Cookie Policy
Last updated: 18 September 2026
This policy explains what Bower stores on your device, why, and how to change it. It covers cookies and the other kinds of browser storage that work the same way (local storage and session storage), on the Bower website at bower.tv. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which covers what we do with personal data more generally.
The short version
- Bower sets three small cookies, and only after you answer our cookie banner: your language, your country, and which banner option you chose. Decline, and nothing is kept between visits, not even the fact that we asked.
- If you track a title without an account, we store one random identifier in your browser so we can find your list again. It is created the moment you press Track, not when you merely visit.
- Signing in keeps your sign-in state in your browser until you sign out.
- The only thing "Accept all" adds is fuller analytics: PostHog gets a persistent identifier so we can see how one visitor moves through Bower over time. Without it, analytics stays anonymous and cookieless.
- No advertising cookies, no cross-site tracking, nothing sold or shared with advertisers. Bower carries no advertising today; if that ever changes, this policy will say so first, and advertising cookies will stay off until you consent to them.
1. What cookies and browser storage are
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to keep, so the site can recognise the same browser next time. Local storage and session storage are two other places a website can keep information in your browser; they work like cookies but are not sent with every request. The law treats all three the same way, and so does this policy: where we say "store", we mean any of them, and we say which one each entry uses.
Some storage is strictly necessary: without it, something you explicitly asked for would not work. That kind does not need your consent, and we describe it below so you know it is there. Everything else is off until you say otherwise.
2. The cookie banner and your choice
The first time you visit, Bower asks you to choose:
- No cookies. Bower keeps nothing between visits, not even your answer. Your language and country will not be remembered between visits, and you will see the banner again next time. Anything you track is still kept, because tracking is the service you came for (see section 3).
- Necessary cookies only. Bower remembers your language, your country and this choice. Analytics stays in its anonymous, cookieless mode.
- Accept all. As above, plus PostHog is allowed to set its own persistent identifier and record sessions, as described in section 4.
Your choice is kept for up to 13 months (the longest a browser will keep a cookie), or until you change it or clear your browser data. You can change it at any time, right here or from the Cookies section at the bottom of your Settings page. Switching to "Necessary only" removes what "Accept all" had stored; "Remove all cookies" clears everything Bower keeps in this browser, which signs you out.
3. What we store, and why
Everything in this section is first-party: set by bower.tv, readable only by bower.tv, and never used to follow you to another site.
Cookies
These are set only once you have chosen "Necessary cookies only" or "Accept all". None of them is set if you decline.
| Name | What it does | Lasts | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| bower_cookie_consent | Records which banner option you chose, so we do not ask again. | 13 months | Necessary |
| bower_lang | The language you picked for titles and descriptions, so the site opens in it next time. | 13 months | Necessary |
| bower_region | The country you picked, so Bower shows that country's release dates and streaming services. Without it, we guess from your connection each visit. | 13 months | Necessary |
Local storage
Local storage stays until you clear it or until Bower removes it; it has no expiry date of its own.
| Name | What it does | Lasts | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| bower-guest-id | A random identifier created the first time you track something without an account, so we can find your list again. It is not derived from anything about you and is used for nothing else. When you create an account, your list is moved onto it and this identifier is deleted. | Until you clear it or create an account | Necessary |
| bower-query-cache | A local copy of your tracked list, profile and the listings you last looked at, so pages open instantly instead of waiting for our servers. Written only once you have answered the banner, tracked something or signed in; kept separately for each account that has used this browser, and cleared when you sign out. | 1 hour | Necessary |
| CognitoIdentityServiceProvider.… | Your sign-in state: the tokens that prove to our servers that you are you. Set when you sign in and removed when you sign out, which also cancels them on our side so a copy cannot be reused. | Up to 10 years, or until you sign out | Necessary |
| bower-hide-ask-confirm | Remembers that you ticked "don't ask me again" when hiding a title. | Until you clear it or change the setting | Necessary |
| bower-region-banner-dismissed | Remembers that you closed the "it looks like you're in…" suggestion, so it does not reappear. | Until you clear it | Necessary |
Session storage
Session storage is cleared automatically when you close the tab.
| Name | What it does | Lasts | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| bower_region_session | A country you picked in this tab, so the choice holds while you browse even if you declined cookies. | This tab | Necessary |
| bower_plus_preview | A switch we use ourselves to preview unreleased features. Only set if you open a link carrying a preview parameter. | This tab | Necessary |
| tsr-scroll-restoration-v1_3 | Where you had scrolled to on each page, so going back returns you to the same place. The one entry made before you answer the banner; it dies with the tab. | This tab | Necessary |
4. Analytics
We use PostHog to understand how Bower is used. PostHog processes this data for us on servers in the European Union.
