What Gets Stored on Your Device

When you visit Howtomanual, several small data files take up residence in your browser. Some vanish when you close the tab. Others stick around for months. Here's what's happening and why it matters to your experience with our budget management tools.

We rely on three distinct categories of tracking mechanisms, each serving different functions. The separation isn't arbitrary — it reflects how much control you have over each type and what happens if you disable them.

Operational Essentials

These keep the platform functional. Without them, you can't log in, save budget data, or maintain sessions across pages. They exist solely to make the service work as you'd expect.

• Authentication tokens that verify your identity without requiring constant re-login
• Session identifiers that connect your actions across different pages during a single visit
• Security markers that prevent unauthorized access to your budget projects
• Load balancing indicators that route your requests to available servers

Performance and Interface Customization

The second category involves elements that remember your preferences and help us understand how people actually use the platform. You can decline these, but doing so means starting fresh every time you visit.

Think of these as convenience enhancers. They remember which budget view you prefer, whether you like the dashboard collapsed or expanded, and which currency format you typically work with. They also tell us which features get ignored and which ones cause confusion.

The analytics identifiers deserve extra explanation. They don't reveal who you are personally, but they do create a consistent thread across your visits. This helps us distinguish between one person visiting five times and five people visiting once — a crucial difference when evaluating feature adoption.

External Integration Points

Some tracking mechanisms come from services we incorporate rather than technologies we built ourselves. These handle specific functions that would be inefficient to develop in-house.

Third-Party Components Currently Active

• Google Analytics examines traffic patterns and user behavior flows
  • Generates visitor counts and geographic distribution data
  • Identifies which marketing channels drive qualified traffic
  • Measures conversion paths from initial visit to account creation
• Stripe processes payment information and fraud detection
  • Stores payment method tokens for recurring subscriptions
  • Maintains transaction history for billing dispute resolution
  • Monitors for suspicious payment patterns
• Intercom manages customer support chat functionality
  • Preserves conversation threads across multiple sessions
  • Tracks support ticket status and resolution timing
  • Connects your account details with support inquiries

Your Control Mechanisms

Most browsers give you blanket controls that affect all sites simultaneously. We also provide granular settings within your account dashboard specifically for Howtomanual tracking.

Browser-Level Management

Every major browser includes settings for blocking third-party trackers, clearing stored data, or preventing all tracking mechanisms entirely. The location varies — Chrome hides it under Privacy and Security, Firefox puts it in Enhanced Tracking Protection, Safari calls it Intelligent Tracking Prevention.

Aggressive blocking will break login functionality. That's not a threat, just mechanical reality. Authentication requires storing session identifiers somewhere.

Platform-Specific Preferences

Once logged into Howtomanual, navigate to Account Settings and select Privacy Controls. You'll find toggles for analytics participation, interface personalization, and third-party integrations. Disabling analytics means we lose visibility into how you use features, but your budget data remains fully functional.

Technical Data We Collect Through These Mechanisms

The tracking technologies described above gather several data categories. Some are obvious, others less so.

Device information arrives automatically — your browser type, operating system version, screen resolution, and whether you're on mobile or desktop. IP addresses provide approximate geographic location, which influences server routing and helps detect access from unusual regions that might indicate account compromise.

Behavioral data includes which pages you visit, how long you stay on each screen, which buttons you click, and where you abandon processes partway through. This reveals friction points in the interface and features that confuse users.

We also collect timing information — when you log in, how long sessions last, periods of inactivity, and whether you access the platform during business hours or evenings. This affects infrastructure planning and feature development prioritization.

Policy Modification Approach

We update this document when we add new tracking technologies, change data retention periods, or incorporate different third-party services. The effective date at the top reflects the most recent revision.

Major changes get announced via email to active account holders. Minor clarifications or formatting updates happen without notification — we're not going to spam you about typo corrections or reorganized sections.

Previous versions remain accessible through our policy archive, linked from the main privacy documentation page. This lets you compare what changed and when.