Privacy Policy: Your Data & Rights

We're a small, independent team. We collect as little as possible – we just want you to enjoy Daily Paws. This page explains what personal information is collected when you use the Daily Paws website, the Daily Paws iPhone app, Barkburst for iPhone, or contact us. Where something applies to only one of them, we say so. "The iPhone app" means the Daily Paws app. Barkburst is covered in its own section below.

Who we are

Daily Paws is a UK-based puzzle game for dog lovers, made by Pocket Giant, a sole trader based in the United Kingdom. You can contact us at [email protected]. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy.

The short version

You can play as a guest, without an account.
We don't show advertising, we don't track you across other apps or websites, and we never sell your personal information.
The iPhone app has no analytics and no third-party tracking code.
Your Player name, dog and competition results are public. Your sign-in details and reactions are private.
You can delete your account inside the app whenever you like.

Playing as a guest

You don't need an account to play. If you save a score as a guest, we store the name you typed, the game, the date, your result details and your points, so we can work out the leaderboards. Guest and account names are checked for inappropriate language. A guest name isn't unique or proof of identity. Guests don't get a public player profile, can't send or receive reactions, and a guest name alone cannot be used to move scores into an account.

Your game progress, settings and chosen name are also kept on your own device: in your browser's local storage on the website, and in the app's own storage on your iPhone.

To prevent extra competitive submissions after signing in or out, your guest profile has a random private credential kept in that browser or app. Our server stores a hashed version and the games and dates on which it saved a guest result. When you sign in, it can link that credential to your first signed-in account for daily submission limits. New guest saves also receive an exact private score receipt. When you sign in, verified guest results can be transferred automatically to an empty account without changing points. Older results without proof, existing accounts and completed competition histories are kept separately; you can continue with the account or return to your guest progress. Original local progress is retained. We never transfer results by matching a name. We don't use device fingerprinting or this credential for advertising or tracking across other sites.

Registered accounts

You can sign in with Sign in with Apple in our iPhone apps, or with Google on the website. These are separate accounts: signing in one way doesn't link to the other.

Sign in with Apple (app). We ask Apple for your name only. We don't ask for your email address. If Apple shares your first name, we use it only to suggest a Player name, which you can change before you confirm. Our sign-in provider keeps the identifier Apple gives us so you can sign in again.
Google (website). Google shares your email address and public profile name with us. We use them only to create and identify your account. We don't show your email address to other players or use it for marketing.
Your profile. You choose a unique Player name and a dog avatar.

What other people can see

Public (shown to anyone using Daily Paws):

Your Player name and dog avatar.
Your scores and position on the weekly leaderboards, the days you've played this week, and your current streak in each game.
Your weekly championships and podium finishes, including past weeks.
In the app, registered players have a public profile showing the above. Guests don't.

Private (not shown to other players):

Your sign-in details and session, such as the credentials that keep you signed in.
Reactions you send and receive.
Player reports and your blocked-player list.
Internal identifiers we use to run your account. They aren't shown on your profile or the leaderboards.
Your email address, if you signed in with Google.

Reporting and blocking players

In the app, you can report a player from their profile or by pressing and holding their leaderboard row, including guest rows. We store the reported player, their public name, your chosen reason and the time privately for review. A signed-in report is linked to your account. For guest reports, we use the app's random installation identifier to avoid duplicate reports and limit repeated submissions; this isn't an advertising identifier and isn't used for tracking.

Signed-in players can block or unblock other registered players. Blocking hides that player's existing reactions and prevents new reactions reaching you. It doesn't remove anyone from leaderboards or change points or rankings. Your global Allow reactions setting still applies. Reports linked to an account and its block records are removed when that account is deleted.

Scores and weekly competitions

Each game has its own score, streak and weekly leaderboard. A week runs from Monday to Sunday, UK time. When a week ends, the top-three results for each game are saved permanently, so past champions and podiums stay accurate. Our server checks the moves behind each score before awarding points, so the competition is fair.

