Cookie Policy
Updated: 2024-02-13
Version: 1.0
1. Understanding Cookies and Their Functionality
Our website and applications use cookies to give you the best possible experience with our products. They not only help us to understand user interactions with our website and to improve wCARD’s products and services continuously, but are also important for IT security. This Cookie Policy explains how we use cookies and why, but also on how you can decide which cookies you want to allow and how to protect your privacy for yourself.
Generally, cookies are text files (typically made up of letters and numbers) which are downloaded to your computer, tablet, smartphone or other devices (hereinafter referred to as “device”) when you visit our website or use our applications and allow us to recognise your devices. Such files allow us to record certain pieces of information whenever you interact with our website, services (newsletter) and applications, which we then use to optimise the performance of our website as well as to continuously improve our platform, products and services.
There are many specific types of cookies, web beacons and other similar technologies that are used, and their names may change from time to time (e.g. session and persistent cookies, flash cookies, ClearGIFs, pixels, event trackers). In order to help you better understand cookies and their functions as well as our use of such technologies and your settings choices, we would like to explain this to you in more detail hereafter.
Important “cookie language”
- “Session cookies” are temporary cookie files which are only active for the browser session which are erased after you close your browser.
- “Persistent cookies” are files stored in your browser’s subfolders for a longer period, either until you delete them manually or your browser deletes them after a period contained within the persistent cookie’s file.
- “First-party cookies” are cookies stored directly by the website that you are visiting, e.g. by us or by an assigned third party.
- “Third-party cookies” are cookies that are set by a party other than the website you are visiting, but nevertheless through the website.
- “Cookie IDs” are unique identifiers for cookies that consist of a string of characters with which websites and servers identify the specific internet browser in which the cookie was stored. A person can usually not be directly identified via such cookies (except for certain third-party tools). There are also cookies without a cookie ID.
Cookies assist us in comprehending our website's user demographics and in enhancing its performance. For example, we can identify the most frequented pages by specific user groups, helping us understand what appeals to our visitors and how to make the site more engaging for others.
2. Our Use of Cookies
As mentioned earlier, we utilize cookies on the wCard website and on wCard mobile applications. They are instrumental in analyzing user interactions with our site.
Our website primarily uses “persistent” cookies, which remain on your device until deleted or expired. Other “session” cookies are temporary and will be removed once your internet browser is closed.
2.1 We Implement the Following Cookie Types:
We distinguish the following categories of cookies (including other technologies such as fingerprinting):
Essential cookies:
Some cookies are necessary for the functioning of the website or for certain features. For example, they ensure that you can move between pages without losing information that was entered in a form. They also ensure that you stay logged in. These cookies exist temporarily only («session cookies»). If you block them, the website may not work properly. Other cookies are necessary for the server to store options or information (which you have entered) beyond a session (i.e. a visit to the website) if you use this function (for example language settings, consents, automatic login functionality, etc.). These cookies have an expiration date of up to 24 months (more details can be found in the Cookie Consent Banner).
Functional cookies:
In order to optimize our website and related offers and to better adapt them to the needs of the users, we use cookies to record and analyze the use of our website, potentially beyond one session. We use third-party analytics services for this purpose. We have listed them below. Before we use such cookies, we ask for your consent. Performance cookies also have an expiration date of up to 24 months. Further details as to the processing can be found on the websites of the third-party providers (see also Cookie Consent Banner).
Marketing Cookies:
We and our advertising partners have an interest in targeting advertising as precisely as possible, i.e. only showing it to those we wish to address. We have listed our advertising partners below. For this purpose, we and our advertising partners – if you consent – use cookies that can record the content that has been accessed or the contracts that have been concluded. This allows us and our advertising partners to display advertisements that we think will interest you on our website, but also on other websites that display advertisements from us or our advertising partners. These cookies have an expiration period of a few days to 12 months, depending on the circumstances. If you consent to the use of these cookies, you will be shown related advertisements. If you do not consent to them, you will not see less advertisements, but simply any other advertisement.
In addition to marketing cookies, we use other technologies to control online advertising on other websites and thereby reduce advertising wastage. For example, we may transmit the e-mail addresses of our users, customers and other persons to whom we wish to display advertisements to operators of advertising platforms (for example social media). If these persons are registered with them with the same e-mail address (which the advertising platforms determine by a matching process), the providers display our advertisements specifically to these persons. The providers do not receive personal e-mail addresses of persons who are not already known to them. In case of known e-mail addresses, however, they learn that these persons are in contact with us and the content they have accessed.
We may also integrate additional third-party offers on our website, in particular from social media providers. These offers are deactivated by default. As soon as you activate them (for example by clicking a button), these providers can determine that you are using our website. If you have an account with that social media provider, it can assign this information to you and thereby track your use of online offers. These social media providers process this data as separate controllers.
3. Our Advertising and Analytics Cookies
We currently use offers from the following service providers and advertising partners (where they use data from you or cookies set on your computer for advertising purposes):
Amplitude
Amplitude Analytics employs cookies to collect data that aids in comprehending user behavior on our site. These cookies scrutinize usage trends and interactions, enhancing user experience and offering insightful analytics.
4. Modifying Your Preferences
Yes, you can alter your cookie preferences via our pop-up cookie banner during your initial website visit.
You can also adjust your device's browser settings to reject all or some cookies. Note that blocking all cookies, including essential ones, might restrict access to certain parts of our site and result in less personalized information.
Be aware that other organizations, like advertising networks, may use cookies to track your activity across various websites, over which we have no control. If the setting of cookies is fully disabled in your internet browser, not all functions of our website may be fully usable for you. You can find a description of the appropriate settings for each common browser with the following links:
5. Do we process personal data via cookies?
Yes, personal data may be processed via performance and advertising cookies in accordance with applicable data protection laws. You can find more about the legal basis under which the data is processed,, the purpose of this processing and your rights under the applicable data protection law in our Privacy Policy.
6. Updates to Our Cookie Policy
We regularly review and update our Cookie Policy. We will inform our visitors about updates by providing the new version of the policy on our website. For this reason, we recommend that you read this cookie policy every time you are deciding whether to accept cookies from us or not. If it is required by applicable law, we will obtain your express consent to significant changes.