This article explains how to set up cookie consent categories for your visitors in Pendo. If your app shows visitors a cookie consent banner, such as one built with a consent management platform (CMP) like OneTrust, that banner already sorts cookies into categories, such as strictly necessary, functional, performance, and targeting.
Cookie consent settings in Pendo let you mirror those same categories. You can then manage what Pendo tracks and stores under each category.
Use cases
Use cookie consent settings to:
- Let visitors accept only the cookie categories they're comfortable with, instead of a single choice to accept or reject all tracking.
- Review what each consent category allows, so you can share the details with your privacy or legal team.
How it works
Cookie consent categories affect visitors only after you save settings and your install script passes the matching consent category IDs. If you never set this up, or you set it up in Pendo but don’t connect the IDs through the install script, Pendo doesn't use consent categories. Your existing analytics, guides, and Session Replay settings continue to apply.
If you decide to set up cookie consent categories, every application starts with four default consent levels: Strictly necessary, Functional, Performance, and Targeting. Each category includes options for tracking, analytics, guides, and Session Replay. By default, all of these settings are turned on, so review and adjust what is in each.
In addition to the four default categories, you can add up to six custom categories, for a total of 10.
If a visitor selects more than one consent category, Pendo combines the permissions from all of them. A permission applies if any selected category turns it on. For example, if one category turns on guides and another turns on Session Replay, both apply.
Before you begin
- You need to be a subscription admin or have edit cookie consent permissions for the app. See more about Edit cookie consent custom role.
- Cookie consent settings are only available for web applications. They aren't available for mobile or extension applications.
- Your application must pass the visitor's consent category to Pendo in the install script. For the initialize option and the runtime API, see the Web SDK documentation.
Open cookie consent settings
- Go to Settings > Subscription settings > Applications.
- Select an app from the list.
- Select the Cookie consent tab.
Set up a category
- In the left panel of the Cookie consent tab, select the category you want to configure.
- Choose what you want to track for Visitor tracking, Analytics, Guides, and Session Replay.
- Select Save.
Repeat for each category you want to change.
Note: Your changes don’t affect visitors until you save them and your install script passes the matching category ID. For more information, see How it works.
Add, duplicate, or delete a category
- Add a category. Select +Add category.
-
Duplicate a category. Select the duplicate icon next to the category.
- After you set up the duplicated category, select Save.
- After you set up the duplicated category, select Save.
-
Delete a category. Select the ... to remove a category.
Note: Deleting a category is permanent, and you must remove the category's ID from your install script.
Rename a category ID
The four default categories have a prefilled consent category ID. After you rename the category ID, you'll need to save it
| Category | Default ID |
|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | strictlyNecessary |
| Functional | functional |
| Performance | performance |
| Targeting | targeting |
You can rename the ID, but each category must have a unique ID.
Note: If you rename a category ID after adding it to your install script, you'll need to update the ID in your install script.
Visitor tracking
In the Visitor tracking section, choose whether to track visitors for each consent category. When you select Don't track visitors, the following applies to visitors in that category:
- Visitors aren't identified.
- Analytics collection turns off, except for guide delivery analytics.
- Text collection turns off.
- Session Replay turns off.
- Guides that use badge or target element activation still show. Guides with other activation methods don't show.
Analytics
Under Analytics use the main toggle to turn on all analytics collection, or individually select the events you want to track for that category.
| Analytics event | Description |
|---|---|
| Identify | Sent when a visitor is initialized or updated with a Visitor ID that isn't anonymous, or when the Account ID changes. |
| Meta | Sent when a visitor's metadata changes, including IDs and visitor or account fields. |
| Page loads | Sends an event when Pendo detects a URL change. A URL change can result from a page load, URL customization, or Page event properties. |
| Clicks |
Records a click on any element, including elements that don’t usually respond to clicks. |
| Focus | Records when an element receives focus, such as when a visitor moves through elements using the Tab key. |
| Form submits | Records a submit event on a form element. |
| Field changes | Records a change event on <input>, <select>, <textarea>, and <button>. |
| Track events | Records custom events that your code sends to Pendo, such as errors or API calls. |
| Guide delivery | Records guide events that Pendo uses for guide analytics and to deliver guides, such as guide seen, guide element metrics, guide snoozed, and guide dismissed. |
| UTM parameters | Reads campaign-tracking tags in a URL’s query string to attribute a visit to the campaign that sent the visitor. |
| Prompt | Records a message that a visitor submits to an AI agent. Applies to Agent Analytics. |
| Agent response | Records the response that an AI agent gives to a visitor. Applies to Agent Analytics. |
| User reaction | Records a visitor’s feedback on an AI agent response, such as positive or negative. Applies to Agent Analytics. |
| Text collection | Collects text that visitors enter. Choose to collect all text or limit collection to text from the allowlist. |
Guides
The Guides setting controls whether Pendo can deliver in-app guides for this consent category. When turned on, the web SDK uses local storage to remember guide progress, dismissals, snoozes, and launcher state so guidance stays relevant without re-prompting. Tying Guides to consent keeps in-product help aligned with visitor choices and makes it clear which browser storage your privacy policy needs to cover.
Session Replay
The Session Replay setting controls whether visitor sessions can be recorded and replayed for visitors in this consent category. When it’s on and visitor tracking is on, the web SDK may capture Session Replay data according to your existing Session Replay settings (sampling, privacy masking, and so on). When it’s off, sessions are not captured for that category.
Create a custom role to edit cookie consent
You can give someone permission to edit cookie consent by assigning them a custom role. You must be a subscription admin to create custom roles.
- Go to Settings >Users and teams.
- Select the Custom Roles tab.
- Select +Create Custom Role.
- Under the Pendo Permissions > Configuration section turn on Edit cookie consent settings.
- Name the custom role.
- Assign people to that role.