CHESSBEATS

YOUR DATA / YOUR CHOICES

Privacy Policy

The core puzzle experience runs on your device. Here’s what stays there, what our services collect, and how you stay in control.

Effective July 17, 2026 · Updated November 12, 2026
Strategic Gambit LLC

What stays on your device

The app stores your gameplay data locally:

  • Puzzle progress, per-theme ratings, streaks, coins, and best scores
  • Your settings (audio volumes, theme selection, accessibility preferences)
  • A local log of your puzzle attempts, used to schedule practice and reviews

If you play as a guest and never link an account, this profile data is not synced to the cloud, and uninstalling the app deletes it. Playing for coin rewards while online does send session records to our server under your account ID, guest or linked (see “Coin rewards and the server wallet” below). If you link an account, a subset of your profile also syncs to the cloud (below).

What is collected

Account information (optional)

You can link an email/password, Google or (on iOS) Apple account so your progress survives a new phone or reinstall. Linking is handled by Google Firebase Authentication and stores your email address or Google/Apple identity. The game’s guest account uses a random account ID, with no name or email attached to that sign-in. Platform achievement services are separate, as described below.

Cloud-synced progress (linked accounts)

For linked accounts, your ratings, streaks, stage progress, coin balance, settings, and recent missed-puzzle history sync to Google Cloud Firestore under your account so they can be restored on any device you sign in to.

Coin rewards and the server wallet (all players)

When you start an Arcade, Daily or Train session while online, the app asks our server (Google Cloud Functions and Firestore) to authorize the session before it can pay coin rewards. The server records that session under your account ID, guest or linked: the mode, the day, a random identifier for your app installation and the puzzle sequence it chose. Where server-side wallet verification is enabled, the session’s results (which puzzles you were shown, your moves, the outcome and the time taken) are uploaded when it ends and kept with your wallet so rewards can be verified, together with your coin balance and its history, purchased coin packs, power-up inventory and unlocked collections. Sessions started offline are practice: they pay no coins, and the app only reports the practice day so your streak counts.

App and device security

App versions with Firebase App Check send app and device attestation data to Google Play Integrity on Android or Apple DeviceCheck on iOS to help prevent abuse. Firebase exchanges successful attestations for short-lived security tokens, which accompany supported online requests. These checks apply to guests and linked accounts and operate independently of optional usage analytics. Our server logs the verification result with account and app-version diagnostics; it does not log the raw security token.

Platform achievements

On supported devices, the app can sign in to Google Play Games or Apple Game Center and sync unlocked achievements to your platform profile. These services use your Google or Apple gaming identity and their own privacy settings. This is separate from linking a Chess Beats account: you can have a guest game account and still use platform achievements.

Crash reports

Firebase Crashlytics collects crash traces with device model, OS version, and app version so we can fix defects. We do not attach names, email addresses, or gameplay history to crash reports. In versions with the eligibility and Terms screen, managed crash-reporting startup waits until that screen is completed; crash reporting is then enabled as a stability safeguard.

Terms acceptance (on this device)

In app versions with the agreement screen, we store the accepted Terms version, a fingerprint of that document, the acceptance time, app version, and whether a parent or guardian declared acceptance. This record stays in local app storage and is not uploaded with your profile. It is removed when that local app storage is cleared. It is separate from optional analytics and advertising choices.

Usage analytics (opt-in)

A small onboarding funnel is measured with Google Analytics for Firebase only if you enable “Share anonymous usage data” in Options. It is off by default, and no gameplay analytics events leave your device regardless of this setting (the coin-reward session records described above are separate and are not analytics).

Website analytics and advertising measurement (opt-in)

This website can measure visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics and Google Analytics 4, and can measure advertising with the Meta Pixel. None of them run until you make a choice in the banner shown on your first visit. “Analytics only” turns on Cloudflare and Google Analytics. “Allow all” also turns on the Meta Pixel. “No thanks” turns on nothing.

  • Cloudflare Web Analytics is cookie-free and reports page views, referrers, browser and country in aggregate.
  • Google Analytics 4 sets first-party cookies (for example _ga) so repeat visits can be told apart, records which campaign or link brought you here, and counts clicks on the testing, contact and social links. It does not store IP addresses, we do not use it for advertising, and its ad-related signals are set to denied.
  • Meta Pixel (Facebook and Instagram) sets a cookie and tells Meta that your browser visited this site, which pages, and whether you clicked a testing or contact link. We use this to see which of our posts and ads bring people here and to reach similar people on Meta’s platforms. Meta may combine this with your Meta account under Meta’s privacy policy. Limited Data Use is enabled for US states that require it.

