# Anonymity scope

Control how your application recognizes anonymous users across sessions and applications.

Anonymity scope defines how your application recognizes anonymous users across sessions and applications. Choosing the right scope lets you balance user tracking with your privacy and data management requirements.

![Anonymity scope options](/assets/explanation/application/anonymity-options.png)

## Anonymity scope levels

You can choose from three anonymity scopes:

- **Application**\
  Recognizes anonymous users only within the same [application](/explanation/application/overview) and across sessions. Users are never recognized across different applications. This is the default for development applications.

- **Workspace**\
  Recognizes anonymous users across sessions and across all applications within the same [workspace](/explanation/workspace/overview). This is the recommended option for most use cases and the default for production applications.

- **Organization**\
  Recognizes anonymous users across sessions and across all applications in the entire [organization](/explanation/organization/overview).

Anonymity scope applies only to anonymous users. Identified users are always recognized by their unique identifier, regardless of this setting.

> **Identity resolution**
>
> To recognize identified users across workspaces in the same organization, you must enable [identity resolution](/explanation/user-profiles/identity-resolution). [Contact sales](https://croct.com/contact/sales?subject=plan-upgrade\&message=I%E2%80%99d+like+to+know+more+about+the+Identity+Resolution+feature.) for more information.

## How to change the scope

To change your application's anonymity scope:

1. Go to [Application settings](https://app.croct.com/redirect/organizations/-organization-/workspaces/-workspace-/applications/-application-/settings).

2. Scroll to the **Anonymity scope** section.

3. Select your preferred scope.

4. Review the warning and click **Continue anyway** to confirm.

![Anonymity scope modal alert](/assets/explanation/application/change-anonymity-scope-modal.png)

## Impact of scope changes

> **Before you proceed**
>
> Review the implications below before changing the anonymity scope, as changes take effect immediately and may affect [how users are recognized](/explanation/user-profiles/introduction#identification).

Users and sessions **are not shared across different scopes**. When you change the anonymity scope:

- All active anonymous sessions are restarted.
- Returning anonymous users are treated as new users.
- Historical data is preserved, but users are no longer [linked to their previous anonymous profiles](/explanation/user-profiles/timeline#linked-sessions).

You can revert the change later, but users and sessions created under the new scope will also be affected when switching back.