> Markdown version of https://downread.com/no-cookie-banner.html. Downread is a free RSS reader for people: https://downread.com/

# No cookie banner needed

You may have noticed that Downread never asks you to "accept cookies". That's not an
oversight: we simply don't do anything that would require your consent.

## The one cookie we set

Downread sets a single, first-party cookie called `authToken`. Its only purpose is to keep you
signed in. It is an HttpOnly cookie (page scripts can't read it), it identifies you to nobody but
us, and it is never used for advertising or tracking.

Cookie consent rules (the ePrivacy Directive, implemented in Germany as §25 TDDDG) only require
consent for storage that is **not strictly necessary** for the service you asked for. A sign-in
cookie for the reader you are using is the textbook example of strictly necessary, so no consent
is needed and no banner has to ask for it.

## What we don't do

- **No advertising cookies.** We show no ads.
- **No analytics.** We run no Google Analytics or any other analytics provider.
- **No third-party tracking.** No tracking pixels, no fingerprinting, no data sales. Ever.

A cookie banner exists to collect consent for *non-essential* cookies. We have none, so there is
nothing to consent to, and a banner would just be in your way.

## The exception: third-party content you read

Feeds and articles are third-party content chosen by you, and we can't control what their
publishers do:

- **Feed images and tracking pixels.** When you open an article, its images load directly from
  the original publisher's servers. Some publishers embed tiny **tracking pixels** in their
  posts, and any image request can set that publisher's **own cookies**. This is inherent to
  displaying the article you asked to read; it happens under the publisher's privacy policy, not
  ours.
- **Embeds** (YouTube, X, Instagram and similar) can also set their services' own cookies. In the
  **EU/UK**, they don't load at all until you allow that specific service; until then you see a
  placeholder. You can change your choice any time under *Settings → External content*. YouTube
  is always forced into its privacy-enhanced `youtube-nocookie` mode.
- **Sign in with Google or Apple** is optional and loads nothing from Google or Apple until you
  click the button.

The full detail, including what we store, where, and for how long, is in our
[Privacy Policy](/privacy.html).