Cookie Policy

Last updated: April 2025

1. What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently and to provide information to website owners.

2. What cookies do we use?

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They do not store any personally identifiable information.

• htg_cookie_consent — stores your cookie consent preference so we do not ask you again. Expires after 365 days.
• Cloudflare cookies — Cloudflare, our infrastructure provider, may set technical cookies (such as __cf_bm) to protect our website from bots and malicious traffic. These are strictly necessary for security purposes.

Analytics cookies (optional)

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how visitors use our website. This helps us improve the site over time. GA4 uses cookies to collect information such as how long you spend on pages and which pages you visit. This data is anonymous and we cannot use it to identify you personally.

Google Analytics cookies include _ga, _ga_W1D7SSPMC3 and related cookies. They expire after 2 years. You can opt out at any time using the cookie banner on our site or via the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

We also use Microsoft Clarity, which provides anonymised heatmaps and session recordings so we can see where visitors get stuck or confused on the site. Clarity does not collect any personally identifiable information and automatically masks sensitive form inputs. Clarity sets cookies including _clck, _clsk, CLID, MUID, ANONCHK and SM. These expire between the end of the browser session and one year, depending on the cookie. See Microsoft's privacy statement and Clarity's FAQ for more detail.

Both Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity cookies are only set if you accept optional cookies via our cookie banner. If you decline, neither will run and no analytics cookies will be stored.

Third-party cookies

Our website loads fonts from Google Fonts. Google may set cookies or log request data when serving these fonts. Please refer to Google's privacy policy for details.

Our coverage map is powered by Leaflet using map tiles from CARTO and OpenStreetMap. These services may log request metadata such as your IP address when serving map tiles. No tracking cookies are set by these services.

3. How to control cookies

You can control and manage cookies in several ways:

• Our cookie banner — when you first visit our site, you can accept or decline optional cookies using the banner at the bottom of the screen.
• Browser settings — most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies. Check your browser's help section for instructions.
• Opt-out tools — for Google services, you can use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Please note that disabling strictly necessary cookies may affect how the website functions.

4. Changes to this policy

We may update this cookie policy from time to time as we add new features or services. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised.

5. Contact us

If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please contact us at hello@hometechguys.co.uk or call 01274 905724.

For more information about cookies generally, visit allaboutcookies.org.