Preset reactions (iPhone app)

Registered players can send each other a short private message by choosing one of forty ready-made reactions, such as "Well played!". You can't type your own message and there's no unrestricted chat or public feed.

A reaction is private between the person who sent it and the person who receives it. It isn't shown publicly and there are no public reaction counts.
We store who sent it, who received it, which reaction it was, what it was about (if anything), when it was sent, whether it has been read and whether it has been answered with a heart.
To prevent spam, you can send one reaction to the same person every 30 minutes and up to 20 a day. Hearts don't count towards these limits.
A reaction can say what it is about by pointing at one of the three games, at a weekly gold or silver award the other player really won, or at your own game that day. You choose this from a short list; you can't type anything, and no scores or points are attached.
The player who receives a reaction can answer it with a heart, which is sent back to you as a reaction.
You can switch off Allow reactions in the app whenever you like. Reactions you've already received stay visible to you until you clear them.
You can clear your received reactions in the app at any time. They disappear from your list straight away and we delete them from our servers within a few days.

Reminders (iPhone app)

If you choose to turn on the daily reminder, the app asks iOS for permission and then schedules a reminder on your own iPhone at the time you pick. These reminders are local notifications: they are created and delivered by your phone, rather than sent from our servers. You can turn reminders off in the app or in iOS Settings. We don't use reminders for advertising.

Reaction notifications (Daily Paws version 1.1)

Version 1.1, including its TestFlight builds, adds optional push notifications for reactions. Version 1.0 does not include this feature. Signed-in players can turn it on under Me → Reactions → Reaction notifications, with iOS notification permission. It is separate from the local daily reminder.

To deliver these notifications, our backend stores Apple's push token, a random identifier for this app installation, and the account and sign-in session associated with that registration. A private installation credential is kept in the iPhone's Keychain; the server keeps a hashed version so the app can turn off its registration even after signing out. We also keep delivery records containing account, reaction and registration identifiers and delivery status. We use this information only to deliver reactions, keep badges up to date and prevent duplicate or inappropriate notifications, not for advertising or tracking.

Apple's Push Notification service receives the device token and a notification containing a generic message, unread count, recipient account identifier and reaction identifier. The notification does not include a player name, reaction text, score, avatar or wallpaper photo. The app loads the reaction from our backend after checking the signed-in account. Notifications may appear on your Lock Screen according to your iOS settings.

You can turn reaction notifications off in the app or disable notifications in iOS Settings. Turning them off in the app or signing out requests removal of the account and token from the server registration; if your phone is offline, the app retries when it reconnects. Account deletion removes the linked registration. Notifications already accepted by Apple may still arrive. Delivery records are scheduled for deletion after seven days; the server retains the installation identifier, hashed credential and revision without an account or token to reject delayed registration requests.

Daily Paws+ and wallpaper photos (version 1.1)

Daily Paws version 1.1, including its TestFlight builds, adds an optional one-time purchase for appearance changes. Version 1.0 does not offer this purchase. Apple handles payment and the purchase record; the app checks Apple's verified entitlement to unlock Daily Paws+ and restore purchases. Daily Paws does not receive your payment card or billing details, and we do not store Daily Paws+ purchase records in your Daily Paws account or backend.

If you choose a personal wallpaper, the iOS photo picker gives the app access to the photo you select, not your whole photo library. The app creates a resized copy without retaining the original photo metadata and stores the wallpaper and its crop, darkness and blur settings on your iPhone. These copies are excluded from device and iCloud backups. They are never uploaded to our servers, synced to your account, shown on your public profile or included in notifications or analytics. Changing a wallpaper or restoring the original appearance removes copies that no game uses; deleting the app removes its stored wallpaper copies. Your original photo in Photos is not changed or deleted.

Sign-in, request and diagnostic logs

Supabase, our sign-in and backend provider, keeps technical logs when the website or iPhone app connects to it. These can include your IP address, the time and type of request, response status, device or app information supplied with the request, and approximate city and country inferred from the IP address. Signed-in requests can also include your account identifier. This approximate location is not GPS location: the iPhone app does not request location permission.

