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Set up privacy, consent and data retention

Ask visitors for consent before Pengo tracks them, choose which visitor details to store, and delete old conversations automatically after a set number of days.

Security & privacy 2 min read Updated
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Pengo gives each website its own privacy settings. You can ask visitors for consent before Pengo tracks them, choose which details Pengo stores about visitors, and delete old conversations automatically.

Changes on this page save automatically. The page header shows Saving… and then Saved.

Turn on Require consent under GDPR & consent to show a consent notice in the chat window.

  • The notice shows your Consent message above the message box, with an I agree button. The default message is “We use cookies and collect data to improve your experience. Do you agree?”. Rewrite it to match your own policy.
  • Until the visitor clicks I agree, the message box is disabled, and Pengo doesn’t create a visitor record or track a new visitor.
  • Once they agree, Pengo remembers it in that browser for that website, so they aren’t asked again on every page.

To add a link to your privacy policy after the message, fill in Privacy policy URL (optional) in Settings Chat widget Forms . The same link appears below your pre-chat form.

#Cookies

The Pengo widget doesn’t set cookies. It keeps what it needs, such as the visitor’s ID, their conversation state and whether they agreed to your consent notice, in the browser’s local storage.

#Choose what Pengo stores about visitors

Under Data collection, turn off any detail you don’t want Pengo to store:

SettingWhat Pengo stops storing
Collect location dataThe visitor’s country, region and city, worked out from their connection.
Collect device informationDevice type, operating system and screen size.
Collect browser informationBrowser name and the browser’s user agent.

Turning a setting off applies from then on. It doesn’t remove details Pengo already stored. Your team sees less about each visitor, and analytics have less to work with.

#Delete old conversations automatically

Under Data retention:

  1. Set Retention period (days), from 1 to 3650. The default is 365.

  2. Turn on Enable auto-delete.

Once a day, Pengo then permanently deletes this website’s conversations, with their messages, that started more than that many days ago. Conversations that are still open are never removed. Visitor activity, such as the pages they viewed, follows the same period, but Pengo keeps it for at least 90 days.

With Enable auto-delete off, the retention period does nothing on its own.

Your plan also sets how much chat history you keep. See plans and limits.

#Data requests and deleting data

To give a visitor a copy of their data, or to erase it, see handle GDPR data requests. Pengo’s own privacy policy explains how Pengo handles your data.

Common questions

Does the Pengo widget use cookies?

The widget doesn't set cookies. It keeps what it needs, such as the visitor's ID and whether they agreed to your consent notice, in the browser's local storage.

What happens before a visitor agrees to the consent notice?

With Require consent on, Pengo doesn't create a visitor record or track a new visitor until they click I agree. Until then, the message box in the chat window is disabled.

Does auto-delete remove open conversations?

No. Auto-delete only removes conversations that started before the retention period and are no longer open. Deleted conversations can't be recovered.

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Security & privacyHandle GDPR data requestsCustomize the widgetPre-chat, offline and rating formsPlans & billingPlans and limits