Privacy Policy

The short version

Pokémonism is a free Pokémon reference site, kept free by advertising. You can read everything here without making an account or giving us any personal details. We don't collect names, emails, or addresses from visitors and we don't sell anyone's information. To understand which pages are useful, we count visits three ways: our own anonymous counter, Ahrefs Web Analytics, and Google Analytics. The first two set nothing on your device; Google Analytics stores a cookie so returning visits can be told apart. We also show non-personalized ads through Google AdSense, which still sets a few cookies. If you're in the EEA or UK, you're asked to consent before any advertising or analytics cookies are used. You can switch our own counter off below, and control or block the rest — every piece is spelled out in the sections that follow.

When a page loads (or a tool is used), the site records one event with exactly these fields — nothing more:

Page path.

Which page was viewed (e.g. /pokedex/pikachu).

Event name.

What happened — a pageview, or an aggregate product event like “a team was shared”.

Referrer.

The site that linked here, with any query text removed. Never your browsing history.

Campaign tags.

utm_source / utm_medium / utm_campaign, if the link you clicked carried them.

Country code.

A two-letter country code (like “US”) — never region, city, or anything finer.

Browser, OS, device class.

Broad families only: “Chrome · Windows · desktop”.

Daily visitor digest.

An anonymous code that changes every day, so we can estimate “unique visitors today.” It's built one-way from technical connection details and a secret key; we never store your IP address or full browser signature, and today's code cannot be connected to tomorrow's.

These events are kept for at most 13 months, then deleted automatically. They're used only to see which pages and tools people find useful.

What we don't collect

This list is about our own systems and our own database. Google Analytics and Google AdSense are third parties that collect their own data under Google's policies — those are described in the sections that follow.

• No accounts, usernames, or passwords — there's nothing to sign up for.
• No names, email addresses, or phone numbers from visitors browsing the site.
• Nothing set on your device by our own counter — no cookie, no ID, nothing that recognizes you when you come back tomorrow.
• No precise location in our data: no city, no region, no GPS — only a country code.
• No IP addresses in our database, and no screen size, language, or timezone stored there either.
• No selling, renting, or trading of anyone's information, for any reason.
• No advertising profiles built by us — the ads come from Google AdSense (see “Advertising” below), and we never upload anything about you to it.

Analytics & cookies

Three counters run on the site. Two set nothing on your device; the third, Google Analytics, uses cookies:

• Our own counter — the anonymous event described above, stored on our own database and shown to no one but us. Cookieless. You can turn it off below.
• Ahrefs Web Analytics — a privacy-focused third-party service that counts page views without tracking cookies and without building an advertising profile of you.
• Google Analytics — added in July 2026 to see how people arrive at the site and which pages hold their attention. This one does use cookies: it stores _ga and _ga_MHGN5NEJG6 in your browser, each holding a randomly generated ID that lasts about two years, so returning visits can be told apart. It also sends Google your page path, referrer, approximate location derived from your IP address, and broad device, browser, and language details. Google processes that data under its own privacy policy — we can see the reports, and we never upload anything about you to it.

You can stop Google Analytics in a few ways: block it with a content blocker, refuse or clear cookies for this site in your browser settings, or install Google's own opt-out browser add-on. The site works exactly the same either way. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, our own counter skips your visits automatically — but be aware that Google Analytics does not act on those signals, so use one of the methods above if you want it stopped.

Pokémonism also shows ads, and those set their own cookies — that gets its own section next.

Advertising

Pokémonism is free, and ads are how it pays for itself. We show them through Google AdSense. We never hand advertisers your name or email — we don't have them — and because Pokémonism is read by younger fans, we tell Google to keep every ad non-personalized: ads are chosen from the page you're on, not from a profile of you. Here's exactly how that works:

• Cookies for ads. Showing ads still sets a few Google cookies — such as __gads and __gpi — but only to limit how often you see the same ad, measure how ads perform, and guard against fraud. They are not used to build an advertising profile of you.
• No ad personalization. On every request we set Google's non-personalized-ads flag, so ads are never tailored using your browsing history or an interest profile — not from this site and not carried in from others. You can still manage Google-wide ad settings in My Ad Center.
• Consent in the EEA & UK. If you're in the European Economic Area, the UK, or Switzerland, a Google consent message asks your permission before any advertising or analytics cookies are set. Until you agree we instruct Google to withhold those cookies (through Consent Mode), and any ads shown are non-personalized.

To dig deeper, read how Google uses information from sites that use its services, or opt out of personalized advertising from many companies at once at YourAdChoices (US) or Your Online Choices (Europe). A content or ad blocker stops the ad scripts from loading at all, and the site works exactly the same. When you click an ad you leave Pokémonism for the advertiser's own site, where their privacy practices — not ours — apply.

Things saved on your own device

A few features remember your choices using your browser's local storage. This information lives on your device only — it is never sent to us and we can't see it. For example:

• The TCG Pocket collection tracker and deck builder keep your cards and decks saved in your own browser.
• Your light or dark theme preference is remembered so the site looks right next time.
• Your analytics opt-out choice from the switch above.

Because this is stored on your device, clearing your browser data will reset it, and it won't follow you to another device. Separately from these, Google Analytics and Google AdSense store their own cookies on your device — the ones described under “Analytics & cookies” and “Advertising” above, and unlike the list here, their contents do go to Google.

Community submissions

The friend-code boards (GO, TCG Pocket, Champions) store exactly what you type into them — a game code, the display name you choose, and an optional note — so other players can see them. Don't post anything there you wouldn't want public. To have a post removed, email us and we'll delete it.

Children's privacy

Pokémon is loved by kids and grown-ups alike, and we know younger fans read Pokémonism. We built the site with that in mind: there are no accounts and no sign-ups, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Our own counter can't recognize anyone — child or adult — from one day to the next. Two things do set cookies, as described above: Google Analytics, and the Google AdSense ads that keep the site free — and we tell Google to keep those ads non-personalized, so they're never based on a profile of the reader. A parent who'd rather limit them further can clear or block the cookies in their browser or use a content blocker — every method is spelled out in the “Analytics & cookies” and “Advertising” sections above. If you are a parent or guardian with any questions or concerns, please get in touch and we'll be glad to help.

Links to other sites

Pokémonism links out to other places — news articles, creator videos, and community resources. Once you follow a link away from our site, that other website's own privacy practices apply, not ours. We can't control or take responsibility for how other sites handle your information.

Deletion, retention & changes

• Our own analytics events delete themselves after 13 months at the latest.
• Google Analytics data is held by Google and deleted on the retention schedule set in our Google Analytics property; clearing this site's cookies resets the ID it uses for your browser.
• Advertising cookies set by Google AdSense expire on Google's own schedule; you can clear them any time in your browser and switch off ad personalization in Google's My Ad Center.
• Everything saved by tools (decks, collections, preferences) is on your device — clear your browser data and it's gone; we never had a copy.
• Friend-board posts stay until you ask us to remove them or we moderate them away.
• If we ever change how Pokémonism handles privacy, we'll update this page and the “last updated” date first.