No First-Party Cookies: What We Store and What We Don't

🍪 No First-Party Cookies: What We Store and What We Don't

February 2026 · 7 min read

TitanFile sets zero first-party cookies. Not for tracking, not for analytics, not for session management, not for anything. Here is what that means, what we do use instead, and why other platforms plant dozens of cookies in your browser.

What Is a Cookie, Really?

A cookie is a small text file that a website stores in your browser. Every time you visit that website, the cookie is sent back to their server. This lets the server identify you across visits — which is useful for login sessions, but is widely abused for tracking.

What TitanFile Does Instead

We use localStorage — a browser storage mechanism that stays on your device and is never sent to any server. We store exactly two things:

• Theme preference — "light" or "dark." So your preferred theme persists across visits.
• Recently used tools — a list of tool slugs so we can show your recently used tools for quick access.

That is it. No user IDs, no session tokens, no tracking identifiers. And since localStorage is never transmitted over the network, it is fundamentally different from cookies — it is just your browser remembering your preferences locally.

What Other Platforms Store in Cookies

Visit any popular online tool website and open DevTools → Application → Cookies. You will typically find 10-40 cookies including:

• Session cookies — identifying you across page navigations (needed because they have accounts).
• Analytics cookies — Google Analytics (_ga, _gid, _gat), Hotjar, Mixpanel, Amplitude — tracking every click, scroll, and page view.
• Remarketing cookies — Facebook Pixel, Google Ads, LinkedIn Insight — so they can show you ads for their service on other websites.
• A/B testing cookies — Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize — tracking which version of the page you see.
• Chat widget cookies — Intercom, Drift, Zendesk — identifying you for live chat "support."
• Third-party consent cookies — the ironic cookie that remembers whether you accepted the cookie banner.

The AdSense Disclosure

We are transparent: Google AdSense, which displays advertisements on TitanFile, may set its own third-party cookies for ad personalization. This is standard for ad-supported websites and the only reason our privacy score is 99/100 instead of 100/100. You can:

• Opt out of personalized ads at Google's Ad Settings
• Use an ad blocker to prevent all ad-related cookies (we understand, though we appreciate whitelisting)
• Use your browser's "Block third-party cookies" setting

Why No Cookie Banner?

Since TitanFile sets zero first-party cookies, many cookie consent regulations (including parts of GDPR) do not strictly require a banner for our own data practices. Where third-party ad cookies apply, Google AdSense handles its own consent flow. The result: one less annoying popup for you.

Cookies were invented in 1994 to maintain shopping cart state. They have since become the backbone of a multi-billion dollar surveillance advertising industry. We opted out of that entirely.