Privacy Policy

Your games are stored on your device

The game in progress (teams and rules, the words each turn got or passed, scores), the record of words that already came up, the topics and words you make, the team names you type and your settings (sound, vibration, tilt sensitivity, the setup of your last game, topics opened for a day) are kept in the app's storage. Words, team names, scores and your own topics are not sent to our servers, to ads or to usage statistics (for values such as the mode and the number of teams, see Usage statistics below). They are included in Android auto backup and device transfer so they carry over to a new phone (following your Google account's backup setting). No history of finished games is kept.

Tilt sensor

Tilt mode reads the phone's tilt sensor (the gravity sensor, or the accelerometer if there is none) to tell whether the phone was tilted down or up. The readings are used on the device, during a turn, only to judge correct or pass. They are not stored and not sent anywhere. Reading the sensor needs no permission, and Buttons mode does not read it.

Drawing the words

Words are drawn at random on this device. You can play without internet, and nothing is sent out to decide them. Words that came up are recorded on the device so that new words come first. You can clear this record with Reshuffle words in Settings.

Accounts

There are no accounts. We don't ask for an email address or phone number, and there is no sign-in, sign-up or in-app purchase. There is no online play or chat. Team names are stored on the device only to tell teams apart when you share one phone.

Ads

This app shows ads. Google AdMob provides them, and in doing so Google collects your advertising ID (AAID), IP address, device information and ad-related app activity (how often ads were shown or tapped). Your approximate location (country level) may be inferred from your IP address. Words, team names and your own topics are never used for ads or passed on. Ads are limited to the Teen (T) content rating. Google's policies apply (policies.google.com/technologies/ads).

When ads appear

There are no ads while a team gets ready and explains words, or on the turn results and the scoreboard between rounds. An ad may appear once when you open a locked topic for a day, and you are told before you tap. After every team has played every round, a full-screen ad may appear once every few games when you tap OK on the final results. There is a small banner at the bottom of the home screen. Ads have no effect on which words are drawn or on the scores.

Turning off ad personalization

In Android Settings > Privacy > Ads you can delete your advertising ID or turn off personalization. Ads still appear, but they are not personalized.

Permissions

The only permission the app itself uses is vibration, to signal correct, pass and time up (you can turn it off in Settings). The ads and usage statistics SDKs add permissions such as internet access, network state and the advertising ID, which are used to load ads and send usage statistics. The tilt sensor is read without a permission. The app asks for no permission that needs your approval, such as storage, camera, microphone, contacts, location or notifications.

Usage statistics

To improve the app and place ads sensibly, we collect usage statistics with Google Analytics for Firebase: how often and how long you use the app, which features you use (for example which mode, how many teams and how much time per turn a game started with, which built-in topics were picked, whether a game was finished or at which stage it was quit, whether you resumed a game, whether a call was fixed on the turn results, whether Tilt switched to buttons and why (no sensor, sensor stopped, phone not held upright), whether a turn was replayed because the app closed, whether you made your own topic or opened a topic for a day), whether you saw an ad notice and watched the ad, ad impressions, device model, OS version, app version, country, language, a random identifier per install, and the advertising ID. Words, team names, scores, the names and words of your own topics, and tilt sensor readings are never sent. We also use Firebase Remote Config to change ad settings without an app update, which sends app version, OS version, country and language. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, information that identifies the device is not stored unless you consent.

Third parties

Apart from Google AdMob and Google Analytics for Firebase (see Usage statistics) we use no other analytics or crash reporting.

Children

Charades is not directed at children under 13, because Google AdMob collects an advertising ID, IP address and device information when ads are shown.

Deleting your data

You can clear the record of used words with Reshuffle words in Settings, and delete your own topics on the My topics screen. A game in progress is removed when you quit or finish it. Uninstalling removes the game in progress, records, your topics and settings from the device. A copy left in Google backup can be deleted in your Google account's backup settings. We keep no copy on our servers. You can delete your advertising ID yourself in Android Settings > Privacy > Ads.

There is nothing for us to delete

This app has no server holding your data. Records on your device disappear when you delete them in the app or uninstall, and your advertising ID is held by Google, so we can neither look it up nor delete it. Questions: dev@indieway.xyz

Changes and contact

If this policy changes we will update this page with a new date. Contact: dev@indieway.xyz. If you email us through Contact us in the app, we use your email address, your message, and the app and device details added at the end of the message (app version, Android version, device model, app language, theme and font size) only to reply to you.