Cookie Policy
A complete, honest list of what this site stores in your browser — including the advertising cookies that come with the ads, and how to switch them off.
Last updated: 19 October 2026What we mean by "cookies"
A cookie is a small file a website asks your browser to keep. We also use two related browser features — localStorage and sessionStorage — which do the same job without sending anything back to a server. This policy covers all three.
Read this alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains the wider picture.
Strictly necessary
These make the site work. They cannot be switched off from here, because without them there is no site to use.
| Set by | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Google Firebase Authentication | Keeps you signed in between visits and protects the session token |
| Firebase Hosting | Security and load-balancing for the pages themselves |
Functional — your own progress
These are written by the site itself into your browser's localStorage. They never leave your device unless you sign in and ask us to sync them.
| Key | What it remembers |
|---|---|
vea_a1_progress:guest | Which steps of the A1 learning path you have finished |
vea_gamification:guest | Your XP, badges and daily streak |
vea_study_time | A rolling 7-day record of active study minutes |
vea_placement_level | The CEFR level your last level test suggested |
userFlashcards | Vocabulary you tapped "save" on |
| Interface preferences | Translation language and similar display choices |
Clearing site data in your browser deletes every one of these immediately.
The Word Trainer reminder (optional)
These exist only if you switch on the Word Trainer’s reminder. Unlike the entries above, the reminder also has a small record on our server: your browser’s push address, the time you chose, your time zone and the last day you practised. The Privacy Policy explains it.
| Where | What it remembers |
|---|---|
localStorage key vea_wt_push | That the reminder is on in this browser, the time you chose and when you switched it on |
IndexedDB database vea-wt | Two small records for the reminder’s background script: the day and the number of words due, which it uses to write the message on your device; and your time and time zone, which it uses to renew the reminder if your browser replaces its push address |
Service worker /word-trainer/push-worker.js | A small background script, set up only when you switch the reminder on. It shows the reminder and opens the trainer when you tap it. It stores no pages and no files |
Press “Turn off the reminder” in the trainer, or block notifications for this site in your browser, and the browser removes the push address. Clearing site data in your browser removes the rest.
Analytics
Google Analytics 4 (G-56N53QZVQH) sets _ga and related cookies to count visits and tell a returning reader from a new one. We use them to see which lessons work and which pages are broken.
In the EEA and the UK these are only set after you agree to them. Everywhere else, you can block them with the browser controls below or with Google's official opt-out add-on.
Advertising cookies
Advertising cookies can be set only by Yandex, and never for visitors in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, where its advertising is not loaded. Google AdSense is paused, and the Infolinks integration was switched off on 28 September 2026.
Where its advertising loads, Yandex may use cookies and similar technology to choose, show, measure and protect ads, including ads based on your visits to other sites. Yandex handles that data under its own privacy policy. We receive only aggregate reports, never who saw or clicked an ad.
So that it does not keep asking where Yandex has nothing to show, the site keeps one number in sessionStorage (vea_ya_unsold): how many requests in a row came back empty. It identifies nobody, it is never sent anywhere, and it is cleared when you close the tab.
The card is a plain link. It loads no script and sets no cookie on this site, and we send no personal data with it. When you click it, you go to Preply through Impact’s tracking address (preply.sjv.io); Preply and Impact may set their own cookies there to record that the visit came from us, under their own privacy policies.
Google AdSense (publisher ca-pub-6733098045611992) is paused. No AdSense or DoubleClick advertising script is loaded by this site.
Yandex uses these technologies to serve and measure its ads. We do not receive or store the profiles it uses, only aggregate reporting.
Turning them off
- Network Advertising Initiative — opt out of participating interest-based advertising companies.
- Google Ads Settings — switch off ad personalisation across everything Google serves.
- aboutads.info/choices — opt out of many vendors at once.
- youronlinechoices.eu — the European equivalent.
- Yandex ad settings — switch off personalised ads from Yandex.
- Use the "Privacy settings" link in our footer to reopen the choice for optional analytics and, where it runs, Yandex advertising. "Decline" switches both off.
After an opt-out, ads may become contextual or may not appear, depending on the provider. Every lesson stays free and fully available either way.
Grow by Mediavine
The homepage and eligible lesson pages load Grow, a reader tool from Mediavine for saving and sharing pages, for visitors outside the EEA, the UK and Switzerland. It is not loaded in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland.
Where it loads, Grow keeps its own entries in your browser: a short-lived cookie (growme_version) and localStorage entries whose names begin with grow, such as growMeSnowplowUserInfo. Mediavine receives your IP address, the page you are on and how you use Grow's tools. If you give Grow an email address, to save pages or to subscribe, Mediavine holds it too and may use it for advertising on the sites it works with. Mediavine handles this data under its own policies, set out in its Legal & Privacy Center. We see totals in the Grow dashboard, and the email address of anyone who subscribes through it.
To switch Grow off, choose "Decline" under the "Privacy settings" link in the site footer. Nothing is loaded from Mediavine from the next page on.
Controlling cookies in your browser
Every major browser lets you block or delete cookies for a specific site:
Blocking strictly necessary cookies will sign you out and stop progress syncing. Blocking functional storage means your streak and saved words reset on every visit. Blocking analytics and advertising cookies changes nothing about the lessons.