Before you answer the banner, and if you decline or choose "Necessary cookies only", PostHog runs in a cookieless mode: it counts anonymous, aggregate usage (which pages are viewed, roughly how a feature gets used) under a rotating identifier generated on our side and never stored on your device. Nothing lets us or PostHog recognise you across visits.
If you choose "Accept all", PostHog switches to its normal mode and stores the following, so we can see the sequence of pages one visitor takes over time and watch back session recordings (a reconstruction of your visit: the pages as they appeared, your mouse movement, scrolling and clicks) to diagnose confusing or broken flows. PostHog masks what you type into form fields by default.
| Name | What it does | Lasts | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| ph_…_posthog (cookie) | A persistent identifier for this browser, and the state of the current session. | 1 year | Consent |
| ph_…_posthog (local storage) | Working data for the PostHog script: the same identifier, queued events, and session-recording state. | Until you clear it or withdraw consent | Consent |
| ph_…_posthog (session storage) | The current session's identifier, so the pages you view in this tab count as one visit. | This tab | Consent |
| __ph_opt_in_out_… (local storage) | PostHog's own record that you accepted, so the script knows without asking us. | Until you clear it or withdraw consent | Consent |
| ph_…_session_registered_properties (session storage) | The current session, for session recordings. | This tab | Consent |
| ph_…_window_id (session storage) | Which tab this is, for session recordings. | This tab | Consent |
Analytics events are kept for 12 months and session recordings for 90 days, as set out in the Privacy Policy. Withdrawing consent stops further collection immediately and returns PostHog to the cookieless mode; it does not delete events already collected, which you can ask us to do via the contact form.
5. Content and services from other companies
A few parts of Bower are provided by other companies and load inside a frame from their own domain. Those companies control any storage they set inside that frame, under their own policies, and we cannot read it.
YouTube (trailers)
Trailers play in an embedded YouTube player. We use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), and the player is not loaded at all until you press play on a trailer. Once you do, Google may set cookies or storage on its own domain under Google's Privacy Policy. Before you press play, nothing from Google runs on the page.
Cloudflare Turnstile (contact form)
Our contact form uses Cloudflare's Turnstile check to tell people from automated abuse. It runs only on the contact form, inside a frame from Cloudflare, under Cloudflare's Privacy Policy, and anything it keeps while the check runs stays inside that frame.
Signing in with Apple
If you sign in with Apple, you are taken to Apple's own sign-in page for a moment, where it sets its own cookies under its own policy, and then returned to Bower. The sign-in service itself (Amazon Cognito) sets a short-lived security cookie on its own domain during that handoff, which expires when the sign-in completes.
6. What we do not do
This section describes Bower as it is today. If any of it changes, we will update this policy before it does, and anything that needs your consent will stay off until you give it.
- No advertising, and so no advertising cookies.
- No cross-site tracking: nothing Bower sets is readable by any other site, and we do not load advertising or social-media trackers that follow you across the web.
- No fingerprinting: we do not combine device details to recognise you without storage.
- No selling or sharing of anything we store with advertisers or data brokers.
7. Controlling cookies in your browser
Beyond our banner, every browser lets you view, block and delete cookies and site data for individual sites. Blocking all storage for bower.tv is allowed and the site will keep working, with two effects: you will be asked about cookies on every visit, and tracking without an account will not persist past the current page. Signing in still works, but only for the current tab.
Instructions for the common browsers: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge.
8. Changes to this policy
We will update this page whenever Bower starts or stops storing something, and change the date at the top. Where a change means we would store something new that needs your consent, the banner will ask you again rather than assuming your earlier answer covers it.
9. Contact
Questions about this policy go through our contact form. Bower is operated by Ben Hindmarch, a sole trader established in Ireland, trading as Bower; a postal address is available on request.