PRIVACY · NEMOPLAYS

Your Garden, Your Privacy.

Updated October 22, 2026. This policy describes the Sudoku Garden website and iPhone/iPad app, operated by NemoPlays.

What the Game Stores

We store the nickname you choose, your room and player identifiers, puzzle entries, scores, recent game activity and connection/presence information needed to run the room. The server stores hashes of session and guest credentials. Your score ledger is stored separately from the current round so rematches do not erase your progress.

What Stays on Your Device

Local and session storage remember your nickname, guest access, pending moves and your sound preference. An essential, HTTP-only session cookie also identifies your guest player for up to 180 days, or your signed-in player for up to 30 days. Returning to the game renews that period. These are needed to resume play and avoid counting a retried move twice. Clearing this data can remove your access to a guest player.

Optional Accounts

When you sign in, we store the verified email or provider identifier supplied by your chosen sign-in service. Google and Apple handle their own authentication. Apple may provide a private relay email if you choose Hide My Email. Only the sign-in methods displayed in the app are available. Email codes are single-use, expire in 20 minutes, and are entered in the game where you requested them. Only code hashes are stored. Provider tokens needed to disconnect Apple sign-in are encrypted. We do not store your Google or Apple password.

Payments

Stripe hosts web checkout and the customer portal. Stripe processes payment details; we store customer and subscription identifiers, status and paid access dates. We do not store full card numbers. In the iPhone/iPad app, Apple processes App Store subscriptions and payments. RevenueCat receives your game account identifier, transaction and subscription identifiers, purchased products, purchase history and entitlement status to verify purchases and restore access. Our server checks that status before granting Garden Pro. We do not receive your Apple payment card details. Sudoku Garden purchases and scores are separate from Twenty.

What Other Players See

People with the invite link can join or watch the room. They can see player nicknames, scores, presence and shared puzzle activity. Choose a nickname rather than personal contact information. Invite links are not public profiles, but anyone who receives one can use it. A host can explicitly list an unlocked room in Find a Game. Listings show the puzzle preset, room status, player count and a join link, not player names or email addresses. Rooms are private by default and can be unlisted.

Friends and Rankings

Friend codes let you send requests without sharing an email address. We store requests, accepted friendships, blocks and game invitations. Accepted friends can see whether you are online and in a game. Online status is based on recent activity and may take up to 45 seconds to change. Join requests expire after ten minutes; accepting one sends an invitation without bypassing room passwords or player limits. Recent social presence is removed after a day when the social service next runs. Only accepted friends can invite each other; invitations expire after one hour. Rankings are optional and show only your display name and competitive points. You can turn ranking visibility off, remove friends or block requests in Friends & Rankings. Account deletion removes these connections.

Room Safety

Optional room passwords are stored as salted hashes, not readable passwords. Existing members retain access when the password changes. Hosts can remove a player from their room. Problem reports record a room identifier, player identifier, selected reason and time for support review. There is no public report feed.

How Data Is Used

Game data runs and restores the multiplayer game. Network addresses are processed for connections and request limits. We count aggregate game starts, joins, completions, plan views, plan choices, checkout starts, verified subscriptions and software failures to improve the game. Deduplication uses hashed identifiers rather than names, emails or raw room links. Client error reporting sends only an error count, not message text or page contents. We also remember a fixed first-source label, such as an invite or Instagram campaign, with your player profile to compare play and paid access. We do not store raw referral URLs. This follows verified account merges and is included in data exports and deletion. Private server diagnostics retain error types and code locations for up to 30 days, without request contents or error messages. These are private operational reports, not advertising tracking. We do not sell guest game data.

Support and Service Providers

Messages sent to support@nemoplays.com are handled through NemoPlays’ email provider, Spacemail. Render hosts the game and its database in the United States and processes network requests to deliver the service. Backblaze B2 stores private, encrypted recovery snapshots in the United States. Google and Apple provide optional sign-in; Stripe handles web payments; Apple and RevenueCat process App Store purchases and subscription verification. Each provider also processes data according to its own privacy policy.

Retention and Requests

The production maintenance worker removes rooms after 30 days without activity and removes expired sign-in challenges and sessions. Saved scores remain until account deletion. Local development previews may retain rooms until a manual reset. Daily local database backups are kept for approximately seven days. Cloud snapshots are retained for 30 days, then hidden and scheduled for deletion one day later; provider lifecycle processing can take additional time. Your player card offers a data download and account deletion. Deletion removes the profile and personal score ledger and anonymizes entries in existing rooms. App Store subscribers can delete their account immediately. Apple billing continues until you cancel through your Apple subscription settings; deletion does not cancel or refund an Apple subscription. Cancel before deleting to avoid future charges. Web subscriptions must be managed and their paid period ended first; pending unpaid web checkouts are expired during deletion. Recent sign-in may be required. Billing records may be retained separately for reconciliation. Backups are not instantly erased. You can contact support@nemoplays.com with access or deletion questions. We need enough information to locate the relevant game and verify the request without asking for your secret guest credential.

Contact and Updates

For privacy questions, contact support@nemoplays.com. We will update the date above when this policy changes. We do not use advertising cookies or sell your personal information.