Privacy Policy for Word Quest

Privacy Policy for Word Quest
Effective date: August 12, 2026
Last updated: August 12, 2026
App name: Word Quest
Package name (Google Play app ID): com.aistudio.wordpuzzles.uxfkmj
Applies to app version 1.2 (versionCode 3) and later
Developer: Arcode Studios
Contact: arcodestudios@gmail.com
Platform: Google Play (Android)

This Privacy Policy explains how Word Quest ("the App", "we", "us", "our") handles information when you use our mobile application. It is written to meet Google Play's User Data policy, the Data safety section requirements, the Families / Designed for Families expectations, and applicable privacy laws including the EU/UK GDPR, COPPA, and the CCPA/CPRA.

1. Summary (plain language)
Word Quest is a fully offline, single-player word puzzle game.
We do not collect, transmit, sell, or share any personal or sensitive user data. The App:
- requests no Android permissions at all (including no INTERNET permission — it physically cannot make a network request),
- has no user accounts, no login, and no backend server,
- contains no advertising SDK, no analytics SDK, no crash reporting, and no in-app purchases or billing,
- keeps everything it stores in the App's private storage on your device.
There is no server-side copy of anything about you, because there is no server.

2. Scope of This Policy
This policy covers the Word Quest Android application distributed through Google Play. It does not cover:
- Google Play itself, Google Play services, or your Google Account — those are governed by Google's Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy);
- your device manufacturer's or carrier's software;
- any third-party website you may reach by leaving the App.

3. Information We Do Not Collect
We do not collect, request, access, or transmit any of the following:
- Personal info (name, email, phone, address, user IDs): No
- Financial info (payment info, purchase history, credit score): No
- Health and fitness: No
- Messages (email, SMS, in-app messages): No
- Photos and videos: No
- Audio (voice recordings, sound files, music from your device): No
- Files and docs: No
- Calendar: No
- Contacts: No
- App activity (in-app search history, installed apps, other actions): No
- Web browsing history: No
- App info and performance (crash logs, diagnostics, performance data): No
- Device or other IDs (Advertising ID, IMEI, Android ID, device ID): No
- Location (approximate or precise): No

Nothing in the App is transmitted off your device, so nothing is "collected" or "shared" under Google Play's definitions of those terms.

4. Information Stored Locally on Your Device
To make the game work, the App saves the following only on your device, inside its private app storage that other apps cannot read:
- Display name, avatar, and country you pick in Profile — shown back to you inside the App; cosmetic only, self-chosen, never verified or transmitted. Leaves device: No.
- Game progress (level, XP, coins, win/loss stats, streaks, unlocked themes and achievements) — lets the game remember your progress between sessions. Leaves device: No.
- Saved / in-progress puzzles — lets you resume a puzzle where you left off. Leaves device: No.
- Daily Challenge and daily-reward timestamps — enforces the once-per-day challenge and streak calendar. Leaves device: No.
- Settings (sound, music, haptics, selected theme, high-contrast and large-text accessibility toggles) — remembers your preferences. Leaves device: No.

Important: The Profile name, avatar, and country are freeform cosmetic choices you make locally. We never see them. Please do not enter real personal details (full name, email, phone number, address) into the Profile field — the App does not need them for any feature.

This data is stored with Android Room (https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/room) (a local SQLite database) in the App's sandboxed private directory.

5. Android Auto Backup (Your Google Drive)
The App has Android Auto Backup enabled (allowBackup="true" in the manifest), which is the Android platform default. If you have Google Drive backup switched on in your device settings, Android — not the App — may copy the App's local data (the items listed in §4) into your own private Google Drive backup, so your progress is restored when you reinstall or switch devices.
- This transfer is performed by the Android operating system, not by code in the App.
- The backup lives in your Google account, is end-to-end handled by Google, and is not accessible to us.
- It is governed by Google's Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy) and Google's backup terms.
To opt out: turn off backup for this app in Android Settings → Google → Backup (path varies by device/OEM), or disable Google Drive backup entirely.

6. Permissions
Word Quest declares zero install-time and zero runtime permissions in its Android manifest. It does not request camera, microphone, location, contacts, storage, notifications, or network access.
Because there is no INTERNET permission, the App is technically incapable of sending data anywhere — to us or to any third party.

