Privacy policy
Backgammon Season is a backgammon game. This page explains, in plain words, what the app and its game server keep about you, why, for how long, and how you can have it erased. The short version: you can play as a guest without telling us anything about you. If you make an account, we keep the email address you sign up with, or, with Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google, only an opaque identifier from Apple or Google. We also keep the country you play from (worked out from your connection, never a more precise location). No name, phone number, precise location, device identifier, advertising identifier or card details are collected, there are no ads and no analytics companies, and nothing is sold, shared with anyone else or used to track you.
Who is responsible
Antlero OÜ (the developer of the app) is responsible for the data described here. Contact: Antlero OÜ, registry code 16390782, VAT EE102445893, Sakala tn 7-2, 10141 Tallinn, Estonia, [email protected].
What the app and server keep
| What | Why | How long |
|---|---|---|
| A random player id and your account. A guest id made on your phone; or, if you make an account, a random account id together with how you sign in: your email address and a one-way scrambled form of your password (never the password itself), or, with Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google, the opaque identifier Apple or Google gives our app (not your name or email). We also keep which version of our terms of use you accepted, and when. | To run your games, to let you reconnect to a game, and to keep a ban on an account that cheats. | Guest: until it is unused for 400 days. Account: until you delete it. |
| Games and results: who played, the result and points, whether it was a game against the computer, the dice rolls and the random values that prove them, and the moves. They are stored under a pseudonym (a code that cannot be turned back into your id without a secret only the server has). | To show you fair, checkable dice, to prevent cheating and to measure whether the dice are fair. | Game records 180 days; the detailed roll data 30 days; your profile counters 400 days after you last played. |
| Signed game records (transcripts): the dice, moves and result of a game, signed by our server so you can check them. They contain no name, id or device data. | So anyone can verify a game was played fairly. | Kept with the pseudonymous key for the same period as the game and deleted with your account. The public log of game anchors (random codes only, no personal data) is permanent by design. |
| In your browser (the web version at /play). A random guest id and your choices (language, table theme, sound, computer level and match length, the play aids you switch on, reduce motion, and whether voice chat may be offered), kept in your browser's own storage for this site (IndexedDB). Your browser also keeps a copy of the game's files so it does not download them again. Nothing of this is sent anywhere except the guest id, which goes to the game server the same way the app's guest id does. No cookies are set, and no analytics, advertising or third-party scripts are loaded. | To play as the same guest next time, to remember your choices and to start faster. | In your browser until you clear this site's data in your browser's settings, which deletes all of it at once. |
| Your lobby nickname, friends, block list and recent opponents. While the app is open (on any screen, including during a game), other players in the lobby, your friends and your recent opponents see a nickname (made up for you, like "Swift Otter 42", until you choose one), whether you are free, looking for a game or playing, and an opaque code that stands for you (your "friend code", which you can share so others can add you). The server also keeps your friends and friend requests, who you blocked, who you recently played and your win/loss record against each of them, your rating (a number other players see, worked out from your games against people; after 5 such games your nickname and rating can appear on the leaderboard, and your season XP on the season leaderboard), your progress (XP, level, season tier, daily mission counts and the dice colours and frames you earned and wear; others see what you wear), when other players report you, their reports (the reason and a short note) for our team to review, and after several reports in a day a 24-hour pause of your voice and video chat; while your friends watch one of your games (you can switch this off in your profile), the board of that game for an hour and who is watching, your account: your email address and a one-way scrambled form of your password (we never store the password itself), kept until you delete your account; the country you play from (two letters, worked out from your connection, for the country rankings and your player card), the badges you earned, and, when you win a notable game, a small "moment" card (both nicknames, what happened and the score) kept for 180 days at an unlisted link that only people you share it with can open, the invitations ("pokes") sent to you for five minutes, and, while the app is in the background, a mark that sends invitations to you as notifications instead. | To let players find each other, keep a list of friends, invite each other to a game and keep unwanted invitations away. | Nickname and lists: until they are unused for 180 days (recent opponents 30 days), or until you delete your account. You are listed only while the app is open and in the foreground. An invitation lasts five minutes; the background mark at most 12 hours. |
| Your profile photo, only if you add one. A photo you choose from your device or take with the camera. It is public: other players see it on the board, in lists (players online, friends, requests), on the leaderboard and on your player card. We keep it on our own server as a 256×256 JPEG with all its metadata (such as location and camera details) removed. Other players can report it, and our moderators may hide or remove it. You can replace or remove it at any time. | To show other players who they are playing. | Until you replace or remove it, or delete your account; then it is deleted. Copies may remain for up to 30 days in browser caches and up to 1 hour in our network provider's (Cloudflare's) cache. |
