Cookies are small text files placed on your device (computer, tablet or smartphone) when you visit a website or use a web application. They allow the site to recognise your device on subsequent visits and are widely used to make sites work more efficiently, remember your preferences, and provide information about how the site is being used.

Similar technologies include web beacons (also called pixel tags or clear GIFs), local storage, and session storage. References to “cookies” in this policy include these similar technologies unless stated otherwise.

We use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Operate the Services: Enable core functionality such as user authentication, session management, and security controls (including CSRF protection).
• Remember your preferences: Store choices such as your preferred region, language, display settings, and account configuration so you do not need to re-enter them on each visit.
• Measure and improve performance: Collect aggregated, anonymised data about how visitors use our Services so we can identify issues, improve features, and understand which content is most useful.
• Support security: Detect and prevent fraudulent activity, abuse, and unauthorised access.
• Marketing (optional, future): We do not currently use advertising or marketing cookies. If we introduce them in the future, we will update this policy and obtain your consent where required.

• Strictly necessary cookies — These cookies are essential for the Services to function. They enable you to log in, navigate securely, and use features such as encrypted sessions. Without them, the Services cannot be provided. These cookies do not require your consent under applicable law, but we still want you to be aware of them.
• Preference cookies — These cookies remember choices you make, such as your account settings, display preferences, and region. They improve your experience by ensuring you do not need to re-enter your preferences each time you visit.
• Performance and analytics cookies — These cookies collect aggregated, anonymised information about how our Services are used — for example, which pages are visited most often and whether any errors occur. This data helps us improve the Services. We take steps to ensure this data cannot be used to identify you personally.
• Advertising cookies — We do not use advertising or targeting cookies by default. We do not sell your data to advertisers. If this changes, we will update this policy and seek your consent where required.

We may use reputable third-party tools — for example, analytics providers or embedded content providers — that place their own cookies on your device when you use our Services. These third parties have their own privacy and cookie policies, which govern how they handle any information collected. The list of third-party providers we use may change over time as we update our technology stack.

We endeavour to review all third-party vendors to ensure they maintain appropriate privacy, security, and data protection practices consistent with our obligations. However, we are not responsible for the content of third-party policies or their compliance.

Where third-party cookies are non-essential, we will seek your consent before they are placed.

Cookie banner and settings: When you first visit our Services, we present a cookie banner that lets you accept or decline non-essential cookies. You can update your preferences at any time via the cookie settings link in our footer.

Browser settings: Most browsers allow you to refuse or delete cookies through their settings. You can also set your browser to notify you when cookies are being placed. Instructions for common browsers are available on their respective help pages:

• Google Chrome — Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data
• Mozilla Firefox — Options > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data
• Apple Safari — Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data
• Microsoft Edge — Settings > Cookies and site permissions

Impact of blocking cookies: Blocking or deleting strictly necessary cookies may impair or prevent access to the Services, including the ability to log in or maintain a secure session. Blocking preference or analytics cookies will not prevent you from using the Services but may affect your experience.

Do Not Track: Some browsers include a “Do Not Track” (DNT) signal. We currently do not respond to DNT signals as there is no consistent industry standard for doing so. We will revisit this position if a standard is adopted.

Session cookies are temporary and expire when you close your browser. They are not stored permanently on your device.

Persistent cookies remain on your device until their expiry date is reached or until you delete them manually. The retention period for each category:

• Strictly necessary: Duration of your session, or up to 30 days for “remember me” login tokens.
• Preference: Up to 12 months, or until you clear your cookies or change your preferences.
• Performance and analytics: Aggregated data is retained only for as long as needed to provide meaningful reporting, typically no longer than 26 months. Raw event data is anonymised or deleted sooner.

Personal data collected via cookies is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy, including your rights to access, correct, and delete that data.

If you install Investor Pilot as a Progressive Web App, we may use browser local storage and service workers (in addition to cookies) to cache content and enable offline functionality. These mechanisms operate similarly to cookies but are stored differently on your device. You can clear local storage data through your browser settings. Clearing this data may log you out or reset application state.

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the cookies we use, applicable law, or our business practices. Updated versions will be posted on this page with a revised effective date. Where changes are material, we will notify you via email or an in-app notification. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies.

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please email support@investorpilot.au.