7. Third-Party Services and SDKs
The App integrates no third-party SDK that collects, receives, or processes user data.
- Advertising networks (AdMob, Meta Audience Network, Unity Ads, etc.): No — None
- Analytics (Firebase Analytics, Google Analytics, Amplitude, etc.): No — None
- Crash reporting (Crashlytics, Sentry, Bugsnag, etc.): No — None
- Google Play Billing / in-app purchases: No — None
- Attribution / MMP SDKs (AppsFlyer, Adjust, Branch, etc.): No — None
- Social login or social SDKs: No — None
- Cloud backend / leaderboard server: No — None

For transparency: the project's Gradle build file imports the Firebase Bill of Materials (BOM) — a version-pinning entry only. No Firebase product library is enabled, and the app ships without a google-services.json configuration file, so no Firebase service runs, is initialized, or receives any data. Networking libraries (OkHttp, Retrofit) are present in the dependency catalog but are commented out and not compiled into the released app.

8. Advertising and Monetization
- The App does not display ads and contains no ad SDK.
- The App does not use the Advertising ID and does not build advertising or marketing profiles.
- The App has no in-app purchases, no subscriptions, and no real-money transactions. Coins are a purely virtual, in-game currency earned by playing; they have no real-world value and cannot be bought or cashed out.
- A "Watch Video for Coins" button is visible but disabled and labeled "Coming Soon" — it runs no ad code.
If a future release introduces ads or purchases, we will update this policy, update the in-app policy screen, and update the Google Play Data safety and Ads declarations before that release ships.

9. Children's Privacy
Word Quest contains no violent, sexual, profane, gambling, or other age-restricted content, and it collects no personal information from anyone, including children.
- We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction), because we collect no personal information at all.
- There is no advertising, no behavioral profiling, no third-party data sharing, and no social/chat feature that could expose a child to other users.
- We comply with COPPA and Google Play's Families policy by design: there is simply no data pipeline off the device.
Parents or guardians who are concerned about locally stored gameplay data can erase all of it at any time (see §11).

10. Data Security
- All App data stays in Android's per-app private storage sandbox, which other installed apps cannot access.
- The release build is signed, minified, and resource-shrunk (R8/ProGuard).
- Because no data is transmitted, there is no data-in-transit exposure and no encryption-in-transit question to answer — there is no transit.
- On devices with a screen lock, Android's file-based encryption also encrypts the App's data at rest.
No method of electronic storage is perfectly secure, but the attack surface here is limited to your own device.

11. Data Retention and Deletion
We hold no data, so there is nothing for us to retain or delete on your behalf. Local data persists on your device until you remove it.
You can delete 100% of the App's data at any time:
1. Uninstall Word Quest, or
2. Go to Android Settings → Apps → Word Quest → Storage → Clear data.
Either action permanently erases your profile, progress, saved puzzles, and settings from the device.
Account deletion: the App has no accounts, no sign-in, and no server-side records, so Google Play's account-deletion requirement does not apply. There is no remote copy to request the deletion of.
If Android Auto Backup copied your data to your Google Drive (§5), delete that backup from Google Drive → Backups, or disable backup for this app.

12. Your Privacy Rights
Because we do not collect or process any personal data, we hold nothing to access, correct, export, restrict, or erase. Nevertheless:
- EU / UK (GDPR): we are not a data controller of any personal data from your use of this App. No processing means no legal basis is required, no international data transfers occur, and there is no data protection officer contact needed. All rights under Articles 15–22 are satisfied locally — you hold and control the only copy of your data.
- California (CCPA/CPRA): we do not collect, sell, or share personal information, and we have not done so in the preceding 12 months. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information. There is no "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" mechanism because there is nothing to sell or share.
- Other jurisdictions: the same applies — no collection, no processing, no transfer.
You may still email us at arcodestudios@gmail.com with any privacy question or request; we respond within 30 days.

13. Google Play Data Safety Declaration (mirror)
Play Console question / answer:
- Does your app collect or share any of the required user data types? No
- Is all user data encrypted in transit? Not applicable — no data leaves the device
- Do you provide a way for users to request that their data be deleted? Not applicable — no data is collected; users delete local data by uninstalling or clearing app data
- Does your app contain ads? No
- Does your app have in-app purchases? No
- Data types collected: None
- Data types shared with third parties: None
- Committed to Play Families policy: Yes — no data collection, no ads, no user-to-user content

14. Third-Party Links
The App contains no advertisements, no external links to other sites, and no embedded web content.

15. Changes to This Policy
If a future version of the App adds online features, ads, analytics, accounts, or purchases, we will:
1. update this document and the "Last updated" date above,
2. update the in-app Settings → Privacy Policy screen,
3. update the Google Play Data safety form and Ads declaration before that version is published,
4. where required by law, obtain your consent in-app.
Material changes will be reflected in the hosted policy URL listed on our Google Play store listing.

16. Contact Us
Questions, concerns, or privacy requests regarding Word Quest:
Email: arcodestudios@gmail.com
Developer: Arcode Studios
App: Word Quest
Package: com.aistudio.wordpuzzles.uxfkmj
We aim to reply within 30 days.