1What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store, so it can recognise the browser later. Related technologies — local storage, session storage, pixels, beacons and browser fingerprinting — do much the same job by different means. This notice covers all of them.
2What we set: nothing
Award Audio Tools sets no cookies of any kind on awardaudiotools.com. We use no local storage or session storage, no tracking pixels, no beacons, and no fingerprinting. We run no analytics — not Google Analytics, not a self-hosted alternative, not a privacy-preserving one. We have no advertising or retargeting tags. We load no third-party fonts, scripts, embeds or iframes.
This isn't a policy we intend to follow; it's how the site is actually built. It's a set of static pages served directly from our own domain, and the shop needs no account, no login and no basket — so there's no state to remember and nothing worth storing on your machine.
The practical effect: we cannot tell how many people visit, which pages they read, where they came from, or whether the same person came back. We've accepted that trade in exchange for not tracking anyone.
3Check it yourself
You don't have to take our word for it. In any browser, open the developer tools (⌥⌘I on a Mac, F12 elsewhere), go to the Application or Storage tab, and look under Cookies and Local Storage for awardaudiotools.com. On a normal visit you'll find them empty.
4Strictly necessary cookies our host may set
Our site is served and protected by Cloudflare. If Cloudflare's security systems need to verify that a request is from a real browser rather than an automated attack, they may set one of the following. These are classed as strictly necessary, which means they don't require consent under the ePrivacy Directive, the GDPR or comparable rules — the site can't be delivered securely without them.
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
__cf_bm |
Cloudflare | Distinguishes human visitors from bots so automated traffic can be filtered. Reads only bot-detection signals. | About 30 minutes |
cf_clearance |
Cloudflare | Records that a security challenge was passed, so you aren't repeatedly challenged. Only appears if you're shown a challenge. | Up to 1 year |
Neither cookie contains personal information, can identify you, or can track you across other websites. They exist to keep the site online. In our own testing, an ordinary visit to this site returns no cookies at all — these appear only in the security circumstances described above.
Cloudflare also collects standard server request data on our behalf, which is covered in section 3 of our Privacy Notice.
5Cookies on Stripe's checkout pages
When you click a Buy button, you leave our site and go to a checkout page hosted by Stripe. Stripe sets its own cookies there — for maintaining your checkout session, preventing payment fraud and meeting its security obligations. Those cookies belong to Stripe's domain, not ours; we can't read them, and we don't receive anything from them.
Stripe's use of cookies is governed by Stripe's own privacy and cookie policies, available at stripe.com/privacy. The same applies to any other storefront a product may be sold through, such as Gumroad.
6Why there's no cookie banner
Consent banners are required when a site stores or accesses information on your device for non-essential purposes — analytics, advertising, personalisation. We do none of those. Under the ePrivacy Directive and the GDPR, strictly necessary cookies like the Cloudflare security ones above are exempt from the consent requirement.
So there's no banner, no "manage preferences" dialog and no consent to record — not because we've cut a corner, but because there's genuinely nothing to ask you about. If that ever changes, we will ask for your consent before setting any non-essential cookie, and this page will be updated first.
7Controlling cookies yourself
You can block or delete cookies at any time in your browser's settings — look for "Cookies and site data" under Privacy. Blocking the strictly necessary cookies in section 4 may mean Cloudflare challenges you more often, but it won't stop you browsing or buying.
Because we don't track you, you don't need an ad-blocker, tracker-blocker or private window to visit this site untracked. They're all welcome here and none of them will break anything.
8Changes and contact
If we ever add a cookie, this page changes first and the "Last updated" date changes with it. This notice forms part of our Privacy Notice and is subject to our Terms of Use.
Questions: support@awardaudiotools.com.