Puzzle Numbers

Privacy Policy

Last updated 6 November 2026

Puzzle Numbers needs no account, and every solo mode works offline, with your progress kept on your device. Online play (races with friends, groups and matched players, the Daily with friends and the shared leaderboard) uses a small server run on Google Firebase. This page explains exactly what leaves your device, who receives it, how long it is kept and how to delete it.

Who is responsible

Puzzle Numbers is published by Beyda Dönmez, an individual developer based in Türkiye. For any question about this policy or your data, write to [email protected].

What stays on your device

Your puzzle progress, best times, move counts, unlocked grid sizes and selected theme.
Your sound, music, haptics and reminder settings.

These are stored locally and never uploaded to us. Deleting the app deletes them.

Online play

When you first open the game with an internet connection, it creates an anonymous online player for you in the background, so your results can appear on the shared leaderboard. Races, friends and the Daily with friends start only when you use them. You can delete your online data at any time (see below).

Your online identity is anonymous. The game creates an anonymous player ID for you with Firebase Authentication. There is no login, email or password.
What our server stores for each player: the player ID; your name (see Names); your chosen avatar; your friend code; whether you accept friend requests; your friends, the players you blocked, and pending requests and invites; your number of races and wins; whether you are online and whether you are in a game right now.

Races

For each online race the server stores the board, each player's result (time, moves and place) and the moves you made, so it can check the result and show replays.
While a race runs, your live progress (tiles in place and moves) and whether you are connected are shared with the other players in that race.
For the Daily with friends, your first valid Daily result and its moves are stored, so your friends can see your time and replay it after they have solved the same Daily.

Shared leaderboard

Every player is added automatically. Classic, Speed, Challenge and Daily games you play while connected earn points on the shared leaderboard (Today and All time) of iPhone, iPad and Android players. For such a game the server picks the board and records when it started.
Your results and your name are visible to all players. The name is your Game Center or Google Play Games nickname, or a name such as Player #4827 (see Names). Your avatar and Gold crown are shown with it.
When you finish a leaderboard game, its moves are sent to the server only to check the result; the leaderboard does not keep them. The server stores the result: points, time, number of moves, grid size, mode and date. Moves are kept only for replays: your Daily moves for the Daily with friends (90 days) and your moves in online races (30 days), as listed under How long online data is kept.
Other players can report a name shown on the leaderboard (see Names). Results that look impossible are hidden until reviewed, and we can remove a result or keep a player off the public boards. Games played offline or paused never count and are not sent.
To leave the leaderboard, delete your online data (Settings › Online › DELETE MY ONLINE DATA). Your results are removed from every board, and the game does not create a new online player for you again unless you use online play.

Names

You cannot type a name. Your name in online play is your Game Center nickname (iPhone, iPad) or your Google Play Games name (Android), if you are signed in to that service, your account is not restricted for children and the name passes an automatic filter on the server. The game sends the nickname each time it starts, so a changed nickname is updated; signing out of the service removes it.
Otherwise, and when a name was switched back after reports, you are shown with a random name such as Player #4827. Only the nickname is used, never your Apple ID, Google account, email or player ID.
Your name is shown with your avatar to every player you meet online: friends, players who send you or receive from you a friend request, players in Duo, Group and random races and in their race records, the Daily with friends, and the shared leaderboard.
Other players can report a name. A report stores who reported which name, and where. Three reports from different players switch the name to a Player # name, and that nickname stays blocked for your profile.

Invites

While you play, the game records whether you are in a game right now. If someone invites you to a Duo race during a game, the invite is not delivered and the sender sees that you are in a game. Friend requests wait until your game ends.

What we never do

There is no chat and no messaging.
Online data is never used for advertising and is never sold.
The game does not ask for your real name, email, contacts or location for online play.

Where it is processed

Google Firebase (Google Ireland Limited / Google LLC) processes this data for us, in the European Union (region europe-west1, Belgium). Google may also process technical data, such as IP addresses, to run and secure the service; this is governed by Google's privacy terms.

App Check: to protect the online service from abuse, Firebase App Check asks Apple (App Attest) or Google (Play Integrity) to confirm that requests come from the real app. It does not identify you.

