Cookie Policy

This policy explains the cookies and similar technologies Open Lance uses, operated by Brilliant Systems LLC. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains what we do with personal data more generally.

A cookie is a small file a site stores in your browser. We use them for two purposes and no others: to make the platform work, and — only if you agree — to understand which pages people find useful.

We do not use cookies for advertising. We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with advertising networks.

Strictly necessary cookies are what the platform runs on. Without them you cannot stay signed in, payments cannot be kept secure, and prices cannot be shown in your currency. They are not optional and we do not ask about them, which is permitted because the service cannot be provided without them.

Analytics cookies are optional. They are set by Google Analytics and only if you accept them. If you have not chosen, or you have declined, the Google Analytics script is not loaded at all — this is not a preference recorded while the tag runs anyway.

These are set by Open Lance itself:

• ol_refresh — keeps you signed in and lets your session be renewed without asking for your password again. Set when you sign in, removed when you sign out. Not readable by JavaScript.
• ol_2fa_device — remembers a device you chose to trust, so two-factor authentication does not ask on every sign-in. Only set if you tick that option. Not readable by JavaScript.
• ol_fx — remembers the currency you chose to see prices in, so it is the same on your next visit and on your other devices' first load.
• ol_ref — records that you arrived through somebody's referral link, so the referral can be credited if you sign up. Short-lived.
• ol_consent — records your answer to the cookie question, so you are not asked again. Kept for a year, after which we ask once more.

Clearing these will sign you out, reset your currency to the one implied by your location, and cause the cookie banner to reappear.

If you accept, Google Analytics 4 sets cookies named _ga and _ga_ followed by a property identifier. They distinguish one visitor from another and record which pages were viewed, so we can see which parts of the site are useful and which are not.

They are set only on our public pages — the marketing site and the help centre. Analytics is not loaded inside the signed-in application at all.

Google acts as our processor for this data. We do not use it for advertising, we have not enabled advertising features, and we do not link it to your account.

If you decline, or simply do not answer, none of these cookies are set, because the script that would set them is never loaded.

When something breaks, the failure is reported to Sentry, our error monitoring provider, so we can find and fix it. This is how we discover that a payment or a page has failed for somebody who has not told us.

It is listed here for completeness rather than because it involves cookies: it sets none, reads none, and records no browsing session. What it collects is the error itself, the page it happened on, and the browser version, with request contents, cookies and IP addresses deliberately switched off. Session recording, the one feature that would capture what is on your screen, is disabled.

Because it sets nothing on your device and exists to keep the service working and secure, it runs whether or not you accept analytics. If you would rather it did not, contact us at privacy@openlance.io.

Use the Cookie settings link in the footer of any page. It reopens the same choice, and you can change it as often as you like.

Declining after previously accepting also removes the Google Analytics cookies already in your browser, rather than only stopping new ones being set.

You can additionally block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking strictly necessary cookies there will stop you being able to sign in, which is a limitation of how sessions work rather than a choice we have made.

• No advertising or retargeting cookies.
• No third-party trackers beyond the Google Analytics described above. Error monitoring is not a tracker and sets no cookies.
• No selling or sharing of personal data with data brokers or ad networks.
• No cookie walls: declining analytics does not restrict any part of the platform.
• No pre-ticked boxes, and closing the banner is not treated as agreement.

If we add a cookie or a new processor, this page is updated before it goes live and, where the change requires it, we ask for your consent again.

Questions about cookies, or about how we handle your data, go to privacy@openlance.io. Your broader rights are set out in our Privacy Policy and summarised on our GDPR page.