Local Kine Word Game
Privacy Policy
The short version. The game works offline. Your games, coins, stats and settings are stored on your own phone, not on our servers. We never ask for your name or email to play. We do not sell your personal information. The free version shows ads, and our advertising partner collects information about your device to serve them — that's the main way any information about you leaves your phone.
Local Kine Apps LLC ("Local Kine Apps," "we," "us," "our") makes the Local Kine Word Game mobile app (the "Game"). This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and what choices you have.
What we collect
Stored on your device only
The Game stores the following on your phone. We cannot see it, we never receive it, and it is not sent to us:
- Games in progress and finished games, including boards, tiles, scores, and any player names you type in
- Your Gold Coin balance and how you earned or spent coins
- Your statistics — games played, won and lost, high scores, best words, day streaks
- Your settings — sound, difficulty, profanity filter, starting-word option
- Items you own and have equipped, such as tile themes and avatars
All of it is deleted when you delete the Game from your phone. Because it lives only on your device, we cannot recover it for you if it's lost, and we cannot move it to a new phone.
Collected automatically for advertising
The free version of the Game shows ads served by Google AdMob. To serve, limit and measure those ads, Google and its advertising partners may collect:
- Device advertising identifiers — Apple's IDFA or the Android Advertising ID — only where you have given permission
- Your IP address, and the approximate location derived from it
- Device and software details — model, operating system and version, language, screen size, network type
- Ad interaction data — which ads were requested, shown, clicked or closed, and when
- Crash and performance data from the advertising components
Google collects this under Google's privacy policy, not ours. You can also read how Google uses information from sites and apps that use its services.
On iPhone and iPad we ask your permission first. Before any tracking identifier is used for personalized ads, iOS shows you a prompt. If you say no, you'll still see ads — they just won't be personalized, and no tracking identifier is used. Saying no doesn't limit any part of the Game.
Things you choose to send us
- Support emails. We receive your email address and whatever you write, and use it only to answer you and fix the problem.
- Word suggestions. If you suggest a word, spelling, definition or example, we receive what you send. Please don't include personal information — and note that suggested words may become part of the Game's dictionary permanently. See our Terms of Service.
- Reports about other players. We receive the report and the content you reported.
From the app stores
Apple and Google collect information about downloads, purchases and crashes, and share reports with us in aggregated or de-identified form that we cannot trace back to you. That collection is governed by their privacy policies, not ours.
Purchases
In-app purchases are handled entirely by Apple or Google. We never receive or store your card number, bank details or billing address. We only learn that a purchase succeeded, so the Game can give you what you bought.
What we don't collect
To be explicit, the Game does not:
- Access your contacts, photos, camera or microphone
- Allow photo or image uploads of any kind, including in chat
- Collect precise GPS location
- Collect health, financial, biometric or payment-card information
- Read your messages, calls, browsing history or other apps
- Require an account, your real name, or your email address to play
How we use it
We use information to run the Game and save your progress on your device; to show and measure ads; to deliver purchases; to answer support requests; to review reports and enforce our Terms; to detect cheating and fraud; to fix crashes and bugs; to understand in aggregate which features get used; and to comply with the law.
We don't use your information to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
How it's shared
We share information only in these ways:
- Advertising partners — Google AdMob and its partners, as described above.
- App stores — Apple and Google, for distribution and purchases.
- Service providers who help us run the Game, bound to use information only as we instruct.
- Legal requirements — when we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law or legal process, or is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Local Kine Apps LLC, our players, or the public.
- Business transfer — if the company is merged, acquired or sold, information may transfer with it. We'll give notice before your information becomes subject to a materially different policy.
We do not sell your personal information. Where the law treats personalized advertising as a "sale" or "sharing," the permission prompt and the device settings below are how you opt out.
How long we keep it
Information on your device stays until you delete it or delete the Game. Support emails are kept while we resolve your issue and for a reasonable period after. Word suggestions that become part of the dictionary are kept indefinitely as Game content. Advertising data retention is governed by Google's policies.
Your choices and rights
Anyone, on any device:
- Delete everything by deleting the Game from your phone. Because your data is local, that is complete deletion.
- Turn off personalized ads. On iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, or just decline our prompt. On Android: Settings → Google → Ads.
- Remove ads by buying an ad-free option, where we offer one.
- Use the profanity filter in Settings if you'd rather not see mature language in chat.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or get a copy of your personal information, to opt out of targeted advertising, and not to be treated differently for exercising those rights. Because the Game keeps your information on your own phone, we usually hold nothing to give you — but you can always write to us at the address below and we'll respond as the law requires. We may need to verify who you are first. You can name someone to act for you.
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland: we process information to provide the Game you asked for, to pursue our legitimate interest in keeping it working and free of abuse, and — for personalized advertising — on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time using the device settings above. Information is processed in the United States. You have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
Children
The Game is rated 16+ and meant for players 16 and older. We don't direct it to children, we don't knowingly collect personal information from children, and we have configured our advertising so the Game is not treated as child-directed. If you believe a child has given us personal information, write to us and we'll delete it.
Security
We take reasonable measures to protect information. Because your game data sits on your own phone, its safety depends mostly on your phone's own protections — your passcode, your device encryption, your account security. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, and we can't guarantee absolute security.
International users
We operate from the United States. If you play from somewhere else, information handled by us or our partners may be processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those where you live.
Ads in the Game may link to other companies' websites and apps. We don't control those, don't endorse them, and aren't responsible for what they do with information you give them.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. For material changes we'll update the date at the top and give notice in the Game or by other reasonable means. The current version always lives at this address and is linked from the Game's Help screen. If you keep playing after a change takes effect, you accept it.
Contact us
Local Kine Apps LLC
localkinewordgame@gmail.com