Cookies and browser storage

Bloomwise uses a handful of cookies and local-storage keys to remember your theme, your cookie choice, and your anonymous session while you use the wizard. Analytics and affiliate tracking are strictly opt-in where the law requires consent. You can change your mind at any time from the cookie banner or from the link in the footer.

A cookie is a small piece of text a website can store in your browser and read back on later visits. Modern browsers also support related storage (localStorage, sessionStorage, IndexedDB) which work similarly. Throughout this page, when we say “cookies” we mean all of those together.

Some cookies are set by Bloomwise directly (first-party). Others are set by services we embed, such as YouTube when you choose to play a how-to video (third-party). We only load third-party cookies after you have given the relevant consent.

We group cookies into three categories, aligned with the consent banner:

• Strictly necessary: required for the Site to work. These cannot be turned off because without them, core features like the wizard, dark mode, and the cookie banner itself stop working.
• Analytics: help us understand which pages are useful and where people get stuck. Turned off by default in the EU and UK; in the United States, we use Vercel Analytics under a notice-only model that you can override at any time.
• Affiliate: short-lived click identifiers that get attached when you follow an affiliate link, so the merchant can credit Bloomwise for the referral. Opt-in where required.

These are always on. Turning them off in your browser will break parts of the Site.

• bloomwise.theme: remembers whether you picked light or dark mode. First-party. Stored in localStorage. No expiry.
• bloomwise.consent: remembers your cookie consent choice and when you made it. First-party. Stored in localStorage. 12 months.
• bloomwise.session: anonymous session id used to save wizard answers and chat history within a single visit. First-party. Stored as a cookie. Session-only.
• bloomwise.csrf: anti-forgery token for form submissions. First-party. Session-only.

We use Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights for privacy-respecting, cookie-less-first analytics. Where Vercel does set a cookie or storage key, we only allow it after you have consented.

• vercel.analytics: anonymous traffic counter from Vercel Analytics. No cross-site tracking, no fingerprinting.
• vercel.speed-insights: real-user performance metrics for pages you visit on Bloomwise.

Only set when you actually click an affiliate link on Bloomwise. They are created by the affiliate network (Amazon, Impact, FlexOffers, or CJ Affiliate) on their own domain so the network can attribute the eventual purchase to Bloomwise. We do not read these cookies ourselves.

Some plant bio pages include a curated YouTube video from a vetted gardening channel. We load those embeds from youtube-nocookie.com, which means YouTube does not receive cookies or your activity on Bloomwise until you press play. Once you press play, YouTube’s own privacy policy applies.

You can change your cookie choices at any time by clicking “Cookie preferences” in the footer. You can also clear all Bloomwise cookies from your browser. The next time you visit we will show the banner again and you can pick again.

Most browsers let you block all cookies, block third-party cookies, or clear them when you close the browser. If you block strictly necessary cookies, the wizard, dark mode, and saved gardens will not work.

Questions about this cookies page, or a specific cookie you saw in your browser that we have not listed above, can be sent to privacy@bloomwise.app.