Cookie Policy
This policy explains which cookies and similar technologies the dictatesafe.com website ("the Website") uses, what they are for, and how you can control them. Vibhaga Group, a sole proprietorship of Umesh Yellaboina ("we", "us"), runs the Website. The Privacy Policy explains how we use personal data more widely. The Dictate Safe app ("the App") is covered in section 3.
1. The short version
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Does the Website use cookies? | Yes. A few are needed for the Website to work. Others measure visits and our advertising. Whether they load before you choose depends on where you are (section 4) |
| Does the App set cookies? | No. The App has no analytics and no advertising code |
| When do analytics and advertising start? | In the EU, the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and every other place except India and the United States, only after you choose "Accept all" or switch the matching item on. In India and the United States, they load by default and stop when you press "Necessary only" or your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal |
| How do I choose? | Use the cookie box. You can change your choice at any time with "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page. In the United States the bottom of every page also shows "Your privacy choices" |
| How long is my choice remembered? | One year, in your browser only. Then we ask again |
| Do you count visitors without cookies? | Yes. Our own server-side counter sets no cookie and stores no IP address. Section 6.5 explains |
| Do you honour Global Privacy Control? | Yes. Marketing stays off wherever you are. In India and the United States, Analytics stays off as well |
| Do other companies set cookies? | Google, Microsoft and Meta, when their tags run (section 4). Razorpay, when you pay. Google and GitHub, if you sign in with them |
2. What cookies and similar technologies are
- A cookie is a small text file that a website stores in your browser. It can last until you close the browser (a session cookie) or for a set time (a persistent cookie). A cookie set by the Website is a first-party cookie. A cookie set by another company is a third-party cookie.
- Local storage and session storage are places in your browser where a website keeps small pieces of information. Local storage stays until you clear it. Session storage ends when you close the tab. They work much like cookies, so this policy treats them in the same way.
- A pixel or tag is a small piece of code, or a tiny image, that reports to its provider that a page was opened. Analytics and advertising tools use them. Some also set cookies.
3. The App
The App sets no cookies and has no analytics. It keeps a few settings for how it looks, for example your chosen theme and whether a side panel is open, on your own Computer. We do not receive them. The Privacy Policy describes what the App sends to our servers.
4. The cookie box and your choice
- The first time you visit, the Website shows a box called "Cookies on this website". It is shown to every visitor, wherever you are.
- It offers three choices: "Accept all", "Necessary only" and "Choose what to allow". With "Choose what to allow" you can switch Analytics and Marketing on or off one by one. Where tags wait for your choice (item 3), both are off until you choose.
- Until you choose, what loads depends on where you are. We work out your region from your internet address on our server when you open a page, and we do not send the address to another service for this. - In the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, nothing in Analytics or Marketing loads. There is no script from those providers, no request to them and no cookie from them. - In India and the United States, the Analytics and Marketing tags load by default. They stop as soon as you press "Necessary only" or your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal. - In every other place, the stricter rule applies: nothing in Analytics or Marketing loads until you accept. - We expect to move India to the stricter rule when the duties of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act begin.
- Your choice is kept only in your browser, in local storage. We do not keep a record of it on our servers against your name or device. Our own counter (section 6.5) counts the choices in total, with nothing that identifies you. If you clear your browser data, or use another browser or device, we ask again.
- We remember your choice for one year. After that the box appears again.
5. The four categories
| Category | What it is | Do we ask first? |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Needed to run the Website, keep you signed in, protect forms, remember your cookie choice, and take payment | No. The Website cannot work without them |
| Preferences | Remember a choice you made, or the currency to show prices in | No. They are used only by the Website |
| Analytics | Show us how the Website is used, so we can fix and improve it | Depends on where you are (section 4). We do not treat it as necessary |
| Marketing | Measure our advertising and show our ads to people who visited the Website | Depends on where you are (section 4). We do not treat it as necessary |
6. What the Website uses
Third-party cookies are listed with the lifetimes that the provider states at the date of this version. A provider can change them. Where a provider does not state a name or a lifetime in a place we could check, we say so instead of guessing. On a secure connection your browser may show some of the names below with a prefix such as __Secure- or __Host-.
