trackless

Trackless

Let your users opt-out of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is super-useful, but lots of people don't like being tracked. The GDPR says that users should be able to choose whether they share personal information. This script lets you easily give your site visitors a way of opting-out of Google Analytics tracking. This preference is stored in the browser's localStorage.

Tracking is disabled by setting window['ga-disable-GA_TRACKING_ID'] = true;, as documented here. This needs to be done before the Google Analytics call is made, so the script should be loaded before the Google Analytics script.

How to use

The script can either be loaded as a module if you are using a bundler, or directly from a script tag.

To load as a package, install from NPM:

npm install trackless

or

yarn add trackless

Then in your source file:

import { Trackless } from "trackless";

const trackless = new Trackless({ trackingID: "MY_TRACKING_ID" });
trackless.bindElements();

When loading from a script tag, place it in the head before your GA tag. We use the same method as GA for loading asynchronously, so its safe to load it in the head. You can either load it directly from unpkg.com, or download the UMD file and host it yourself.

<script async src="//unpkg.com/trackless@1"></script>
<script>
    window.TracklessQueue = window.TracklessQueue || [];
    TracklessQueue.push(
        function (Trackless) {
            new Trackless({ trackingID: "MY_TRACKING_ID" }).bindElements();
        }
    )
</script>

By default it binds to all elements with the class "trackless". You can change this by passing a different selector to bindElements(). e.g. bindElements("button.optOut") will bind to all buttons with the class "optOut". You can click any bound element to toggle the preference. This will automatically update the setting in localStorage, as well as the label for itself and all other bound elements. For checkboxes, it updates the checked value. For other <input> elements it sets the value property. For all other elements, it sets the innerText.

Demo

API

Options

The following options can be assed to the constructor. All fields are optional, except trackingID.

Param	Type	Default	Description
trackingID	string	-	Your Google Analytics tracking ID. e.g. GA-XX-XXXXX
optOutText	string	"Don't track me"	The text prompting the user to opt out.
optInText	string	"Enable tracking"	The text prompting the user to opt in.
initialOptOut	boolean	false	Initial opt-out value if no preference is stored.
overrideOptOut	boolean	false	Override opt-out value. If true, sets the stored preference to the initialOptOut value. Use this if, for example, you have a logged-in user and want to sync the preference between devices.
callback	Function	-	Called when opt-out value is changed. Passed the new opt-out value.
invertCheckbox	boolean	false	Invert the behaviour of checkboxes. By default, a checkbox is checked if the user is not opted-out. Set this to true so that it is checked if the user is opted-out.

The Trackless object

constructor(options)

Param	Type	Description
options	Options	An options object.

bindElements(selectors)

Adds onClick listeners to the selected elements, and sets their value according to the current preferences.

Param	Type	Description
selectors	string	The selectors of the elements to bind. Default is ".trackless", i.e. any element with class="trackless"

unBindAllElements()

Unbinds all previously bound elements.

setPreference(optOut)

Sets the opt-out preference, stores the value in localStorage, and updates all elements. If callback() is set then it is invoked with the new value.

Param	Type	Description
optOut	boolean	The optOut value

static processQueue(queue)

Used by the async loader to run queued commands. You shouldn't need to use this yourself unless you are handling your own queue. It should be an array of functions, which are passed the Trackless class. The UMD file looks for a window.TracklessQueue array, which it passes to this when the script has loaded. If you are loading it as a module you won't get this behaviour, so if you need async processing then this is the way to implement it.

Trackless.processQueue(window.TracklessQueue);

Param	Type	Description
queue	array	An array of callbacks. These are passed the Trackless class as the only argument.

FAQ

• Does this stop the Analytics script from loading? No. The script still loads. However because the opt-out flag is set, Google does not set a cookie or track the visit.
• Should I default to opted-out? I am not a lawyer, but if you want to be totally sure then yes, pass initialOptOut: true in the options and it will default to opted-out, and not track the user unless they positively opt in.
• Is this required by the GDPR? I am not a lawyer. Google allows you to anonymise IP addresses in Analytics (which you should absolutely do), but it still tracks the user via a client ID. It could certainly be argued that this is PII (and I expect some lawyers will be doing just that).