Your choice is stored in your browser’s local storage on this device, never on our server. You can change your choice at any time; withdrawing it stops all three immediately on this device.

Purchases

Purchases and subscriptions are processed by Google Play or the Apple App Store. We never see your payment details. Purchase and subscription status (receipts and entitlements) is managed by RevenueCat under your account ID, guest or linked, so your purchases restore correctly. When a coin pack is credited to your server wallet, the store, transaction reference, product, price and currency reported by the store are recorded with it so that refunds can be applied and reversed correctly.

Advertising

The free version of Chess Beats shows ads served by Google AdMob (Google Mobile Ads):

  • Banner ads on Home, Train/Review and Daily Challenge screens; no banners during active Arcade play
  • A full-screen ad after an Arcade run, subject to availability and ad settings
  • Optional rewarded ads you can choose to watch to continue an Arcade run or claim the daily shop reward

To serve and measure ads, Google collects data including your device’s advertising ID, IP address (which can indicate approximate location), and ad interaction data. See how Google uses advertising data and the Google Privacy Policy.

Where required (for example the EEA/UK and several US states), a consent prompt appears before any ad is requested, and you can revisit your privacy choices from the app’s settings at any time.

Ads are age-aware. Players aged 13 to 15 receive only age-appropriate, non-personalised ads and are never asked for tracking permission. Players aged 16 and over may be asked by iOS (App Tracking Transparency) or Android whether Chess Beats may use the device’s advertising identifier for personalised ads; Apple treats that use as tracking, it happens only after you allow it, and declining keeps ads non-personalised.

The one-time Remove Ads purchase removes banner and interstitial ads for the supported life of the Services, subject to the Terms and applicable law. Chess Beats Pro removes them while your subscription is active. Optional rewarded ads remain available with either option.

Data deletion

  • Guest players: uninstalling the app deletes everything stored on your device. Session and wallet records created on our server under a guest ID (above) contain no name or email address and are not removed by uninstalling. To remove them, open Options › Account in the app and tap Delete guest data. When deletion completes successfully, it removes the guest account, its server wallet (coins, including any you bought, power-ups and unlocked looks) and session records, and resets local game data to a fresh guest. An internet connection is required; follow any retry instructions shown in the app. No sign-in or email address is needed.
  • Linked accounts: use Delete account in Options › Account, or request deletion of your account and cloud-saved gameplay data through Delete your Chess Beats account or by emailing support@playchessbeats.com.
  • Subscriptions and device data: deleting your game account does not cancel a Pro subscription. Cancel it separately through Google Play or Apple. Successful in-app deletion resets local game data on that device; a website or email request cannot directly clear data already stored on your phone. See the deletion guide for store links and full instructions.
  • When an account is deleted, its sign-in, synced profile, server wallet, session records and result evidence are removed. What remains: a minimal deletion marker (the account’s internal ID and the deletion time, with no profile or gameplay data) so that a still-signed-in device cannot recreate the deleted data; the wallet’s financial audit trail (one entry per coin purchase, refund, reward grant or spend, with the internal ID, amounts, the balance after each entry and the store transaction reference for purchases) and the binding of each store transaction to the account, kept so a refund or receipt cannot be applied twice; and records of any manual review of your purchases or reward claims by us. These are kept for up to 7 years after deletion for tax and accounting purposes. They contain no name, email address or puzzle moves. Purchase and subscription records also remain with Google Play or the Apple App Store and our purchase processor, RevenueCat, for the same purposes.
  • The website’s stored copy of your deletion request expires automatically after 90 days. Requests are also sent to our support email so we can verify and confirm them. We do not store your IP address with the form submission.

Third-party services

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with anyone beyond the service providers listed above. The one exception is the Meta Pixel on this website, which only runs if you choose “Allow all” and which some US state laws treat as sharing for advertising; the banner choice is your opt-out.

Children

Chess Beats is available only to users aged 13 and over, or any higher minimum age required by local law, and is not directed at children under 13. Parental permission does not make a child under 13 eligible. Eligible minors who cannot enter into the Terms themselves need a parent or legal guardian to review and accept them. In app versions with the eligibility screen, the birth-year answer and any confirmation of having turned 13 stay on the device. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal data, contact support@playchessbeats.com so we can investigate and arrange appropriate deletion.

Changes to this policy

When the app’s data practices change, this policy is updated before the change ships, and the “Last updated” date above reflects it.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: support@playchessbeats.com