Cookie policy
The short version
SoundHull uses the cookies and browser storage it needs to work — signing you in for a visit, remembering a paid report, and letting the app work offline. Those are strictly necessary, so UK law (the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) does not require your consent for them.
On the marketing pages we would also like to use Google Analytics, so we can see which pages are read and how people find us. That is not strictly necessary, so it runs only if you choose “Accept analytics” in the box at the bottom of the page. Choose “Essential only” and nothing from Google loads at all. Either choice is remembered for 12 months and you can change it here: . We use no advertising and no retargeting cookies, and the app and report pages load nothing from anyone else's servers.
What we store, and why
A “cookie” is a small file a website puts in your browser. “Browser storage” means the other places a browser lets a site keep information (local storage, session storage, IndexedDB and the offline cache). This is the complete list for SoundHull:
| Name / place | Where | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
sh_… cookie | Paid boat-history reports (/h/…) | Remembers that this browser has paid to read one particular report, so you are not asked to pay twice. Set only after a payment, only for that report's address, and unreadable by scripts. | Up to 30 days (the access you paid for) |
IndexedDB: yacht-skeleton | The SoundHull app (/app, /seller) | Holds the inspection you are working on, so the app works without signal and nothing is lost if the page reloads. Your sign-in is kept only for the visit you are in (so a page reload does not throw you out); it is deleted the next time you open the app, and you sign in again every time. | Sign-in: the current visit (at most 4 hours). Inspection data: until you sign out or clear site data |
| Offline cache (service worker) | The SoundHull app | Stores the app's own files so it opens with no signal. Holds no personal data. | Replaced when the app updates; cleared with site data |
| Session storage | Marketplace portal (/portal, /developers) | Holds a marketplace's partner key for the browser tab you signed in with, so you are not asked for it on every click. | Until the tab closes |
| Local storage | Marketplace portal; the owner's admin view | Small preferences, and the one-device lock the SoundHull owner uses for the admin view. | Until cleared |
Local storage: sh_cookie_consent (sh_cookie_notice on the portal and developer pages) | All pages | Remembers your cookie choice (“Accept analytics” or “Essential only”), so you are not asked on every page. | 12 months (portal/developer pages: until cleared, or until the tab closes on the developer guide) |
_ga, _ga_… cookies (Google Analytics) | Marketing pages only (not the app, the portal or report pages) — and only after you choose “Accept analytics” | Tell Google Analytics that a page view came from the same browser as an earlier one, so we can count visitors rather than page loads. Set by Google; your IP address is truncated; Google's advertising features are switched off. | Up to 2 years (set by Google) |
Nothing in this list identifies you to anyone outside SoundHull, and none of it is shared with or read by third parties.
Payments: Stripe
When you pay for a report or a seller subscription, the payment page is provided by
Stripe on Stripe's own address (checkout.stripe.com). Stripe sets its own
cookies there for fraud prevention and to run the payment; SoundHull does not control them and never
sees your card details. Stripe publishes its own cookie policy on its website (stripe.com, under Legal); SoundHull's
pages deliberately link nowhere off this site.
Sellers who manage a subscription do so on Stripe's billing page, which works the same way.
SoundHull inside a marketplace's website
Some used-boat marketplaces show a SoundHull panel or box inside their own pages, or run their “sell your boat” page on SoundHull. The verified-history box shown to buyers sets nothing at all. The seller panel uses the same app storage described above, kept separately for that marketplace by your browser. The marketplace's own cookies are its own, and are covered by its own policy.
Google Analytics (only with your permission)
If you accept, our marketing pages load Google's measurement script and send Google Analytics the pages you view, the rough time you spend, the kind of device and browser, an approximate location worked out from a truncated IP address, and how you arrived (for example from a search engine). Google processes this for us as our processor; SoundHull sees it only as aggregated reports. We have switched Google's advertising features off, so this data is not used to show you adverts, and we do not combine it with anything that identifies you. Google may transfer the data to the United States under its standard contractual clauses. Google's own notice is at policies.google.com/privacy (not linked here on purpose: these pages link nowhere off this site). The script, the cookies and the sending all stay off until you accept; choose “Essential only” later and the script no longer loads and its cookies are removed from this browser.
What we do not do
No Google Analytics or any other analytics without your permission, and none at all in the app, the portal or on report pages. No advertising or retargeting pixels. No social-media buttons that report back. No fingerprinting. No fonts, scripts or images loaded from third parties on any page, other than Google's measurement script after you accept it. If that ever changes we will update this page first, and anything that is not strictly necessary will be off until you switch it on.
How to clear or block
Every browser lets you delete cookies and site data and block them for a site; the setting is usually under Privacy or Site data. If you block storage for SoundHull, the marketing pages still work, but the app cannot work offline or survive a page reload while you are signed in, and a paid report will ask for your personal access link instead of remembering you.
Questions
Write to soundhullinspect@gmail.com. Our privacy notice explains what happens to the information itself.