VowelPlay
Effective · Changelog
The short version
- No account, no sign-in, no ads. No third-party analytics, SDKs or trackers in the app.
- The app gives your install a random ID, your Support ID. It isn’t your name, your email or your Apple ID.
- When you play, our server keeps a record of how each game went (times, attempts, hints, words you looked up). We use it to tune puzzles, show your stats and “Top N% today”, and fix your streak if you ask.
- We never sell your data, share it with advertisers, or track you across other apps and websites.
- This website (not the app) uses Google Analytics to count visits and clicks. More below.
- Delete the app to stop all of it. Email us your Support ID and we’ll delete your records from our server.
Who we are
VowelPlay is made by Brayden Towns, an independent developer in Australia. When this page says “we” or “us”, that’s who it means. Questions about privacy go to hello@vowelplay.app.
What the app sends to our server
A random install ID
On first launch the app creates a random identifier (a UUID) and stores it in your device’s Keychain. You can see it in Settings as your Support ID, and copy it from there. The app exchanges it with our server for an access token that expires after 24 hours; that’s how the server knows which game records belong together. The ID is random. It isn’t built from your device, your Apple ID or anything else about you.
How your games went
For each puzzle you play, the app sends:
- which puzzle it was (date and number) and your app version;
- the hour of the day you started, in your local time;
- when you finished and how long the solve took (in milliseconds);
- whether you finished or abandoned it, and how many attempts it took;
- whether you used hints;
- which words you looked up in the dictionary, and how many times;
- the board as you left it, so you can carry on with a puzzle on another device.
Your IP address
Like any server, ours sees your IP address when the app connects. We use it only for rate limiting (stopping anyone from hammering the server), in a short-lived counter that expires within minutes. It isn’t stored with your games.
What stays with you
- On your device: your progress, streaks and settings.
- In your iCloud: if iCloud is on, your stats, history and streak sync between your devices through iCloud Key-Value storage. That lives in your private iCloud account. We can’t read it.
- Game Center (optional): if you’re signed in to Game Center, the app signs in quietly in the background and submits your scores. Scores and achievements are handled by Apple under Apple’s Privacy Policy. We only submit scores.
- Notifications: the daily reminder is off until you turn it on, and it’s scheduled on your device. We don’t collect push tokens and can’t send you notifications.
Why we use it
- To tune puzzle difficulty, so puzzles stay fair.
- To work out “Top N% today” percentiles.
- To show you your stats.
- To restore your streak when you send us your Support ID and ask.
That’s it. No advertising, no profiling, no selling, and no tracking across other companies’ apps or websites.
Who else is involved
- Supabase hosts our database and server, so the records above are stored on Supabase’s infrastructure on our behalf. (Supabase privacy policy)
- Apple provides iCloud sync, Game Center and on-device notifications, under Apple’s Privacy Policy.
Nobody else. There are no analytics SDKs, ad networks or data brokers in the app.
This website (vowelplay.app, not the app) uses Google Analytics to count visits, where they come from (a search, a social post or a shared result, say) and what gets clicked, such as the download buttons or the try-it puzzle. It never records your answers. Google Analytics stores first-party cookies (_ga and _ga_…) to recognise a returning browser, and keeps this data for 14 months. Visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland don’t get these cookies; Google receives cookieless signals instead. Google signals and ad personalisation are turned off, so none of it is used for advertising or to follow you across sites. To opt out, use a content blocker or Google’s opt-out browser add-on. The site is hosted by Netlify and its fonts load from Google Fonts, so both also see standard request details such as your IP address.
How long we keep it
- Game records: for as long as VowelPlay runs, unless you ask us to delete them.
- Access tokens: expire after 24 hours.
- Rate-limit counters: expire within minutes.
Deleting your data, and changing your mind
You can stop at any time:
- Stop sending data: delete the app. Nothing more is sent.
- Remove what’s on your device: deleting the app removes the progress, streaks and settings stored on it. Your Support ID is kept in the iOS Keychain, which iOS doesn’t clear when an app is deleted, so if you reinstall, the app picks up the same ID. That’s on purpose: it means we can still find your records if you need support.
- Remove what’s on our server: open Settings → Support ID → Copy, and email it to hello@vowelplay.app. We’ll delete the records for that ID and let you know when it’s done.
Children
VowelPlay doesn’t ask anyone, of any age, for personal details like a name, email address or birthday. The App Store age rating is 13+ because the browsable dictionary includes some adult words, not because of anything to do with data.
Apple App Privacy label
On the App Store, VowelPlay declares: Identifiers (User ID), User Content (Gameplay Content) and Usage Data (Product Interaction), all linked to you, and no tracking. “Linked to you” means linked to your random Support ID, not to your name or Apple ID.
Governing law
VowelPlay is run from Australia, and this policy is governed by Australian law.
Changes
If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and its effective date, and list the change here.
- : this website now uses Google Analytics (the app is unchanged).
- : first version.
Contact
Email hello@vowelplay.app. Including your Support ID (Settings → Support ID → Copy) helps us find your records.