| Puzzles, leagues, clubs and games over days. Your daily puzzle answers (the last 7 days), streak and how many you solved; your weekly league tier and the XP you earned in this and last week's group (other players in your group see your nickname and that XP); the club you belong to, your role in it and your XP for the club's week (club members see your nickname); correspondence games with friends (both players, every roll and move) and the challenges between you; your referral code, who invited you and how many players you invited; whether you switched reminders off; and, when you ask for it, the engine's analysis of a finished game (the moves and grades, linked to that game only). | To run these features, rank players fairly and send the reminders you have not switched off. | Puzzle answers 7 days and your streak 400 days after your last answer; league groups 5 weeks; correspondence games 30 days after their last move; analyses 30 days; the rest until you leave the club or delete your account. Deleting your account removes all of it (your active correspondence games are resigned). |
| Fair play checks. For your rated games against people: how closely your moves matched the engine's (the last 40 games), and a scrambled, one-way code for the network you connect from (it cannot be turned back into your address; the address itself is not stored), used to notice rated games between accounts on the same network. These only ever create a report for our team to look at; nothing is decided automatically. | To keep rated games and rankings fair (our legitimate interest in fair play). | Move accuracy 60 days; network code 7 days; counts between two players 30 days. Deleted with your account. |
| Tournaments, public games and coins. If you register for a scheduled tournament, its bracket is public: your nickname, your public code and each game's id (anyone can open that game's signed record of dice and moves). If you and your opponent both switch on "Anyone may watch my games", or it is a tournament game, the game appears in the Live list and on a public page with both nicknames, ratings and the board. The coins you earned by playing are kept with your account. | To run tournaments that anyone can check, let people watch games whose players allowed it, and keep your coins. | Tournament brackets 30 days; a public game's card one hour after its last move; coins 400 days after the last change. Deleting your account removes the switch and your coins. |
| Purchases. If you buy something in the app (Plus, a Season Pass, an item), we keep a record of it: which store (App Store, Google Play or our payment provider Stripe), the store’s transaction number, the product, when you bought it and, for a subscription, until when it runs, and whether it was refunded. We never see or keep your card or bank details: Apple, Google or Stripe handle the payment. On the web and in the Android app from our site, payment is made on Stripe’s page, under Stripe’s privacy policy. | To give you what you bought, restore it on another device, handle refunds, and keep the records the law requires. | As long as accounting law requires (typically up to 10 years). When you delete your account, the record is kept for the accounts but no longer linked to you. |
| Your push notification address, only if you turn notifications on. On iPhone, the address Apple gives our app for your device (the web version sends no notifications). A notification says only that a player (by nickname) invites you to a game. | To tell you about an invitation when the app or site is closed. | Until you turn notifications off, sign out, delete your account, or the address stops working. |
| App version and platform your app reports, and the country you play from (approximate location: two letters, such as "TR"). The country is worked out from your connection's IP address by our network provider, Cloudflare, when you connect; we keep only the country, never a city or a more precise location, and the IP address is not stored with it. | To know which versions are in use, to warn old versions to update, and for the country rankings and your player card. | Inside daily totals and your profile record; the country on your profile 180 days after you last played. Deleted with your account. |
| Problem reports you send with "Report a problem with this match", including the optional note you type (up to 500 characters). | To look into that match. | 180 days, or until you delete your account. Please do not write personal details in the note. |
| Voice chat reports and voice blocks. If you report a player with "Report voice": who reported whom, in which game, when, and the optional reason you type (up to 200 characters). A report also stops voice chat between the two of you from then on. No audio is ever part of a report: voice is never recorded. | To look into the report and keep unwanted voice away. | Reports 180 days, or until you delete your account. The voice block 180 days. |
| Profile reports. If you report a player's profile photo or username: who reported whom, what was reported (the photo or the username), the reason you chose, the optional note you type (up to 200 characters) and when. | To look into the report and hide or remove a photo or name that breaks our terms of use. | 180 days, or until you delete your account. |
| Network logs. Our web server records that a request happened and its address path (no query string, no account data), including your IP address, as a normal part of running a server. | Security and fixing faults. | Ordinary rotated server logs, not stored in the game database. |
Voice and video chat
In an online game against another person you can talk to each other, and during a call each of you can turn your camera on so the other sees you. Voice is off unless both players turn it on in that game, your microphone starts muted, and your camera stays off until you turn it on. You can mute, turn your camera off, end the call or turn voice and video chat off completely in Settings at any time. It is never offered in games against the computer.
