Cookie Policy
Last updated November 1, 2026
The cookies needed to run the site are always on. Analytics and advertising cookies only run with your choice where the law asks for it, and you can change that choice at any time with Privacy and cookie settings, at the bottom of every page.
1. What cookies are
Cookies are small files a site stores in your browser. The site also uses your browser's local and session storage for a few settings. “First-party” cookies are this site's own; “third-party” cookies belong to another company, here Google and Cloudflare.
2. What we use
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Lasts | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| better-auth.session_token | This site | Keeps you signed in (named __Secure-better-auth.session_token on HTTPS). | 30 days, renewed as you use the site; until you close the browser without “Keep me signed in” | Necessary |
| better-auth.dont_remember | This site | Remembers that you chose not to stay signed in. | Until you close the browser | Necessary |
| better-auth.state | This site | Protects signing in with Discord. | 5 minutes | Necessary |
| better-auth.admin_session | This site | Keeps an administrator's own session while they act as a reader to help them. | Up to 1 hour | Necessary |
| akasha-consent | This site | Your cookie choices. | 180 days | Necessary |
| akasha-dismissed-announcements | This site | The site announcements you dismissed while signed out, so pages leave them out. | 180 days | Necessary |
| akasha-staff-pass | This site | Staff only: keeps the site open to moderators and administrators while it is closed for maintenance. | 12 hours, renewed as staff use the site; removed when they sign out | Necessary |
| akasha-theme | This site | The look you chose. | 1 year | Preferences |
| akasha-look | This site | Your own look (premium). | 1 year | Preferences |
| akasha-logo | This site | How the logo is drawn. | 1 year | Preferences |
| akasha-reading | This site | Your reading settings when you are signed out. | 1 year | Preferences |
| akasha-listen (local storage) | This site | Your listening speed and voice. | Until you clear it | Preferences |
| akasha-listen-go-on (session storage) | This site | Keeps listening on the next chapter. | 30 seconds | Preferences |
| akasha-look-motion (local storage) | This site | Whether a moving background is held still. | Until you clear it | Preferences |
| akasha-feedback-draft:<account> (local storage) | This site | The feedback you are writing, kept if you close the form before sending it. | Until you send or discard it, or sign out or delete your account in this browser | Necessary |
| akasha-author-guide-hidden (local storage) | This site | Hides the author's getting-started guide once dismissed. | Until you clear it | Preferences |
| _ga, _ga_<id> | Google Analytics | Counts visits and pages, recognising your browser across visits. | Up to 2 years | Analytics (only with your consent where required) |
| __gads, __gpi, __eoi, and Google's advertising cookies on its own domains (such as IDE) | Google AdSense | Shows ads, limits how often you see the same one, measures them and fights fraud; personalises them only where allowed. | Up to 13 months | Advertising (only with your consent where required; never for premium readers or administrators) |
| FCCDCF, FCNEC | Google's consent message | Remember your answer to Google's consent message in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, and that it was shown. | Up to 13 months | Necessary (to remember your choice) |
| __cf_bm and other Cloudflare security cookies | Cloudflare | May be set to tell people from bots and protect the site. | 30 minutes or less | Necessary |
3. Necessary and preference cookies
These are set without asking, because the site cannot sign you in, keep you safe or remember the choices you made without them. None of them follow you on other sites.
4. Your choices
- In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, readers who see ads answer Google's consent message (a consent platform certified by Google, from Google AdSense), which covers advertising and Google Analytics: Analytics does not run before you allow it, and ads are personalised only if you allow that. Premium readers and administrators, who see no ads, answer our own banner, about Analytics only. Where Google says the law does not apply to you, or its message cannot load (an ad blocker, for instance), our banner asks instead, about both.
- Elsewhere, they are on until you turn them off. A Global Privacy Control signal from your browser turns analytics and personalised ads off.
- Privacy and cookie settings, at the bottom of every page, changes your choice at any time (it opens Google's consent message again where that is what asked you); turning something off reloads the page.
- You can also block or delete cookies in your browser's settings; blocking the site's own cookies signs you out.
- Google's own controls: adssettings.google.com and the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
5. Paying with Stripe
Checkout and the billing portal are Stripe's own pages, with Stripe's cookies and privacy policy.
6. Changes to this policy
When the site starts or stops using a cookie, this page changes, and the date at the top with it.
7. Contact
Questions about cookies: [email protected]. Our Privacy Policy explains the rest of what we do with data.