While some cookies will almost always be set by the Suite, there are some cookies that are set only in very specific circumstances. If you have a need to identify all cookies the Suite may set, the following is a list of cookies and their intended purposes.
ips4_hasJS
This cookie is set by javascript and then later read to determine if javascript is supported in the user agent.
ips4_ipsTimezone
This cookie is set by javascript to detect the user's local time zone so that the software can adapt the displaying of times automatically.
ips4_IPSSessionFront
This is a session tracking cookie, used to track the user between page clicks.
ips4_member_id
This cookie would contain the user's member ID, used to "remember" the user in case their session ends between visits.
ips4_pass_hash
This cookie would contain a hash used to validate that the viewing user's member ID was not forged (it is not the actual password hash).
ips4_chat_user_id (Guests only, Chat only)
This cookie would track a guest user's unique "user ID" in the chat room
ips4_cms_filters (Pages only)
This cookie would track filters set by a user when filtering content in the Pages application.
ips4_ipsApprovalQueueSplash (Moderators only)
This cookie would track that a user has acknowledged the splash screen in the Moderator CP so that it is not shown again.
ips4_vseThemeId (Admins only)
This cookie tracks which theme you are editing with the Visual Theme Editor (Easy Mode themes)
ips4_vle_editor (Admins only)
this cookie tracks that you are using the visual language editor.
ips4_vle_keys (Admins only)
This cookie is also used in conjunction with the visual language editor to track your changes.
ips4_acpTabs (Admins only)
This cookie is used to track your ACP tab preferences
ips4_language (Guests only)
This cookie is used to track a language preference for a guest if the site has more than one language installed and the guest user chooses a specific language to use.
ips4_anon_login
This cookie is used to track a user's anonymous login preference if they choose this option during the login process.
ips4_theme (Guests only)
This cookie is used to track a theme preference for a guest if the site has more than one theme installed and the guest user chooses a specific theme to use.
ips4_ipbforumpass_XXX
When a forum has a specific password set, this cookie is set once a user logs in to that forum to validate that they have logged in on subsequent page loads.
ips4_thumbnailSize (Gallery only)
This cookie tracks what type of table layout to use in Gallery listings (list view, small thumbnails or large thumbnails)
ips4_cm_reg (Commerce only)
This cookie is used to track an invoice ID for a guest who is checking out so that we can associate the invoice correctly after the user registers or logs in.
ips4_support_order (Commerce only, Admins only)
This cookie is used to track a user's support preferences while using the support system in the ACP to answer tickets.
ips4_support_filters (Commerce only, Admins only)
This cookie is used to track a user's support preferences while using the support system in the ACP to answer tickets.
ips4_referred_by (Commerce only)
This cookie is used to track referrals in Commerce when one user refers another user to a purchase.
ips4_noCache (Commerce only, Guests only)
This cookie is set in order to prevent pages that have been cached from being served to a guest during the checkout process, as the software has the ability to cache guest pages for a configured period of time.
ips4_storeView (Commerce only)
This cookie tracks a user's preference for viewing the store on the site, whether to show it in list view or grid view.
Be aware that third party addons may set cookies as well, and that third party services integrated with the Suite (such as Google Analytics or Facebook Logins) may also set their own cookies.
Changing your Cookie Prefix
It is possible to change the cookie prefix in the community suite, so you may have a different prefix than "ips4_". If you have a need to change the prefix used by cookies, you can edit or create a constants.php in the same directory as your main index.php with:
define( 'COOKIE_PREFIX', 'ips4_' );
You may need to change your cookie prefix is the Suite cookies are conflicting with other cookies your site sets or if you have more than one Suite installed on your domain. In that case you would want each copy to have its own cookie prefix.
