Cookie notice
Last updated: 3 October 2026
Cookies are small text files a website stores on your device. This notice explains the cookies Houseroom uses and how to control them. It sits alongside our privacy policy.
What we use
Almost everything we set is strictly necessary — the cookies the site needs to sign you in, keep you secure, and remember basic preferences. We do not run advertising cookies, and we do not track you across other websites. The exceptions are our live chat, and analytics cookies if you choose to accept them (both below).
Our live chat is run for us by HubSpot. The chat does not load when you visit a page. It loads only when you choose to talk to us, by clicking “Support” in our menus, “Chat with us” on the support page or “Contact support” inside your account. At that point HubSpot sets its own cookies, so that a conversation survives a page reload and a reply reaches the right person. We ask HubSpot not to track your page visits (its “do not track” setting). Clear this site’s data to remove those cookies.
We measure how Houseroom itself is performing with Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights, which record aggregate page views and page-speed timings. They set no cookies and store nothing on your device.
We also use PostHog, a product-analytics service hosted in the EU, to see which pages, searches and buttons work and where people get stuck. Until you answer the banner at the bottom of the page — and if you choose Reject — PostHog runs without cookies: it counts page views, clicks, page-speed timings and errors, stores nothing on your device, and tells visits apart only with a short-lived anonymous code worked out on PostHog’s servers, which cannot follow you from one day to the next.
If you choose Accept, PostHog also sets the analytics cookie listed below and records session replays: a reconstruction of how pages were used (scrolling, clicks and page changes), so we can see what is confusing or broken. A replay is not a video of your screen. Everything you type into a form is hidden before it leaves your browser, and passwords and sign-in codes are never recorded. Inside your account (the parent app) all text and images are hidden as well. Replays are never recorded on school, staff, admin, provider or parent-portal pages, on sign-in pages, or on booking and invitation links. Accept also lets us show the occasional short survey and try out new features with some visitors. You can change your mind at any time with Cookie settings below or in the footer; choosing Reject deletes the PostHog cookie and storage straight away.
Some schools measure their own admissions using Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager. If a school has set this up, its enquiry, visit booking, application and website-embed pages on Houseroom ask whether you allow analytics cookies. Google’s tag only loads if you choose Accept, only on that school’s own form pages, and the school (not Houseroom) controls the data it collects. If you choose Decline it never loads. Your answer is remembered for that school in your browser; clear this site’s data to be asked again.
Authentication & session
Keeps you signed in and links each request to your account. Set by our authentication provider when you log in.
Strictly necessary · Session, with short-lived refresh tokens
Security
Protects sign-in and form submissions against cross-site request forgery and abuse.
Strictly necessary · Session
Preferences
Remembers basic choices you make in the interface, such as a notice you have dismissed.
Functional (necessary) · Up to 12 months
Your analytics choice (hr-analytics-consent)
Remembers whether you chose Accept or Reject on our analytics banner, so we don't ask on every page. Stored in your browser's local storage, not sent to anyone.
Functional (necessary) · Until you change it or clear this site's data
Analytics cookies (PostHog): ph_<project key>_posthog
Only after you choose Accept. A random ID for your browser and the current visit (a visit ends after 30 minutes without activity), so we can see how people move through Houseroom, which pages and buttons work, and replay sessions to find what's confusing or broken. If you are signed in we link it to your account ID and the kind of account you use (parent, school, provider). Never your email, your name or anything about your child. Stored as a first-party cookie plus local and session storage under ph_<project key>_… keys, together with PostHog's record that you accepted (__ph_opt_in_out_<project key>). Run for us by PostHog in the EU.
Non-essential, with your consent · Cookie up to 12 months; session replays kept 30 days, analytics events up to 12 months
Live chat (HubSpot)
Runs the chat window and remembers your conversation so a reply reaches the right person. Set by HubSpot, our support tool, only after you open the chat — never on a page visit.
Set only when you open the chat · Up to 6 months
School analytics (Google Analytics / Tag Manager)
Only on the form pages of a school that has set it up, and only after you choose Accept. Lets that school measure enquiries, visit bookings and applications. Set by Google on the school's behalf.
Non-essential, with your consent · Up to 2 years (set by Google)
School campaign (hr_campaign)
Only if you arrive through a school's own campaign link (for example a QR code on a poster) and choose Yes. Remembers which campaign it was, so that school can see which of its campaigns led to an enquiry, visit booking or application. It holds campaign ids and dates only, nothing about you. Your Yes or No is remembered in your browser so we don't ask again.
Non-essential, with your consent · 90 days
Our cookie banner
Under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), consent is needed to store information on your device or read information already stored there. Our strictly-necessary cookies are exempt, and our cookieless analytics store nothing on your device, so they run without asking. The PostHog analytics cookie and session replay are not necessary, so they wait for you to choose Accept. Accept and Reject are equal choices, and the site works the same either way.
The live chat does not need a banner, because it sets nothing until you ask for it: opening the chat is your choice to use it. It is not used for advertising, and it does not follow you to other websites. If you would rather it never loaded, simply don’t open the chat — you can always email us instead.
You may also see a consent prompt on a school’s own form pages, where that school has asked to use Google Analytics, and when you follow a school’s campaign link, where we ask before remembering the campaign. Nothing is set in either case unless you say yes.
We do not use advertising cookies. If we ever do, we will ask for your consent first and give you separate controls here.
Managing cookies
Use Cookie settings to change your analytics choice. You can also block or delete cookies through your browser's settings. Blocking the strictly-necessary cookies will stop you from signing in and using your account.
Questions
Email support@houseroom.uk.