Legal
Cookie & Browser Storage Policy
Last updated 26 August 2026 · Applies to societysewa.in
In one line: by default this website sets no cookies at all and runs no tag manager, heatmap or advertising pixel. Page visits are counted by two analytics tools, which start out storing nothing on your device and build no profile of you — and you can switch both off below. Cookies appear only if you choose Accept all: Google Analytics may then set two _ga cookies to tell a returning browser from a new one, and, while our ad campaigns run, two ad-measurement tags (Meta, Google) may set theirs — all four are itemised in section 4. Separately, the site stores a small amount of information in your browser so you can stay signed in and so the installed app works offline. Everything it stores is listed below by name.
1. Why this policy is not only about cookies
Most websites keep information on your device using cookies. SocietySeWA sets none on its own account — no page returns a Set-Cookie header, and until you accept analytics or advertising measurement you can confirm in your browser's developer tools that the cookie list for this site is empty. The only cookies that ever appear are the ones you agreed to, itemised in section 4.
Instead it uses the modern equivalents built into your browser: localStorage, sessionStorage, IndexedDB and Cache Storage. The law does not turn on which of these is used. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 governs the processing of your personal data whatever the storage mechanism, and consent rules in other jurisdictions are written around storing or reading information on a user's device generally. This policy therefore covers all of them, and we call it a Cookie Policy because that is the name people look for.
2. Strictly necessary storage
Needed for the site to function. These cannot be switched off, because without them you cannot sign in and the installed app cannot open offline.
| Name | Type | Set by | Purpose | Kept for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| firebaseLocalStorageDb | IndexedDB | Firebase Authentication (Google) | Keeps you signed in between visits. Contains your session token, not your password. | Until you sign out or clear browser data |
| hpf_session | localStorage | SocietySeWA | Identifies your current signed-in session inside the app. | Until you sign out or clear browser data |
| firebase-heartbeat-database | IndexedDB | Firebase SDK (Google) | Records that the SDK ran today, so Google can count active installs of its own library. | Rolling ~30 days |
| societysewa-v5 | Cache Storage | SocietySeWA service worker | Stores pages so the installed app opens without a connection. | Until the app updates or you clear browser data |
| _grecaptcha | localStorage | Google reCAPTCHA | Bot protection. Loaded ONLY on the phone-number sign-in screen, never on public pages. | Until you clear browser data |
3. Functional preferences
Remembers choices you made yourself. Turning these off costs you nothing but convenience — you will retype calculator values and see dismissed prompts again.
| Name | Type | Remembers |
|---|---|---|
| sewa-consent | localStorage | Your choice on this page. |
| sewa-pwa-dismissed | localStorage | That you closed the "Add to Home Screen" prompt, so it is not shown again for 30 days. |
| hpf-mobilenav-nudged | sessionStorage | That the bottom bar already did its one-time scroll hint this visit. |
| calc-ccost, calc-nflats, calc-service, calc-flat-types-v2 | localStorage | The last values you typed into the maintenance calculator, so you do not retype them. |
| hpf_preview_role | sessionStorage | Which role you were previewing, for society office staff testing their own site. |
| sewa-analytics-optout | localStorage | That you switched analytics off on this page. Only present after you opt out, and it is what stops the Google tag being loaded at all. |
| sewa-attrib | localStorage | How you first reached us: the campaign label if you followed one of our own campaign links (e.g. "ig / newsdesk"), the website you came from as a bare name only (e.g. "google.com") and never the address you came from, and the page you landed on without anything after the "?". This browser copy is kept 30 days, so an enquiry, sign-up, registration or purchase can be credited to whatever brought you here; when it is credited to a purchase, registration or account, the same labels are copied onto that record and kept for as long as that record is (tax and invoicing records are kept indefinitely). Never an advertising identifier — labels only, never gclid/fbclid or any other identifier. Not written at all if you have switched analytics off below. |
4. Analytics and advertising
Analytics: two tools. One stores nothing at all; the other stores one thing, and only if you say yes (updated 26 August 2026 — Google Analytics was added on that date, and the consent notice was re-versioned the same day so that everyone is asked again before anything new is stored). Since 17 August 2026 the site counts page visits with Umami, chosen precisely because of how little it collects. It records the page address, the site you arrived from, your browser and device type, and your country. It sets no cookie and writes nothing to your browser's storage — nothing in the table below is Umami's. Your IP address is used transiently to derive your country and to distinguish visitors within a single day, and is not stored; there is no identifier that persists from one day to the next, so your visits cannot be linked into a history. It never sees your name, email or account, and it cannot follow you to other websites. Because nothing is stored on your device, this measurement does not require your consent — but the preference panel below includes an analytics switch anyway, and it is honoured.
Advertising measurement: off by default, on only with your consent (section updated 25 August 2026 — and the consent notice was re-versioned on 25 August 2026, so everyone was asked afresh, exactly as this page promised). As SocietySeWA begins advertising on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google and YouTube, this site can load two ad-measurement tags — the Meta Pixel and the Google Ads tag. Their only job here is to tell those platforms that an ad click led to a real signup or enquiry, so we stop paying for ads that do not help anyone. They load only while our ad campaigns run, and only if you chose “Accept all” on the notice (or switched on Advertising measurement in the panel below). When loaded, Meta may set cookies such as _fbp (kept ~90 days) and Google _gcl_au (~90 days) on your device. With the switch off — the default — neither tag loads and nothing of theirs is stored.
