Privacy, in plain words.

What the app collects

Anonymous usage statistics. With usage sharing on, the app reports which screens and features are used and how puzzles go. For example, it reports that a puzzle of a given variant and difficulty was started, finished, or abandoned, that a hint was shown, how long a solve took, or which sticker a solve earned. These events are tied to a random ID created for your installation, rather than a name or email address. Reinstalling the app creates a new random analytics ID.

Apple Ads attribution. With usage sharing on, the iOS app asks Apple once, shortly after you first open it, whether the download came from one of our ads in the App Store. Apple answers with the numbers of the ad campaign, ad group, keyword and ad, whether the ad was tapped or only seen, and whether it was a first download or a redownload. The answer does not identify you or your device. The app adds it to the anonymous usage statistics as one event; if the download did not come from an ad, the event says only that. The lookup does not use your device’s advertising identifier and is not tracking, so the app does not ask for tracking permission.

Purchase records. On iOS, you can buy ticket packs or Sudoku Journal Ultimate. On Android, you can buy Sudoku Journal Ultimate. Apple or Google Play processes payment, and RevenueCat records purchase entitlements. When available, iCloud provides an identifier to link iOS purchases across Apple devices; it does not sync puzzles or streaks. Purchases on iOS and Android are separate and do not transfer between platforms. You do not need to create a Sudoku Journal account. We do not receive your payment details.

Game Center and Google Play Games

The app awards stickers for your solves and stores them on your device. If you are signed in to Game Center on iOS, the app also reports each sticker you earn to Apple as a Game Center achievement. On Android, it will do the same with Google Play Games once that support is turned on, if you are signed in to Play Games. The app sends only which achievement you earned. Apple or Google records it under your own Game Center or Play Games profile and shows it according to your privacy settings there. Sudoku Journal does not receive your Game Center or Play Games identity. While you are signed out, nothing is reported; stickers you earn in the meantime are reported after you sign in.

Feedback and support

When you send feedback in the app, we receive your message, app version, operating system, locale, and available Telemetry and RevenueCat support IDs. Both IDs can appear in the same support report. If you email us, we receive your email address and message. TestFlight feedback can also include screenshots or crash information supplied by Apple.

Data limits

Usage analytics do not include your name, email address, board contents, saved games, feedback text, or crash logs. We instruct our analytics service not to derive your location from your connection. Sudoku Journal does not use advertising identifiers, track you across apps or sites, or sell your data.

How we use data

Usage statistics show whether a difficulty tier is tuned right, whether hints are helpful, and which puzzle variants get played. Purchase records are used to deliver and restore what you bought. Support messages and their attached details help us investigate reports and respond to questions. Apple Ads attribution shows whether our App Store ads bring players who keep playing. We do not use any of this data to target ads, and we do not share it with advertising networks.

Who processes data

• PostHog (hosted in the EU) stores the anonymous usage statistics.
• Cloudflare hosts this website and our short links, and stores aggregate short-link measurements.
• RevenueCat processes purchases and entitlements.
• Apple processes iOS payments; iCloud supplies purchase identity, App Store Connect supplies TestFlight feedback, and Apple Ads answers the attribution lookup.
• Apple Game Center records the achievements you earn on iOS while you are signed in to Game Center.
• Google Play processes Android payments and purchase ownership.
• Google Play Games records the achievements you earn on Android while you are signed in to Play Games, once that support is turned on.

There are no advertising or tracking partners, and data is never shared beyond these processors.

Identifiers in analytics and support

Usage analytics and purchase processing use separate identifiers. In-app feedback may attach both identifiers to the same support report so we can investigate it.

Your controls and rights

Turning off “Share anonymous usage data” in Settings stops new usage events and cancels the Apple Ads attribution lookup if it has not run yet. On iOS, it also deletes events still queued on your device. On Android, queued events remain and may be sent if you turn sharing back on. Turning sharing off does not delete events already received or stop purchase processing. It also does not prevent you from sending a support message or control analytics on this website.

Usage events are stored under a random installation ID rather than your name. If you have a privacy request, contact support and include any available support IDs so we can investigate. For purchase records, you can also use the account tools provided by Apple or Google Play.

Retention

Purchase records are kept for as long as needed to honour your purchases. A retention period for raw usage events has not yet been confirmed.

Children

Sudoku Journal shows no ads and does not require an app account. The usage-data and support practices described above also apply when children use the app. Please avoid including personal information in feedback.

This website

When analytics is configured, this site records page views, store-link clicks, and error types under a random ID stored in your browser’s local storage. Visits through our registered media links include their source and campaign on page views and store-link clicks; we do not send arbitrary URL query values. Error reports omit messages and stack traces. We do not use analytics cookies or track you across sites, and we instruct PostHog not to derive your location from your connection.

Our short download links record the link, campaign, destination, time, and a broad device category so we can compare where visits come from. Cloudflare counts redirect requests and separates estimated human clicks from recognized bots, previews and prefetches. When configured, PostHog also receives estimated click events, each with a new random event ID that is not connected to your app or browser ID. These events contain no IP address, raw browser identifier, referrer, or incoming query string. We set no cookies for short links and do not derive location from the connection. Cloudflare processes connection information to serve the links and keeps the short-link measurements for three months. Store downloads are measured separately by Apple and Google.

Changes

If our practices change, we will update this page and the date at the top before the change takes effect.

Contact

Privacy questions: support@sudokujournal.app.