Privacy policy

The short version

Boilerplate Words is a word-puzzle game with six modes. It has no accounts and no sign-in, it shows no ads, and it works fully offline. The only thing it sells is an optional tip, which unlocks nothing; Apple or Google handles the payment, and we receive no payment details. Your game progress stays on your device. The app does not track you across other apps or websites: it does not read your device’s advertising identifier, and Google Ads features and Google signals are turned off.

The app sends two kinds of information to Google, through Firebase, which we use to see how the game is used and to find and fix crashes:

• Usage analytics, through Google Analytics for Firebase: events such as a puzzle being started or finished, which mode was used and which settings were changed, together with information about the device and the app.
• Crash reports, through Firebase Crashlytics.

Both are on by default and you can switch each off in the app’s Settings. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the app asks for your consent before it collects any analytics.

Two optional things involve Apple or Google rather than us: an iCloud sync switch on Apple devices (off by default, iOS only), and, on Android, the operating system’s own backup of app data. There is also an in-app feedback form, hosted by Tally, which sends only what you choose to give it, plus the app’s version and your system’s version.

The rest of this page sets out each of these in full.

Who we are

Boilerplate Words is published by Boilerplate LLC. You can reach us at support@boiler-plate.com.

We do not run a server of our own for this app. What the app sends goes to Google or to Tally (see Feedback form below), and the optional sync and backup features are run by Apple and Google.

What stays on your device

Your levels, statistics and saved games, for every mode, are stored on your device, in the app’s own storage. The app does not send them to us. Deleting the app removes them from the device, with the caveat under Sync and backup below.

Usage analytics

The app uses Google Analytics for Firebase, part of Google’s Firebase service, to count how the game is used. We use the Firebase project boilerplate-games for this. Analytics collects:

• App usage events, such as a mode or a puzzle being opened, started or finished, a hint, undo or shuffle being used, changes to settings, and whether a tip was completed and which of the three sizes it was (see Tips below);
• Device and app information, such as details of the device and the version of the app.

No event this app sends carries anything you typed or spelled — only a mode’s name, a level number, a score, a true/false flag, or a setting’s name and value. Analytics collects no names, email addresses or contact details, because the app never asks you for them.

No tracking across apps. We have turned off Google Ads features and Google signals for this project. The app does not read your device’s advertising identifier. On iOS, it uses Google’s Analytics build without advertising-identifier support and does not include Apple’s AdSupport, AdServices or App Tracking Transparency frameworks, so it cannot read the advertising identifier and never asks to track you. On Android, the advertising-ID permissions are removed from the app. It does not link your activity to other apps or websites. For that reason the app does not show Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt. The app shows no ads and includes no advertising software.

Your choices. Analytics is on by default. The Settings screen has a switch, “Share how the games are played,” that turns analytics off, and a separate switch for crash reports (see Crash reports below). In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, analytics is not collected until you agree when the app asks. You can change your answer in Settings at any time.

How long it is kept. Event-level analytics data is kept for the period set in our Google Analytics settings, which is the default, 2 months.

Google’s description of how Firebase handles data is at https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy.

The identifier it uses. Google Analytics for Firebase gives each installation of the app a random app-instance ID, which ties together the events from that installation. It is not your advertising identifier, and it does not name you. Deleting the app clears it.

Crash reports

The app uses Firebase Crashlytics. When the app crashes, or when it records a handled error with an optional one-line note, Crashlytics collects that report, which Google receives so that we can see what went wrong and fix it. No report or note this app sends is built from anything you typed or spelled — the code that calls Crashlytics works with mode and session state, not with your words. Crash reporting is on by default, and the Settings screen has a switch, “Send crash reports,” that turns it off.

Google’s Firebase privacy page says it keeps crash stack traces, extracted minidump data and associated identifiers for 90 days before starting the process of removing them from its live and backup systems. See https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy.

Tips

The Settings screen has an optional “Leave a tip” button with three one-off tips. A tip is a thank-you: it unlocks nothing, and the game is the same whether or not you leave one.

Payment is handled by Apple or Google. A tip is an in-app purchase made through the App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Google), under their terms and privacy policies. They process the payment. The app and we never receive your card number, billing address or account password.

