Cookies

The complete list of cookies and browser storage this platform uses. There are no advertising cookies, and there is no consent banner because nothing here requires one.

Last updated June 1, 2026

01The position

This site uses as little client-side storage as it can get away with. Two cookies, both strictly necessary. Two localStorage keys, both holding preferences you set yourself. Nothing else — no advertising cookies, no third-party pixels, no cross-site identifiers, no session-replay recorder, and no analytics tag by default.

02Exactly what is stored

Cookies and browser storage used by HSK Guide, with the category, purpose and lifetime of each.
Name	Type and category	Purpose	Lifetime
hanlu_session	Cookie · strictly necessary	Keeps you signed in. It holds an opaque random token — no personal data is encoded in it. HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax and Secure in production, so it cannot be read by scripts and is not sent on cross-site requests.	Up to 30 days; deleted immediately when you sign out.
hanlu_locale	Cookie · strictly necessary	Remembers the interface language you chose when it differs from the one in the URL, so a language switch survives a reload.	Up to 1 year.
hanlu.theme	localStorage · functional	Light, dark or match-system. Read before first paint so the page does not flash the wrong background at night.	Until you clear it.
hanlu.display	localStorage · functional	Your display preferences: simplified or traditional characters, pinyin and translation visibility, tone colouring, reduced motion, audio autoplay and playback speed.	Until you clear it.

Theme and display preferences are kept in localStorage rather than in a cookie deliberately: they are needed by the browser before the page renders, and they are never sent to the server. When you are signed in, the same preferences are also stored on your account so they follow you to another device — that copy is covered by the privacy policy.

03What is not here

No advertising or retargeting cookies. There is no advertising on this platform.
No third-party analytics or tag manager loaded by default.
No social media buttons that phone home before you click them.
No fingerprinting, and no cross-site or cross-device tracking identifiers.
No fonts, scripts or stylesheets fetched from a third-party CDN on page load — typefaces are self-hosted, so your visit is not announced to anyone else.

04Why you were not shown a consent banner

Under the ePrivacy rules, consent is required for storage that is not strictly necessary for a service you asked for. The two cookies above are strictly necessary — one signs you in, one keeps your language — and the two localStorage keys hold settings you changed yourself. There is nothing here to consent to, so we do not interrupt you to ask.

If we ever add analytics or any storage beyond this list, it will be off until you opt in, the banner will offer a refusal that is exactly as easy as acceptance, and this page will list it before it ships.

05How to control it

Blocking or deleting hanlu_session signs you out and prevents you from signing back in until it is allowed. It is the only thing that identifies your session.
Clearing localStorage for this site resets the theme and display preferences to their defaults. Nothing else is lost.
Every browser lets you block or clear cookies per site. Private or incognito windows discard everything on close, which is fine here — you simply sign in again.
Signed-in preferences can be changed at any time in Settings → Display and Settings → Accessibility.

Questions about this document

Write to us through the Contact form and choose the privacy topic. Every message is written to a tracked queue and answered with a reference.

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