Cookies & Local Storage

Star Steps · Last updated 2 August 2026

The short version. Star Steps uses no advertising cookies, no tracking pixels and no third-party analytics. What we store on your device is the minimum needed to keep you signed in and to stop your child's progress being lost if the network drops. That is why you have never seen a cookie consent banner here — there is nothing to consent to beyond what makes the app work.

What we store, and why

What	Where	Why	How long
Sign-in session	Browser local storage (set by Firebase Authentication)	Keeps you signed in between visits so you are not re-entering a password in front of a child	Until you sign out
Unsaved progress snapshot `pending_save_*`	Local storage (web) / app storage (iOS, Android)	Protects your child's work. If a save fails, the progress is held on the device and retried — rather than silently lost	Cleared the moment the save succeeds
Profile list cache `profile_cache_v1`	Local storage / app storage	Lets the "Who's learning today?" screen appear instantly instead of waiting on the network. Names and avatars only — no learning or clinical data	Refreshed on each sign-in; removed on sign-out
Question bank cache	Local storage	Avoids re-downloading the activity content on every visit	Until a newer version is published

What we do NOT use

No advertising cookies. There is no advertising in Star Steps.
No tracking pixels or beacons.
No third-party analytics — no Google Analytics, no Facebook Pixel, no Segment, no Mixpanel. None are present in the app.
No advertising identifiers — no IDFA, no Android advertising ID.
No cross-site tracking. Nothing follows you or your child anywhere else.

Usage measurement

We do measure how the app is used — which activities are completed, how sessions go — because that is how the learning engine adapts and how we know whether the product works. Two things make that different from tracking:

It is first-party. The data goes to our own database, not to an analytics company. No third party receives it.
It is consent-gated. If you decline, no behavioural records are written at all — the code checks consent on every write.

Clearing what is stored

Signing out removes the session and the profile cache. Clearing your browser's site data for mystarsteps.com, or deleting the app on mobile, removes everything listed above.

One caution worth stating plainly: if a save has not yet succeeded, clearing site data will discard that pending progress. The app shows a "not saved yet" indicator on the parent screens precisely so you can see this before it matters.

Changes

If we ever add anything to this list we will update the date above and notify account holders before it takes effect. If we ever introduced advertising or third-party tracking — we do not intend to — that would be a material change requiring your explicit consent.