Privacy Policy

Word Puzzles is a word game developed by HDFoundry. This policy describes exactly what the app collects, why, and what it never does. It is written to match the app as it actually behaves, and it is updated when the app changes.

The short version

You can play without an account and without giving us anything. If you choose to create one, we store your email address so you can sign back in, and it is never shown to anyone else. Your nickname is public, because it appears on the leaderboard. We do not sell or trade your information, and this version of the app contains no advertising. It does use Google Firebase to count what people do in the app, to receive crash reports, to measure how fast screens and requests are, and to send notifications if you allow them — all described below. We also record which platform and app version you are on and the language and region set on your device, so that we can fix problems in the right version and support the right languages.

Playing without an account

The app works fully without an account, and one is never required to play. To download puzzles and appear on a leaderboard, the app registers a random identifier for your device with our server. It is generated on the device, it contains nothing about you or your hardware, and it is not linked to any identity.

If you create an account

An account exists for one reason: so your progress survives a reinstall or follows you to a new device. When you create one we store:

• Your email address, used to sign you in and to send a six-digit code if you need to reset your password. It is never displayed to other players and never used for marketing.
• Your password, stored only as a hash. We cannot read it, and neither can anyone who obtains the database.

Your nickname is public

Every player has a nickname. The app gives you one to begin with, and you can change it. It appears on the leaderboard next to your results, which is the whole point of it. Treat it as public, and do not put anything private in it.

Nicknames are screened for offensive content when you set them, and any player can report one they think breaks the rules. A reported nickname is reviewed and reset to a generated one if it does. You can report a name by holding your finger on it on the leaderboard, or by writing to the address at the bottom of this page.

Game results

When you finish a puzzle the app sends the solution to our server, which scores it and stores the result: which puzzle, whether you solved it, the points, and the counts the mode uses, such as mistakes or words found. This is what the leaderboards are built from and what restores your progress on a new device.

The server scores every result itself by replaying your solution. The app never reports its own score, so a modified copy of the app cannot claim points it did not earn.

About your device and your copy of the app

So that we can fix a problem in the version of the app you are actually running, and know which languages the app should support, we record four things alongside your player record, plus the date you were last active:

• Your platform — Android or iOS, and nothing more specific. Our own server does not record your device model; Firebase does, and that is covered in the next section.
• The version of the app you are running.
• Your device's language, such as English or Vietnamese.
• The region set on your device, such as VN or US. This comes from your device's own language settings. It is not a location lookup: we do not use your IP address, GPS, Wi-Fi or any location service to work out where you are, and the region is no finer than a country.
• When you were last active, so we know whether an account is still in use.

These are sent when the app registers your device and when it renews your session. They are not shown to other players, and they are never used to build a profile of you or shared with anyone.

Analytics, crash reports and performance

The app uses three Google Firebase services. They exist so we can fix what breaks and build what people actually use, and nothing they collect is sold, traded, or used to advertise to you.

• Firebase Analytics records what happens in the app — which mode you opened, that a puzzle was started, finished or abandoned, how long it took, which screens you visited. It does not record the words you type or the puzzles you solve. Alongside these it collects your device model, operating system version, and an approximate region, which Google derives without using your location.
• Firebase Crashlytics sends us a crash report when the app fails: where in the code it happened and what the device was doing at the time. This is the only way we learn about a crash that nobody writes to us about.
• Firebase Performance measures how long screens take to draw and requests take to answer, so a slow build is visible to us before it is only visible to you.

These run in the released app only. Builds we run while developing report nothing to them.

Google processes this data on our behalf as our service provider. Their handling of it is governed by Firebase's own privacy documentation.

Notifications

The app can send notifications: a reminder that the day's puzzle is waiting, a note when a streak is about to lapse, word of a new pack, and the occasional announcement. It never asks for permission when you first open the app — it asks once, after you have finished your first puzzle, and if you say no it does not ask again.

If you allow them, your device is issued a notification token by Google and the app sends that token to our server, along with your platform, app version, language and your time zone offset. The time zone is there for one reason: so a reminder arrives in your evening rather than at three in the morning. The token identifies a device, not you.

You can switch each kind of notification off individually in Settings, or all of them in your device's system settings. Nothing in the app requires notifications to be on, and turning them off costs you nothing in the game. When a device stops accepting notifications, we disable its token on our side.

What is stored only on your device

Downloaded puzzle packs, which puzzles you have opened, your settings, and the state of a puzzle you left half-finished are all held locally so the app works with no connection. Deleting the app removes them.

What we do not collect

• No advertising identifier. This version of the app contains no advertising SDK and shows no ads. Nothing in it reads your device's advertising ID, and nothing tracks you across other apps or websites.
• No reading of what you write. The analytics described above count actions — a puzzle started, a hint used — never the letters or words you enter.
• No location. No GPS, no Wi-Fi or IP-based lookup, no location permission of any kind. The country we record is the region you chose in your device's own language settings, described above.
• No contacts, photos, microphone, or camera. The app does not ask for these permissions because it has no use for them.
• No tracking across other apps or websites, and no data shared with data brokers.
• No third-party AI service. Nothing you type or play is sent to one.

Who else sees your data

Our own server, and nobody else. We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and no advertising or analytics partner receives anything from this app. Data travels to our server over an encrypted connection.

The two things visible to other players are your nickname and your results, on the leaderboards.

Advertising in a future version

A later version of Word Puzzles is planned to show banner and interstitial advertising, and to offer a purchase that removes it. That version will request the permissions advertising requires, and this policy and the store data disclosures will be updated before it is released. No ads are present in the current version, and none of the above changes retroactively.

Deleting your account and your data

You can ask us to delete your account from inside the app, at any time, in Settings. The request opens a seven-day window, during which your account keeps working normally and you can cancel it. Once the window has run, your account and its results are erased from our server for good. Puzzles you have solved on your own device stay on that device until you delete the app.

Children

Word Puzzles is suitable for all ages and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. An account requires an email address; if you believe a child has created one, write to us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When the app changes in a way that affects this policy, the policy is updated first and the date at the top of this page changes with it.

Contact

Questions about this policy, a reported nickname, or a deletion request: [email protected].