Ultimate Spelling Battle ("the app") is a spelling game for players of all ages, made by DamTech Designs ("we", "us"), for Android (Google Play) and for iPhone and iPad with an Apple Watch companion (App Store). This policy covers every version. It explains what the app collects, why, who it is shared with, and the choices you have. Contact: privacy@spellingbattle.com. See also our Terms of use.
1. The short version
- You play without creating a password. The app gives each install an anonymous ID so your progress, scores and name work.
- Your player name, country flag, scores and (optionally, not for under-13s) photo are shown to other players on leaderboards and in battles.
- We use Google Firebase to run the game and measure how it is played, and Google AdMob (with one partner ad network) to show ads to free players. On iPhone and iPad we never ask to track you, so ads there are not personalised.
- Players under 13 get a child mode: no photos, no typed names, no personalised ads, no advertising signals in analytics, and a grown-up check before purchases and links that leave the app.
- You can delete your account and all its data at any time in Settings → Delete my account & data.
2. What we collect and why
| Data | Why | Shown to other players? |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymous player ID (Firebase Authentication) | Keeps your progress, scores and name together; security (stops cheating) | No |
| Birth year → age group only (under 13 / 13–15 / 16+); the year itself stays on your phone | Decides child mode and how ads and consent work | No |
| Player name (you choose it, or pick a generated one; under-13s only get generated names) | Leaderboards, battles, invite rooms | Yes |
| Profile photo (optional, not available under 13) | Shown next to your name. Before anyone sees it, it is checked automatically for unsafe content by Google Cloud Vision; rejected photos are deleted. | Yes, once approved |
| Country (on Android from your SIM card or mobile network, on iPhone from your mobile carrier where available; otherwise estimated from your IP address via Cloudflare) | Country leaderboards and flags; fair play (it can't be changed by hand) | Yes, as a flag |
| Game progress and settings (levels, stars, Honeycombs, coins, outfits, streaks, statistics) | Saving your game on the device; optional cloud save so progress survives a new phone or tablet | Only scores on leaderboards |
| Scores, answers and timing in online modes (Online Battle, Spelling Battle, Survival, Speed Round, Word Chain, Listen & Spell) | Grading answers on our server, leaderboards, anti-cheat, and word-difficulty statistics (answers are stored per word, not per player) | Scores yes |
| Emoji reactions in battles | Shown to the players in that battle | Yes, in that battle |
| Reports you send about another player | Reviewing names and photos | No (never shown to the reported player) |
| Optional account link: Google or Google Play Games on Android; Sign in with Apple, Google or Game Center on iPhone and iPad. With Sign in with Apple you may share a private relay email; we don't use or need it for the game | Cloud save across devices | No |
| Achievements (only if you are already signed in to Google Play Games on Android or Game Center on Apple devices) | Unlocking the game's achievements in Play Games / Game Center | As Play Games / Game Center show them |
| App interactions and diagnostics (Firebase Analytics): screens opened, games played, words answered, purchases made, device type, approximate region | Understanding what to improve; fixing problems | No |
| Ad interactions, and on Android the advertising ID (AdMob and its partner network). On iPhone and iPad we never show the tracking (App Tracking Transparency) prompt and don't use the advertising identifier (IDFA), so ads there are not personalised. Under-13s never get personalised ads on any device | Showing ads to free players, measuring them, frequency limits | No |
| Purchase records (Google Play purchase token or App Store transaction, and the product) | Checking purchases with Google Play or the App Store on our server, restoring them, preventing fraud and refund abuse | No |
| Push notification token (Firebase Cloud Messaging; on Apple devices delivered through Apple Push Notification service) | News, plus a daily reminder scheduled on the device (you can turn them off in your phone's settings) | No |
| Device integrity signals (Firebase App Check: Play Integrity on Android, App Attest / DeviceCheck on Apple devices) | Making sure requests come from the genuine app (stops cheating). These contain no personal details | No |
The game does not ask for your real name, email address, phone number, contacts or precise location, and there is no chat.
Support messages. If you write to us through the support form or by email, we receive your email address, an optional name, the topic, your device type, app version and message. We use them only to answer you. The form also keeps a one-way code of your internet address for a day to stop spam, and uses Cloudflare Turnstile to check that a person, not a bot, is sending it (it does not use tracking cookies or show ads).
Apple Watch companion. The watch app (Word of the Day, the daily 5-word "Daily Buzz" and Quick Spell) keeps its scores and streak on the watch. It receives your level, Honeycombs and streak from your iPhone, and sends the words you missed back to the iPhone's Word Garden, both through Apple's WatchConnectivity between your own devices. It sends no extra data to us and shows no ads.
3. Children
The game is for everyone, and children play it too. When the app starts it asks for your birth year without suggesting an answer. If you are under 13 the app switches to child mode: photos are off, names can only be picked from generated ones, ads are marked as directed at children (no personalised or behavioural ads, only general-audience content), analytics sends no advertising signals, and a grown-up question appears before any purchase or link out of the app (store, email, social media, website). For players under 16 we also tell our ad and consent partners the player is under the age of digital consent. Parents can ask us to review or delete a child's data at privacy@spellingbattle.com, or delete it in the app (Settings → Delete my account & data).
4. Who we share data with
We don't sell your personal data. We use these service providers, who process data for us under their own terms:
- Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions, Analytics, Cloud Messaging, App Check) and Google Cloud Vision (photo checks) — firebase.google.com/support/privacy. Servers are in Mumbai, India, and other Google regions.
- Google AdMob and its one mediation partner that may serve ads to free players, Liftoff (Vungle) — privacy policies: Google, Liftoff. Both are on Google Play's Families self-certified ads list. Consent is asked where the law requires it (EEA, UK, Switzerland), on every device.
- Google Play (Android purchases, Play Games sign-in and achievements) and Apple (App Store purchases, Sign in with Apple, Game Center, push notifications, App Attest) — apple.com/legal/privacy.
- Cloudflare (IP-based country lookup only).
Other players see the public items marked in section 2. We may disclose data if the law requires it.
5. How long we keep it
Your data stays while you play. Leaderboard rows for past weeks and battles remain until you delete your account. Rejected photos are deleted at once. Purchase records are kept (without your player ID after deletion) as long as needed to prevent a purchase being credited twice and to handle refunds. Analytics data is kept for 14 months. Support messages are deleted once your question is answered, and at the latest after 12 months.
6. Your choices and rights
- Delete everything: Settings → Delete my account & data (removes your name, progress, photo, cloud save and every leaderboard row from our servers and your phone). You can also request deletion on the web at spellingbattle.com/delete-account.
- Photo: remove it any time in Settings.
- Ads: Premium removes all ads. In the EEA / UK, "Privacy options" in Settings lets you change ad consent. On Android you can also reset or delete your advertising ID in Android settings; on iPhone and iPad the game never asks to track you.
- Notifications: turn them off in Android settings or in iOS Settings → Notifications.
- Depending on where you live (e.g. EU/UK GDPR, California CCPA/CPRA, India DPDP Act) you may have the right to access, correct, delete or port your data, and to object or complain to your data protection authority. Email us to use these rights.
7. Security
Data is sent over encrypted connections. Leaderboards, battles and purchases are checked and written only by our server (players can't write scores directly), and requests must come from the genuine app (Firebase App Check: Play Integrity on Android, App Attest / DeviceCheck on Apple devices).
8. Changes
We'll update this page when the app changes what it collects, and change the date above.