Cookie Policy

1. Overview

Short version: TrueElo uses no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. Sign-in uses Lichess OAuth with tokens kept in your browser's local storage, your saved chess work is kept privately under your own account, and our analytics may set first-party identifiers only.

2. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored on your device by websites you visit. They are commonly used for:

• Tracking users across websites (advertising)
• Session management (login state)
• Remembering preferences
• Analytics and usage metrics

Cookies are automatically sent to the server with every request, which enables tracking and identification.

3. Why TrueElo Minimizes Cookies

TrueElo is designed to minimize cookie usage:

• Token-based authentication: Lichess OAuth tokens live in local storage, not cookies
• No advertising: We don't serve ads or track for marketing
• No cross-site tracking: No third-party tracking or profiling cookies
• Your data is yours: Your repertoire, drill progress, and settings are kept under your own account, readable by nobody else

4. Storage Instead of Cookies

TrueElo uses browser storage and your account rather than cookies, which is fundamentally more private:

• No cross-site tracking is possible
• Your sign-in token is never stored on our servers — each time it is sent, it is checked and dropped
• Your saved lines, drill progress and settings are kept under your account, readable by nobody else, and cached on each device you sign in to
• You have full control to export or delete all of it

5. What We Store, and Where

Kept in this browser, and never stored on our servers:

• Sign-in token: Your Lichess session, removed when you sign out. It is sent to Lichess, and to TrueElo each time you open the app so we can confirm the account is yours — never written down on our side
• Game statistics: How often each move won, drew and lost in public games, fetched directly from Lichess and cached against the position on this device
• Engine results: The analysis your browser computed, cached so it does not have to compute it twice
• Drill streak: Your run of consecutive days. This one is per-device and does not follow your account
• Theme: A copy of your light/dark choice, so the page can paint correctly before you sign in. The choice itself is a preference and follows your account — see below

Kept under your account, and cached on each device you sign in to:

• Settings: Your preferences
• Saved lines and drill progress: The work you choose to save

See our Privacy Policy for more information.

6. Authentication & Analytics Storage

Signing in uses Lichess OAuth2 (PKCE). The resulting access token is stored in your browser's local storage — not in a cookie — and is removed when you sign out. Lichess itself may set cookies on lichess.org during the sign-in redirect, governed by the Lichess privacy policy.

Our aggregate analytics (Google Firebase Analytics) may set first-party identifiers in your browser to distinguish returning visits. These are not used for advertising or cross-site tracking.

7. Third-Party Services

TrueElo connects to third-party services for functionality:

• Lichess for authentication (OAuth2) and game statistics
• Firebase for your own saved data, aggregate analytics, sign-in and account access

We do not embed advertising networks or social media widgets that use tracking cookies.

8. Clearing This Browser

You can clear TrueElo's browser storage at any time:

Note: This clears this browser only. Your saved lines, drill progress and settings are kept under your account, so signing in again brings them back. To delete them everywhere, use "Delete everything" in Settings.

9. EU Cookie Law / GDPR

The EU "Cookie Law" (ePrivacy Directive) and GDPR require consent for cookies that track users or are not strictly necessary. TrueElo:

• Uses no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies
• Keeps authentication tokens in local storage, strictly for signed-in functionality
• Performs no profiling
• Keeps your saved work under your own account, readable by nobody else

Strictly necessary storage (authentication, preferences) does not require consent banners. We provide this policy for full transparency about our storage practices.

10. Future Changes

If we ever need to use cookies in the future, we will:

• Update this policy with full details
• Implement appropriate consent mechanisms
• Clearly explain what cookies are used and why
• Provide opt-out options where required by law

11. Contact

For questions about this Cookie Policy, please contact us.