Effective with version 2.2.0, on iOS and Android
Unciphered is an offline word game. It has no accounts, no sign-in and no social features. The app itself sends nothing about you to us; on iPhone and iPad it only asks our website whether a newer version is out (below). Your progress can be kept in your own iCloud or Google backup, so it follows you to a new phone (below). The one exception is the Unciphered App Clip, the instant one-puzzle version that opens from a link, which reports anonymous play statistics. This policy describes both, and the Android app, which works the same way as the iOS app.
Nothing. Your progress — solved phrases, coins, hints, streak, settings — is stored in a file on your device. We operate no servers for it and cannot see your data.
On iPhone and iPad, the app checks unciphered.ghoroury.dev for a newer version; nothing about you is sent. It is a plain request for a small public file listing the latest version, with no account, identifier, progress or device details attached. Like any request on the internet, it reaches our hosting provider, Cloudflare, with your network address. If you are offline the check is skipped and the game plays as normal. On Android, update notices come from Google Play on your phone, not from us.
If you’re signed in to iCloud, your Unciphered progress (puzzles solved, your Journal, streak, coins and settings) is stored in your own iCloud account so it can follow you to a new iPhone or iPad. We can’t see it, and you can remove it in iOS Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Storage.
On Android, your progress is included in your phone’s Google backup, so it comes back when you reinstall or move to a new phone. We can’t see it, and you can turn it off in your phone’s backup settings.
Deleting the app deletes the copy on your device; a copy in your iCloud or Google backup stays until you remove it there.
The App Clip lets you play a single puzzle from a link without installing the app. To learn which puzzles make a good first game, and which links and ads bring players, it sends one anonymous event at each step of that puzzle: opened, solved, ran out of lives, left without solving, used a hint, or tapped “Get Unciphered”. Each event says:
No name, account, email, device identifier or advertising identifier is ever sent, and no location. Nothing sent can be connected to you or used to follow you across apps or websites, and we do not track you. Events are sent to our server at unciphered.ghoroury.dev, run on Cloudflare, which stores only the event itself (not your IP address) and deletes it automatically after a limited period. We use it only to improve the game and our ads; it is never sold or shared.
If you solve a puzzle in the App Clip and then install the app, the app picks up that puzzle as solved. This happens on your device, through storage the App Clip and the app share; nothing about it is sent anywhere.
You can share a puzzle with a link. Opening one of these links in the app sends nothing. If a link is opened in a web browser instead, the page at unciphered.ghoroury.dev counts the visit anonymously, as its own privacy page explains. No cookies are used.
In-app purchases are processed entirely by Apple. We never see your payment details. The app keeps a local record of completed transaction identifiers solely so a purchase is never credited twice; that record stays on your device.
Unciphered contains no advertising and no third-party SDKs. Running out of tries offers an extra try — free, or for in-game coins earned by playing.
We advertise Unciphered elsewhere. When you arrive from one of those ads, the link names the campaign, and the App Clip includes that name in the events described above. That is how we learn which ads work; it involves no identifier and no tracking.
A future version may introduce an optional rewarded ad (watch an ad for an extra try, never required). If that happens, this policy will be updated first, and the app’s App Store privacy label will change with it.
The app may, rarely, ask whether you are enjoying it. Choosing to rate opens Apple’s own App Store review prompt; choosing to send feedback opens a short Google Form in your browser. Both are optional, both leave the app, and the app records only that it asked. Anything you write in the form is handled by Google under its privacy policy and read by us.
If you turn reminders on, the app can send you up to two notifications a day — one around midday when a new puzzle is ready, and one in the evening when that day’s secret level is still within reach. They are scheduled on your device by the app itself: nothing is sent to a server, no device token is created, and we are not told whether a notification was delivered, opened or ignored. Reminders are off until you ask for them, and you can turn them off again in Settings or in iOS Settings at any time.
Unciphered for Android works the same way. The app keeps your progress in one file on your device and sends nothing to us; your phone’s Google backup can include that file, as described above. There is no App Clip on Android. Coin packs and chapter collections are sold through Google Play Billing and processed entirely by Google; we never see your payment details, and the app stores only the transaction identifiers of completed purchases so a purchase is never credited twice. Choosing to rate opens Google Play’s own in-app review prompt. Optional daily reminders are local notifications scheduled on your device and can be turned off in the app’s Settings or in Android Settings at any time. There are no ads, no analytics, no accounts, no advertising identifier and no third-party SDKs other than Google Play’s billing and review libraries.
Unciphered is a general-audience app and is not directed at children under 13.
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted at this address with a new effective date.
Ahmed ElGhoroury — contact@ghoroury.com