Cookie Policy
The cookies, browser storage, and analytics tools Vaktex uses, why we use them, and how you control them.
1. Introduction and scope
This Cookie Policy explains how Vaktex, Inc. (“Vaktex,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) uses cookies and similar technologies on vaktex.com, including the marketing site and the signed-in account dashboard at vaktex.com/app (together, the “Site”).
It covers cookies, your browser’s local storage and session storage, and the third-party software development kits (“SDKs”) that run in your browser when you visit the Site. It does not cover vScan Studio running on your own server or the vScan command-line tool, which do not use the Site’s cookies.
This policy sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and your rights. Where this policy refers to personal data collected through cookies, the Privacy Policy applies to it.
2. What cookies and similar technologies are
Cookies are small text files a website asks your browser to save. Your browser sends them back to that website on later requests. A session cookie is deleted when you close your browser. A persistent cookie stays until it expires or you delete it.
Local storage and session storage are areas in your browser where a website can save data on your device. Unlike cookies, they are not sent to our servers with each request. Local storage stays until it is cleared. Session storage is cleared when you close the tab.
SDKs are pieces of code from another company that run on our pages. An analytics SDK can set its own cookies, write to browser storage, and send data about your visit to that company.
First-party items are set by vaktex.com. Third-party items are set or read by another company’s code. Some analytics providers also use your browser’s IndexedDB storage to hold recordings briefly before sending them.
In this policy, “cookies” means all of these technologies unless we say otherwise.
3. How we ask for consent
The law in the European Union (Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive and the national laws that implement it) and in the United Kingdom (the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, “PECR”) requires your consent before a website stores or reads information on your device, unless that storage is strictly necessary to provide a service you asked for. We apply the same approach to every visitor, wherever you are.
- Strictly necessary items are exempt. Items that keep you signed in, protect our forms from bots, keep the Site working, and remember your cookie choice do not need consent. They are listed in section 4.
- Optional SDKs do not load until you click OK. When you first visit, a banner asks whether we may use analytics cookies. Until you click OK, the Google Analytics, PostHog, Amplitude, and Mixpanel code is not loaded at all, so it cannot set cookies or send data, and Sentry Session Replay does not start. If you tuck the banner away without answering, nothing optional loads, and the banner asks again on your next visit.
- “No, thanks” carries equal weight to OK. Both buttons sit side by side in the same banner and take one click. Choosing No, thanks keeps the optional SDKs unloaded. If they were already running in that tab, it switches each one off and stops any session recording.
- We honor Global Privacy Control. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control (“GPC”) signal, we treat it as No, thanks and do not show the banner unless you open it yourself from Cookie settings in the site footer; choosing OK there records your consent. If you had already clicked OK in that browser before turning GPC on, your saved choice applies until you change it as described below.
- How to change your choice. We save your answer in your browser’s local storage under
vaktex:consent. To change it, click Cookie settings in the footer of any page: we clear your saved answer, switch off any optional SDKs running in that tab, and show the banner again. Until you answer, nothing optional loads. You can also email support@vaktex.com. - Declining has no effect on the Services. Every page and feature, including your account, works the same whether you click OK or No, thanks.
4. The cookies we use
The tables below list each item, who sets it, why, how long it lasts, and where it is stored. A name ending in * stands for a group of names that share that prefix.
Strictly necessary
These are required for the Site to work or to provide something you asked for, so they do not need consent.
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
__Secure-better-auth.session_token | Vaktex | Keeps you signed in | 30 days | Cookie |
__Secure-better-auth.session_data | Vaktex | Short-lived cache of your session, so pages load faster | 5 minutes | Cookie |
better-auth.last_used_login_method | Vaktex | Remembers how you last signed in, so the sign-in page can suggest it | 30 days | Cookie |
vaktex:consent | Vaktex | Stores your answer to the cookie banner | Until you clear it | Local storage |
vx-stale-reload | Vaktex | Prevents a reload loop after we publish a new version of the Site | Until you close the tab | Session storage |
| Cloudflare Turnstile | Cloudflare | Checks that sign-in and other protected forms are used by a person, not a bot | Session | Third-party script in a Cloudflare frame |
Preferences
These remember choices you make on the Site. They stay on your device and are not used for analytics.
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
PARAGLIDE_LOCALE | Vaktex | Remembers the language you chose | About 400 days | Cookie |
vaktex:locale | Vaktex | Remembers the language you chose | Until you clear it | Local storage |
vaktex:audience | Vaktex | Remembers which audience you picked in the “Who are you” section, so the page shows matching content and colors | Until you clear it | Local storage |
vaktex:seen:* | Vaktex | Hides announcements you have dismissed | Until you clear it | Local storage |
apply-draft | Vaktex | Saves an unsent job application on your device only, so you do not lose it | Until you submit it or clear it | Local storage |
demo-* | Vaktex | Saves your progress in the demo, including the name, email, and domain you typed, on your device only | Until you clear it | Local storage |
The apply-draft and demo-* items are not sent to us. We only receive what you type when you submit the form.
Analytics and advertising measurement (only if you click OK)
These are set only after you click OK in the banner. They help us understand how people find and use the Site, and measure our marketing.
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Google Analytics | Distinguishes visitors, to measure usage and campaigns | Up to 2 years | Cookie |
_ga_* | Google Analytics | Keeps track of your visit for usage and campaign measurement | Up to 2 years | Cookie |
ph_* | PostHog | Product analytics and session replay | Up to 1 year | Cookie and local storage |
AMP_* | Amplitude | Analytics and session replay | Up to 1 year | Cookie and local storage |
mp_* | Mixpanel | Analytics, session recording, and heatmaps | Until you clear it | Local storage |
If you click No, thanks after these SDKs have loaded in a tab, PostHog, Amplitude, and Mixpanel save an opt-out flag (for example __ph_opt_in_out_* or __mp_opt_in_out_*) in your browser so they stay switched off.
When you click OK, we also use Google Consent Mode to tell Google that our site permits analytics storage, advertising storage, and advertising use of data for measurement. Ad personalization stays switched off, even after you click OK. We use Google Analytics for website analytics and advertising measurement, such as seeing which campaigns bring visitors to the Site. Before you click OK, Google’s script is not loaded and Google receives nothing from the Site.
If you are signed in and have clicked OK, PostHog links your analytics profile to your Vaktex user id, email address, and name.
Error monitoring
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sentry SDK | Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) | Reports errors and page performance so we can find and fix problems | Until you close the tab | In memory and session storage |
| Sentry Session Replay | Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) | Records a sample of sessions, and the moments before an error, so we can reproduce problems. Only after you click OK. | Until you close the tab | In memory and session storage |
Sentry error reporting runs on every visit because we need it to keep the Site working and secure. It stores nothing on your device beyond the current tab, and it does not identify you. Sentry Session Replay is optional and runs only after you click OK. Section 5 explains what each records.
Not cookie-based
- Cloudflare Web Analytics counts page views in aggregate. It does not use cookies or browser storage.
- Product events. If you turn on the usage-metrics setting in your account, then when you sign in, create a key, or change settings, our servers record that event under a pseudonymous user id and send it to PostHog. While the setting is off (the default), they send none. This happens on our servers, not in your browser, and does not use cookies. The Privacy Policy explains it.
- Fonts and site icons. All fonts and icons, including the icons of sites linked from blog posts, are served from Vaktex. Your browser does not contact any third party to load them, and they set no cookies.
5. Session replay and error monitoring
What session replay is. Session replay tools record how a page changes while you use it: the page layout, mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, and the pages you visit. We can then play the visit back like a video to find confusing designs and broken pages. It is a reconstruction of the page, not a video of your screen, and it does not record anything outside the browser tab.
Who records sessions.
- Amplitude, Mixpanel, and PostHog may record sessions only if you click OK. When you do, Amplitude and Mixpanel each record about 1 in 10 visits. Mixpanel also collects heatmap data (where people click) and messages the page writes to the browser console.
- Sentry records about 1 in 10 visits, and the moments leading up to any error, only if you click OK. If you click “No, thanks”, recording stops. Separately from replay, Sentry reports errors and how long pages take to load on every visit, including the page address and your browser and device type, but not who you are.
What is masked. Each tool hides what you type into form fields by default, and we have not turned that off. Sentry goes further. By default it replaces all text on the page with placeholder characters and blocks images and media from the recording, and we have not changed those defaults either. Sentry is configured not to collect user information or send IP-address and forwarding headers.
Sentry data is sent through our own server to Sentry’s European Union (Germany) region.
6. Third-party analytics providers
These providers process data from the Site as described above. Their own privacy policies explain how they handle it:
- Google (Google Analytics): policies.google.com/privacy
- PostHog: posthog.com/privacy
- Amplitude: amplitude.com/privacy
- Mixpanel: mixpanel.com/legal/privacy-policy
- Cloudflare (Turnstile and Web Analytics): cloudflare.com/privacypolicy
- Sentry: sentry.io/privacy
Google offers a browser add-on that stops Google Analytics on every website you visit: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Most of these providers are in the United States. The Privacy Policy explains how we protect personal data transferred there.
7. Browser controls
You can also control cookies and storage in your browser, separately from our banner:
- Delete cookies and site data for vaktex.com at any time. Most browsers keep this under Settings, then Privacy or Site data.
- Block third-party cookies, or all cookies, for every site or for vaktex.com alone. If you block all cookies, you will not be able to stay signed in.
- Use a private window. It starts with no cookies or storage and discards them when you close it.
- Turn on Global Privacy Control in a browser or extension that supports it. We treat it as No, thanks, as explained in section 3.
Browser settings apply only to the browser and device you change them on. If you use several, set each one.
8. Changes
We update this policy when we add, remove, or change a cookie, storage item, or SDK, or when the law changes. The “updated” date at the top shows the latest version. If a change means we want to use a new kind of optional cookie, we will ask for your consent again before using it.
9. Contact
If you have questions about this Cookie Policy, email us at support@vaktex.com. To change your choice, use Cookie settings in the site footer or email us.