Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

NickGames is a party game app for Android, together with this website (nickgames-f4961.web.app). Both are made by Nikiforos Manolas, an independent developer based in Greece, who is the data controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this policy, "we" and "us" mean NickGames and its developer.

Contact: forismanos@gmail.com

2. What we collect and why

2.1 Your username and account

The first time you open the app, you pick a username. To keep usernames unique and to save your stats, the app signs you in to Google Firebase Authentication anonymously: Firebase creates a random account ID for your installation, with no email or password. We store:

• your username, and the account ID it belongs to;
• the technical data Firebase Authentication keeps for every account, such as when it was created and last used. Google may also process your IP address when you sign in, to protect the service from abuse.

Your username is public: other players see it in game rooms and on the leaderboards. Don't use your full real name or anything you wouldn't want others to see. Usernames with swear words or slurs are refused.

2.2 Signing in with Google (optional)

You can choose to sign in with Google in Settings › Player, or with "Played before? Sign in with Google" when you first open the app. It's optional: you can play without it. It's only there so you keep your username and stats if you reinstall the app or change phones. When you sign in, Google shares with Firebase Authentication your email address, name and Google account ID (and your profile picture link, which we don't use), and Firebase links them to your account ID. We use them only to sign you back in to the same account. They're never shown to other players, never used for marketing and never shared.

You can sign out in Settings › Player: your phone then forgets you, and your username and stats stay with your Google account until you sign in again. "Delete my data" also deletes the account together with the Google sign-in linked to it.

2.3 Leaderboard stats

When you finish a game, the app adds to your stats for that game: total points, number of games played, and the total time and number of answers (used to show your average answer time). These are stored with your account ID and username and shown on the leaderboards to all players.

2.4 Online games

Only when you host or join an online room (QUIZ, Draw It, Categories, Think Alike and Letter Rush can be played online), the phones exchange game messages through the Google Firebase Realtime Database: the room code, the players' usernames, and what you do in the game, such as your answers, guesses and drawings. Each message is deleted as soon as the receiving phone reads it, and the whole room is deleted when the host leaves. We don't keep any record of online games.

2.5 Games in the same room (nearby)

Rooms hosted nearby work without the internet: phones talk to each other directly using Google Nearby Connections over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Game data (usernames, answers, drawings, nicknames) travels only between the phones in the room and is not sent to us. The only thing from a nearby game that reaches our servers is your own score, added to your leaderboard stats, and only when your phone is online.

2.6 Usage statistics and crash reports (optional, off by default)

If you choose to share usage statistics (in the first-launch screen or in Settings › Privacy), the app uses Google Analytics for Firebase to tell us, anonymously, how the app is used, such as how often it's opened, for how long, and on which device models, Android versions and app versions. Google derives your approximate country or region from your IP address but, for users in the EU, does not store the IP address itself. This uses a random app-instance identifier, never your username, account ID, answers or anything you type.

The same choice covers crash reports: if the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics sends us a report with what the app was doing (the technical stack trace), the device model, Android version, app version, free memory and storage, and a random installation identifier. It never includes your username, account ID, answers or anything you type.

We do not use your advertising ID: the app does not request it and has no ads. You can turn statistics and crash reports off at any time in Settings › Privacy; doing so also deletes the identifier stored on your phone and any crash reports not sent yet.

2.7 Reporting a username, a question or a card

You can report an offensive username from the leaderboard. We store the reported username and account ID, the game, the time, and your account ID (not your username), so each player can report a name only once. Reports are only visible to us; we use them to rename or remove usernames that break the rules.

In QUIZ and Forbidden Words you can also report a question or card that's wrong. We store which question or card it is, what you picked as the problem, the note you add (if any), the language, the time and your account ID. We use these reports only to fix the questions and cards. Don't write personal details in the note.

2.8 Roadmap, ideas and feedback

In Settings › Community › Roadmap & feedback you can tap a heart on the games and features you'd like. We store which items you loved with your account ID, so each player has one heart per item; other players see only the totals, never who loved what. You can take a heart back at any time.

You can also send us an idea or feedback. We store your message, the email address you add (only if you want a reply; it's optional), the app language and version, the time and your account ID. Messages are only visible to us; we use them to improve the app and, if you gave an email, to reply. Don't write other personal details in the message.

The links to rate the app on Google Play and to our TikTok and YouTube pages open those apps or websites, which work under their own privacy policies.

2.9 Joining with a QR code or link

When you scan a room's QR code, the scanner is provided by Google Play services: it runs on your phone, our app does not get access to your camera, and we only receive the text of the code. Invite links open the app directly; if they open in a browser instead, the page reads the room code from the link and nothing else.

2.10 App integrity checks and updates

To keep fake scores and modified apps away from the leaderboards, the app uses Firebase App Check with Google Play Integrity: Google Play checks that the request comes from the genuine app installed from Google Play on a genuine Android device, and Firebase only lets it through if it does. Google processes information about the app and the device to do this; we receive only the yes-or-no result. The app also asks Google Play whether a newer version exists, to offer it to you.

2.11 If you email us

If you contact us or ask to join the test version (alpha), we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and your message. We use them only to reply and, for alpha access, to add your Google account email to the testers on Google Play.

