Convert Google Analytics cookies to Local/Session Storage

Question

UPDATE http://jsfiddle.net/musicisair/rsKtp/embedded/result/ Google Analytics sets 4 cookies that will be sent with all requests to that domain (and ofset its subdomains). From what I can tell no server actually uses them directly; they're only sent with `__utm.gif` as a query param. Now, obviously Google Analytics reads, writes and acts on their values and they will need to be available to the GA tracking script. So, what I am wondering is if it is possible to: - rewrite the `__utm*` cookies to local storage after `ga.js` has written them - delete them after `ga.js` has run - rewrite the cookies FROM local storage back to cookie form right before `ga.js` reads them - start over Or, monkey patch `ga.js` to use local storage before it begins the cookie read/write part. Obviously if we are going so far out of the way to remove the `__utm*` cookies we'll want to also use the Async variant of Analytics. I'm guessing the down vote was because I didn't ask a question. DOH! My questions are:…

Accepted Answer

Use this:

```
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

if(window.localStorage) {
    ga('create', 'UA-98765432-1', 'www.example.com', {
      'storage': 'none'
      , 'clientId': window.localStorage.getItem('ga_clientId')
    });
    ga(function(tracker) {
      window.localStorage.setItem('ga_clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));
    });
}
else {
    ga('create', 'UA-98765432-1', 'www.example.com');
}
ga('send', 'pageview');
```

First, I check if `localStorage` is supported. If it is supported then the `'storage': 'none'` option will disable cookies. Now we can set the clientId from localStorage. If it is empty, Google Analytics will generate a new one for us. We save the new (or existing) clientid in localStorage after the tracker loads.

If `localStorage` is not supported, I just use the regular analytics method. After the initialization I send a pageView via `ga('send', 'pageView')`.

Also, check out this plunk: http://plnkr.co/MwH6xwGK00u3CFOTzepK

Convert Google Analytics cookies to Local/Session Storage

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