Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

AlphaGory is a multiplayer word game for iPhone and iPad, made by Benjamin Ashamole (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what information the app handles when you use it. It covers the app only.

2. What we collect

A random account ID

When you first open the app it signs in anonymously. This creates a random identifier for your installation, with no name, email address or password attached. It is what lets the game know which player on the table is you, and stops anyone else writing your answers. If you delete the app and install it again, you get a new one.

What you put into a game

• The name you choose when you create or join a game. It does not need to be your real name.
• Your answers in each round, and the grades and scores they receive.
• Game details: the room code, the categories and letters played, your seat and avatar, any power-ups you hold or play, and the times at which things happened, including when the app last checked in.

Crash reports

If the app crashes, it sends a report through Firebase Crashlytics. A report contains what the app was doing when it failed, your device model, iOS version, and a random installation identifier. It does not contain your answers.

Usage statistics

The app includes Google Analytics for Firebase, which records general information about use: that the app was opened, how long a session lasted, your device model, iOS version, language, app version, and an approximate country or region worked out from your internet address. This is tied to a random app-instance identifier, not to your name.

Device verification

To keep automated abuse out of the game, the app uses Firebase App Check with Apple's App Attest. Your device proves to our servers that it is running a genuine copy of AlphaGory. This check does not identify you.

Clock check

So that everyone's countdown ends at the same moment, the app writes a single timestamp to our servers when it starts, to measure the difference between your device's clock and ours.

3. What we do not collect

• Your email address, phone number, postal address or real name.
• Your contacts, photos, microphone, camera or precise location. The app never asks for these permissions.
• Payment information. The app takes no payments and has no in-app purchases.
• Your advertising identifier. The app shows no ads and never asks for permission to track you.

4. How we use it

• To run the game: showing each player's name, answers and scores to the others in the same room, keeping every device in step, and letting you return to a game in progress.
• To keep it fair and secure: making sure each player can only write their own answers, and that requests come from the real app.
• To fix and improve it: finding the cause of crashes and understanding in general terms how the app is used.

We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not build a profile of you.

5. Who can see it

The people in your game

Anyone who joins the same room sees the name you chose, your avatar, your scores, and — when they are grading your sheet or a power-up moves an answer — your answers. Only share a room code with people you want to play with, and do not put personal information in your name or answers.

Our service provider

The game runs on Google's Firebase platform (Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, App Check, Crashlytics and Google Analytics for Firebase). Google stores and processes the information described above on our behalf. Google's own policy is at policies.google.com/privacy.

Nobody else

We do not sell or rent your information, and we do not share it with advertisers. We would disclose information only if the law required it.

6. Where it is kept, and for how long

Information is stored on Google's servers, which may be in the United States or other countries where Google operates.

Game data — names, answers, scores and the random account ID that goes with them — is currently kept until we delete it. Games are not removed automatically when they end. If you would like yours removed, ask us using the details below.

Crash reports and usage statistics are kept by Google for the periods set by those services, after which they are deleted or combined into totals that do not identify an installation.

7. Your choices and rights

• Ask us to delete your game data. Email us with the room code, the name you played under and roughly when you played. Because you have no account with us, that is how we find the right records.
• Stop using the app. Deleting AlphaGory from your device ends all further collection. Game data already on our servers stays there until you ask us to remove it.
• Choose what you share. Your player name and answers are entirely up to you.

Depending on where you live, you may have legal rights to see, correct or delete the information held about you, or to object to how it is used. To use any of them, contact us.

8. Children

AlphaGory is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. The app does not ask for an age, an email address or any contact details. If you believe a child has put personal information into a game, contact us and we will delete it.

9. Changes to this policy

If we change what the app collects or how we use it, we will update this page and the date at the top.

What changed in version 2.0: the app now signs in anonymously, which creates the random account ID described above. Earlier versions had no sign-in of any kind.

10. Contact

Questions, or a request to delete your data: