Lexikros, homeSQ

Privacy policy

Last updated

Lexikros is an Albanian crossword game for Android, iPhone and iPad, made by Dashcode Agency in Tirana, Albania, which is responsible for the data described here. Lexikros doesn’t ask for your name, email address or phone number, and never sells your data.

Questions about this policy or your data: dashcodeagency@gmail.com.

On your device

The app keeps your saved games, the puzzles it has downloaded, results not sent yet, your helpers and your settings (language, theme, region and the like) on your device. On Android they are left out of device backups; on iPhone and iPad they may be part of your iCloud or computer backup. They are removed when you delete your account in the app or uninstall it.

Your account

On first launch the app creates an anonymous account with a random id, through Firebase Authentication (see Google services). It isn’t linked to your name or email address.

If you choose to sign in with Google (Android, iPhone and iPad) or Apple (iPhone and iPad), Firebase Authentication keeps the email address and name of that account, so you can get your progress back on another device. Apple may give a private relay address instead of your email. We use them for nothing else and never show them to anyone. The game’s server only receives the random id and whether you are signed in.

On the game’s server

The game’s server runs on a server of ours in the European Union. It keeps:

  • your account: the random id, whether you are signed in, and when you first and last played;
  • your progress: the levels you finished, with stars and times;
  • your results in the daily crossword: the time, the region of the puzzle and whether you used help;
  • the nickname and region you choose, if you do;
  • how many puzzles and helpers you used each day, for the daily limits (kept 30 days), and which puzzles you were given, to check the results you send (kept 60 days, longer for levels with a checked time);
  • the clue reports you send, with the reason and any note you write, and nickname reports;
  • your Lexikros Plus subscription (see Purchases);
  • the rooms you play in with other players (see Playing together).

Your IP address reaches the server with every request. The server uses it, without keeping it with your account, to stop abuse such as too many requests at once, and it can appear in the server’s technical logs, which are overwritten by newer ones.

The database is copied every night to a backup storage service; each copy is kept for 14 days.

Nickname and leaderboards

Without a nickname you appear on no leaderboard. With one, your nickname, your region and your times or stars appear on the leaderboards in the app. The game’s public statistics, which anyone can see, include the nicknames, regions and times of the day’s ten fastest players who solved the daily crossword without help. A nickname that three different players report as offensive or misleading is hidden from the leaderboards.

Playing together

When you play in a room with someone, the other player sees your nickname (if you have one), whether you are connected, and your letters and position in the grid (together) or how much of the grid you have filled in (race). The server keeps the room, its shared grid and the result, and deletes them 30 days after the game ends.

Ads

The free version shows ads from Google AdMob (Google Ireland Ltd.): videos you choose to watch for extra helpers and, now and then, a full-screen ad between levels. To show and measure them, Google may use your device’s advertising ID, your IP address and technical information about the device. Where the law requires it, for example in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the app asks for your consent first; you can change your choice in Settings › About › Privacy choices for ads on Android and Settings › Your data › Privacy choices for ads on iPhone and iPad. On iPhone and iPad, iOS also asks whether Lexikros may track you for ads; the game is the same whatever you answer. See how Google uses data. With Lexikros Plus there are no ads, and the app doesn’t load the ad service at all.

Purchases

Lexikros Plus is paid through Google Play or the App Store; we never see your payment details. When you buy it, the store gives our server a receipt, which the server checks with the store and keeps: the product, the subscription’s state and until when it runs, and a code of your account (made from its random id) that links the subscription to your account.

Google services

Some technical services come from Google’s Firebase (Google Ireland Ltd. and Google LLC), which processes the data for us and may process it outside the European Union:

  • Firebase Authentication keeps the anonymous account and, if you sign in, the email address and name of your Google or Apple account.
  • Firebase App Check checks that requests to the game’s server come from the genuine app on a real device, through Google Play Integrity on Android and Apple’s App Attest on iPhone and iPad. The server only checks the proof and doesn’t keep it.
  • Crash reports (Firebase Crashlytics): when the app crashes, it sends a technical report: the error, the app version, the device model and the system version. On iPhone and iPad the report also carries your account’s random id. They are kept for 90 days.
  • Usage statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase): short events, for example that a level or the daily crossword was started or finished (with its time), that a helper was used, that an ad was watched or that the Plus page was opened, and how often the app is used, the country (from the IP address) and the device model. They show us how many players come back and where the game is too hard. They never contain your name, email address or what you type. They are kept for 2 months. On iPhone and iPad you can turn usage statistics and crash reports off in Settings › Your data › Share usage statistics.
  • Notifications (Firebase Cloud Messaging, iPhone and iPad): if you turn on Settings › Game › Daily crossword reminder, your device gets a random token so we can send it the daily crossword reminder and news about the game.
  • Remote settings (Firebase Remote Config, iPhone and iPad): the app downloads the game’s settings, such as how many free helpers there are each day.

Deleting your data

You can delete your account at any time, in the app or by email: see Delete your account. The data on your device goes when you uninstall the app.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the data we keep about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it, by writing to dashcodeagency@gmail.com. If you think we handle your data wrongly, you can also complain to the data protection authority where you live; in Albania that is the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Personal Data Protection.

Changes

When the app changes what it keeps, we update this page and the date at the top.