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Our policy on cookies: they are delicious (and actually pretty useful)
This page gives you details about how we use cookies on the FreeAgent website www.freeagent.com and in the FreeAgent application. If you have any questions about this policy, just get in touch - you can email us at privacy@freeagent.com.
By visiting, logging in to, registering with or using FreeAgent (or 'app') or the FreeAgent website, you agree that it's okay for us to collect, use and transfer your personal data under the terms of this policy. If you're not happy with this or don't want to be bound by this policy, you can disable cookies - see the section below on managing your cookies for details.
About cookies
If you're like us, you've probably not given too much thought to any cookie that doesn't involve chocolate, so here are the essentials: digital cookies are small files made up of bits of data, stored in your phone or computer's temporary memory when you navigate around the web. Unless you have indicated your objection, our system will issue cookies to your computer when you access, register with or log in to the FreeAgent website, or use FreeAgent. Cookies make it easier for you to log in and use these sites during visits.
Mainly, we use cookies to let our website and app know when a computer that's visited before returns. That cookie information helps us understand traffic patterns on our website, store any preferences or passwords that you've asked us to store and understand how well our advertising is going.
How we use cookies
We use cookies for a number of things across the FreeAgent website and FreeAgent, including:
| What the cookie is used for | More details | What type of cookie? |
|---|---|---|
| Logging you in to the FreeAgent app | To log you in to FreeAgent, we need to store a temporary cookie. This cookie will be automatically deleted after 20 minutes of inactivity, or after you log out. | First-party |
| Auto-logging you in to the FreeAgent app | By checking 'Keep me logged in', you can choose to store a permanent cookie that allows you to access FreeAgent without logging in each time. Be careful when you use this option, and only check this when you're confident that your computer is secure. | First-party |
| Logging you in to the FreeAgent Practice Portal | To log you in to the FreeAgent Practice Portal, we need to store a temporary cookie which allows you access for as long as the cookie is valid - without the need to log in each time. This cookie will be automatically invalidated after 12 hours - regardless of activity, or after you log out. | First-party |
| Recognising you as a return visitor | Using analytics software and a cookie, we can tell that you've visited FreeAgent before. This helps us understand what parts of the site you're coming back to see. | First-party |
| Monitoring website traffic and video traffic | We want to know which parts of our site are popular and which parts aren't, so we use a cookie to analyse traffic as it moves around the FreeAgent website and FreeAgent. | First-party (including Google) and third-party |
| Reminding you of FreeAgent elsewhere | Many third parties such as blogs, newspapers, search engines and other sites online will use a cookie to check if you've visited FreeAgent lately, as part of a service that we use. If you have visited us, the third party can show you an advertising message on their website with FreeAgent's latest big news, instead of something irrelevant. More details are available in Google's privacy policies and terms. | Third-party (including Google) |
| Understanding how people found us | We want to know how FreeAgent caught your eye, so we use a cookie to understand how you found FreeAgent when you visit. | First-party |
| Asking you to join usability tests or for your feedback | We don't have all the answers, so sometimes we run surveys to ask our visitors to help us improve FreeAgent or the FreeAgent website. When we're running these surveys, we use a cookie to store whether you've said 'yes' or 'no' to participating, or to store that you've given feedback. | First-party |
| Customising FreeAgent for you | While you use FreeAgent to do your books, we set a number of cookies that customise the FreeAgent experience for you. For example, when you choose to show 50 invoices per page, we'll set a cookie to reflect that. | First-party |
| Showing jobs and exams on the FreeAgent website | Job listings and exams are embedded via third party services which set their own cookies. However, we have no control over these - you can turn them off, but not through FreeAgent. More details are available in Workable's privacy policy. | Third-party (Workable, EasyLMS) |
| Delivering an optimal experience across the FreeAgent website | The FreeAgent website experience is powered by a range of third-party tools used to provide live chat, video content, book support calls and indicate interest in our services. These tools set cookies which we can't control - they can be turned off, but not through FreeAgent. More details are available in: | Chocolate chip - just kidding, it's third-party (Zendesk, Appointedd, Wistia, FormAssembly) |
Note: A first-party cookie is created by FreeAgent, and a third-party cookie is created by one of FreeAgent's suppliers or partners.
Personal information and cookies
The only personal information a cookie can contain is information that you supply yourself - a cookie cannot read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. Your privacy and security are not compromised when you accept a cookie from the FreeAgent website or FreeAgent. You may set up your computer to reject cookies by following the relevant instructions in the section below on managing your cookies. If you switch off cookies, you may not be able to use parts of our website or app.
We sometimes use cookies to help personally identify you, but we do it in a secure way. Instead of storing personal data about you in a cookie, we store anonymous data on your computer, then combine that data on a secure server with any information that you've given us on the FreeAgent website. For example, if you sign up for our newsletter on the FreeAgent website, we'll use this combined data to customise the newsletter with information that you'll find most helpful. Further information about how we use your information is available in our Privacy Policy.
You can manage your cookies using your browser
If you want to manage or disable cookies for the FreeAgent website or any other site, you can do it by changing your browser settings. Look under the 'Help' menu for specific instructions for your browser, or read on for details about the most common browsers:
For Google Chrome:
- At the top right, click the three vertical dots and then 'Settings'.
- Under 'Privacy and security', click 'Site settings'.
- Click 'Cookies and site data'.
- From here, you can select 'Block third-party cookies' or 'Block all cookies (not recommended)'.
For Microsoft Edge:
- Select the three dots icon in the upper-right corner and select 'Settings'.
- In the left-hand menu, select 'Cookies and site permissions'.
- Go to 'Manage and delete cookies and site data'.
- Enable 'Block third-party cookies'.
For Mozilla Firefox:
- Choose the menu 'Tools' then 'Options'.
- Click on the icon 'Privacy'.
- Find the menu 'Cookie' and select the relevant options.
You can also opt out of a number of targeted advertising cookies by visiting these opt-out pages: National Advertising Initiative and Google. This opt-out won't stop advertising companies from showing you banner ads, but it will prevent them from personalising their banner ads to you specifically.
You can find out more about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.
Contact us
If you'd like to get in touch about our cookie policy, just email our team at privacy@freeagent.com.