Last updated
October 7 2026
Privacy Policy of MatchWords
MatchWords operates the https://apps.apple.com/uy/app/matchwords-build-words/id1612434602 website, which provides the SERVICE.
This page is used to inform website visitors regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information if anyone decided to use our Service, the MatchWords website.
If you choose to use our Service, then you agree to the collection and use of information in relation with this policy. The Personal Information that we collect are used for providing and improving the Service. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy was created with the help of the Privacy Policy Template Generator.
The terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions, which is accessible at https://apps.apple.com/uy/app/matchwords-build-words/id1612434602, unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy.
Information Collection and Use
MatchWords does not ask you for your name, your phone number, your postal address, or any other information that identifies you personally, and it has no accounts to sign up for. The name you can set inside the game is stored on your device and is only sent anywhere if you choose to share a challenge with someone, or play one, so that the other player can see who they played. Because that name is shown to other people, our server first checks it with an automated content filter (TypeSafe); a name the filter judges offensive is shown to the other player as "???". Only the name is sent for this check, not your player ID or any other data, and your name as stored on your device is not changed.
Analytics and diagnostics
The app uses Amplitude to count how the game is used, and Firebase Crashlytics to receive crash reports. These record events such as a game starting or ending, and technical details such as your device model, operating system version and app version.
Your player ID
To count people rather than installations — and to stop the same person replaying a challenge they have already played — the app generates a random identifier the first time it runs and stores it in the device keychain. It is a random value: it is not derived from you, from your device's serial number, or from any account, and it is attached only to game data such as board configurations and scores.
This identifier deliberately survives deleting the app, and can also be carried to a new device by an encrypted device backup. That is what lets the app recognise a returning player rather than counting them as a new one. It is not shared between different people's devices.
You can see it at any time: open LOUNGE (or Settings) in the app and look below the version number. Tapping it copies it, along with the app version, so you can paste it into a message to us.
Treat it like a password. Since version 2.0, Restore with player ID in LOUNGE lets a phone with no games take over the history behind an ID that is pasted into it. Anyone who has your ID can do the same, so share it only with us.
Your game history
So that your statistics, records and streak are kept on our server and survive reinstalling the app, the app sends a short record of every game you finish to our server, stored in Google Cloud Firestore under your player ID. Each record holds: the board's number, the language, the board size, the time limit and game mode, your score, how many words you found, your longest word, whether you cleared the board, when the game finished and the calendar day it finished on (for your daily streak), and the app version. Games played without a connection wait on your device and are sent later.
When the game was a challenge, the record also holds the challenge's code, the other player's name as they typed it, their score and whether you won, lost or tied; the other player's record of the same challenge holds your name and score the same way. These names are kept for as long as the game history is kept, not only for the seven days a challenge lasts.
The game history is kept until you ask us to delete it. It is not used for advertising.
Rankings
Since version 2.0 the app shows rankings (DEPARTURES): best score of the week, longest word, boards cleared, duels won and the longest unbeaten run. A ranking row shows the name you typed in the game, the value and, on the longest-word board, the word. Rows never carry your player ID; the server gives each player a separate random public identifier for them.
Other players see you on the world boards only while Show me on the global board in LOUNGE is on (it is on by default). Turn it off and your rows stay on the boards of the friends you have duelled, nowhere else. A player with no name appears as PASSENGER followed by four digits. Names go through the automated content filter described above, and any player can report a name shown on a world board, which we review. A score the game judges implausible keeps that player off the world boards until we review it.
Deleting your data
Send us the player ID from the Settings screen and we will delete the analytics profile, the challenge data and the game history associated with it. Because that identifier is the only key we hold, we cannot find your data without it.
Challenges you create expire and are deleted automatically seven days after they are made, whether or not you ask for anything. Your game history does not expire on its own.
Log Data
When something goes wrong in the app, diagnostic information is collected — the kind of device, the operating system version, the app version, and the sequence of events leading to the problem — so the fault can be found and fixed.
Service Providers
We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons:
- To facilitate our Service;
- To provide the Service on our behalf;
- To perform Service-related services; or
- To assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.
The third parties used are Amplitude (usage analytics), Google (Crashlytics, Cloud Firestore and push notifications), Google AdMob, which serves the advertising in the app, and TypeSafe, which checks challenge display names as described above. They receive the information described above in order to perform those tasks, and are obligated not to use it for any other purpose.
Security
We value your trust in providing us your Personal Information, thus we are striving to use commercially acceptable means of protecting it. But remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Links to Other Sites
Our Service may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.
Children's Privacy
Our Services do not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal identifiable information from children under 13. In the case we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete this from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we will be able to do necessary actions.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, we advise you to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. These changes are effective immediately, after they are posted on this page.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or suggestions about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us.