What the app learns. The store tells the app whether the purchase completed. If it did, and analytics is switched on (and, where it applies, you have agreed to it), the app sends an analytics event, tip_completed, with the size of the tip (small, medium or large). Google Analytics for Firebase may also record its own standard purchase event, which includes the product, its price and the currency. Neither contains your payment details. Both go to Google Analytics for Firebase like the other usage events above and are not linked to your identity.

What the stores tell us. Apple and Google give us sales, tax and refund reports for tips, which we use for our accounts.

Feedback form

The Settings screen has a “Send feedback” button that opens a form, hosted by Tally (a third-party form provider), in your browser. The form sends what you choose to give it: your answers and, only if you add them, a screenshot and an email address for a reply. The app adds its own name and version, your device’s operating system and its version, and the game mode you last played (nothing, if you have not played one yet), so that we can tell which build and which mode a report is about. Tally also collects what it needs to operate the form (such as the time of submission). We add nothing else from your device or your game progress.

Tally’s own privacy policy, at https://tally.so/help/privacy-policy, describes what it collects to run the form. Your submission reaches us by email; see What we hold, and your rights below for how long we keep it.

Sync and backup

iCloud (Apple devices, iOS only). The app has an optional switch, off by default, called “Keep progress in iCloud.” If you turn it on, the app keeps one small document in your own iCloud account’s key–value storage, in a container scoped to this app: the game you have in progress in each mode, how many games you have played and won in each mode, the running total of points, and which modes’ How to Play screen you have already seen. It does not include the app’s settings, which stay on each device. The document is stored under Apple’s terms and privacy policy. We do not receive it and cannot see it.

Android backup. Android’s own built-in backup of app data, when your device has it turned on, can include app data from this app the same way it can for any app that has not opted out of it. That backup is made and held by Google, not by us, under your own Google account. You control it in your device’s settings.

Because of these two features, some or all of your game progress can come back on a new or restored device even after you delete and reinstall the app.

Where your information goes

Google is based in the United States and may process what it receives in the United States and in other countries. Tally is based in the European Union. If you use the app outside the country where either of them processes data, what the app sends is transferred abroad. Each describes the safeguards it relies on for such transfers in its own terms and privacy policy. Contact us if you would like to know more.

Google’s own privacy policy is at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

What we hold, and your rights

There is no account and no login in Boilerplate Words. You never tell us who you are, and nothing you do in the app is filed under a name.

The analytics and crash data described above is collected and held by Google through Firebase, for the periods stated above. We see it in aggregate in the Firebase console. We hold no name or contact details to attach it to, and we have no way to look up one person’s records in it.

The only records we hold ourselves are messages you send us, for example through the feedback form or by email. We keep them for as long as we need them to answer and act on what you sent, and for no longer than 36 months, unless the law requires us to keep them longer.

Subject to the law that applies to you, you may ask us:

• to tell you what we hold about you;
• to correct it or delete it;
• to object to or restrict how we use it;
• to withdraw a consent you have given.

You may also complain to your data protection authority. To exercise any of these, contact us using the details below. We will act on them to the extent the records described above allow. In the EEA, the United Kingdom and Switzerland you can also withdraw your analytics consent in the app’s Settings at any time.

For residents of US states with privacy laws. This part applies to residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws, and to residents of any other state whose law gives similar rights. We do not sell personal information, and the app shows no ads. We have turned off Google Ads features and Google signals, so the analytics data is not used for targeted advertising. Your rights, depending on your state, are to know and access, to correct, to delete, to opt out of sale, sharing and targeted advertising, and not to be discriminated against for using them.

How to make a request. Email us at the address below. We will confirm we received it within 10 business days and answer within 45 days, or tell you within that time if we need up to 45 more. If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our answer with “Appeal” in the subject line, and we will respond within 60 days. If you are not satisfied, you may contact your state’s attorney general.

Children’s privacy

Boilerplate Words is a general-audience word puzzle game. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The app asks for no name, email address or other contact details, and Analytics collects none. The automatic collection described on this page, if you have not switched it off, happens on every installation, whoever is using it. The feedback form is reached only from Settings and is not presented to anyone as a requirement to play. If you believe a message sent to us contains information about a child under 13, contact us and we will delete it.

Security

We do not run a server for this app, so none of your data is held on infrastructure of ours. What the app sends goes directly to Google or to Tally and is held under their respective security arrangements. No transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be secure.

Changes to this policy

We may change this policy. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

Contacting us