Privacy Policy
Spellwell: Word Magic (“Spellwell”) is a free word game for iOS and Android, made by Luca Tescari in Switzerland. This policy explains what data the game and its online leaderboard handle.
In short: no ads, no in-app purchases, no analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs, and no account or login. The game plays offline. The only data that leaves your device is what the optional online leaderboard needs: a random install key and, once you choose one, your leaderboard name and your verified scores.
Who is responsible
Luca Tescari, Switzerland, is responsible for this data (the “controller”). Contact: luca@tescari.dev.
Data that stays on your device
Your settings, the spells you have found, the words you have cast, your best score, your tutorial progress and any runs waiting to be posted are stored only in the app’s private storage on your device. They are never sent anywhere, except that a waiting run is sent to the leaderboard once it can be posted (see below). Deleting the app deletes all of this.
The online leaderboard
The leaderboard is optional. Your scores are only posted after you choose a leaderboard name. Opening the highscores screen downloads the boards; that request stores nothing on the server.
Install key. On first launch the app creates a random 32-byte key and keeps it on your device. It is not derived from your device, your hardware or any advertising ID. The app sends it over HTTPS with each leaderboard request. The server never stores the key itself, only its SHA-256 hash (the “install id”), which ties your name and scores together. If you delete the app, the key is gone and your old scores can no longer be linked to a new install.
What the server stores once you choose a name and post scores:
- Your leaderboard name (3–16 letters or digits, chosen by you), linked to your install id, with the time it was first set and last changed.
- Each verified run: score, level, number of words, game length, game rules version, the puzzle seed, which board it counts for (with or without hints), the week and the time. The server replays every run to check the score; the full record of the run’s moves, together with your install id and your name at the time, is kept for audit.
- Your best scores on each board, for the week and for all time.
- Rejected submissions: install id, the reason, the claimed score, the rules version and the time. These are used for rate limiting and to spot cheating.
What is public. The leaderboards show your name with your rank, score, level and word count to anyone who opens them. If you prefer, choose a name that doesn’t identify you.
What we don’t collect. No email address, real name, location, contacts, photos, device identifiers or advertising IDs. No cookies, no tracking across apps or websites, and nothing is sold or shared for advertising.
Hosting: Cloudflare
The leaderboard runs on Cloudflare (Workers, D1 database and R2 storage), which processes the data on our behalf. The leaderboard code does not store IP addresses. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes your IP address and request details (such as time, address requested and app or browser type) to deliver the service and protect it from abuse. We have switched off Cloudflare’s per-request logs for the leaderboard; the leaderboard only logs errors, kept for a few days, and those logs never contain your install key, only a short fragment of its hash. Cloudflare operates worldwide, so data may be processed outside Switzerland and the EU under Cloudflare’s safeguards for international transfers. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/.
Why we process it
To run the leaderboard you chose to join, and in our legitimate interest in keeping it fair, free of cheating and secure (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b) and (f)).
How long we keep it
Nothing is deleted automatically. Your name, runs, best scores, run records and rejected submissions are kept for as long as the leaderboard exists, unless you delete them in the app or ask us to. Error logs are kept for a few days.
Your rights
Under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (revFADP) and, if you are in the EU or EEA, the GDPR, you can ask for access to your data, a copy of it, its correction or its deletion, and you can object to its processing. You can change your name at any time in the app under Settings → Name.
Deleting your data. In the app, open Settings → Leaderboard data → Delete. This deletes, right away and for good, your leaderboard name, every run and best score on every board, your rejected submissions and the stored records of your runs. The app then forgets your name and makes a new install key, so nothing links your phone to the old entry. Your spellbook, dictionary and best score stay on your device. You can also email luca@tescari.dev with your leaderboard name and we will delete it for you; there are no accounts, so the name is how we find your data, and we may ask for a detail only you would know (such as a recent score) to make sure the data is yours. After deletion you can keep playing; if you choose a name again, you start a fresh entry.
For anything else (access, a copy, a correction or an objection), email luca@tescari.dev.
You can also complain to a data protection authority: in Switzerland the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), in the EU the authority in your country.
Children
Spellwell is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. The leaderboard only asks for a self-chosen name, which is checked for rude words. If you are a parent and want a name removed, use Settings → Leaderboard data → Delete on the device, or email luca@tescari.dev with the name and we will delete it.
Security
All traffic to the leaderboard is encrypted (HTTPS). The server keeps only a hash of your install key, and there are no passwords to leak.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update this page and its effective date.