Cookie Policy
Last updated 29 September 2026
What this policy covers
- This policy explains what we store on your device when you use pass the year, what we read back, and the choices open to you.
- It covers cookies and anything that works like one, including local storage. We say "cookie" throughout for both.
- A cookie is a small file a site asks your browser to keep. On your next visit the site can read it back, which is how you stay signed in between pages.
- Our Privacy Policy explains what we do with personal data more generally.
The cookies we use
- This is every cookie we set, what it is for and how long it lasts. It is generated from the same list the site itself reads, so it cannot drift out of date.
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Category | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pty_session | pass the year | Keeps you signed in and secures your session. | Strictly necessary | 30 days, or 14 days without a visit |
| pty_authed | pass the year | Tells our public pages that you are signed in, so they can offer you the app instead of the sign-in button. Holds no identifier and grants nothing. | Strictly necessary | 1 hour |
| pty_sso_tried | pass the year | Remembers that we already tried to sign you in silently from our other site, so a page does not bounce between the two. | Strictly necessary | 5 minutes |
| ptc | pass the year | Remembers your cookie-consent choice. Set for the whole site so you are asked once rather than on every page of it. | Strictly necessary | 6 months |
| pty_explore_bind | pass the year | Remembers which sign-in or checkout you started while trying the app without an account, so what you did is moved only into the account you signed in to, and never into someone else's. | Strictly necessary | 2 hours |
| pty_cohort | pass the year | Remembers which program you picked before you had an account, so we can show you its prices and do not have to ask you again. | Strictly necessary | 180 days |
| pty_reader | pass the year | Remembers whether you left the course contents and your comments open beside a lecture, so the next lecture opens the way you left the last one. | Strictly necessary | 1 year |
| pty_reader_layout | pass the year | Remembers whether this device reads lectures in the phone layout or the page layout, so a lecture opens in the right one without redrawing. | Strictly necessary | 1 year |
| theme | pass the year | Remembers whether you chose the light or the dark appearance. | Strictly necessary | Until you clear your browser storage |
| pty.reader.zoom | pass the year | Remembers how large you set the page in the reader. | Strictly necessary | Until you clear your browser storage |
| pty.reader.railWidth | pass the year | Remembers how wide you made the contents panel. | Strictly necessary | Until you clear your browser storage |
| pty.search.recent | pass the year | Remembers the last five things you searched for, so the search box can offer them back. | Strictly necessary | Until you clear your browser storage |
| pty.programme | pass the year | Remembers which program you were last looking at, so the bar can take you back to it. | Strictly necessary | Until you clear your browser storage |
| crisp-client/* | Crisp | Runs the live-chat button in the corner and carries your conversation so you can read our reply. It is set when the page loads, whether or not you open the chat. It is set for the whole site, so a question you ask on a program page is still there when you sign in. Hosted in the EU (Amsterdam). | Strictly necessary | Up to 48 hours |
| ph_{token}_posthog | PostHog | Measures which pages and features are used and, with your consent, records a pseudonymous replay of the session with what you type hidden, so we can find and fix what is confusing. Hosted in the EU. | Analytics | 12 months |
| __ph_opt_in_out_{token} | PostHog | Measures which pages and features are used and, with your consent, records a pseudonymous replay of the session with what you type hidden, so we can find and fix what is confusing. Hosted in the EU. | Analytics | 12 months |
| ph_{token}_window_id | PostHog | Measures which pages and features are used and, with your consent, records a pseudonymous replay of the session with what you type hidden, so we can find and fix what is confusing. Hosted in the EU. | Analytics | Until you close the tab |
| ph_{token}_primary_window_exists | PostHog | Measures which pages and features are used and, with your consent, records a pseudonymous replay of the session with what you type hidden, so we can find and fix what is confusing. Hosted in the EU. | Analytics | Until you close the tab |
The ones we set without asking
- The law lets a site keep what it strictly needs to deliver what you asked for, without asking first. Everything in the table marked strictly necessary is one of those.
- One keeps you signed in. Without it you would have to sign in again on every page you opened. One remembers the answer you gave about analytics.
- The rest hold a choice of yours, such as the programme you picked before you had an account or whether you prefer the light or the dark appearance, so that we do not ask you the same thing twice.
- None of them is shared with anyone. The one that keeps you signed in tells us which account is yours; the rest carry nothing that identifies you. Losing any of them costs you nothing worse than signing in or being asked again.
Analytics, and what your answer changes
- We measure how pass the year is used so we can find what is confusing and fix it. How we do that depends entirely on your answer.
- Before you answer, and if you say no, analytics stores nothing on your device and reads nothing from it. There is no identifier, no profile, and no session recording. We count what happened without knowing who it happened to. The only thing kept is the strictly necessary cookie that remembers your answer.
- If you say yes, our analytics provider sets the keys marked as analytics in the table, and we can follow your visit from page to page and record a replay of the session, so a confusing screen can actually be watched back.
- Even then, we never give the analytics provider your name or your email address as information about you. A recording is different: it shows each page as you saw it, so it can include your own name and email address, notes you have saved, and other people's names on pages that list them. Anything you type is hidden while you type it.
- Analytics data is held in the European Union.
What we do not do
- We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not let anyone track you across other sites.
- Nothing is shared with a third party for purposes of their own.
Your choices
- You are asked the first time you arrive. Saying no is exactly as easy as saying yes, and nothing is held against you for it.
- You can change your mind at any time, and withdrawing is as easy as agreeing was. Withdrawing does not undo what happened while you had agreed, but it stops it continuing.
- In your account settings, the change follows your account, so it holds on your phone and your laptop alike without being asked twice. The switch below changes it for this browser.
- You can also clear or block cookies in your browser settings. Blocking the strictly necessary ones will stop you being able to stay signed in.
Changes to this policy
- We update this policy when the cookies we use change.
- The table above changes with the site, so it is current whether or not the words around it have moved. The date at the top of this page is the date of the current version.
Contact
- Ask us about anything on this page and we will answer. Our details are in our Privacy Policy.