6.1 Strictly necessary
| Name | What it does | Set by | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
authjs.csrf-token | Stops forged sign-in and sign-out requests. Set when you open a main page, signed in or not | Us | Until you close the browser |
authjs.callback-url | Remembers where to send you after you sign in | Us | Until you close the browser |
authjs.pkce.code_verifier | Links the reply from Google or GitHub to the sign-in you started | Us | 15 minutes, and removed after use |
authjs.session-token | Keeps you signed in | Us | 30 days, renewed when you use the Website. Ended early if you change or reset your password |
vac_appsumo | Holds your AppSumo Licence key while you add it to an account | Us | 24 hours, or until you press "Not now" |
ds_chat | Keeps your conversation with our AI agent together, so that the chat window finds it again. Set only after you write your first message, never by opening the window or by a voice call. Not readable by scripts on the page | Us | 30 days |
vac_consent (local storage) | Records your cookie choice | Us | One year, then we ask again |
vac_region | Tells the page which cookie rule applies to you (section 4). The value is only "in", "us" or "ask". We work out the country from your internet address on our server and do not send the address to another service for this. It is also how our own counter (section 6.5) knows it has already counted your browser | Us | 1 year |
6.2 Preferences
| Name | What it does | Set by | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
vac_market | Remembers the rupee or dollar choice you made in the footer. Set only when you choose | Us | 1 year |
vac_market_guess | Our first guess whether to show prices in rupees or dollars. The value is only "in" or "intl". We work out the country from your internet address on our server and do not send the address to another service for this | Us | 7 days |
sidebar_state | Remembers whether the menu in your account is open or closed | Us | 7 days |
vac-theme (local storage) | Remembers light or dark display | Us | Until you clear it or choose "System" |
ds-dashboard-search-recent:<code> (local storage) | Remembers the last 6 results you opened in your account search. The code is a short number made from your email address | Us | Until you press "Clear" or clear your browser data |
vac_cmp_cur (session storage) | Remembers your rupee or dollar choice on the comparison pages | Us | Until you close the tab |
dsw-poke-done (session storage) | Remembers that the chat window's one suggestion has been shown or dismissed, so that it does not come back during the same visit | Us | Until you close the tab |
6.3 Analytics (when it loads depends on where you are, see section 4)
| Name | What it does | Set by | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga, _ga_<container id> | Google Analytics. Counts visits and the pages and downloads used | Google, on our domain | 2 years, as Google states |
_gid, _gat | Google Analytics, in set-ups that use them. Count visits | Google, on our domain | _gid: 24 hours. _gat: 1 minute. As Google states |
_clck, _clsk | Microsoft Clarity. Keep a visitor ID and link your page views into one visit that we can replay | Microsoft, on our domain | Set by Microsoft for the period in its own policy |
CLID, ANONCHK, MR, MUID, SM | Microsoft Clarity and Microsoft sites. Microsoft states that MUID identifies a browser across Microsoft sites and is used for advertising, site analytics and other operational purposes | Microsoft, on its own domains | Set by Microsoft for the period in its own policy |
Google Analytics receives information about your visit, such as the pages you view, the download button you press and your browser details. Microsoft Clarity records how you use a page (clicks, scrolling and page layout) so that we can replay a visit and fix confusing screens. We switch on masking of text you type. We do not use Clarity on account, checkout or support pages.
