Cookie Policy – vifome

Cookie Policy

Last updated: 12 June 2025 | Effective date: 12 June 2025

This Cookie Policy explains how vifome (legal name: vifome), operator of vifome.info (the “Website”), uses cookies and similar tracking technologies when you visit our Website. It describes what cookies are, the types we use, why we use them, and how you can control them.

This policy is issued in accordance with the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), which implement the EU ePrivacy Directive in United Kingdom law. Under PECR, we are required to obtain your informed, freely given, and unambiguous consent before placing any non-essential cookies on your device.

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer, smartphone, tablet, or other internet-connected device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work, to work more efficiently, and to provide information to the site owners. Cookies are stored in your browser and are sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie.

Cookies serve many different purposes. Some are strictly necessary for a website to function at all — for example, to keep you logged in or to remember the items in a shopping basket. Others are used to remember your preferences, to measure how you use a site so it can be improved, or to deliver advertising that is more relevant to you.

Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting (first-party cookies) or by other organisations whose content appears on that page (third-party cookies). Cookies can persist on your device for varying lengths of time — session cookies expire when you close your browser, while persistent cookies remain until they expire or you delete them.

Similar technologies include web beacons (tiny transparent images), pixels, local storage, and fingerprinting. Where this policy refers to “cookies”, it includes these similar technologies unless otherwise stated.

2. How We Use Cookies

We use cookies to:

Ensure the Website functions correctly and securely.
Remember your preferences and settings so you do not have to re-enter them on each visit.
Understand how visitors interact with our content so we can improve the Website.
Record your cookie consent choices.
Load third-party resources (such as fonts) efficiently.

We do not currently use cookies for targeted advertising or cross-site behavioural tracking.

3. Types of Cookies We Use

3.1 Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential for you to browse the Website and use its features. Without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided. They do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing. Because these cookies are strictly necessary, they do not require your prior consent under PECR, although you remain free to block them in your browser settings (see Section 6).

Strictly necessary cookies may include:

Session management cookies — maintain your session state as you navigate the Website.
Security cookies — help detect and prevent cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and other security threats.
Load balancing cookies — distribute traffic across servers to ensure stability.

3.2 Functional (Preference) Cookies

Functional cookies allow the Website to remember choices you make and provide enhanced, personalised features. For example, they may remember your language preference, display settings, or whether you have already responded to a survey. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages.

Functional cookies require your consent under PECR unless they are strictly necessary for a service you have explicitly requested.

3.3 Analytics & Performance Cookies

Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our Website by collecting information such as the pages visited, the time spent on each page, error messages encountered, and traffic sources. This data is aggregated and anonymised wherever possible, and is used solely to improve the performance and usability of the Website.

Analytics cookies require your explicit consent before they are set. You will be asked to provide this consent via our cookie consent banner when you first visit the Website.

3.4 Third-Party Cookies

Some content or functionality on our Website may be delivered by third parties, and those third parties may set their own cookies on your device. Common examples include:

Google Fonts — We may load fonts directly from Google’s servers. Google may set cookies or log your IP address. For more information, see Google’s Privacy Policy.
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) — JavaScript libraries or stylesheets may be loaded from CDN providers (e.g., jsDelivr, Cloudflare). These providers may log server requests including IP addresses.
Embedded content — If we embed video or other media, the provider may set cookies when you interact with that content.

We do not control third-party cookies. You should refer to the relevant third party’s privacy and cookie policies for further information. Where possible, we configure third-party resources to minimise data collection (for example, by using privacy-safe CDN modes).

4. Detailed Cookie Table

The table below lists the specific cookies that may be placed on your device when you visit vifome.info. This list is updated when we add or remove cookies.

Cookie Name	Category	Purpose	Duration	First / Third Party
PHPSESSID	Strictly Necessary	Maintains your browsing session on the server; essential for page navigation and form submissions.	Session (expires on browser close)	First Party
csrf_token	Strictly Necessary	Protects against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks by validating form submissions.	Session	First Party
sec_session	Strictly Necessary	Security cookie used to validate authenticated sessions and prevent session hijacking.	Session	First Party
cookie_consent	Functional	Stores your cookie consent preferences (accepted/rejected categories) so we do not show the consent banner on every page.	12 months	First Party
user_prefs	Functional	Remembers user interface preferences such as language selection and display settings.	6 months	First Party
_ga	Analytics	Google Analytics — distinguishes unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier.	2 years	Third Party (Google)
_ga_XXXXXXXXXX	Analytics	Google Analytics 4 — stores and counts page views for the measurement of website activity.	2 years	Third Party (Google)
_gid	Analytics	Google Analytics — used to distinguish users during a 24-hour period.	24 hours	Third Party (Google)
_gat	Analytics	Google Analytics — throttles the request rate to Google servers, limiting data collection on high-traffic sites.	1 minute	Third Party (Google)

Note: The presence of analytics cookies (_ga, _gid, _gat) depends on whether you have consented to analytics cookies via our consent banner. They will not be set without your consent.

