Privacy Policy

This policy covers the Cosy Games Corner website at www.cosygamescorner.com and the Cosy Games Corner apps for Android and iOS (together, “the games”).

Who we are

Cosy Games Corner is operated by Protostream UK. We are the data controller for the information described below. You can reach us at support@cosygamescorner.com.

Playing without an account

There is no sign-up step and every game is fully playable without one. If you never sign in, this is everything:

• A device ID. The first time you open the games your device generates a random identifier (a UUID). It is not derived from your hardware, your advertising ID, or anything else about you — it is just a random number, and a fresh one is created if you clear the app's data or sign out.
• Puzzle progress. Which puzzles you have solved, your current and best daily streak, the date you last finished a daily, and — for the word games — how each day went and how many guesses it took.
• A timestamp of when that progress last changed, so we can merge sensibly if you play on more than one device.

That record is not tied to a name, an email address or any identifier we could use to find you elsewhere.

If you make an account

Signing in is optional. Its only purpose is to make your progress follow you rather than your phone. When you register we store:

• Your email address — the account name, and how we would reach you about your account. We do not send marketing email; at present the games send no email at all.
• Your display name, which is what the games greet you by.
• A password hash. Passwords are stored hashed with bcrypt and never in a readable form. Nobody here can see your password.
• Your puzzle progress, as above, now filed against your account instead of a device.
• Your subscription status, if you have one: whether it is active and when the current period ends.

Your device also keeps a sign-in token in its local storage so you stay signed in between sessions. Signing out deletes everything the games have stored on that device.

An email address and a password is the only way to make an account. There is no “continue with Google” or “sign in with Apple”, so no third party is told that you have an account here or that you signed in.

Adverts

The Android and iOS apps use Google AdMob to show a full-screen advert when you ask for an extra hint. This is the one part of the games where a third party is involved in the ordinary course of play, so it is worth being plain about it:

• Adverts appear in the level games only, and only when you tap for a hint you have not already been given free. Nothing is shown while you are simply playing, and the daily puzzles have no hints and therefore no adverts at all.
• Subscribers never see one. A subscription's whole function is to remove them.
• We do not send AdMob anything about you. We pass no email address, no display name, no account and no puzzle progress. The request we make is simply “an advert, please”.
• AdMob sees your device for itself. Google's advertising SDK runs inside the app and can read device and advertising identifiers, coarse location inferred from your IP address, and similar signals, in order to choose and measure an advert. That processing is Google's, under Google's privacy policy and its advertising terms. You can limit it with your device's own advertising controls — “Delete advertising ID” on Android, or “Allow Apps to Request to Track” on iOS.
• Where the law requires a consent choice for personalised advertising — the UK and EEA — you will be asked before any personalised advert is served, and you can change that answer later from your device settings.

The website shows no adverts and loads no advertising code.

Subscriptions

A subscription removes adverts and gives you hints freely. We store only whether yours is active and when the period ends. We never see or hold your card number: payment is handled entirely by the app store or payment processor you bought through, under their own privacy policy. Complimentary access, where we grant it, is recorded the same way and involves no payment at all.

Where it lives

Progress is written to your device's local storage first — that is the copy the games actually read, which is why they work with no connection at all. If your device is online, the games also send that snapshot to our server, which stores it and sends back the merged result. Our server and its database are hosted in the United Kingdom.

If you never connect, and never sign in, nothing ever leaves your device and the games work exactly the same.

Server logs

Like any web server, ours records basic technical entries — IP address, timestamp, the page or endpoint requested — so we can keep the service running and spot abuse. These logs are kept briefly for diagnostics. They are not combined with your puzzle progress and not used to build a profile of you. We also count failed sign-in attempts per IP address for a short window, to slow down anybody trying passwords in bulk.

Cookies, analytics and tracking

We set no cookies. We use no analytics service — no Google Analytics, no Firebase, no crash reporter, no session recording. There are no tracking pixels, no social media buttons, and no third-party fonts or scripts loaded from other people's servers: everything the games need is bundled in. The only third-party code in the apps is Google's advertising SDK described above.

Who else sees it

We do not sell, rent or trade your data, and we share it with no advertisers, data brokers or analytics companies. The parties involved at all are:

• Google — for advertising in the apps. Nothing else reaches them: we do not use Google for sign-in, analytics or hosting.
• Apple and Google — if you installed from the App Store or Google Play, they handle that download, and any payment, under their own privacy policies.
• A court or regulator, if we are legally required to hand something over.

How long we keep it

Progress is kept for as long as the games run, so your streak is still there when you come back after a long while away — that is rather the point of storing it. Account data is kept until you ask us to delete the account, and anonymous device records until you ask us to delete one. Server logs are kept only briefly, for diagnostics.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, delete or export the data we hold about you, and to object to how it is processed. Our lawful bases are:

• Contract — holding your account and subscription so the service you signed up for works.
• Legitimate interest — storing puzzle progress so it survives a reinstall and follows you between devices, and keeping server logs to run the service securely.
• Consent — personalised advertising, where consent is required, which you give or refuse when asked and can change at any time.

Deleting your data

• On your device: signing out clears everything the games have stored locally. Uninstalling the app, or clearing the site data in your browser, does the same.
• Your account: use the delete account page — sign in there and it is done immediately, with no need to have the app installed. Or email support@cosygamescorner.com from the address you signed up with and we will do it within 30 days.
• An anonymous device record: because we hold nothing identifying, the device ID is the only way we can find it. The first eight characters are shown on the You page in the games; send us those and we will delete the record within 30 days.

If you think we have got something wrong, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Children

The games are suitable for all ages and are not directed at children in particular. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has given us an email address, write to us and we will delete the account.

Changes

If this policy changes we will update the date at the top of this page. Material changes will be announced in the games themselves.

Contact

Questions, deletion requests or anything else: support@cosygamescorner.com.