Understanding Cookies at Apex Academy
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the website. At Apex Academy, we use cookies to enhance your learning experience and improve our website's functionality. They help us remember your preferences and understand how you use our site.
Why Does Apex Academy Use Cookies?
We use cookies for several reasons:
- Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for our website to function properly. They enable you to navigate the site and use its features, such as accessing secure areas and course content. Without these cookies, certain services cannot be provided.
- Performance Cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors use our website, such as which pages are visited most often and if they receive error messages. This data helps us improve the performance and design of our website.
- Functionality Cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (such as your language or region) and provide enhanced, more personal features. They can also be used to provide services you have asked for, such as watching a video or commenting on a blog.
- Advertising/Targeting Cookies: These cookies are used to deliver advertisements that are more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator’s permission.
- Analytics Cookies: These cookies are used to track and analyze website traffic. We use tools like Google Analytics to understand how visitors interact with our site, which helps us optimize our content and improve user experience.
By understanding how you use our website, we can personalize your experience and offer content that is most relevant to your educational goals. This ultimately contributes to your success at Apex Academy.
Types of Cookies We Use
Apex Academy uses both first-party and third-party cookies:
- First-Party Cookies: These cookies are set by Apex Academy directly. We use them to remember your preferences and track your activity on our website.
- Third-Party Cookies: These cookies are set by a third-party domain. For example, we use Google Analytics to track website traffic, and Google sets cookies for this purpose. We also use third-party cookies for advertising and social media integrations.
How to Control Cookies
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. You can exercise your cookie preferences by:
- Browser Settings: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website, though your access to some functionality and areas of our website may be restricted. The process for controlling cookies varies depending on your web browser. Consult your browser's help menu for instructions.
- Opt-Out Tools: Some third-party service providers, such as Google, offer opt-out tools for their cookies. You can visit their websites to learn more about these options.
- Cookie Consent Banner: When you first visit our website, you will see a cookie consent banner. You can use this banner to manage your cookie preferences.
Please note that if you delete your cookies or use a different browser or device, you may need to reset your cookie preferences.
Specific Cookies Used by Apex Academy
Here is a list of the main cookies used by Apex Academy, along with their purpose and duration:
- _ga: Used by Google Analytics to distinguish users. Expires after 2 years.
- _gid: Used by Google Analytics to distinguish users. Expires after 24 hours.
- _gat: Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate. Expires after 1 minute.
- apex_session: Used to maintain user session information. Expires when the browser is closed.
- remember_me: Used to remember user login details. Expires after 30 days.
- marketing_consent: Used to store user consent for marketing cookies. Expires after 1 year.
This list is not exhaustive and may be updated periodically.
Updates to Our Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. Please re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. The date at the top of this Cookie Policy indicates when it was last updated.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please contact our Data Protection Officer, Maria Rodriguez, at:
Apex Academy
555 Market Street, Suite 1200
San Francisco, CA 94105
Email:
[email protected]
Phone: (415) 555-0100
We are committed to addressing your concerns and providing clear information about our data practices.