What Are Cookies Anyway?

Think of cookies as tiny notes your browser saves when you visit websites. These text files remember things like your language preference or whether you're logged in. Some stay until you close your browser. Others stick around for months or years.

We use them on brainy-api.com to make your experience smoother and to understand how people use our budget planning tools. But we want you in control of what gets tracked.

How We Use Tracking Technologies

Specific Cookies We Deploy

• session_id — Keeps you logged in while you navigate between pages (essential, expires when browser closes)
• user_preferences — Stores your interface settings and display options (functional, lasts 12 months)
• _ga, _gid — Google Analytics tracking for site usage patterns (analytics, 2 years and 24 hours respectively)
• fb_pixel — Facebook conversion tracking for our educational program ads (marketing, 90 days)
• csrf_token — Security protection against form manipulation (essential, session-based)

Taking Control of Your Data

You've got several ways to manage cookies. The button at the top of this page immediately removes all non-essential tracking. Your choice gets saved so you won't need to repeat it every visit.

What Happens When You Decline

Clicking "Decline All Non-Essential Cookies" does three things right away:

• Deletes existing analytics and marketing cookies from your browser
• Saves your preference in local storage so we remember your choice
• Signals to our tracking systems to stop collecting optional data

The site still works normally. You just won't be tracked for analytics or see personalized ads based on your brainy-api.com activity.

Third-Party Tracking

Some cookies come from services we use rather than directly from brainy-api.com. Google Analytics, for instance, places its own tracking cookies. Facebook Pixel does the same if you've interacted with our ads.

These third parties have their own privacy policies. When you decline cookies on our site, we stop loading these external scripts. But if you've visited other sites using the same services, those companies might already be tracking you across the web.

You can opt out of interest-based advertising through the Digital Advertising Alliance at aboutads.info or the Network Advertising Initiative at networkadvertising.org. Both maintain universal opt-out mechanisms that work across thousands of websites.

Updates to This Policy

We update this page whenever we add new tracking tools or change how we use existing ones. The "last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent changes. Significant updates get announced through our newsletter and posted on the homepage.

If you've declined cookies previously, your preference carries over through policy updates. You won't suddenly get tracked again just because we revised our documentation.