Legal
Cookie Policy
Everything UroCompanion stores on your device, and why. Last updated 12 October 2026.
This policy lists every cookie and every piece of browser storage UroCompanion uses. It forms part of our Privacy Policy, and the tables below are generated directly from the site’s own configuration — so what you read here is what the site actually sets, not a description of it.
The short version
UroCompanion runs no advertising, no tracking, and no analytics. There are no third-party cookies on this site at all. What we do set is a handful of first-party cookies that keep you signed in and secure, plus some browser storage that remembers your preferences and keeps your current UroBot chat or quiz in the tab. You can change your choice at any time from .
1. What a cookie is (and what browser storage is)
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to keep, and which the browser sends back on each visit. That is how a site can tell that this request comes from the same person who signed in a moment ago.
Browser storage (local storage, and session storage, which lasts only as long as the tab) is similar, with one important difference: it is not attached to requests, so our servers see it only when a feature sends it on purpose. Only one is ever sent: your current UroBot chat, which goes with your next question so UroBot can follow the conversation. We use the rest for preferences such as your reading theme, and to keep an unfinished quiz in its tab.
2. The categories, and what you control
We group everything into three categories. Only the first is set without asking you.
- Essential (always on) — Needed for the site to work at all: keeping you signed in and secure, remembering this privacy choice, and holding something you are in the middle of, such as an email change, your current UroBot chat or an unfinished quiz. These are never used to track you, and they cannot be turned off.
- Functional — Remembers your choices on this device: reading and study themes, whether the sidebar is expanded, pages you recently opened from search, your last calculator, the topics you have opened and your Cram flashcard schedule. Turning this off does not break the site; it just stops remembering these on this device.
- Analytics — Would let us measure which pages are used and where people get stuck, so we can improve the site. We do not currently run any analytics — this stays here so that if we ever add it, it cannot start without your permission.
Essential items are exempt from consent because the site cannot work without them: you cannot stay signed in without a session cookie, we cannot remember that you declined cookies without storing that you declined, and an email change, a UroBot chat or an unfinished quiz cannot carry on after a reload unless your browser holds it. Everything else is off until you switch it on.
3. Cookies we set
All of these are first-party — set by urocompanion.com, sent only to urocompanion.com. None of them contain advertising identifiers, and none are shared with anyone.
| Name | Purpose | Category | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
uc_id_tokenhttpOnly | Your signed-in session. Holds the Cognito ID token that proves who you are on each request, so you do not have to log in on every page. | essential | About 1 hour, renewed silently while you are active |
uc_refresh_tokenhttpOnly | Lets the site renew your session in the background so you are not logged out mid-study. Deleted when you sign out. | essential | 30 days |
uc_usernamehttpOnly | Your account's internal username, stored alongside the refresh token so the session can be renewed after the short-lived token above has expired. | essential | 30 days |
uc_chgemail_athttpOnly | Carries the re-authentication token across the two steps of changing your email address, so the change requires your current password. | essential | 15 minutes, or until the change completes, you sign out or you delete your account |
uc_chgemail_tohttpOnly | Holds the new email address you entered while you fetch the verification code sent to it. | essential | 15 minutes, or until the change completes, you sign out or you delete your account |
uc_consent | Your answer to this cookie banner, plus the date you gave it and the version of the notice you saw. Without it we would have to ask you again on every page. | essential | 12 months |
Cookies marked httpOnly cannot be read by JavaScript at all — a deliberate protection so that a scripting flaw anywhere on the page still could not steal your session.
4. Browser storage we use
On this device. These stay on your device and are never sent to us. The Functional ones are written only after you switch Functional on, and switching it off deletes them; the site keeps working, it just stops remembering these preferences.
| Name | Purpose | Category | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
uc-read-theme | The reading theme you picked on study note, Further Reading and procedure pages. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
uc-rail-expanded | Whether the left navigation rail is expanded or collapsed. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
uc-palette-recent | The last few pages you opened from the command palette, so they appear first next time. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
urocompanion:assess-theme | Light or dark theme for the Question Vault, the tests you create in My Test Companion, quizzes of your saved questions, and the question of the day. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
urocompanion:cards-theme | Light or dark theme for the Cards surface. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
urocompanion:decks-theme | Light or dark theme for the Decks surface. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
urocompanion:daily-theme | Light or dark theme for Daily Review, for the Daily MCQ, Progress and Leaderboards tabs of My Test Companion, and for your study groups. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
urocompanion:tools-active-calc | The last calculator you had open, so Calculators reopens on it. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
urocompanion:topics-viewed | Which Further Reading topics you have opened on this device, and how often. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
urocompanion:flashcards-srs | When each flashcard you rate on the Cram tab is next due, so due cards come back on schedule. | functional | Until you clear your browser storage |
uro:pending-email-change | The new email address you entered and where the code was sent, so the confirmation step survives a reload. Cleared when the change completes, is canceled or you sign out. | essential | Until the change completes, is canceled or you sign out |
In this tab only. Your browser deletes these when you close the tab. Both are Essential: each keeps something you are in the middle of. Your current UroBot chat is sent with your next question so UroBot can follow the conversation; the unfinished quiz never leaves your device.
| Name | Purpose | Category | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
uc-urobot-thread | Your current UroBot chat in this tab, so the dock and the Ask page share it. Sent with your next question so UroBot can follow the conversation. Tagged with your account, so another account signed in on the same tab can't load it. Cleared when you close the tab, start a new chat or sign out. | essential | Until you close the tab |
urocompanion:mcq-resume:v2 | An unfinished quiz in this tab, so you can pick it up after an accidental click away. Tagged with your account, so only you are offered it back. Cleared when you close the tab or sign out. | essential | Until you close the tab |
5. Third-party cookies
There are none. No advertising network, analytics provider, social network, or embedded widget sets a cookie on this site.
We do rely on a small number of service providers to run UroCompanion, but they are called from our servers rather than from your browser, so none of them place anything on your device:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Hosting, database, file storage, and the Cognito identity service that holds your login credentials. (processed in Frankfurt, Germany (eu-central-1); privacy policy)
- Google (Gemini API) — Generates UroBot's answers from UroCompanion's own content. Called from our server, never from your browser. (processed in Google Cloud infrastructure; privacy policy)
- Resend — Sends account emails — activation codes, password resets, and email-change verification. (processed in United States; privacy policy)
6. Changing or withdrawing your choice
Open — from here or from the footer of any page — to change your answer. Withdrawing is exactly as easy as giving consent, and takes effect immediately: switching a category off also deletes what it had already stored.
You can also clear or block cookies in your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies will stop you being able to sign in, because the site would have no way to recognize your session.
7. How long we keep your choice
Your answer is stored for 12 months, after which we ask again. We record the date you answered and the version of this notice you saw. If we materially change the categories or add a new service, we reset the notice and ask you afresh rather than relying on a decision you made about something else.
8. Questions
Email urocompanion@gmail.com and we’ll answer. For the wider picture of what we collect and the rights you have over it, see the Privacy Policy.