Cookie Policy
Last updated: September 25th 2026
This page explains what thesunrise.org stores on your device and why. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which covers everything else.
The short version
Nothing that tracks you runs until you say yes.
Google Analytics and the Meta Pixel are held back until you accept them in the banner we show on your first visit. If you decline, they are never loaded, and we clear anything they left behind. You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page.
The browser games are the one exception, and only in one direction. They never show you a banner, and until you have answered one elsewhere they count visits in a mode that writes nothing at all to your device. If you have declined, they count nothing. Section 6 explains it in full.
A small number of things do run without asking, because the site cannot work without them. They are listed below and none of them are used for advertising.
1. What a cookie is here
“Cookie” is shorthand. It covers cookies proper, and also localStorage, which is another way a site can keep a small amount of data in your browser. We use both, and both are covered by this page and by the consent choice you make.
2. Strictly necessary, no consent asked
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
sunrise.consent |
This site (localStorage) | Remembers whether you accepted or declined the optional cookies, so we stop asking | 6 months |
sunrise.notice |
This site (localStorage) | Remembers that you closed a site notice, such as one about changes to our Terms, so it stays closed | Until you clear it |
__cf_bm |
Cloudflare | Distinguishes people from bots so the site and its forms stay usable | 30 minutes |
cf_clearance |
Cloudflare | Records that a security check was passed, if one was shown to you | Up to 1 year |
| Turnstile tokens | Cloudflare Turnstile | Verifies that a form submission is not automated. Held only for the length of the submission | Session |
These are set on our behalf as part of serving and protecting the site. Turning them off is not possible while using the site, and none of them are used to profile you or to target advertising.
3. Analytics and advertising, only if you accept
These load only after you accept in the banner. They are what set cookies, and they run on the site pages: the home page, the bird stories, the app and game listings. The games themselves are section 6.
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga |
Google Analytics 4 | Distinguishes one browser from another so visits can be counted | 2 years |
_ga_HNPPK2484W |
Google Analytics 4 | Keeps session state for our specific property | 2 years |
_fbp |
Meta Pixel | Identifies a browser to Meta so we can measure whether an ad led to a visit | 3 months |
_fbc |
Meta Pixel | Records the ad click that brought you here, when there was one | 3 months |
What we use them for. Google Analytics tells us which pages people read, which bird stories are worth writing more of, and where visitors arrive from. The Meta Pixel tells us whether an ad we paid for actually brought anyone. We do not use either to build a profile of you ourselves, and we do not use them to make automated decisions about you.
What sharing means here. Sending this data to Meta counts as sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising under California law. Declining in the banner is a valid Do Not Sell or Share request, and so is a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser, which we honour. See section 11 of the Privacy Policy.
4. Where these never run at all
Some pages load no analytics or advertising tags whatever you have chosen, because putting them there would be inappropriate:
- This page, the Privacy Policy and the Terms
- The FAQ, the Support form and the Suggest a bird form. All three are opened from inside the apps with an app identifier attached, and the two forms also receive whatever you type
- Any page opened from inside one of our apps. Our apps tag the links they open, and the site recognises that tag and loads nothing. This applies to bird stories, credits, the FAQ and support alike
5. Video
Bird videos are embedded from YouTube through youtube-nocookie.com, and they load as a still image with a play button. Nothing is requested from YouTube, and no cookie is set by them, until you press play. Once you do, YouTube’s own terms and privacy policy apply to that playback.
6. The browser games
The games at thesunrise.org/app/ never show you a cookie banner. A consent bar across the bottom of a game is the wrong place for the question, so there isn’t one. What a game does instead depends on what you have already told us elsewhere on this site.
| What you have said | What the game does |
|---|---|
| You accepted | Google Analytics runs normally, with the cookies in section 3 |
| You declined | Nothing runs. No analytics of any kind |
| You sent Global Privacy Control | Nothing runs, even if you accepted here before |
| You have not been asked yet | Google Analytics runs in a cookieless mode, described below |
What cookieless means. In that mode we ask Google Analytics to store nothing on your device: no cookie, no localStorage, no identifier of any kind that outlives the page you are on. When you close the tab there is nothing left behind and nothing to recognise you by next time. We also switch off Google Signals and ad personalisation, so your visit is not attached to your Google account and is not used for advertising.
Why we do it without asking. Consent under the ePrivacy rules is required for storing or reading something on your device. This mode does neither. It tells us that a game was opened and roughly how it was played, and it genuinely cannot tell us that it was you, or that you had been here before. We think counting how often a game gets played, without keeping anything, is a fair thing to do without interrupting the game to ask.
If you would rather it did not. Decline once anywhere on this site, using the Cookie settings link in the footer, and the games stop counting you entirely. A declined choice is honoured literally, cookieless or not. Sending Global Privacy Control from your browser does the same thing.
Where a game is wrapped as an iOS app, it does not use cookies either. It stores a random identifier in the app’s own storage so repeat launches are not counted as new people. That is covered by the Privacy Policy rather than by this page.
7. Changing or withdrawing your choice
Use the Cookie settings link in the footer of any page. Declining after having accepted also clears the Google and Meta cookies listed in section 3 from this site.
You can additionally block or delete cookies in your browser’s own settings, and most browsers let you send a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal. We honour Global Privacy Control.
We ask again after 6 months, so a choice you made once does not stand forever.
8. Contact
Email: info@thesunrise.org