Cookie Notice

Learn how and why we use cookies, and how to set your preferences

Ecosia - The search engine that plants trees

This page explains how we use cookies and how you can control them. Cookies help us provide you with the best experience when visiting our site and we take privacy in regards to these cookies very seriously. For more information about the way we handle your data, please refer to our privacy statement.

If you have any further questions you can contact us at privacy@ecosia.org.

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that is sent from our site and is stored by your web browser on your device. While some cookies are deleted as soon as you close your web browser, others remain on your device longer and are sent to us when you return to our website.

How do we use cookies?

We use cookies on our website for the following purposes:

Essential Cookies

We use essential cookies to ensure that our website functions properly and remains easy to use. For example, we need a cookie to run the search counter in the upper right corner of the website that helps you track your impact. Also, we need cookies to make sure that we do not show you the same messages on tree updates or new features over and over again.

We also use a cookie for statistics, like learning which features are most frequently used or which blog articles are most popular.

Those essential cookies cannot be deactivated.

The legal basis for this processing of personal data using cookies is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f of the General Data Protection Regulation.

Non-essential Cookies

Non-essential cookies serve two different purposes: first, you can choose to receive personalized search results.

Second, you can help us to evaluate the effectiveness of our own advertising. For example, we can validate whether you installed the Ecosia desktop extension as a result of watching an ad. That way, we know which ads help us plant more trees, and we can avoid spending money on those that don’t. Please refer to our privacy policy to learn more about our usage of different ad platforms.

Those non-essential cookies can be deactivated in the cookie notice we show you when you first run Ecosia in your browser. Your browser can also help you to deactivate them later.

The legal basis for these processings of personal data using cookies require your consent (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a of the General Data Protection Regulation).

How to control cookies

In your browser

Most browsers allow you to view and delete the cookies that are stored on your device and block cookies from specific or all sites. For more information, please refer to the following external links.

If you have "Do Not Track" enabled in your browser settings we will not use non-essential cookies. Most other websites ignore this setting, but we respect your choice.

On your phone

Additionally, we will not use non-essential cookies, if you “Limit Ad Tracking” on iOS or “Opt out of Ads Personalization” on Android.

Your rights

As explained above, you can at any time withdraw the consent for us to use non-essential cookies. No justification is required to do so.
Insofar as we support the processing of your personal data on a balancing of interests in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f of the General Data Protection Regulation, you can at any time refuse the processing of data about you for reasons arising from your specific situation. If you refuse, we will investigate the matter and will stop or adjust the processing of your data, unless we can provide compelling and legitimate grounds for the processing which outweigh your freedom, rights and interests, or the processing serves to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.
If you have additional questions, please contact our Data Protection Officer at privacy@ecosia.org.
This cookie statement was last modified on 06th December 2021