Cookie preferences
The cookie preference centre is the one place on Onflow Ads where you turn advertising tags on or off, and the one place that explains why the Essential row has a tick where you might expect a switch. This page is the how-to: where to find it, what each control does, and what happens the moment you save.
For what each category actually contains — the exact cookies, the exact tags, and which of them load before you answer — read Cookies and tracking in the Privacy Policy summary, or §18 of the full policy. This page deliberately does not repeat those lists, so the two can never drift apart.
Before you start
- You do not need an account. The preference centre works signed out, and your choice is stored in the browser you are using — not on your account.
- Your answer does not travel. A different browser, a different device, a private window, or clearing site data all mean you are asked again. There is no account setting that carries the choice across.
- You may never have seen the banner. It appears on a first visit only when the deploy you are on actually has a tracking or advertising tag configured. Where none is, nothing is shown — but the footer entry still opens the dialog.
Where to find it
| Route | Where |
|---|---|
| The footer, on any page | The Legal column, under Terms, Privacy and Refunds: Cookie preferences |
| On a phone | The same footer entry — scroll to the bottom of any page. The navigation sheet behind the ☰ button does not carry it. |
| The first-visit banner | The Manage preferences link under the two buttons |
| From a browser console | window.onflowCookiePreferences() opens it directly |
The banner is the thing that comes and goes — the footer link does not. Even on a deploy where no advertising tag is configured and no banner ever appeared, Cookie preferences in the footer opens the same dialog, so you can see and change your answer whenever you want. Withdrawing consent is kept exactly as easy as giving it.
The first-visit banner
On a first visit — and only when the consent requirement is on and at least one tracking tag is actually configured — a card appears in the corner of the page:
- A shield icon and the heading Cookie preferences.
- The text "We use cookies to keep you signed in, keep Onflow Ads secure and understand how it is used. You can accept everything, refuse marketing, or choose for yourself. See our Privacy Policy.", with Privacy Policy linking to /privacy.
- Two buttons: Accept all and Reject all.
- A Manage preferences link underneath, which opens the full dialog.
The banner needs the operator's consent requirement to be on and at least one of Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Clarity, PostHog, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit or X to be configured. A browser sending a Global Privacy Control signal never sees it either: the signal is honoured as a stored "marketing off" and nothing is asked. Asking permission when there is nothing to disclose would be theatre, so nothing is shown. Turning the consent requirement itself off is treated by the Privacy Policy as a material change requiring 30 days' notice (§18.3), so it cannot be quietly switched.
While the banner or the dialog is on screen, the floating help launcher hides itself, and the "Install Onflow Ads" card refuses to appear over it — the install invitation is offered about 2.6 seconds after you answer instead.
Step by step
- Open the dialog. Scroll to the footer of any page and press Cookie preferences in the Legal column, or press Manage preferences on the first-visit banner. A modal opens headed Manage cookie preferences, with the line "Choose which cookies you allow us to use."
- Read the Essential row. It carries an Always on badge and a tick instead of a switch. There is nothing to set here — this row is the sign-in session, the security tokens, the preference this dialog stores, and the analytics the service is run and repaired with. The Privacy Policy link inside the row goes straight to the section naming every tool involved.
- Set the Marketing switch. This is the only control in the dialog. On means advertising and remarketing tags may load; off means none of them ever does. If the deploy has no advertising tag configured at all, the row adds the italic line "No marketing tools are in use on this site right now." — the switch is still real, it simply has nothing to turn on today.
- Commit your answer with one of the three footer buttons. Reject all saves marketing off, Accept all saves marketing on, and Save preferences saves whatever the switch is currently set to. All three close the dialog.
- Check what happened. If you have just turned marketing off after it had already loaded during this visit, the page reloads itself a moment later — that is expected, and the next section explains why.
Moving the Marketing switch does not save anything. Closing the dialog with the ✕, with Escape, or by clicking outside the card discards the change and leaves your previous answer in place. Only the three footer buttons write an answer — and Reject all and Accept all ignore the switch position entirely and save their own.
What each control does
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Essential row (tick, Always on) | Nothing to press. Names what cannot be switched off: your sign-in session, the security tokens that protect your account, the preference this dialog stores, and the analytics used to run and repair the service |
| Marketing switch | The one thing you decide. Advertising and remarketing tags: Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit and X |
| Reject all | Saves marketing off, whatever the switch says, and closes |
| Save preferences | Saves the switch as it currently stands, and closes |
| Accept all | Saves marketing on, whatever the switch says, and closes |
| ✕, Escape, clicking the backdrop | Closes without saving anything |
Keyboard focus is trapped inside the card while it is open, so Tab cannot walk out onto the page behind the backdrop, and Escape always closes it.
