Privacy Policy
CIPHER is a daily word puzzle game. This policy explains what the app collects, why it collects it, and how to get rid of it.
The short version: CIPHER stores your puzzle progress so it is still there tomorrow, and — only if you choose to create an account — the email address your sign-in provider gives us so that progress can follow you to a new phone. There is no advertising, no analytics, no tracking, and nothing is sold or shared.
Who We Are
CIPHER is operated by Blocks Foundry LLC ("we", "us"). You can reach us about anything in this policy at support@playcipher.app.
What We Collect
An account identifier
The first time you open CIPHER the app signs you in anonymously. That produces a random identifier which is not linked to you, your name, or your device's advertising id. It exists so your progress has somewhere to live.
Your puzzle progress
Which words you have solved, which keywords and week words you have unscrambled, whether a puzzle is complete, and the times at which those things happened.
Basic account metadata
When your account is created and last used, and whether the device was iOS or Android. We use this to understand whether the app is working, not to build a profile.
Your email address, only if you create an account
Creating an account with Sign in with Apple or Google Sign-In gives us the email address on file with that provider, and a note of which provider it was. We never receive your password. If you use Sign in with Apple's Hide My Email, we receive only the relay address Apple generates, and we are happy with that.
What We Do Not Collect
CIPHER contains no advertising, no analytics service, no crash-reporting service, and no third-party tracking of any kind. Specifically, we do not collect:
- Your name, phone number, mailing address, or date of birth
- Your device's advertising identifier — the app never presents an App Tracking Transparency prompt, because it has nothing to ask for
- Your location, contacts, photos, microphone, or camera
- Your browsing or app usage outside CIPHER
- Payment information — CIPHER has no purchases
What Stays On Your Device
Some things never leave your phone at all. Your appearance and app icon preferences, a local copy of your progress so the game works without a connection, a queue of solves waiting to reach the server, and a cached copy of recent puzzles. Deleting the app removes all of it.
Why We Collect It
We use what we collect only to run the game: to save and restore your progress, to move that progress to a new device when you sign in, to keep the app working, and to answer you if you contact us. We do not use it for advertising, we do not profile you, and we make no automated decisions about you.
Who We Share It With
We do not sell your information, and we do not share it for advertising. The only third parties involved are the services that make the app run:
- Google LLC, which provides Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore. Your account identifier, progress, and email address are stored there on our behalf.
- Apple Inc., if you use Sign in with Apple, which handles the sign-in itself and tells us only the identifier and email address you approve.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or if we need to in order to investigate a genuine safety or security problem. We will not do so quietly where we are permitted to tell you.
Where It Is Stored
CIPHER's data is held on Google Cloud infrastructure, which may process and store it in the United States and in other countries where Google operates. If you are outside the United States, using CIPHER means your information is transferred there.
How Long We Keep It
Your progress and account details are kept while your account exists. If you ask us to delete your account, we do so within 30 days, as described below. Records that a deletion request was made and completed are kept without your email address, so we can show the request was honored.
Deleting Your Account And Data
You can request deletion at any time, from inside the app: Settings → Account & Data Deletion → Submit Deletion Request. You do not need to enter anything or write to us — the app already knows which account you are signed in to.
Submitting the request permanently deletes your account, your puzzle progress, and the email address from your sign-in provider. We process requests within 30 days. Deletion cannot be undone and your progress cannot be restored afterward.
You can also stop us collecting anything further at any time simply by deleting the app, though that on its own does not delete what is already stored — use the request above for that.
Your Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to receive a copy of it, and to object to how it is used. Write to support@playcipher.app and we will respond within the period the applicable law requires. We will not treat you differently for exercising any of these rights.
California residents
We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the CCPA/CPRA, and we have not done so in the preceding twelve months. The categories we collect are identifiers and internet activity limited to your use of CIPHER, described above.
EEA and UK residents
Our lawful basis for processing your progress and account details is the performance of our contract with you — running the game you asked us to run. You may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
Children
CIPHER is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, write to support@playcipher.app and we will delete it.
Security
Data in transit is encrypted, and access to stored data is restricted per account by server-side security rules — one account cannot read another's progress. No system is perfectly secure, and we will not pretend otherwise, but we hold no passwords and no payment details, so there is very little here worth stealing.
Changes To This Policy
If we change this policy we will update the version and date shown at the bottom of it in the app. Material changes will be brought to your attention in the app rather than left for you to find.
Contact
Questions, requests, or complaints: support@playcipher.app.