Cookie Policy
Last updated: August 13, 2026
The short version
We set one cookie to remember your cookie choice and one to keep your page session working. Everything else comes from Google Analytics, and it is not loaded at all unless you accept. Decline, or simply ignore the banner, and no Google script ever runs on the page. We run no advertising, so there are no ad cookies on this site. Your images are never part of any cookie, because your images never reach us at all.
What a cookie actually is
A cookie is a small text file a site asks your browser to keep and send back on your next visit. It can hold an identifier, a preference or a timestamp. It cannot read your hard drive, run a program, or see files you have not given to the page. Related technologies do similar jobs: local storage keeps small values in your browser without sending them anywhere, and a pixel is a tiny image request used to record that something happened.
Cookies we set ourselves
| Name | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|
cookie_consent | Remembers whether you accepted or declined non-essential cookies, so the banner stops asking | 365 days if accepted, 30 days if declined |
ith_session | Standard PHP session cookie that keeps a page working correctly during your visit. Contains no personal data | Until you close the browser |
Both are strictly necessary in the sense that the first records your own choice and the second makes pages function. Declining non-essential cookies does not remove them.
Browser storage that is not a cookie
| Key | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|
imc_recent_tools_v1 | Local storage. Remembers which tools you used recently so the tools page can show them again. Never sent to us | Until you clear site data |
This one is worth calling out because it is the closest thing on the site to tracking, and it is deliberately kept on your machine. We cannot read it.
Third-party cookies
These are set by Google Analytics, not by us, and only after you accept in the banner. Until you accept, the Google Analytics script is never added to the page, so these cookies do not exist and no request is made to Google. There are no advertising cookies, because we do not run ads.
| Set by | Purpose | More information |
|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics | Aggregate statistics: which pages and tools get used, roughly where visitors come from | Google privacy policy |
Affiliate links
Some blog articles link to products we recommend, and a few of those links are affiliate links that may earn us a commission if you buy. Clicking one takes you to another company's site, where that company usually sets its own cookie so it can attribute a later purchase to us. That cookie belongs to them, is set on their domain, and we cannot read it. It is not set while you are on our site, and it is not set unless you click. Full details are in the affiliate disclosure.
How to refuse or change your mind
You are asked once, through the banner, and your answer is remembered. To change it later:
- On this site. Use the Cookie Settings link in the footer of any page. The banner reappears and you can answer differently. If you switch from accept to decline, we delete the Google Analytics cookies straight away rather than leaving them on your machine.
- In your browser. Every major browser can block or delete cookies, including third-party cookies specifically. Look for Privacy or Site settings.
- For analytics only. Install the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
What happens if you decline
The tools work exactly the same. Every one of them runs in your browser and needs no cookie to function, so declining costs you nothing in features. There is no advertising to see either way. Declining means the Google Analytics script is never loaded, so your visit is not counted in our aggregate statistics and nothing about it reaches Google.
Your images are never in a cookie
Worth repeating because it is the question people actually have. Cookies are limited to a few kilobytes of text and are the wrong tool for file data, but the real reason is simpler: your images never reach our servers, so there is nothing to put in a cookie in the first place. See how image privacy works here if you want to verify that yourself.
Changes to this policy
If the cookies we use change, this page and the table above change with them, and the date at the top is updated by hand rather than generated. Material changes are noted in the changelog.
Questions
Ask through the contact page. Related: privacy policy, image privacy.