What happens after you save
- Your answer is written to this browser. It is kept in the browser's own storage under
onflow_cookie_prefs, along with the moment you answered. Nothing about the choice is attached to your account. - Accepting loads the advertising tags immediately, without a reload.
- Rejecting before anything loaded takes effect silently — the tags simply never load, and the page carries on.
- A
cookie_consentanalytics event is recorded with the choice you made, so the platform can see how many people accept and how many refuse.
A tag whose script is already on the page cannot be unloaded — there is no way to un-run JavaScript that has run. So when you turn Marketing off after it had already booted during this visit, the page reloads itself about 150 milliseconds after you save. That reload is the only honest way to make "off" actually mean off within the same visit. If marketing was never on, nothing reloads.
Save your work in any form on the page before you turn Marketing off.
The Essential row's own text names the analytics as part of what cannot be switched off. If what you want stopped is the measurement rather than the advertising, the control is your browser: every current browser ships tracking protection and every content blocker stops those tools loading at all. Onflow Ads does not detect, discourage or work around one, and the service works normally with every analytics tool blocked. That is Privacy Policy §18.5, and it is the honest answer rather than a switch that would not do what it appears to.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No cookie banner on your first visit | The consent requirement is off, or no tracking tag is configured on this deploy — there is nothing to ask about | Open Cookie preferences from the footer to see and set your answer anyway |
| The dialog says "No marketing tools are in use on this site right now." | Correct, not a fault: no advertising pixel is configured today | Set the switch as you wish; it applies if one is ever added |
| The page reloaded straight after you saved | You turned Marketing off after it had already loaded during this visit | Expected. Nothing was lost from your answer; the reload is what makes "off" real |
| The banner came back after you answered | Site data was cleared, or you are in a different browser, a different device or a private window | Answer again; the choice is per browser and is never carried by your account |
| Nothing happens when you press Cookie preferences | Scripts are blocked on the page, so the dialog cannot be built | Allow scripts for onflowads.com, or block cookies and tags in your browser instead — which is the stronger control anyway |
| A tag you refused appears to be running | Four things load before the banner by design (the analytics tools, Google's tag in its advertising-denied state, the Trustpilot widget and a third-party live-chat widget) — see the Privacy Policy summary | If it is genuinely an advertising pixel, that is a bug: email [email protected] and it will be fixed and explained |
| The help widget vanished while the dialog was open | Deliberate — the launcher hides itself so the two never overlap | It returns as soon as you close or answer the dialog |
Frequently asked questions
Does my choice follow my account?
No. It lives in the browser you made it in. Signing in on a new device or a new browser means answering again, because the answer is about that browser's storage, not about you.
Can I change my mind later?
At any time, in either direction, from Cookie preferences in the footer. Withdrawing consent is deliberately kept as easy as giving it — that is a commitment in Privacy Policy §22.
Does refusing cookies break anything?
No. Nothing on the site is built to survive being blocked, and nothing degrades when you refuse. The only cookies that will genuinely break the site are the strictly necessary ones — blocking those in your browser signs you out and stops you signing back in, because they are the sign-in mechanism.
Why is analytics in the always-on category?
Because measuring and repairing the service is treated as part of running it, and the policy states that plainly rather than filing it under "necessary". The cost of that choice is written down too: your IP address, device and browser reach those providers, and Microsoft Clarity records a replay of your interactions with the page. None of them is used for advertising or to identify you to anyone else.
What about the Global Privacy Control?
It is honoured automatically (§18.4). Where your browser sends the signal, marketing is recorded as refused in that browser, no advertising tag loads, and the banner is not shown at all — the footer entry still opens the dialog if you want to change it. Reject all puts a browser without the signal in the same state.
Where do I read what is actually in each category?
Cookies and tracking in the Privacy Policy summary lists every cookie Onflow Ads sets, what is kept in your browser and never sent, and every third-party tag with which side of the banner it is on.
Related
- Privacy Policy (summary) — what each category contains, cookie by cookie and tag by tag
- Fraud and bot protection — the security check on sign-up, sign-in, the contact form, withdrawals and signed-out support chat, which is not a consent question
- Account settings — the preferences that do live on your account, including marketing email
- Policies FAQ — the quickest answers across this whole section
Next: Refund Policy (summary) — top-ups, Boost orders, cancelling a placement, and what comes off a refund that leaves the platform.