These logs help operate and secure the service, investigate sign-in or request failures, and prevent misuse. We do not use them for advertising, marketing or tracking you across other companies' apps and websites. The app does not send a separate stream of tap, browsing or advertising analytics.

Deleting your account

If you have a registered account in the iPhone app, you can delete it yourself: go to Me, then Delete account, confirm, and confirm once more with Apple. The server checks that the Apple identity matches your account and ends Daily Paws' Apple authorisation before deleting the account. If confirmation or revocation fails, the account is not deleted and the app reports the failure. Once deletion succeeds, it can't be undone. If you use a Google account on the website, email us and we'll delete it.

What we remove: your account and sign-in record, your Player name and dog avatar, reactions you've received, and any other progress saved to your account. Your Player name becomes available for someone else to use. For Sign in with Apple accounts we also ask Apple to end Daily Paws' access to your Apple ID: Apple gives us a one-time code when you confirm, we use it straight away to do this, and we don't keep it.

What we keep: to keep the competition fair, your past scores and weekly results stay in the leaderboard history with your account link and Player name removed. They appear as "Deleted player", so other players' ranks and finished weeks don't change. Reactions you sent stay with the people you sent them to, with the sender account removed and shown as "Deleted player".

Deleting your account does not automatically erase historical service logs, support emails or private operational notifications we have already received. These are separate from your player profile and are kept for their support, security or operational purpose as explained below. Contact us if you want to ask about information held outside your account.

Guests don't have an account to delete. If you'd like scores saved under a guest name removed, contact us.

Notifications we receive

When a score is saved on the website or in the iPhone app, whether as a guest or in an account, we may get a private notification on our own phone through Pushover, a notification service. It contains the name on the score, the game, the points and how the game went (such as the number of guesses, or the time and mistakes). These notifications go only to us and aren't shown to other players.

A new player report may also send us a private moderation notification with the reported player's public name, whether they are an account or guest, the fixed report reason and the report time. It contains no reporter account or installation identifier. The full report stays privately in our database, even if notification delivery fails. The reported player is not notified.

Contact details you send us

If you email us, we receive your name, email address and message. Using Contact support in the app opens your own email app with a message for you to review and send; we only receive what you choose to send.

Website only

Analytics. We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to see which pages are visited and what device or browser is used. It is cookieless and doesn't track individuals across sites.
Local weather line. Your IP address is used once to guess your town, and we don't store it. You can change or clear the town at any time.
Feedback form. Anonymous footer feedback sends your message and the page address to us by email. No name or email address is requested.

How we use information and our lawful basis

Running accounts, profiles, scores and leaderboards – to provide the service you asked for, and our legitimate interest in keeping the competition accurate and fair, including keeping anonymised historical results after an account is deleted.
Reactions – to provide a feature you choose to use. You can opt out of receiving them.
Preventing misuse – our legitimate interest in security, such as the reaction limits above and checking scores before they are accepted.
Replying to enquiries and support requests – our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us.
Website analytics and the weather line – our legitimate interest in understanding how the site is used and showing a friendly, relevant experience.

Services we use

We share information only where needed to run Daily Paws. Some of these providers are based outside the UK, so information may be processed elsewhere, under their own safeguards.

Supabase – database, sign-in and backend services for the website and our apps. Our data is hosted in Ireland (EU). Supabase Privacy Policy
Apple – provides Sign in with Apple in our apps and, in Daily Paws version 1.1, purchase verification and optional reaction push delivery. Apple Privacy Policy
Google – provides sign-in on the website. Google shares your email address and public profile name with us. Google Privacy Policy
Cloudflare – website hosting and delivery, and privacy-friendly website analytics. May log IP addresses and request data for security and performance purposes. Cloudflare Privacy Policy
Pushover – delivers the private score and moderation notifications described above to us. Pushover Privacy Policy
Formspree – handles the anonymous website feedback form. Formspree Privacy Policy
Open-Meteo and ipwho.is – website weather. Open-Meteo provides the forecast and town search, so the town you search for is sent to it. The first time you visit, your IP address is sent to ipwho.is to guess your town at city level; the site never uses your browser's location permission. Open-Meteo · ipwho.is
Google Fonts – loads the website's typefaces from Google's servers. The app has its own copies of its fonts. Google Privacy Policy

