How sync and groups protect your information
Quiltoku's optional features keep a small amount of information on a server. This guide says what that is, who can see it, how it is protected, how long it is kept, and how to delete it, in plain words. The legal version is in the privacy policy (sections 10 and 11) and the terms of use.
The short version
- The features are off until you turn them on, and the game works the same without them.
- There are no accounts, no passwords, no email and no names.
- What is kept is your progress, labelled by a random number.
- You can delete everything yourself, any time, from Settings.
What is kept
| If you use | The server keeps |
|---|---|
| Sync | A random player number. A random key for each linked device (stored only in scrambled form). Your progress as a short code. When you turned sync on and when you last synced. Which version of the policy you agreed to. |
| Friends groups | A random member number, your avatar (three colours and a pattern number), your word, and when you joined. Your time for each daily puzzle you solved on the day. One small record that is replaced each time: the level you are up to, how many levels you cleared and how many earned three stars since Monday, and your streak. |
Not kept: your name, email, phone number, location, settings, your puzzle in progress, your device model or your browser details. The tables that hold this have no place for them.
Who can see it
- Other players only see what a group shows them: your avatar, your word, your daily times, your level and weekly climb, and your streak. Never your player number or anything that says who you are.
- Members of a group could take a screenshot of what they see, and nobody can control that, so join only groups of people you trust.
- The developer can read the database in principle, which is why it holds so little and nothing personal.
- Cloudflare, the company that hosts the site and the database, stores the data and may do so outside Quebec and outside Canada, including in the United States.
How it is protected
- Keys, not passwords. Each device has its own long random key. Only a scrambled version of it is stored, so even the database cannot reveal it. A removed device stops working at once.
- One-time codes. A code for linking a device works once and expires in ten minutes. Group join codes are ten random letters and numbers, the group's creator can change them (the old one stops working), and repeated guessing is slowed down.
- Encrypted connection. Everything travels over HTTPS.
- Careful input. Every request is checked before it touches the database, and the database is only ever asked questions in a safe form.
- A kill switch. The features can be switched off for everyone in one step, if anything ever looked wrong.
- Tested. The server has automated checks for the things above (keys, expiry, limits, deletion and so on).
No system is perfectly secure. The design aims to make the data worth very little to anyone: random numbers, avatars and puzzle times.
No free text, on purpose
Nobody can type a name, a message or a picture into a group. Everyone appears as a small quilt and one word from a reviewed list, so there is nothing to moderate and nothing offensive to see. See the quilt corner for how the avatars are made.
How long it is kept
- Your synced progress: while you use sync. A player who has not synced for twelve months is deleted.
- Daily times: ninety days at most, and they are deleted as soon as you leave your last group.
- Your weekly record and streak: replaced each time, no history, and deleted when you leave your last group.
- A group with no activity for twelve months is deleted.
A cleanup that runs now and then does the deleting, so a deletion can come a few days after the date. Your own device always keeps its full history.
Deleting it yourself
- Leave a group: in the group, tap Leave the group. When you leave your last group, your daily times and weekly record go.
- Remove a device: Settings, Game, My devices.
- Delete everything: Settings, Game, Turn off sync, then Turn off and delete everything on the server. This removes your synced copy, your devices, your memberships and your results.
- Ask us: write through the contact page and we will answer within thirty days.
If something changes
If a future version collects something new or uses it for something new, the game shows a short summary and pauses sync and groups until you accept. Declining never deletes or blocks your game on your device.
Where it is available
The features are in English only for now, and are not yet available to visitors in Quebec (the server does not accept them from there, and nothing is collected from those visitors by these features). The rest of the game works everywhere, with nothing sent.