Flock — Privacy Policy

Flock is a word puzzle game made by Kenneth Cooney. We designed it to respect your privacy. This policy explains, in plain language, what the app does and does not do with your information.

The short version

Flock has no accounts, no sign-ups, and no advertising trackers, and does not collect personal information. The only thing the app sends to us is anonymous, aggregate daily-puzzle statistics, described below, that cannot identify you.

What is stored on your device

Your puzzle progress, your daily streak, and your settings are saved locally on your own device using your browser/app storage. This information stays on your device, is not transmitted to us, and is removed if you delete the app.

Daily puzzle stats

When you finish the daily puzzle, the app sends a single anonymous data point to our server: the puzzle's date and which of the four categories you solved first. This lets the app show how your solve compared with everyone else who played that day. The data point contains no name, account, device identifier, or location, and it cannot be traced back to you. We keep only running daily totals (for example, how many players found each category first), never individual records. This data is handled for us by Upstash, a hosting provider, under their own privacy practices.

Online multiplayer

If you choose to play an online match, Flock connects your device directly to your opponent's device using a peer-to-peer connection (WebRTC). To set up that connection, the app uses a free public matchmaking service (PeerJS) that briefly relays a temporary room code so the two devices can find each other. Once connected, gameplay data flows directly between the two players. We do not run a server that stores your game data, and no personal information is required to play. Online play is entirely optional.

Third-party services

The app loads a web font (Google Fonts) and the PeerJS connection library from public content delivery networks. When your device requests these files, the providers may receive standard technical information such as your device's IP address, as happens with any normal web request. We do not control these providers' practices; please refer to their own privacy policies.

Children

Flock is suitable for all ages and does not knowingly collect any information from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted on this page with a new date.

Contact

Questions? Email kennethcooney@gmail.com.