You can use feature toggles to support different use cases, each with their own specific needs. Heavily inspired by [Pete Hodgson's article on feature toggles](https://martinfowler.com/articles/feature-toggles.html), Unleash introduced the concept of feature toggle types in version `3.5.0`.
Classifying feature toggles by their type makes it easier for you manage them: the toggles get different icons in the toggle list and you can sort the toggles by their types.
![Five feature toggles, each of a different type, showing the different icons that Unleash uses for each toggle type.](/img/toggle_type_icons.png "Feature toggle type icons")
A toggle's type also helps Unleash understand the [toggle's expected lifetime](https://www.getunleash.io/blog/feature-toggle-life-time-best-practices): some feature toggles are meant to live for a few weeks as you work on new functionality, while others stay in for much longer. When a feature toggle lives past its expected lifetime, Unleash will mark it as _potentially stale_. See the [technical debt section](../user_guide/technical_debt) for more information on what this means and how to handle it.
You can mark feature toggles as `stale`. This is a way to deprecate a feature toggle without removing the active configuration for connected applications. Use this to signal that you should stop using the feature in your applications. Stale toggles will show as stale in the ["technical debt dashboard"](../user_guide/technical_debt).
When you mark a toggle as stale, Unleash will emit an event. You can use [an addon](../addons/addons.md) to integrate this with your systems, for instance to post a message in a Slack channel.