Local storage

On the website we use your browser's local storage to save game state, preferences, streaks, theme, your chosen weather town and player name between sessions. It stays in your browser unless you sign in or submit a score, and you can clear it by clearing site data for pocketgiant.co/daily-paws. In the app, the same kind of information is kept in the app's own storage on your iPhone. If you sign in, your sign-in session is kept in the iOS Keychain on that iPhone only, and is removed when you sign out or delete your account. iOS looks after the Keychain, and it may keep an item if you delete the app without signing out first, so sign out first if you're passing your iPhone on.

Security

Information travels between your device and our servers over encrypted connections. Scores are only written by our server after it has checked them, and our database rules stop players reading or changing each other's private data, such as reactions. No online service can promise perfect security, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.

How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as needed for the reason it was collected, including legal, support and fraud-prevention purposes. Information in your browser or in the app's own storage stays on your device until you clear it or delete the app, subject to the Keychain behaviour described above. Account information is kept until you delete your account or ask us to delete it. Competition results remain in leaderboard history after the account link and Player name are removed, as described above.

Technical service logs follow the provider's configured log-retention settings and are not automatically cleared by account deletion. Support emails and operational notifications may be held separately for handling enquiries, security and service operation. We do not promise a fixed retention period for these records where one has not been established.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to the use of your personal information, and the right to data portability. You also have the right to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected]. You can also delete a registered account yourself in the app, as described above.

Complaints

You can contact us first so we can try to help. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Barkburst

Barkburst is a separate iPhone game from Pocket Giant, a sole trader based in the United Kingdom. It is not played on a website. Support in the app opens your own email app, and we receive only what you choose to send. This section matches the privacy information in the app. You can contact us at [email protected].

You can play as a guest. Boards, boosters, best scores and settings then stay on your iPhone and are not sent to us.
Barkburst has no advertising, no analytics, no tracking, no purchases and no notifications. It does not ask for your location, contacts, photos, camera or microphone. We never sell your personal information.
Sign in with Apple is optional and uses the same account as Daily Paws: the same Player name and dog. Deleting the account in either app deletes it for both. We ask Apple for your name only, not your email address. If Apple shares a first name, we use it only to suggest a Player name, which you can change. Names are checked for inappropriate language.
When you are signed in, we save the boards you have cleared, your boosters, your best score on each board, and a record of the moves in each board you play, so our server can check a clear before it counts.
The leaderboard shows your Player name and the highest board you have cleared. Your scores, boosters, moves and sign-in details are not shown to other players.

Reporting a Player name opens your own email app. When someone clears a board while signed in, we may get a private notification on our own phone through Pushover, with the account name, the board and the points. That notification is not shown to other players.

Supabase keeps technical logs when the app connects, including when a guest looks at the leaderboard. Those logs can include an IP address, the time and type of request, response status, device or app information sent with the request, and an approximate city and country inferred from the IP address. Signed-in requests can include an account identifier. We use them to operate and secure the service, not for advertising. The app does not ask for your location. Supabase hosts our data in Ireland. Apple provides Sign in with Apple. Pushover delivers the private notifications above.

Information on your iPhone stays there until you clear it or delete the app. Account information is kept until you delete the account or ask us to. Technical logs follow the provider's retention settings and are not cleared automatically by account deletion. To use your UK GDPR rights, email [email protected]. You can also delete a registered account in the app: open your profile on the home screen, tap Delete account, then confirm with Apple.

Changes to this policy

If we change how Daily Paws or Barkburst uses personal information, we'll update this page and the date at the top. The Barkburst app shows the same Barkburst information.