LingoVik · Legal
Cookie and Storage Policy
Which cookies and similar storage LingoVik uses on your device, why we use them, and how you can control them.
In short
- We do not use cookies for advertising or analytics.
- We only store what LingoVik needs to work: your sign-in, your progress and settings, an offline copy of the app, and a session cookie.
- YouTube videos load only after you say yes. You can change your mind in Settings → Privacy.
- Paddle uses its own cookies when you open the checkout to pay.
This summary helps you read the document. The full text below is what applies.
1.What are cookies and similar storage?
Cookies are small text files that a website saves in your browser. Websites can also save information in other places in your browser, such as local storage, session storage, IndexedDB (a small database) and cache storage (saved copies of files). In this policy, “storage” means all of these.
LingoVik is an app that runs in your browser, so it uses this storage to keep you signed in, save your progress and work offline.
2.The rules we follow
In Norway, the Electronic Communications Act (ekomloven § 3-15, in force since 1 January 2025) says that a website must ask for your consent before it stores or reads information on your device — unless the storage is strictly necessary to provide a service that you have asked for.
We follow this rule. Everything in the first table below is strictly necessary, so we do not ask for consent for it. Everything in the second table is used only if you agree.
3.Strictly necessary storage
| Name and type | Set by | Purpose | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
lv_session — cookie (HttpOnly, secure) | LingoVik | Keeps your session secure and controls access to the parts of the service that need sign-in | [CONFIRM: e.g. 14 days, or until you sign out] |
firebase:authUser:… — local storage, and firebaseLocalStorageDb — IndexedDB | Firebase Authentication (Google), for us | Keeps you signed in | Until you sign out |
norsklaer — IndexedDB [CONFIRM: database name after the rename] | LingoVik | Your cards, progress, settings and choices (for example your YouTube choice and messages you have closed), an offline copy of the course, and saved information about pictures and audio | Until you reset the app or clear the site data |
tts:bestTier — local storage | LingoVik | Remembers which voice quality works on your device | Until you clear the site data |
feedLaunchDone and learning-path keys — session storage | LingoVik | Remembers small things during one visit, for example that you have already seen the video feed | Until you close the tab |
norsk-shell-…, norsk-tts-…, norsk-runtime-… — cache storage, and the service worker | LingoVik | Make the app open fast and work offline, and save audio that you have played | Until the app is updated or you clear the site data |
Cloudflare security cookies, for example __cf_bm [CONFIRM: check which ones appear] | Cloudflare, for us | Tell people and harmful bots apart, and protect LingoVik against attacks | Usually 30 minutes |
| Paddle checkout cookies and local storage | Paddle, and the payment partners Paddle uses | Take your payment safely and prevent fraud. Set only when you open the checkout. [CONFIRM: Paddle.js is loaded only on the checkout step] | As set by Paddle — see the Paddle Privacy Notice (opens in a new tab) |
4.Storage we use only with your consent
| Name and type | Set by | Purpose | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
YouTube player — cookies and similar storage from youtube-nocookie.com and YouTube | YouTube (Google) | Plays the video. YouTube may also use this data for its own purposes, for example advertising and statistics. | As set by YouTube — see how Google uses cookies (opens in a new tab) |
| Push subscription — browser storage | Your browser's push service, for us | Lets us send you the notifications that you turned on | Until you turn off notifications |
Your choice about YouTube videos
Until you agree, no YouTube player is loaded and YouTube stores nothing on your device. When you open a video, you can choose:
- Load video — loads this one video, this time.
- Always allow YouTube — loads videos without asking. We save this choice on your device.
You can withdraw your consent at any time in Settings → Privacy → YouTube videos → Stop allowing YouTube. Videos then ask again before they load. To remove cookies that YouTube has already stored, delete the cookies for YouTube in your browser's settings.
Your choice about notifications
We only ask your browser for permission to send notifications after you choose to turn them on. You can turn them off at any time in Settings → Notifications or in your browser's site settings.
5.Pictures and GIFs from other services
Some pictures are loaded directly from other services: photos from Pexels, Unsplash and Pixabay, AI pictures from Pollinations, reward GIFs from GIPHY, and preview pictures of videos from YouTube. These services do not need to store anything on your device for this. But like any website, they see your IP address and browser information when your browser loads the picture. See our Privacy Policy.
6.How to control storage
- YouTube: Settings → Privacy — see Your choice about YouTube videos.
- Notifications: Settings → Notifications, or your browser's site settings.
- Everything on this device: Settings → Data → Reset everything, or clear the site data for lingovik.com in your browser's settings.
Before you clear site data
If you clear the site data while you are offline or not signed in, progress that is not yet synced to your account is lost, and you are signed out.
If you block strictly necessary storage in your browser, LingoVik cannot work properly — for example, you cannot stay signed in.
7.Changes to this policy
If we start to use new kinds of storage, we update this policy and the tables above. If new storage needs your consent, we ask you first.
8.Contact and complaints
Questions? Email privacy@lingovik.com.
In Norway, Nkom (the Norwegian Communications Authority) and Datatilsynet (the Norwegian Data Protection Authority) supervise these rules. You can complain to Datatilsynet (opens in a new tab). [LAWYER: confirm the supervisory roles of Nkom and Datatilsynet for ekomloven § 3-15]