Cookie Policy

The short version: QR generation works without cookies

You can generate and download QR codes on SmallQRCode without cookies. Google Analytics and our own usage counters are off until you choose Accept analytics. A necessary cookie remembers your choice; administrator sign-in uses a separate session cookie. Minimal technical error reports remain enabled without cookies. Advertising is off and is not authorized by accepting analytics.

What cookies are

Cookies are small text files that a website stores in your browser. They are commonly used for logins, preferences, analytics and advertising. Unlike data that stays in a page, cookies are sent back to the site (or its partners) on later visits, which is why they deserve their own policy.

Local storage

The QR generator does not use browser local storage to save your inputs. This is separate from the cookies described below.

Your analytics preference

The necessary first-party cookie smallqr_analytics stores your accepted or rejected choice, its format version and expiry for 180 days. It contains no visitor ID or QR inputs. Analytics remains off before acceptance, when the choice expires, or if the preference cannot be saved or read. Scrolling, typing or closing the choice window never means acceptance.

Open Analytics preferences in the footer to change your choice. Rejecting stops new analytics collection and discards queued usage events without resetting your QR code. We try to remove accessible site Google Analytics cookies. Already sent or in-flight requests and historical data cannot be recalled by changing this preference. If a previous Google script load cannot safely resume after a later acceptance, Google Analytics stays off until a normal page reload.

Administrator session cookie

Signing in to the administrator area sets a first-party cookie named smallqrcode_admin. It keeps the administrator signed in, expires after 12 hours, and is not needed to use the public QR tools. Blocking this cookie prevents administrator sign-in from working.

Our own usage counters: opt-in

The site’s internal usage counters (see the Privacy Policy) store limited events after acceptance, such as “a Wi-Fi QR code was generated”, without QR inputs, cookies, IP addresses or browser identifiers in the event records. Requests include the preference cookie so our server can enforce your choice, but the cookie is not copied into those records. The counter does not track visitors across sites. Request IPs are separately processed for abuse prevention; minimal error diagnostics remain separate from analytics.

Google Analytics

When configured and after you accept analytics, Google Analytics sends visit and usage information to Google, including pages viewed, referring pages, approximate location and browser/device information. It uses cookies such as _ga to distinguish browsers over time. These identifiers are pseudonymous, not anonymous: they can be personal data even without your name or email address. Cookies used by a third-party service can be set on this website’s domain; they are not necessarily third-party cookies in your browser’s settings.

Google’s analytics script is not loaded until acceptance and a successful check that the browser is not an authenticated site administrator. Our Analytics preferences control covers both Google Analytics and our usage counters. External Google opt-out tools are linked below; they do not control our own counter or the separate minimal technical error reports.

• How Google handles analytics data: Google’s “How Google uses information from sites that use our services”
• You can block Google Analytics for all sites with Google’s official browser add-on

Advertising cookies (Google AdSense)

SmallQRCode does not currently show ads. When advertising is enabled, the site uses Google AdSense, and Google (a third-party vendor) sets advertising cookies in your browser to deliver ads, cap how often you see the same ad, measure performance, and detect invalid clicks. Typical cookies include:

• __gads / __gpi, used by Google to serve and frequency-cap ads and measure their performance.
• IDE / DSID (set on Google’s doubleclick.net domain), used to serve and personalize ads across sites.

Before enabling advertising, we need to put any required consent controls in place. Accepting analytics does not authorize advertising. This policy is not an advertising-consent mechanism. The following external services let you manage advertising preferences:

• Manage the ads Google shows you at Google Ad Settings
• Opt out of personalized ads from many vendors at aboutads.info/choices or youronlinechoices.eu (EU)
• How Google uses cookies in advertising: Google’s advertising technologies policy

Managing cookies in your browser

You can view, block and delete cookies and site data in your browser, usually under Settings → Privacy. Use Analytics preferences to withdraw while this page is open. If our preference cookie is missing or unreadable, our analytics checks keep collection off. Browser cookie settings do not stop all network requests: the site still loads pages and sends minimized technical error reports. Generating and downloading QR codes works without cookies; administrator sign-in requires its session cookie.

Questions

Anything unclear? Write to us via the contact page.