Cookie Policy

This page lists the cookies and browser storage that joborbit.online uses, explains why each one exists, and shows you how to refuse or remove any of them. It sits alongside our privacy policy rather than replacing it.

What a cookie actually is

A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to keep. On your next visit, the browser hands it back, which is how a site can recognise a returning visitor, remember a preference, or count an audience. Related technologies — localStorage, sessionStorage, and pixels — do similar jobs by different means. We use all three categories described below, and we use each one for a specific, stated reason.

1. Strictly necessary storage

These make the product function. Without them, Orbit is not a tracker; it is a blank page that forgets you the moment you blink. They are set by us, stored locally, and never transmitted.

• orbit.apps.v1 (localStorage, persistent) — your actual job applications: companies, roles, stages, dates, notes, tasks. This is your data, held on your machine.
• orbit.theme (localStorage, persistent) — whether you chose light or dark mode.

These cannot be switched off while using the app, because switching them off is switching off the app. They contain no identifiers and are readable only by your own browser.

2. Analytics cookies

Set by Google Analytics 4 so we can see how many people visit and which guides are worth writing more of.

• _ga — distinguishes one browser from another for visit counting. Typically expires after two years.
• _ga_<container-id> — maintains session state for GA4. Typically expires after two years.

These tell us that "a visitor from Sri Lanka read the interview follow-up guide for four minutes". They do not tell us who you are, and they are never combined with anything inside your tracker.

3. Advertising cookies

Set by Google AdSense and its partner ad networks to fund the site. These are the cookies that make advertising relevant rather than random, and they are the ones most people want control over.

• __gads / __gpi — used by Google to measure ad interactions and limit how often you see the same ad.
• IDE / DSID / NID (set on Google domains) — used for ad personalisation and measurement.
• Third-party vendors and ad networks other than Google may set their own cookies if you have not opted out of third-party ad serving.

Google's own explanation of how it uses cookies in advertising is on the Google partner sites page.

How to control cookies

You have several independent levers, and you can pull any of them without breaking the tracker:

• Turn off personalised ads at Google Ads Settings. Ads still appear; they simply stop being tailored.
• Industry opt-out tools — aboutads.info/choices and the NAI opt-out page cover many networks at once.
• Opt out of analytics with the Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on.
• Browser settings — every major browser can block third-party cookies or all cookies, and can clear existing ones. Blocking third-party cookies stops advertising and analytics cookies while leaving your saved applications intact, because those are first-party localStorage.
• Consent message — visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland are shown a consent message from Google's certified Consent Management Platform on their first visit, where non-essential cookies can be declined. You can change that choice later by clearing site data for this domain and reloading.

One warning worth stating plainly: using your browser's "clear all site data" for joborbit.online will delete advertising cookies and your saved job applications, because both live in the same origin. Export a JSON backup from the app first if you want to keep your board.

Changes

Ad networks occasionally change cookie names and lifetimes. We review this page periodically and update the date at the top when it changes. For anything not covered here, the privacy policy is the governing document, and the contact page will reach us.