6.4 Marketing (when it loads depends on where you are, see section 4)
| Name | What it does | Set by | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
_gcl_au, _gcl_aw | Google's advertising features. Link a visit to an ad click and measure whether our ads work | Google, on our domain | 90 days, as Google states |
IDE and other cookies on Google's own domains | Google advertising. Which of these appear depends on how you reached us and on Google's settings | Google, on its own domains | IDE: 13 months in the European Economic Area and the UK, 24 months elsewhere, as Google states |
_fbp, _fbc | Meta Pixel. _fbp identifies your browser. _fbc records that you arrived from a Meta ad | Meta, on our domain | Set by Meta for the period in its own policy |
When Marketing tags run, we let Google use cookies and visit information for advertising, including measuring our ads and showing our ads to people who visited the Website. The Meta Pixel tells Meta about your visit so that it can do the same. Meta also uses cookies and receives information when you visit sites that use its tools, as its own policy describes.
6.5 Our own visit counter (no cookie)
Our own server counts first visits to the Website, the country of the visit, the source of the visit (the campaign tags and the advertising click identifiers in the web address) and the choice made in the cookie box (accept all, necessary only or customise). The counter sets no cookie on your device and stores no IP address. We work out the country from your internet address when you open a page and do not keep the address for the counter. Our server logs are separate and the Privacy Policy describes them.
7. Items from other companies
- The pricing page and the checkout load a payment script from Razorpay. Razorpay may set cookies and use storage in your browser when the script loads and when you pay, for payment and fraud checks. We treat these as strictly necessary because you cannot pay without them. Razorpay chooses their names and lifetimes, and we do not control them. See Razorpay's privacy policy and terms.
- If you choose to sign in with Google or GitHub, you go to their sites, and they may set their own cookies there. See the Google privacy policy and the GitHub privacy statement.
- If you start a voice call with our AI agent, your browser asks for permission to use your microphone. That is a browser permission and not a cookie. During the call your browser connects to Retell, our voice provider, to carry your voice. The Privacy Policy (section 5.4) explains what happens to it.
This policy lists the items the Website sets for visitors. If we add one, we update this policy.
8. Change your choice, or opt out
- The "Cookie settings" link at the bottom of every page reopens the cookie box. You can switch Analytics and Marketing on or off at any time. When you turn a category off, we delete its cookies that sit on our own domain and reload the page. Cookies that a provider keeps on its own domain can only be deleted in your browser.
- In the United States, the bottom of every page also shows a "Your privacy choices" link. It opens the same choices. It is there for people in California and other states whose law gives a right to opt out.
- If your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a choice to keep Marketing off wherever you are. In India and the United States, where Analytics also loads by default, it keeps Analytics off as well. In other places it does not change your Analytics choice, which you control in the cookie box.
- You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block the strictly necessary cookies, sign-in and payment will not work.
- Provider tools you can use: - Google: ad settings, the Google Analytics opt-out add-on, and how Google uses data from sites that use its services. Google's privacy policy applies. - Meta: its privacy policy explains its controls. - Microsoft: the Microsoft privacy statement and the Microsoft Clarity terms. - Interest-based advertising in general: Your Online Choices (Europe), the Digital Advertising Alliance (United States) and the Network Advertising Initiative.
9. Notes for particular places
- In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, we ask for your consent before we load Analytics or Marketing, using the cookie box. You can withdraw it as easily as you gave it.
- In California and other US states, Marketing tags load by default. While they run, Google and Meta may receive information about your visit. California law calls this "sharing" for cross-context behavioural advertising. We do not sell personal data. You can stop the sharing with "Cookie settings", "Your privacy choices" or Global Privacy Control.
- In India, Analytics and Marketing tags load by default and stop as soon as you press "Necessary only" or your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal. We expect to ask for your consent first when the duties of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act begin.
- In every other place, we ask for your consent before we load Analytics or Marketing, as in item 1.
10. Changes and questions
We may change this policy, for example when we add a tool. We update the version and date above, and we keep earlier versions. If you have a question about cookies, write to privacy@dictatesafe.com or use the Contact page. Section 12 of the Privacy Policy explains your rights and how to complain.
Document history
| Version | Date | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 28 October 2026 | First version in this form. Replaces version 0.2. Adds Microsoft Clarity, Google's advertising features, the Meta Pixel, Razorpay, the currency choice kept for the comparison pages, and the Global Privacy Control signal |