On Android, as on iOS and on computers, cookies are just as important. That is why we think it is interesting to review what exactly these files are and why are they so important. In fact, we will explain to you the reason why it is always advisable to stop to configure them without blindly hitting the “accept” button.
Cookies are not necessarily bad if you know what they are
The first thing is to know what exactly are cookies. basically they are a series of files that are created with our browsing data. They are owned by the websites we visit, although for this they not only need our express consent, but also follow certain rules.
And, like almost everything in life, it has its positive and its negative part. An example that these records are not necessarily bad We find it when shopping online. Surely on some occasion it has happened to you that you are visiting a digital store, add products to the basket, accidentally leave the web and see that when you re-enter they are still in the basket. Well, this is thanks to the fact that cookies keep alive that memory of the products that you added to the basket.
If we look at the more controversial side of cookies It is essential for us to talk about advertising. The ads are not bad, since they help to make web pages profitable and can be useful for the user to find advice related to their preferences. However, in this last point is the question that can often be seen negative. In a very legitimate way, by the way.
And it is that cookies can be used to create a pattern of user behavior by tracking their activity. For example, if you are looking for information about sneakers, it is more than likely that ads about sneakers will appear on the following pages you visit, regardless of whether or not the website you are on is related to that item of clothing.
The European Cookie Laws They are precisely trying to regulate that we can have a greater control over these files. Thus, we not only have the possibility of deleting them from our browser, but also of configuring them and making the files store only certain information.
We are already fully entering that section that many of us consider tedious when we enter a website and we get a notice about cookies and we tend to click on any button. However we want to see why it is important to spend time configuring them and not accept them without further ado or reject them outright. And more seeing that there are certain websites that do not make it easy and their configuration is somewhat convoluted.
Summarizing, we have two types of configurations, starting with the necessary cookiesalso known as technical cookies. These generate files that are considered necessary so that websites can control the traffic of entering users and establish certain internal mechanisms such as storing certain purchase data (see the example of the shopping cart that we discussed above). They are also valid to carry out registration processes on the websites, to be able to use security elements and optimize the performance of the website.
The personalization cookiesalso called preference cookies Frequently, they are the ones that track your browsing preferences with the sole purpose of improving your user experience. See as an example that they remember your language to show you content that you can understand, as well as the region and even the browser you use. The latter is especially noteworthy if we take into account that there are many websites that are not optimized for all browsers.
We also find the performance and analytics cookies, which should not be confused with the advertising that we will mention later. In these, all the activity that the user carries out while browsing that website is recorded. In a way, we could say that it is used to track you, but only while you remain there, since they will not be used to track you when you enter another website or to offer you personalized ads based on what you do on that website.
The advertising cookiesalso known as marketing cookies Yes, they are the ones that are used to create profiles of each user. Accepting these cookies allows tracking by other websites in order to display advertising according to those tastes and preferences that the websites believe the user has. Here the example of the sports shoes that we mentioned in a previous section enters fully.
Example of broken down cookies
It should be said that then the websites can make changes to your cookie settings and divide the different sections mentioned above into different consents. For example, advertising cookies may not be a single request, but rather break it down by asking the user if they are allowed to create an advertising profile based on their activity, if they are also allowed to display ads accordingly, use their preferences with in order to create a study, etc.
Therefore, it is no longer necessary to go into too much detail to explain what happens when we accept all cookies. And it is that by doing so, each and every one of the conditions set forth in the previous types of cookies are being accepted.
Therefore, if you are concerned about your privacy, these files are important. In accordance with the aforementioned European standards, all websites have the obligation to allow you to configure cookies and select only the ones you think are convenient. Sometimes you have to look for the option in the fine print, but they are, they are. And in this way you can choose only a few and even keep only the necessary ones/techniques.