Summary

3. What stays on your phone

Some data is stored only on your device and never sent to us: a copy of your username, your settings (app language, your usage-statistics choice), the list of questions, words and letters you recently played (so games don't repeat them), and Firebase's local cache of leaderboard data and of stats waiting to be uploaded. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its storage in Android settings, removes all of it.

4. App permissions

The app asks only for what it needs to play:

• Nearby devices, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (Bluetooth scan/advertise/connect, nearby Wi-Fi devices, Wi-Fi state): to find and connect to the other phones in a nearby room.
• Location (approximate and precise): on some Android versions, Android requires this permission for apps that search for nearby devices over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. NickGames never reads, stores or sends your location.
• Internet and network state: for usernames, leaderboards and online rooms.
• Wake lock: added by Google's Firebase libraries to finish uploading data reliably.

The app does not ask for your camera, microphone, contacts, photos, files or phone number.

5. Legal bases (GDPR)

• Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR): your username, account, leaderboard stats and online rooms, because they're how the app works when you choose to use it, and signing in with Google, when you ask for it.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): usage statistics and crash reports. You can withdraw it at any time in Settings › Privacy, without affecting anything done before.
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): keeping the service secure and free from abuse (including app integrity checks and username reports), improving the app with the hearts and ideas you send, answering your emails and ideas, and serving this website.

6. Service providers and transfers

We don't sell or rent your data, and we don't share it with anyone for advertising. We use these services from Google, which process data on our behalf:

• Firebase Authentication: anonymous accounts, and Google sign-in if you choose it.
• Firebase Realtime Database: usernames, leaderboards, reports, roadmap hearts, ideas and online rooms, stored in Google's europe-west1 region (Belgium, EU).
• Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics: usage statistics and crash reports, only if you opt in.
• Firebase App Check with Google Play Integrity: checks that requests come from the genuine app.
• Firebase Hosting: this website and invite links.
• Google Play services: Nearby Connections (direct phone-to-phone connections), the QR code scanner, the Google sign-in sheet, and in-app updates from Google Play.

Some of these services, such as Firebase Authentication, Google Analytics and Crashlytics, may process data outside the EU, including in the United States. Google protects such transfers with the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and its certification under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework. More information: Google Privacy Policy and Privacy and Security in Firebase.

We may disclose data if the law requires it, for example to answer a valid request from a public authority.

7. How long we keep data

• Username, account (with the Google sign-in, if any) and leaderboard stats: until you delete them in the app or ask us to. If we ever shut down the online service, we will delete them.
• Online game messages: deleted as soon as they're delivered; the room is deleted when the host leaves.
• Usage statistics: kept by Google Analytics at user level for 2 months, then only in aggregated reports that can't identify anyone.
• Crash reports: kept by Crashlytics for 90 days.
• Username, question and card reports: deleted once we've reviewed them, and after 6 months at the latest.
• Roadmap hearts: until you take them back or delete your data.
• Ideas and feedback: deleted once we've handled them, and after 12 months at the latest; "Delete my data" deletes them straight away.
• Emails: up to 12 months after our last exchange, unless the law requires longer.

8. Your choices and rights

In the app

• Delete your data: Settings › Privacy › Delete my data removes your username, leaderboard stats, roadmap hearts, the ideas you sent and your account (with its Google sign-in, if any) from our servers straight away. See also Delete your data.
• Change your username, and sign in with Google or sign out: Settings › Player.
• Usage statistics and crash reports: turn them on or off in Settings › Privacy.
• Permissions: you can revoke them in Android settings. Nearby games won't work without them; online games will.

Your rights under the GDPR

You have the right to access your data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to its processing, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise them, email us at forismanos@gmail.com and tell us your username; we'll answer within one month. Because most accounts are anonymous, we may ask you to make a small change in the app (such as renaming) to confirm the username is yours.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority. In Greece this is the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (www.dpa.gr), and elsewhere in the EU, the authority where you live.

Outside the EU

Wherever you live, you can use the same tools and contact us with the same requests. We don't sell or share personal information as defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and similar laws.

9. Children

NickGames is a party game for general audiences and is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. In Greece, children under 15 need a parent's or guardian's permission to turn on usage statistics and crash reports, or to sign in with Google. Usernames must not include real names or other personal details. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we'll delete it.

10. Security

Data sent between the app and Firebase is encrypted in transit (TLS), and Google Nearby Connections encrypts the connections between phones in a nearby room. Database rules allow each player to change only their own username and stats, and only by amounts a real game can score; Firebase App Check keeps modified apps out; and only the host and players of an online room can use its messages. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your data, and we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires if a breach affects you.

11. This website

This website uses no cookies, no analytics and no trackers. It is hosted on Firebase Hosting; like any web server, Google processes your IP address and browser details to deliver the pages and protect them from abuse, for a limited time.

The video on the home page is hosted on YouTube. Until you press play, the page shows only our own picture and loads nothing from YouTube. When you press play, YouTube's player loads in privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), and YouTube (Google) receives your IP address and browser details, and may store data on your device, under Google's privacy policy.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the app changes. The effective date at the top shows the latest version. If a change significantly affects how we use your data, we'll tell you in the app before it applies and, where needed, ask for your consent again.

13. Contact

Questions or requests about your privacy: forismanos@gmail.com