Cookie and Browser Storage Details

🍪 Cookie and Browser Storage Details

February 2026 · 7 min read

TitanFile itself does not set first-party tracking cookies. We do use localStorage for on-device preferences, and the site also includes third-party services such as analytics and ads that may set their own cookies or identifiers depending on your browser and region. This page explains the difference.

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 for TitanFile-controlled storage. No user IDs, no session tokens, and no file-history synced to a server. 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 Analytics, Cloudflare performance monitoring, and Google AdSense can create third-party requests and may set or rely on their own cookies or identifiers depending on your browser, extensions, and region. 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?

TitanFile's own UI does not rely on first-party cookies. If a third-party service requires consent handling, that responsibility sits with the provider or hosting configuration. You should still evaluate the full third-party request set in DevTools if you want to verify the site's current behavior.

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.