Privacy policy

Your player identity

You can play without providing an email address, password or real name. For online play, we create an anonymous authentication account and assign it a player ID. Your games and contributions are linked to that ID, so anonymous play still creates a persistent record of your activity.

You can use the generated display name or choose another name. Choose a name you are comfortable showing to the people on your boards.

What we store and why

• Player, group and game data: your player ID, display name, puzzle-group and board membership, player colour, group and board names, join codes, letters, answer credit, scores and timestamps. We use these to run shared puzzles and let you return to them.
• Puzzle-group invitations: we store a hash of each single-use invitation token, its expiry and whether it was used. The secret in the invitation link is shown to the people who receive that link; the stored hash cannot be used as an invitation.
• Session credentials: authentication tokens keep you connected as the same player. The app stores its refresh token in the iOS Keychain; the browser stores its refresh token in local storage.
• Preferences and puzzle history: the app and browser remember settings and previously started puzzle IDs on your device. Puzzle IDs are also sent when requesting puzzles to help avoid repeats. The browser remembers joined boards.
• Feedback you send: your report text, reason, player ID, available puzzle, board and clue context, client type and app version. We use these to investigate problems and improve puzzles. Other players cannot read your reports.
• Player reports and blocks: community reports include your player ID, the board, the reported player ID when applicable, a reason, any detail you add, the board and player names captured at submission, and client/version information. We store account blocks and which shared puzzles you left so we can prevent further contact between those accounts. Reports and your block list are private. Private review records may include case status, reviewer references, actions and original shared labels retained so a correction can be reversed. For an account restriction, we keep the affected account ID, its current restriction status and reference, and a minimal history of operator decisions and timestamps. These separate decision records do not copy report text, reported names or reporter identities.
• Support email: if you email us, we receive your email address and the information you include so we can respond.

The app does not include advertising or analytics SDKs, and we do not use its player data for advertising tracking.

What is shared

People on the same board can see its name, player names and colours, letters, scores and contributions. People in a puzzle group can also see the group name, member names and colours, current puzzle and prior boards available through their memberships. Anyone with a standalone board invitation or code can join while there is room and their account is eligible under player blocking and account restriction settings. A puzzle-group invitation can add one new member before it expires. Grouped board codes do not admit outsiders. Opening a standalone board to anyone allows other players to be matched into it. Invitation previews can expose link information to the service where you share the link.

Supabase provides authentication, database storage and live game updates. Vercel hosts the website and invitation preview service. Requests to these services include network information such as your IP address; the providers may keep operational and security logs under their own policies. See Supabase’s privacy policy and Vercel’s privacy policy.

Deleting your player data

Use Delete account and data in Settings in the app, or open Your player data on the website. Deletion removes your online authentication account, active puzzle-group memberships, submitted puzzle and community reports, private block records, and restriction status and decision records about your account. Community reports identifying you as their subject are also removed. Empty groups and boards where you are the only player are deleted. Groups and shared boards with other players remain available to them. On old shared boards, your name and identity are replaced by a separate “Deleted player” identity for each board; your letters and answer credit remain part of those puzzles.

Deletion cannot be undone. Your current device’s saved player identity and puzzle history are cleared. If you play again, you start as a new player. Data stored on other devices, copies someone else made, and messages you shared outside DownAcross are not erased by this action.

Clearing browser storage or removing the app is not a request to delete server data. If you need help with deletion, access or correction, email brandon@caltechweb.com. Do not send authentication tokens or passwords.

Retention and policy changes

Player and game records remain available for returning to puzzles until they are deleted. Puzzle and community reports remain available for review until removed, including when you delete your player data. A community report is also removed when its identified subject deletes their account. Its associated label-review and reversal records are removed with it. A separate restriction on another account does not end when its origin report is removed or the reporter deletes their account. The link to the removed report is cleared; the restriction status and minimal decision history remain until the affected account is deleted. Restoring shared play ends the active restriction while retaining that minimal decision history. Original-label records tied to a deleted account or board are also removed. Account blocks remain until unblocked or an account is deleted; leaving a shared puzzle stays in effect until you explicitly rejoin an eligible board. Live database deletion does not necessarily immediately remove copies from service backups or operational logs.

We will update this page when our data practices change and revise the date above. For questions about this policy or provider retention, contact support.