Cookie Policy
Plain-language summary: Active BOLO uses no advertising cookies, no analytics trackers and nothing that follows you across other sites. The only things kept in your browser are what the Service needs to keep you signed in, to prove the app is genuine, to deliver notifications you turned on, and a few preferences you chose (light or dark mode, your last agency, whether the Near You card is shown). None of them contain bulletin content. Because we use only strictly necessary items and your own preferences, we do not show a cookie banner.
1. What cookies and similar technology are
A cookie is a small text file a website places in your browser. "Similar technology" means the other places a browser can keep information for a site: local storage, session storage, IndexedDB and service workers. Modern web apps, including Active BOLO, use these more than classic cookies. This policy covers all of them. The mobile apps display the same web app inside a secure view and store the same items in that view, nowhere else on the phone.
2. What we store and why
Every item is set by Active BOLO itself (first party) unless the table says otherwise. "Session" means it is cleared when the tab closes. "Persistent" means it stays until you sign out, clear your browser data, or the Service removes it.
| Item | Purpose | Kept | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sign-in session (Firebase Authentication, IndexedDB) | Keeps you signed in to your agency so you do not re-enter your password on every visit. Contains your sign-in token, not your password. | Until you sign out or your agency's idle timer ends the session | Strictly necessary |
| App attestation token (Firebase App Check with Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, IndexedDB) | Proves the request comes from the genuine Active BOLO app and not a copy or a script. reCAPTCHA Enterprise is provided by Google and may set its own token in your browser for this check only. | Short-lived, renewed automatically | Strictly necessary (security) |
| Notification registration (Firebase Cloud Messaging service worker and IndexedDB) | Only if you turned on browser notifications: holds the device token that lets your agency's alerts reach this browser. | Until you turn notifications off or sign out | Functional, set only at your request |
bolo.theme (local storage) | Your Appearance choice: follow the device, light or dark. | Persistent | Preference |
bolo.lastAgency (local storage) | The agency code you opened last, so the front page can offer it again. Holds the short code only. | Persistent | Preference |
bolo.kiosk.console, bolo.kiosk.podium (session storage) | Whether the Ops Board or the Podium was in kiosk mode in this tab, so coming back to it returns to kiosk mode. | Session | Preference |
bolo.podium.division.* (local storage) | Which division's roll call this screen shows on the Podium, so the briefing-room display opens on its own division. One short name per agency; nothing about you. | ||
Offline copy (Firestore, IndexedDB) and bolo.offline, bolo.feedAt (local storage) | The bulletins your feed shows, kept so the app works without signal; your agency's choice to keep or not keep that copy; when the feed last heard from the server. | Until you sign out (erased then), or until the agency turns the copy off. | |
bolo.draft.* | Your unsaved typing on an Agency Settings form (branding, lists, places, roll-call order and the like), kept in this browser until you save or discard it, so a reload or a lost tab does not lose your work. | Until saved | Preference |
bolo.nearme.alerts, bolo.nearby.alerted, bolo.check.prompted, bolo.lastScreen (session storage) | Whether the Near You alert may take the screen on this device, and which bulletins it has already shown this session, so the same one is not shown twice. Never a location. | Preference / Session | Preference |
bolo.nearme, bolo.nearme.hidden, bolo.readaloud, bolo.readaloud.seen, bolo.saas.sort (local storage) | Whether you asked the map to find your position automatically, whether you closed the Near You card, whether new alerts are read aloud, and (Active BOLO staff only) how the agency list is sorted. These hold a yes/no flag, never a location. | Persistent | Preference |
3. What we do not use
- No advertising cookies and no ad networks.
- No analytics or usage-tracking services (no Google Analytics, no heat maps, no session recording).
- No social-media buttons or pixels.
- No cookies on the public poster and packet links an agency chooses to share, and none on this page, the Terms or the Privacy Policy.
- Offline copy. Unless your agency turns it off, the app keeps what your feed shows (every active bulletin with its card photo and details, and the recent bulletins you opened) in the browser's database store (IndexedDB) so you can read them without signal. It is protected by the device's lock and encryption, is never shared, and is erased when you sign out. Anything you send while offline waits on the device and goes to the agency's server when signal returns. Extra photos, clips, posters and packets are loaded live and are not kept.
4. Third parties
The items above are set by Active BOLO, running on Google's Firebase platform. Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise (app attestation) is the only third-party service that may place its own token in your browser, and it is used solely to confirm the app is genuine; it is subject to Google's privacy policy. Billing for agencies is handled on Stripe's own pages, which set Stripe's cookies under Stripe's policy; nothing from Stripe is placed on activebolo.com.
5. Your choices
- Sign out clears your sign-in session. Settings → Notifications turns browser notifications off and removes the registration.
- Preferences can be reset from Settings or by clearing site data for activebolo.com in your browser. The Service keeps working; you will be asked to sign in again and your choices return to their defaults.
- Blocking all storage for activebolo.com in your browser will prevent signing in, because the session has nowhere to live.
6. Changes
If we add a cookie or storage item, we will list it here with a new effective date before it goes live. Material changes are announced to agency administrators through the Service.
7. Contact
Tech Things, LLC, Active BOLO · hello@techthings.net · activebolo.com