How long online data is kept

Online race records (each player's time, moves and place) and race replays (the moves): 30 days after the race.
Daily with friends results and their replays (the moves): 90 days after that Daily.
Leaderboard results: each day's board 90 days after that day; your all-time points until you delete your online data. A result hidden for review, or removed by us, is kept for the same time as the board it belongs to.
Records of started leaderboard games (no moves): about 2 hours after the start, at the latest within a day. The record that you started a Daily is kept 3 days after that Daily, so only your first attempt counts.
Name reports (who reported which name, where and when) and their outcome: until the reporting player or the reported player deletes their online data. A name switched back after reports stays blocked for that player for as long as their profile exists.
Your player profile (name, avatar, friend code, friends, blocks, names you reported and hid, race and win counts, a leaderboard block if we set one) and the link between a Gold purchase and your player: until you delete your online data.
Daily free-race counters: 2 days after the day they count. Request rate counters: 1 day after your last request.
Live data (rooms, room codes, live progress, matchmaking, friend requests and race invites): removed minutes after the race ends or the request expires.
Whether you are online and in a game: only the current on/off value is kept, switched off when you close the game or lose the connection, and deleted with your online data.

Deleting your online data

Delete it all: in the game, open Settings › Online › DELETE MY ONLINE DATA. This deletes, at once, your player profile, name, friend code, friends, blocks, requests, Daily results and replays, your race replays, leaderboard results, name reports you made or that are about your name, your counters, the link between a Gold purchase and your player, and the anonymous player ID itself. In races other players keep, your row stays (time, moves, place), with a generated name instead of yours.

Start over: RESET ONLINE IDENTITY does the same, then gives you a new anonymous player.
By email: if you no longer have the app, write to [email protected]. Because the identity is anonymous, we need your friend code (shown in Settings › Online) to find your data. More on the delete page.

Leaderboards

The shared leaderboard is described under Online play above. Game Center and Google Play Games also keep their own leaderboards:

iPhone and iPad: solo leaderboards use Apple's Game Center. Using them is optional; if you are not signed in, no score is submitted. When you are signed in and complete a puzzle, your score and the nickname Apple holds for you are sent to Apple. We do not receive your Apple ID, email address or real name. Apple's Privacy Policy covers this data.
Android: solo leaderboards use Google Play Games Services, in the same way. Your score and your Play Games profile name are sent to Google, and Google's Privacy Policy applies.
Online races are never sent to these leaderboards.

Advertising

The free version of the game shows ads supplied by Google AdMob. Through AdMob mediation, these advertising partners can also bid to show an ad, using their own SDKs, which are part of the app:

Unity Ads (Unity Technologies): privacy policy
Liftoff Monetize (Liftoff Mobile, Inc.): privacy policy

To serve, measure and limit the repetition of those ads, and to prevent fraud, Google and these partners may collect:

your device's advertising identifier
device and app information such as model, operating system version and language
your IP address, and the approximate region it implies
how you interacted with an ad

They receive it directly from their SDKs; we never see this data ourselves. Google's use of it is governed by the Google Privacy & Terms, and each partner's by its privacy policy linked above.

Your choice about tracking

iOS: the game asks for your permission before any tracking identifier is used. If you decline, you still see ads, but they are not personalised. You can change this at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking on your iPhone.

Android: you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your device's settings (Google › Ads, or Privacy › Ads).

Europe: if you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, a consent screen appears before ads load, so you can accept or refuse personalised advertising. You can change your choice later from the game's Settings screen.

Removing ads

Buying Remove Ads stops all advertising in the game, and with it the data collection described under Advertising.

Purchases

Remove Ads is sold through Apple's App Store on iPhone and iPad, and through Google Play on Android.
The store handles the entire payment, and we never see your card details, billing address or account.
The game asks the store whether Remove Ads is active, so it knows whether to hide the ads. Nothing about that purchase is stored on our side.
Gold is sold the same way, as a one-time purchase. So that Gold works in online play, the game sends the store's proof of the purchase to our server, which checks it with Apple or Google. We keep the purchase's ID and its state (active or refunded), linked to your anonymous player ID, so Gold can be restored and refunds are honoured. We never receive your card details or store account. DELETE MY ONLINE DATA removes this link.

Ratings

The game may ask you, through the App Store's or Google Play's own rating window, to rate it. The store handles that window, and we never learn whether you rated it.

Children

Puzzle Numbers is made for a general audience. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the app, write to us and we will act on it.

Your rights

Under the GDPR, the UK GDPR and Türkiye's KVKK, you have the right to access, correct, delete and port your personal data, and to object to its processing.

Online data: use the deletion options above, or write to us; we answer within 30 days.
Other services: requests about Game Center, Play Games and purchases go to Apple or Google, and about advertising to Google and the partners above.
Transfers: your online data is processed in the European Union; the transfer from Türkiye is made under the safeguards of Google's data processing terms.

Changes to this policy

If the game starts handling data differently, this page is updated, and the date at the top changes with it. Significant changes are also noted in the store release notes.