Legal
Cookie policy
What GoalWord stores on your device, why it is there, and how to change your choice. Most of what the game remembers is local storage, not a traditional cookie.
Effective date: October 27, 2026
The short version
GoalWord uses essential browser storage to save your game and streak. It does not need cookies for the game to work. If advertising is enabled, Google AdSense may use cookies and similar technologies, depending on the choice you make in the privacy banner. Analytics, if enabled, is cookieless.
Cookies vs local storage
A cookie is a small file a website asks your browser to store and send back with later requests. Local storage is a browser database that a website can read on the same origin; it is not sent automatically with every request. GoalWord uses local storage for game data because it is a better fit for saving a puzzle in progress. Advertising providers may use both cookies and local storage.
What we store
| Name | Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game progress | Local storage | Saves your current daily, practice, and archive rounds, including guesses and revealed clues. | Until you clear site data |
| Statistics | Local storage | Saves your streak, maximum streak, games played, wins, and guess distribution. | Until you clear site data |
| Consent choice | Local storage | Remembers whether you accepted or rejected non-essential advertising storage. | Until you clear site data |
| Advertising | Cookies and local storage | Set by Google AdSense and its partners, when advertising is enabled, to serve, measure, and limit ads. Controlled by your consent choice. | Set by Google; see Google’s policy |
Essential storage
Game progress, statistics, and your consent choice are essential to the service. They are stored on your device and are never sent to us. You can delete them by clearing site data for this website in your browser settings. If you do, your current round, streak, and stats will be lost.
Analytics
If analytics is enabled, GoalWord uses Cloudflare Web Analytics, which is designed to be cookieless and privacy-first. It provides aggregate page views and performance data without creating a profile of individual visitors. If no analytics token is configured, no analytics script is loaded.
Advertising cookies
When advertising is enabled, Google AdSense and its partners may set cookies or use local storage to serve ads, measure their performance, limit how often you see the same ad, and — if you consent — personalise advertising. These technologies are controlled by Google and its partners, not by GoalWord.
We use Google Consent Mode. Before you choose, advertising storage, ad user data, ad personalisation, and analytics storage are set to “denied”. Accepting updates them to “granted”; rejecting leaves them denied. The AdSense script may still load to request non-personalised ads when consent is denied, but it is instructed not to use advertising storage or personalisation.
Google’s own policy explains how it uses advertising data: How Google uses information from sites that use its services. You can manage personalised ads at My Ad Center.
How to change your choice
Use the “Privacy settings” link in the footer of any page. It reopens the consent banner, where you can accept or reject non-essential advertising storage. Your choice is saved in your browser.
You can also control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers let you block third-party cookies, delete existing cookies, and clear local storage for individual sites. Blocking all cookies may affect advertising but will not stop the game from working, because game progress uses local storage.
For more information about advertising cookies and how to opt out, visit aboutads.info or, in Europe, Your Online Choices.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Browsers may send “Do Not Track” or “Global Privacy Control” signals. There is no consistent industry standard for interpreting Do Not Track. Where applicable law requires us to honour a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. You can also use the privacy settings link to reject non-essential advertising.
Changes
We may update this policy if the game or the advertising setup changes. The effective date at the top of the page shows the latest version.
Contact
Questions about cookies or privacy: see the contact and support page. See also our privacy policy and terms of use.
Questions about this page?
See the contact and support page for current options and the fastest answers.