Virtuous English AcademyCookie 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: 27 July 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.
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
This is the section the old version of this page got wrong. The site carries Google AdSense, and personalised ads do use advertising cookies. Here is the accurate picture.
Google AdSense (publisher ca-pub-6733098045611992) and its partners may set cookies — including the DoubleClick IDE cookie on doubleclick.net — to choose which ads you see, to cap how often the same ad is repeated, and to detect click fraud.
Third-party vendors, including Google, use these cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or to other websites. We do not receive, store or have any access to the data they collect.
Turning them off
- 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.
- In the EEA/UK, reopen the consent message from the "Privacy settings" link in our footer and change your answer.
Opting out stops ads being personalised. It does not remove the ads — they simply become contextual, chosen from the page you are reading. Every lesson stays free and fully available either way.
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.