its privacy settings.
- Global Privacy Control — we honour a GPC signal as a refusal of optional cookies, automatically.
4. Third parties
Optional cookies are set by our analytics and error-monitoring vendors, acting as our processors under contract. They may not use the data for their own purposes and may not train models on it. Both are listed on the Sub-processors page.
Embedded video or fonts, where present, are served from our own domain rather than a third-party CDN, so they set no cookies of their own.
5. Changes
If we add a cookie, this table is updated before it ships, and a new optional cookie re-triggers the consent banner rather than inheriting a previous agreement to something narrower.
Questions, or spotted a cookie not listed here? Write to hello@fireplaceugc.com — an undocumented cookie is a defect on our side.
Questions about this document? Write to hello@fireplaceugc.com. If something here contradicts another page in this set, tell us — a conflict between our own policies is our problem to fix, not yours to interpret.