Cookie Policy

This page describes the cookies and browser storage Italy Lions actually uses. It was written by reading the site's own code rather than from a template, and it lists nothing the platform does not do.

Last updated: 21 September 2026.

The short version. Italy Lions runs no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. There is no Google Analytics, no Google Tag Manager, no Meta / Facebook Pixel, no TikTok Pixel and no advertising network anywhere on this platform. The storage we do use is what the site needs in order to work: keeping you signed in, and remembering small choices you made on your own device.

1. Cookies, localStorage and sessionStorage

"Cookie" is the word everyone knows, but most of what Italy Lions stores is not technically a cookie. Three different mechanisms are involved, and this policy covers all three because they all put data on your device:

Cookies — small files sent between your browser and a server.
localStorage — data your browser keeps for this site until it is cleared. Never sent to a server automatically.
sessionStorage — the same, but erased when you close the tab.

2. What Italy Lions stores, and why

Strictly necessary — signing in

Google Firebase Authentication keeps your signed-in session in your browser's storage. Without it you would be signed out on every page you opened. It is set when you sign in and cleared when you sign out. Firebase is our processor for this — see the Privacy Policy.

Strictly necessary — the platform's own state

Italy Lions writes a small number of values into localStorage and sessionStorage on your own device. None of it is sent to us, none of it identifies you to anyone else, and none of it is used to build a profile about you. It covers things such as:

which banners and prompts you have dismissed, so they do not come back (for example the "Install Italy Lions app" banner, and the mobile number registration bar);
a post or message you have started writing but not yet sent, so it survives an accidental page reload;
your chosen display language, so the site opens in it next time;
small interface preferences — a tab you had open, a filter you had set, a section you had collapsed;
whether you asked to be reminded about a feature again.

Clearing your browser storage signs you out and forgets these preferences. It does not delete your account or anything you have posted.

Service worker and offline cache

Italy Lions is installable as an app and registers a service worker, which stores copies of pages, stylesheets, scripts and images in your browser's cache so the site loads quickly and shows something useful when you are offline. This cache holds the site's own files. It is not used to track you, and it is cleared when you clear the site's data or uninstall the app.

3. Third parties whose files this site loads

Italy Lions loads some files from other companies' servers. When your browser fetches a file from another server, that server necessarily receives your IP address and basic request information — that is how the web works — even where no cookie is set. These are the ones this site uses:

Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage), loaded from gstatic.com. This is the platform itself: sign-in, the database and photographs. Essential.
Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com, fonts.gstatic.com) — the typefaces the site is set in.
Cloudflare cdnjs (cdnjs.cloudflare.com) — the Font Awesome icon set used on some pages.
Hostinger — serves the website itself and keeps standard server logs. See the Privacy Policy.

None of the above is an advertising or analytics service, and Italy Lions sets no third-party tracking cookie.

Embedded content from other platforms

Some posts contain a video or a link shared from another platform — YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and similar. Where you play such a video, that platform can set its own cookies and can see that you watched it, under its own privacy and cookie policies, which Italy Lions does not control. An embedded video only loads when a post containing one is displayed, and we do not receive anything about your account on that platform.

Italy Lions does not embed maps, and does not embed a payment provider's scripts — there is no payment provider active on this platform. See what Italy Lions costs.

4. Why we do not show a cookie banner

Consent is required for cookies and storage that are not strictly necessary — typically analytics, profiling and advertising. Italy Lions uses none of those. Everything described above is either required to deliver a service you asked for (signing in, loading the page) or is a preference you set yourself on your own device.

This is a statement about how the platform works today, not a permanent promise. If Italy Lions ever adds analytics, advertising or any profiling technology, a proper consent mechanism will be added at the same time — one where non-essential cookies are not set until you accept, and where refusing is as easy as accepting — and this page will be updated before it goes live.

5. How to control it yourself

Sign out to clear the Firebase Authentication session.
Clear site data in your browser settings to remove all cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage and the offline cache for Italy Lions.
Block cookies for this site in your browser. Be aware that blocking them prevents signing in, because the sign-in session has nowhere to live.
Uninstall the app, if you installed Italy Lions to your home screen, to remove its cache.

6. Changes to this policy

If what the platform stores changes, this page changes with it and the date at the top is updated.

See also the Privacy Policy, the Terms & Conditions and the Legal Notice.