- Your microphone is used only while voice chat is on in the current game, and your camera only while you have turned it on during a call. The app asks for microphone permission the first time you turn voice on and for camera permission the first time you turn your camera on; you can take either permission back in your phone's or browser's settings.
- The audio and video go straight between the two devices, encrypted (WebRTC). When two networks cannot reach each other directly, the encrypted audio and video pass through our own relay server, which forwards them without being able to hear or see them: they stay encrypted end to end.
- Voice and video are never recorded or stored, by us or by anyone else. The server only passes on the short messages the two devices need to connect (which include the network addresses they can be reached at) and whether each camera is on, and knows that the call started and ended.
- Live captions (only if you turn them on). With "Live captions" switched on in Settings (it is off unless you turn it on), your own device turns what you hear from the other player in a call into subtitles on your screen. The captions are made on your device from the audio you receive; they are not stored and not sent anywhere: not to us, and not to the other player. In the app, the speech is turned into text on your phone and the audio never leaves it. In the web version, your browser's speech service (for example Google, in Chrome) may process the audio to make the text; the game tells you before you turn it on there. Older versions of the app made captions of their own player's speech and sent the text to the other player; our server still passes such text on to the other player of the call only, and never stores or logs it.
- If someone makes you uncomfortable, use "Report voice": the call ends at once and they cannot talk to you again. See the table above for what a report keeps.
What we do not do
- We do not track you across apps or websites, and the app does not ask for tracking permission.
- We do not sell or share your data, and there are no advertisements or analytics companies in the app. One exception, with no personal data: when you ask the coach why a move was better, the server may send the computed facts about the two positions (for example "shots left: 11 vs 2") to TypeSafe, an AI service, to choose which reason to show first. It never receives who you are, your nickname or your account.
- We never record, store, listen to or watch voice and video chat.
- We do not collect your name, contacts, precise location or advertising identifiers. Your email address is kept only if you make an account with email and password, and only for that account, as described above; the only location we keep is the country you play from. The only device-related value we keep is the push notification address above, and only if you turn notifications on.
- The app is built with the Unity game engine, set up so that it sends no usage, hardware or diagnostic data to Unity Technologies.
- In-app purchases are handled by Apple, Google or Stripe; we never see your card or bank details.
Accounts
You can play as a guest without any account. If you make one, you choose how you sign in:
- Email and password. We keep your email address, to sign you in and to write to you about your account (for example to confirm the address or reset your password), and a one-way scrambled form of your password, never the password itself. We never send you advertising.
- Sign in with Apple. Apple tells our app an opaque identifier for you. We do not receive your email address or name unless the app asks for them, and it does not.
- Sign in with Google. Google tells our app who you are with a signed message; we keep only Google's opaque identifier for your account. Your email address and name in that message are not kept. If your account has no profile photo yet, we copy your Google profile picture once as your profile photo (public, like any profile photo above). You can replace or remove it at any time; once removed, it is not copied again.
Your choices and rights
- Delete your account and data: in the app, open Profile and choose Delete account. This erases your account, your pseudonymous profile and statistics, your problem reports and your stored game records. Games you played stay only as anonymous history.
- Delete your account without the app: email [email protected] from your account's email address and ask us to delete your account. For a Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google account, tell us your player name (your nickname in Profile) instead. Antlero OÜ then deletes the account and its data, as described above, within 30 days.
- In the web version clear this site's data in your browser's settings: it deletes the guest id and your choices from your browser. The game server keeps the records of that guest id as described above; to have them removed sooner, email us and we will help.
- Guests have no account to delete. Their records expire by themselves as shown above. If you want them removed sooner, email us the support code shown in Profile and we will delete them. Keep that code private: for a guest it is also the key to that guest's game.
- If you live in the European Economic Area or the UK you also have the rights of access, correction, erasure, restriction and objection, and you may complain to your data protection authority. Email us to use them.
Where the data is
The game server and its database run on a server that we operate. Backups are kept for a limited time and erased data disappears from them when they expire.
Children
The game is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes
If what we collect changes, we will update this page and its date before the change reaches the app.