Cookie Policy
What Literally stores in your browser, why, and what you can switch off.
Last updated 2 October 2026The short version
Literally is operated by Literally Books Ltd (company number 17407736), trading as “Literally”. Literally sets no analytics cookies until you choose to allow them. Until you answer the banner, nothing optional is written and the Google Analytics script is not loaded at all — not in a limited mode, not at all.
The handful of things we do store without asking are the ones that make the site function: keeping you signed in, remembering whether you prefer night mode, and remembering the answer you gave to the cookie banner itself.
Essential storage
These are set because the site cannot work without them. They carry no advertising identifiers and are not shared with anyone.
sb-*literally-themeliterally-consentliterally_sidll-geo-country| Name | Where | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
sb-* | Cookie | Keeps you signed in. Set by Supabase, our database and authentication provider. | Until you sign out or the session expires |
literally-theme | Local storage | Remembers whether you chose light or night mode, so the page does not flash the wrong one. | Until you clear it |
literally-consent | Local storage | Remembers your answer to the cookie banner, so we stop asking. | Until you clear it |
literally_sid | Session storage | A random id that groups one visit’s page events together. It is not linked to a device or a person and is discarded when you close the tab. | Until you close the tab |
ll-geo-country | Cookie | Your country, as a two-letter code, so we can show the right thing before you sign in — for example a UK bookshop link. Country only; never your IP address or precise location. | 30 days |
Analytics — optional, off until you say yes
If you accept analytics, we load Google Analytics 4, which sets its own cookies (_ga and _ga_*, typically lasting up to two years). We use it to understand how readers find Literally and which parts of it they use.
We do not send Google your account id, your email address or anything you have written, and we do not enable Google Signals or advertising features.
If you decline, or simply never answer, the script is never loaded and these cookies are never created. If you accept and later change your mind, we expire the ones we can reach as soon as you switch it off.
Changing your choice
You can change your answer at any time with Cookie preferences, at the foot of every page on the Literally website. Turning analytics off takes effect straight away: the page reloads without Google Analytics, and we expire the Google Analytics cookies we can reach.
You can also clear cookies and site data through your browser. Clearing the essential entries will sign you out and reset your theme, and the cookie banner will ask again on your next visit.
Third parties
Aside from Google Analytics, which only runs with your consent, no third party sets cookies through Literally. We do not carry advertising, and we do not use tracking pixels or social media embeds that would let another company observe your visit.
Some pages link out to other sites — a bookshop, a publisher, an author's own page. Once you follow one of those links you are on their site, under their cookie policy, not ours.