5. Cookie Consent Mechanism

In compliance with PECR and the UK GDPR, we obtain your consent before placing any non-essential cookies on your device. When you first visit vifome.info, a cookie consent banner will appear at the bottom (or top) of the page. This banner:

Clearly identifies the categories of cookies we use.
Provides granular choices — you may accept all cookies, reject all non-essential cookies, or customise your choices by category (Functional, Analytics).
Does not pre-tick any consent checkboxes for non-essential categories.
Explains, in plain language, what each category of cookie does.
Includes a link to this full Cookie Policy.

Your consent is recorded in the cookie_consent cookie (a strictly necessary functional cookie) for up to 12 months. After 12 months, or if you clear your cookies, you will be asked again. You may withdraw or change your consent at any time by clicking the “Cookie Settings” link in our website footer.

Consent obtained through our mechanism meets the standard of being freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous as required by Article 7 of the UK GDPR and Regulation 6 of PECR. Refusing non-essential cookies does not affect your ability to use the core features of the Website.

6. How to Manage and Disable Cookies

In addition to using our consent banner, you can control and delete cookies through your browser settings. Please note that if you disable cookies — including strictly necessary ones — some parts of the Website may not function correctly.

6.1 Google Chrome

Open Chrome and click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner.
Select Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data.
Choose your preferred option: Allow all cookies, Block third-party cookies, or Block all cookies.
To delete existing cookies, go to Privacy and security > Clear browsing data, tick Cookies and other site data, and click Clear data.

6.2 Mozilla Firefox

Open Firefox and click the three-line menu (☰) in the top-right corner.
Select Settings > Privacy & Security.
Under Enhanced Tracking Protection, choose Standard, Strict, or Custom.
To clear existing cookies, scroll down to Cookies and Site Data and click Clear Data.

6.3 Apple Safari

Open Safari and click Safari in the menu bar, then select Settings (or Preferences on older versions).
Click the Privacy tab.
Under Website tracking, tick Prevent cross-site tracking and optionally Block all cookies.
To remove existing cookies, click Manage Website Data and then Remove All or select individual sites.

6.4 Microsoft Edge

Open Edge and click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner.
Select Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Cookies and site data.
Toggle Block third-party cookies or select Block all cookies as preferred.
To clear existing cookies, go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data > Choose what to clear, tick Cookies and other site data, and click Clear now.

6.5 Other Browsers and Opt-Out Tools

For other browsers, please refer to your browser’s official documentation or help centre. You may also use the following opt-out tools:

Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on
Your Online Choices (UK) — manage behavioural advertising cookies from participating companies.
Network Advertising Initiative Opt-Out

7. Impact of Disabling Cookies

If you choose to disable or block certain cookies, you should be aware that this may affect your experience on vifome.info:

Strictly Necessary Cookies: Disabling these may prevent you from using core Website features. Forms may not submit correctly, and pages may fail to load as intended.
Functional Cookies: The Website will not be able to remember your preferences (such as language settings or previously entered information), meaning you may need to re-enter information on each visit.
Analytics Cookies: Disabling these will not impair your experience on the Website. However, it means we will have less information available to improve the site for all users.
Third-Party Cookies: Some third-party features (such as embedded content or fonts loaded from external servers) may not display or function optimally if you block third-party cookies.

We always aim to degrade gracefully — where a feature cannot function without cookies, we will make that clear and, where possible, provide an alternative.

8. UK Legal Framework and Compliance

Our use of cookies is governed by the following United Kingdom legislation and guidance:

Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) — the primary UK law governing the use of cookies, requiring informed consent for non-essential cookies.
UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) — sets the standard for the quality of consent (freely given, specific, informed, unambiguous) and grants individuals rights over their personal data.
Data Protection Act 2018 — supplements and tailors the UK GDPR within UK domestic law.
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Guidance on Cookies — we follow the ICO’s published guidance, including the requirement that consent is not bundled with terms of service, and that cookie walls are avoided.

The ICO has the authority to audit, investigate, and issue enforcement notices or monetary penalties for non-compliance with PECR. If you believe we are not handling your cookie data lawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by calling their helpline on 0303 123 1113.

9. Cookies and Personal Data

Some cookies may collect or process information that, alone or in combination with other data, constitutes personal data as defined under the UK GDPR. Where cookies process personal data, we act as the data controller and we process that data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

The legal bases we rely on for cookie-related data processing are:

Consent (Article 6(1)(a) UK GDPR) — for functional and analytics cookies.
Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR) — for strictly necessary cookies that are essential for the security and basic operation of the Website, where our interests and those of our users in maintaining a secure, functional website override any privacy impact.

You have the following rights in relation to personal data processed via cookies: the right of access, the right to rectification, the right to erasure, the right to restrict processing, the right to data portability, and the right to object. To exercise these rights, please contact us using the details in Section 11 below.

10. Updates to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the cookies we use, changes in applicable law, or improvements to our Website. When we make material changes, we will:

Update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.
Display a notice on the Website (such as a banner or pop-up) informing you of the change.
Where the change affects how we use your personal data, re-seek your consent where required by law.

We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Website after we post changes will constitute your acknowledgement of the revised policy, to the extent permitted by law.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Cookie Policy or our use of cookies and similar technologies, please contact us:

vifome (trading name of vifome)

Website: vifome.info

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +44 7400 425860

Postal Address: London

We aim to respond to all enquiries within 30 days of receipt, in accordance with our obligations under the UK GDPR. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

Website: ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF