Cookie policy and privacy choices
Last updated: October 18, 2026
CertifyForce uses cookies and similar technologies, including browser storage and scripts. Required storage supports sign-in, security and remembering your privacy choices. Study tools also save progress and preferences for features you use. Optional analytics and third-party YouTube content stay off unless you enable the corresponding category. The CertifyForce-hosted product tour works without enabling YouTube content; viewing it does not change your analytics choice. Declining optional categories does not remove your purchased access or study progress.
How your choices work
- Accept all enables the optional categories currently used. Reject optional keeps both optional categories off. Customize lets you choose them independently.
- Category settings are saved in this browser and are not synchronized as settings across browsers or devices. For signed-in users, we also record the current analytics consent decision on our server as described below.
- A saved browser choice is valid for 180 days. A changed policy version also requires a new choice. Up to five recent choices are kept in browser storage; expired records are ignored and pruned the next time you save a choice. Clearing browser storage resets the saved browser preference, but does not itself delete account data or provider records.
- You can withdraw either optional category at any time through Cookie settings. Saving an analytics withdrawal blocks future browser analytics events and attempts to remove readable first-party Google Analytics cookies and local analytics markers. When the change reaches our server, it also suppresses optional analytics delivery and clears stored acquisition and Google Analytics identifiers associated with your account. Requests already sent cannot be recalled.
- We apply the same optional-category defaults without using your location to decide whether to enable tracking.
- These settings do not enable advertising tags. Google advertising storage and ad personalization remain denied. When this browser sends Global Privacy Control, we keep optional analytics disabled in that browser.
- If browser storage is blocked, choices apply in memory for the current page. A reload can require a new choice; optional tracking defaults off.
Analytics linked to your account
When you are signed in, we record the current analytics consent status and the time it was synchronized with your account. With analytics consent, we also associate limited acquisition context, such as public landing pages, referrer hosts and campaign labels, and available Google Analytics client and session identifiers with your account. This helps us measure how people find CertifyForce, sign up, study and purchase. Optional Google Analytics events can include an opaque account identifier and purchase or refund details; this pipeline does not send your name, email address, study answers or chat content.
Acquisition context and server consent records expire after 90 days, with expired records removed by scheduled cleanup. An updated consent status can renew the decision record. Declining or withdrawing analytics clears stored acquisition and Google Analytics identifiers when the change reaches the server; the current consent decision and timestamp remain to enforce the choice. Browser choice validity and server record expiry are separate.
Cookie settings do not delete account, payment, security or study records used to operate the service. Those records are separate from optional delivery to analytics providers. To request access, correction or deletion of personal information, use the contact details in our privacy policy.
YouTube and payment services
The homepage product tour is hosted by CertifyForce. Its poster is local, and the video loads after you press Play. Optional video consent is not needed for this tour. Where a separate YouTube embed is offered, enabling functional video content allows your browser to request its thumbnail from YouTube. Pressing Play loads the YouTube player, which can receive your IP address and browser or device information. Withdrawing video consent removes embedded video content. The separate Watch directly on YouTube link opens YouTube, where its own privacy terms apply. Stripe-hosted checkout and billing open when you request a payment service; storage on those hosted pages is controlled by Stripe.
Cookies and storage inventory
This inventory summarizes storage families and integrations used by CertifyForce. Requested feature storage is listed separately from optional measurement; not every saved preference is necessary to every visit. Provider cookie names and expiry can vary by browser, configuration and release, and not every listed item is present on every visit.
| Category | Storage / integration | Purpose | Retention / control |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sign-in and security | better-auth.* cookies (including secure-prefixed variants); auth-storage | Keep your requested sign-in session and account connection working. | Authentication expiry depends on the session configuration; browser-persisted state can remain until sign-out or cleared. |
| Requested features and preferences | theme; settings-storage; cf.workspace.sidebarCollapsed; cf-exam-visibility; certifyforce-diagnostic-result; diagnostic answer storage; checklist dismissal state | Remember display choices, diagnostic answers and study work for features you use. | Until you reset the feature, clear browser storage or the feature removes it. |
| Requested study and feedback features | tutor-question-context and tutor conversation session keys; feedback-storage | Preserve requested tutor hand-offs and question-report state. | Tab/session lifetime for tutor context; other saved state until cleared. |
| Privacy choices | cf_cookie_preferences_v3; cf_cookie_preferences_history_v1 (browser storage) | Remember category choices, policy version and dates, plus at most five recent choices. These browser records contain no account identifier; signed-in analytics consent is also recorded separately on our server. | A choice is valid for 180 days. Expired records are ignored; saving a choice replaces the preference and prunes expired history. Stored entries can remain until replaced or cleared. |
| Privacy choices | cf_analytics_consent (first-party cookie) | Communicate this browser's current analytics consent status to the service, including a declined choice. | 90-day cookie lifetime, refreshed when the site synchronizes the current status. |
| Analytics (optional) | cf_acquisition_v1 (browser storage); cf_tracked:* (browser and session storage) | Remember limited acquisition sources and avoid duplicate analytics events after opt-in. | Acquisition context is valid for 90 days. Event markers can remain until cleared; withdrawal removes these analytics storage entries when the app processes the choice. |
| Analytics (optional) | Google Analytics: _ga and _ga_*; legacy _gid/_gat if present | Measure visits and actions only after analytics opt-in. Google advertising storage and ad personalization are denied. | Expiry depends on Google's cookie settings. Withdrawal attempts to remove readable first-party Google Analytics cookies; provider records already received are separate. |
| Analytics (optional) | Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights scripts | Measure site usage and performance after analytics opt-in. These integrations are gated even when they do not use cookies. | Provider-managed aggregate retention; future browser events are blocked on withdrawal. |
| Functional video content (optional) | YouTube thumbnail and youtube-nocookie.com player, where offered | For a third-party embed, load a thumbnail after functional opt-in and a video when you press Play. The provider can receive device/request data and use its own storage. | YouTube controls provider storage. Withdrawing functional consent removes embedded content; we cannot clear cookies on another provider's domain. |
| Requested product tour | CertifyForce-hosted poster, MP4 and captions | Show a local poster and load the product tour after you press Play. No YouTube request or analytics opt-in is required to watch. | Media follows browser and site cache settings. The player does not enable optional analytics. |
| Requested payment service | Stripe-hosted Checkout and billing portal storage | Payment processing and fraud prevention when you choose to open checkout or billing. No Stripe browser script is loaded by this consent manager. | Controlled by Stripe on its hosted pages; separate from optional site analytics. |
Your privacy rights
Our privacy policy describes account data and privacy requests. Use Cookie settings or Your privacy choices to withdraw optional tracking. For access, correction, deletion or sale/sharing questions, contact privacy@certifyforce.com. These controls describe optional analytics and video settings; external services have their own privacy practices.
Provider information: Google cookies, Vercel Analytics privacy, YouTube privacy, and Stripe cookies.