Cookie & Storage Policy

Last updated: September 2026

The headline: DanceMate sets no cookies of its own. No advertising cookies, no analytics, no tracking pixels, no profiling. Nothing DanceMate stores is used to track you — which is why you won't see a cookie consent banner here.

1. What this policy covers

UK law — the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) — covers not just cookies but anything a website stores on, or reads from, your device. DanceMate doesn't use cookies, but like almost any app it does keep a small amount of information in your browser's own storage so that it works properly. This page describes everything DanceMate stores, by category.

Almost everything below is strictly necessary to provide the service you've asked for; the rest is stored only in response to your own actions, purely to remember choices you've made, and never leaves your device. Nothing is stored for advertising, analytics or tracking — which is why no consent banner is needed.

2. What DanceMate stores on your device

What	Why	How long
Sign-in session `vtb_admin_token_…`, `vtb_staff_token_…`, `vtb_access_…`	Keeps you signed in so you're not asked for your access code or password on every page.	Until you sign out, the session expires, or you clear browser data.
Offline work queue	Registers, exam entries and event changes made without an internet connection are queued on your device and sent automatically when you're back online. Anything you delete also waits here for a few seconds, so you can undo it.	Until each queued change is successfully sent.
Notepad copy `dm_note_…`	A copy of your Home notepad, so it opens instantly and keeps what you type with no signal. The notepad itself is saved to your account.	Until you sign out once everything has saved, or clear browser data.
Offline copy of the app	DanceMate is an installable web app. Your browser keeps a copy of the app's pages and recent data (via a service worker) so it opens quickly and works with a poor signal.	Refreshed automatically when we release an update; removed if you uninstall or clear site data.
Preferences and working notes e.g. `vtb_last_school`, `dm_app_version`, `vtb_push_asked_…`, `vtb-session`, `vtb-rf-contact`, `dm_last_route_…`, `dm_search_recent_…`	Things you'd rather not retype or be re-shown: which school to open, whether you've seen the "what's new" splash or the notifications prompt, view preferences, the last screen you had open, your recent searches, practice-quiz progress, and last-used details in the exam and email tools (examiner, venue, sender address and the like). Stored only when you use the feature concerned; never sent anywhere.	Until you clear browser data.
Temporary working copy	A per-tab copy of your school's data so pages load instantly while you work.	Cleared automatically when the tab closes.

None of this leaves your device except as needed to do its job (for example, the sign-in token accompanies your requests to our server, and queued offline work is sent to our server when you reconnect). We cannot read it from anywhere else, and it is never shared with third parties.

3. Third-party services

Videos. Videos linked to technique groups play through YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), and nothing loads from YouTube until you actually click play. In this mode YouTube does not set advertising-tracking cookies; playing a video does send data — including your IP address — to Google, which may process it in the USA, governed by Google's privacy policy. If a linked video is hosted somewhere other than YouTube, that provider's own privacy policy applies once you play it.

Stripe (payments). Subscription payments happen on Stripe's own hosted pages, on Stripe's domain. Stripe sets its own cookies there for payment processing and fraud prevention — see Stripe's privacy policy. No Stripe cookies are set on dancemate.co.uk.

4. How to clear it

You can remove everything DanceMate has stored at any time by clearing your browser's site data for dancemate.co.uk (usually under Settings → Privacy → Site data), or by uninstalling the app if you've installed it. Two consequences to know about:

you'll be signed out and will need your access code or password again; and
any offline work that hasn't yet been sent to the server will be lost — so reconnect and let it sync first if you can.

5. If this ever changes

If we ever introduce anything that needs your consent — analytics, for example — we will ask for it properly before it runs, and update this page. The date at the top always reflects the current version.

6. Questions

Email info@dancemate.co.uk. More on how personal data is handled is in our Privacy Policy.