Spy Word
In short
- There's no sign-up, and we never ask for your email, phone number, contacts or location.
- Pass & Play works entirely on your phone. Nothing about the game leaves it.
- Rooms send the room's game data through Google Firebase so the phones in the room stay in sync. That data is temporary.
- Ads are served by Google AdMob. Spy Word doesn't ask to track you across other apps and websites.
- We don't sell your information, and we don't use analytics or crash-reporting tools.
1. On your phone
To work the way you expect, Spy Word saves a few things on your phone only:
- Your settings, such as sound effects, haptics and language
- The words your phone has already played, so you don't get repeats
- The codes of rooms you've recently been in, so old rooms can be cleaned up
- A random ID for this copy of the app, used to recognise your phone in a room
Player names you type in Pass & Play stay on your phone. Deleting the app removes all of this.
2. Rooms (online play)
When you create or join a room, Spy Word uses Google Firebase to keep everyone's phone in sync:
- Firebase Authentication signs the app in anonymously. This gives your phone a random ID. It isn't linked to your name, email or Apple Account.
- Firebase Realtime Database stores the room while it's in use: the room code, the name each player enters, whether they're connected, the round settings (language, category, number of imposters and timer), each player's role and secret word, the votes, the results, and how many times each player has been the imposter in that room (so turns can even out).
Everyone in a room can see the names in that room. Use a nickname if you prefer.
How long it's kept: a room is deleted when the host closes it. A room nobody has played in for 24 hours counts as abandoned and is deleted the next time one of its players uses online play.
3. Advertising
Spy Word is free and shows ads from Google AdMob: a banner on some screens, and sometimes a full-screen ad when a round ends. To show and measure ads and to prevent fraud, Google may receive information such as your device type, iOS version, app version, IP address (from which an approximate location can be worked out) and how you interact with ads.
Spy Word doesn't ask for permission to track you, so your phone's advertising identifier is not shared with Google. You can learn more in how Google uses information from apps that use its services.
4. Notifications
The current version doesn't ask for notification permission. If you allowed notifications in an earlier version, your phone may still receive occasional announcements about Spy Word through Firebase Cloud Messaging, grouped by the app's language. You can turn them off at any time in iOS Settings, then Notifications, then Spy Word.
5. When you contact us
If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you include in your message. We use it only to reply, and keep it only as long as needed to help you.
6. Who we share data with
Only with the services that make the app work: Google Firebase (rooms and notifications) and Google AdMob (ads). They process data under their own terms, which you can read in the Firebase privacy information and the Google Privacy Policy. Their servers may be in a different country from yours.
We don't sell or rent personal information, and we don't share it with anyone else unless the law requires it.
7. Your choices and rights
- Play Pass & Play to keep everything on your phone, with no network connection at all.
- Use a nickname in rooms.
- Delete the app to remove everything stored on your phone.
- Email us to ask what we hold about you, or to ask us to delete it. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights, for example under the GDPR or the CCPA, and we'll honour them.
8. Children
Spy Word is a general-audience party game. It has no accounts and doesn't ask for personal information. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email us and we'll delete it.
9. Changes to this policy
If we change how Spy Word handles data, we'll update this page and the date at the top.
10. Contact
Questions about privacy? Email info@mehdichitsaz.com.