Privacy Policy

Word Storm · Effective date: [PLACEHOLDER-DATE] · Contact: [PLACEHOLDER-EMAIL]

Summary

Word Storm runs its own game server for leaderboards, multiplayer and cloud save. The first time the app goes online, it creates a guest account for you on that server. You do not sign up and you do not type a name, email or password. The server keeps your account, your leaderboard name and your scores, and, only if you sign in with Google Play Games, your saved progress. You can delete your account at any time, and an account with no sign-in for 12 months is deleted automatically. Your match history stays on your device.

The app shows ads through Google AdMob, which collects data as described below. Buying "Remove Ads" stops all ad-related data collection on your device. Signing in with Google Play Games is optional.

Your guest account

To keep your guest account, the game creates a scrambled ID from an Android identifier that is unique to this app on this phone, and uses it to open your guest account on our server. The original identifier never leaves your phone. This ID is used only to keep your guest account, even if you reinstall the game. It is not shared with anyone and not used for ads, and it is not your phone's advertising ID. A factory reset or a new phone starts a new guest account.

Your account gets an automatic name such as "Soggy Thesaurus" (in Spanish, "Nube Gruñona"), made by our server from a fixed list of words the first time you go online, in the language you play in. It is the name other players see on leaderboards. It never changes, and you cannot type your own. We do not ask for your real name, email, phone number or location.

Without Google Play Games sign-in, the guest account lives only on the phone that made it. Reinstalling the game or clearing its data keeps it; a factory reset or a new phone does not. Sign in with Google Play Games to keep your progress when you change phones.

Data our server stores

• Your account: the scrambled ID described above, an account ID our server assigns, your leaderboard name, and the time you last signed in.
• Your scores: for each finished match you play online, the score of each of its four rounds, the number of words you found in each round, the total, the difficulty and the language, and for a daily puzzle its date. The server checks that the score is possible, then keeps the total on the leaderboards; it does not keep the round figures. Your words themselves are never sent. Weekly boards restart every Monday; daily puzzle boards are deleted after 7 days.
• Your account code: a random code our server makes for your account. Only your phone shows it (in Settings); you can use it to ask us to delete your account on the web.
• Multiplayer: while you play, your running score goes to our server, which passes it to the other players in your match. The server keeps the timeline of your score in that match. It may later replay that timeline, under your leaderboard name, as the opponent of another player on the same board.
• Cloud save, only if you sign in with Google Play Games: your game counts (lifetime totals, your streak, your personal bests and your daily puzzle progress), so they follow you to another phone. Your match history is not saved on our server.
• Server logs: like any internet service, our server receives your device's IP address when the app connects, and its logs can hold it. The logs are deleted after 14 days.

Where our server is, and how long we keep your data

Our server runs on DigitalOcean, in the United States (San Francisco). If you play from another country, the data above is sent to and stored in the United States.

• Your account and its data are kept until you delete your account, or until it has had no sign-in for 12 months, whichever comes first. The game signs in each time you open it with an internet connection, so playing at least once a year keeps your account.
• Server logs are deleted after 14 days.
• Our server is backed up every day, and again right before each update of its software. Each backup is kept for 7 days at most and is used only to recover the server after a failure. After your account is deleted, a copy of it can remain in these backups for up to 7 days; it is then permanently removed.

How we use it

We use this data only to run your account, the leaderboards, multiplayer and cloud save, and to check scores for cheating. We do not sell it, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not share it with anyone except DigitalOcean, the hosting provider that runs our server.

What other players see

Your leaderboard name, your scores and your ranks (never your account code). In a multiplayer match, the other players see your name and your running score, and a recording of your match may be shown to a later player as their opponent.

Data our app stores locally

Your match history (the words you played, round by round), your game settings and your daily puzzle progress are saved on your device, in the app's own storage area. Your match history never leaves your device through our code; the scores and counts our server receives are listed above. A daily puzzle played offline is kept on your device until the app can send its result. Uninstalling the app deletes this data from your device. Android's backup service may retain a copy of app data in your own Google backup, under your Google account and Google's Privacy Policy; you can manage or delete device backups in your Google account settings.

Your match records stay in the app's own storage area on your device until you uninstall the app or clear its data in Android settings.

The app also keeps two small items on your device for ads: whether you have bought Remove Ads, so that ads stay off, and a count of the matches you have played, so that the free version knows when an ad is due. Neither leaves your device through our code.

Sharing your daily result

When you tap Share on a daily puzzle, the app hands a short text to your phone's own share sheet: the puzzle number, your stars and your score. You choose where it goes, or cancel. The game itself sends nothing. If no share sheet opens, the text is copied to your clipboard instead.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

The free version shows ads served by Google AdMob. To serve ads, Google collects data from your device, which may include your IP address, device information, advertising ID, and ad interaction data. This collection is governed by Google's Privacy Policy (policies.google.com/privacy) and, where applicable, Google's ads policies. Exact data practices are documented in Google's AdMob disclosures. Ads are configured as not directed at children. Our server's data is not shared with ad networks.

Remove Ads purchase

If you purchase Remove Ads, the advertising SDK is never initialized on your device: no ads are shown and no ad-related data is collected from your device by our app.

Purchases (Google Play Billing)

Purchases are processed by Google Play. We do not receive or store your payment details; Google's handling is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.

Optional sign-in (Google Play Games Services)

You can play without signing in. If you choose to sign in with Google Play Games, Google gives our server a player identifier and your Play Games name. We link them to your account, show your Play Games name as your leaderboard name, and keep the cloud save described above. If your phone and the cloud both hold progress, the app asks you once which to keep. Sign-in is governed by Google's Privacy Policy. Play Games has no sign-out button inside games.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time: in the app, in Settings (tap Delete my online data), or on the web at wordstorm.io/delete-account. Deleting your account removes it from our server, with your leaderboard name, your scores and leaderboard entries, your account code, your cloud save and the recorded timelines of your multiplayer matches: nothing is kept. On the web, send us the account code shown in Settings; we ask for it because only your phone shows it.

Next time you open the game, playing online starts a fresh account, with a new name.

A deletion does not remove your IP address from the server's logs, which are deleted after 14 days in any case, and a copy of your account can remain in our backups for up to 7 days (see above). Our server's logs also record each deletion in one line, with the account's random ID and the time of the deletion and nothing else, so that the deletion can be applied again if the server is ever restored from a backup; that line is deleted after 14 days with the rest of the logs. A deletion does not delete the data on your device: uninstall the app, or clear its data in Android settings, for that.

An account with no sign-in for 12 months is deleted the same way, automatically.

Links to other websites

The Credits screen links to the websites of the word lists, definitions, licences and tools the game credits. A link opens in your browser only when you tap it, and those sites have their own privacy policies.

Children

Word Storm is not directed at children. The target audience is 13+.

Your choices

• Delete your account in the app's Settings or on the web (above).
• Remove Ads purchase ends ad data collection on your device.
• Play without signing in with Google Play Games.
• Reset your ad ID or opt out of ad personalization in Android settings (Settings → Google → Ads).
• Uninstall the app, or clear its data in Android settings, to delete all locally stored data.

Changes

We will update this policy when the app's data practices change and revise the effective date.