Google Analytics, added 26 August 2026 — the one place analytics stores anything, and only with your consent. Before the Google tag is allowed to load, the page instructs it — using Google's own Consent Mode — that storage is denied. That is the state it stays in unless you choose otherwise, and in it the tag sets no cookie and cannot recognise you on a later visit.
If you choose “Accept all” on the notice, or switch analytics on in the panel below, that instruction changes to granted and Google Analytics may then set the two _ga cookies listed here. Their purpose is narrow: to recognise that a second visit is the same browser as the first, so one person reading three times is not counted as three people. They contain a random identifier and nothing about you.
| Name | Type | Set by | Purpose | Kept for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Cookie | Google Analytics | Recognises your browser on a later visit, so two visits by you are not counted as two people. A random identifier — it holds no name, email or account. | 2 years |
| _ga_LXGCMBJRY5 | Cookie | Google Analytics | The same, scoped to this site’s measurement stream; also keeps track of when your current visit began. | 2 years |
Either way Google receives the page address, the site you arrived from, and your device and browser type; your IP address is truncated by Google before storage and is used only to derive an approximate location. It never receives your name, email or account. Switching off the analytics preference below stops it completely — in that case the Google tag is not loaded onto the page at all, and neither cookie can be written.
Why the cookie is offered at all, since Umami manages without one: Google Analytics with storage permanently denied does not quietly become a private version of itself — Google's reporting for that traffic depends on a modelling system with a minimum-traffic threshold this site does not meet, so the reports would simply stay empty. The honest choice was to ask.
Unchanged from before: there is no tag manager, no heatmap or session-recording tool, and no third-party ad network serving anything on this website. We do not sell or share your personal data with advertisers, and we do not build profiles of you across other websites.
Your preferences
These settings are stored on this device only. Clearing your browser storage resets them.
Strictly necessary
Sign-in and session, security checks, and the offline cache that makes the installed app work without a connection.
Cannot be switched off — the site cannot sign you in or work offline without these.
Functional preferences
Remembers things you chose yourself: language, dismissed prompts, and the values you last typed into the maintenance calculator.
Analytics
Cookieless page-view counting (Umami) — which pages are read, to decide what to build next. Stores nothing on your device, sets no cookie, builds no profile of you, and cannot follow you to other websites. Switching it off takes effect from your next page load.
Advertising measurement
Ad-measurement cookies from Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and Google — they tell those platforms that an ad click led to a real signup or enquiry, so we stop paying for ads that don't work. Loaded only while our ad campaigns run AND only with this switch on. We never sell or share your personal data with advertisers.
No choice recorded on this device yet.
5. Third parties
- Google (Firebase) — authentication and database. Processes your sign-in credentials and the society data you enter, as our processor. Firebase Authentication stores your session token in IndexedDB on your own device.
- Google reCAPTCHA — bot protection on phone-number sign-in only. It is not loaded on public pages such as the bye-laws browser, the forms library or the society directory; if you never sign in with a phone number, it never runs. Google's own terms and privacy policy apply to it.
- Umami — cookieless website analytics (see section 4). Receives page addresses and technical details, never your identity, and stores nothing on your device. Its own privacy policy is at umami.is.
- Google (Google Analytics) — website analytics, added 26 August 2026 (see section 4). Receives page addresses, the site you arrived from, and device and browser type; your IP address is truncated by Google before storage. It starts with storage denied and sets no cookie; if you accept analytics it may set the two _ga cookies itemised in section 4. Google's own privacy policy applies to what it receives.
- Meta Platforms & Google Ads — ad measurement only, and only under the double condition in section 4 (a campaign is running and you accepted advertising measurement). Each receives the fact that a page was visited or a signup/enquiry completed after one of our ads; their own privacy policies apply to what they set.
Beyond the two consent-gated ad-measurement tags above, we do not embed third-party advertising, social media tracking widgets, or comment/chat platforms that would set their own storage.
6. How to remove or refuse this storage
- Use the preference panel above to turn off anything that is not strictly necessary.
- Clear everything for this site in your browser: Chrome and Edge under Settings → Privacy → Third-party cookies → See all site data; Safari under Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data; Firefox under Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data.
- Blocking storage for this site entirely is your right and the site will still let you read every page — but you will not be able to stay signed in, and the offline app will not work.
- If you installed SocietySeWA to your home screen, uninstalling it removes its offline cache.
7. Your rights, and how to reach us
Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you may ask us what personal data we hold about you, ask for it to be corrected or erased, withdraw a consent you previously gave, and raise a grievance. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything done lawfully before you withdrew it.
Write to support@societysewa.in or Expert Jurist LLP, Office No. C-216/218, Tower 8, International Infotech Centre, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai 400614. See our Privacy Policy for the full picture of how personal data is handled, and our Terms of Service.
8. Changes to this policy
The site is added to often. This page is reviewed whenever new storage or a new third-party service is introduced, and the date at the top is changed when it is. Where a change means new information is stored on your device, the notice reappears and asks you again rather than relying on the consent you gave for something else.