1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are stored 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 site.

Cookies can be "persistent" or "session" cookies. Persistent cookies remain on your personal computer or mobile device when you go offline, while session cookies are deleted as soon as you close your web browser.

2. How We Use Cookies

PsycheMap uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information. Cookies we use may include:

• Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for the Service to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, or filling in forms (e.g., our mock authentication uses localStorage which acts similarly for session persistence).
• Functionality Cookies: These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. For example, our "Background Switcher" development tool uses localStorage to remember your preferred background pattern.
• Performance and Analytics Cookies: These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our Service. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the Service. (Note: PsycheMap does not currently implement detailed analytics cookies beyond basic server logs or potential future integrations).

We do not currently use cookies for targeted advertising purposes.

3. Types of Cookies We Use

In addition to session and persistent cookies, we primarily use first-party cookies (set by PsycheMap). Any third-party cookies would be from embedded services or future integrations and would be detailed here.

Our mock authentication system utilizes `localStorage` to store authentication status, user email, and name. While not technically HTTP cookies, `localStorage` items serve a similar purpose for session persistence on the client-side for this demonstration application.

4. Your Choices Regarding Cookies

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this Service may become inaccessible or not function properly.

For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites (if we were to implement it), visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

5. Changes to This Cookie Policy

We may update our Cookie Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Cookie Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.

6. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy, please contact us via the feedback form on our platform or at cookies@psychemap.app (placeholder).