Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 21, 2026 · Applies to the Deck Huddle apps (iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, Android) and this website (deckhuddle.com / deckhuddle.app).

The short version

Deck Huddle is built to run on your device. We do not require an account (signing in is optional), we do not sell data, and unless you sign in nothing we collect is linked to who you are. The main app sends anonymous usage statistics (which you can switch off), pack and card ratings or problem reports only when you choose to give them, and, only if you allow notifications, a push token so we can deliver them. Your decks, party history and photos stay on your phone unless you deliberately share or submit them. Deck Huddle Kids collects none of this.

What the app collects

No account required. Playing Deck Huddle requires no sign-up, no email and no name; signing in is optional (see Sign-in). Player names you type stay on your device (and in a live party room, see below).
Anonymous usage statistics (main app and web game). To learn which games and packs people enjoy and to find bugs, the app sends a small set of predefined events to our own server (deckhuddle.com) — for example “a game of Charades started at the family level with 6 players”, “the store was opened”, “a tutorial video was watched”, or an error code. Each event carries only fixed values from a published list plus the platform, app version, app language and a random install ID generated on your device (not your device’s advertising ID or any hardware ID; you can reset it, and it is not tied to your name, email, purchases or Apple/Google account). Events never contain card text, player names, typed text, contacts, location or photos. Our server does not store your IP address or browser/device user-agent with them; the IP address is used only momentarily to stop abuse (rate limiting) and is never written down. The data is stored in aggregate-friendly form with our hosting provider (Cloudflare Workers Analytics Engine) and is not sold, shared with advertisers, combined with data from other companies or used for tracking across apps or websites. You can turn this off any time in Settings → “Share anonymous usage data”; the web game honors the same switch. We may also sample (send events from only a fraction of installs).
Ratings and problem reports (only when you give them). After a game you can optionally rate packs (1–5 stars) and cards (thumbs up/down) or report a card as broken, offensive or badly translated, with an optional short note. We store the rating or report with the pack/card it is about, the platform and app language, and a one-way hash of the random install ID (or your account, if you are signed in) so that changing your rating replaces it instead of counting twice. If you switched off usage statistics, ratings are sent with no ID at all. Our server does not store your IP address or user-agent with them. Only overall averages are ever shown publicly; we use ratings and reports to fix and improve decks and translations, never for advertising or tracking. Ratings are part of the main app and the web game only — Deck Huddle Kids never sends them. Please don’t put personal information in a report note.
Push notifications (only with your permission). If you allow notifications, your device gives the app a push token (Apple Push Notification service, Firebase Cloud Messaging on Android, or your browser’s Web Push service). We store that token on our server together with the random install ID, your app language and the topics you chose (news, new packs, promotions — only “new packs” is on by default), solely to send you those notifications. Turning notifications off in the app removes the token from our server; tokens that Apple, Google or your browser report as no longer valid are deleted automatically. Game-night reminders you schedule yourself are local notifications and never touch our server.
Platform-provided data. Apple and Google may provide us aggregate, anonymized information as part of their standard developer services — App Store / Play Store install and crash statistics, and (only if you have Game Center enabled and signed in) Game Center leaderboard and achievement submissions handled by Apple. These are governed by Apple's and Google's own privacy policies.
Remote configuration. The app periodically fetches a small configuration file and the deck catalog from deckhuddle.com. These are ordinary anonymous HTTPS requests; we do not attach identifiers to them. The configuration may also point the app to tutorial videos and artwork hosted on deckhuddle.com, fetched the same way.

Where your content lives

Decks are stored locally. Custom decks, card photos, party history, high scores and settings are stored on your device (and in your own device backups). We have no copy.
Profile photo. A profile photo you add stays on your device; it is never uploaded. The apps store a small square copy of it on your device only, show it on your own seat when you play on one device, and never send it to a party room or to our servers. Deck Huddle Kids has no profile photo.
Parties are peer-to-peer or relayed. Nearby play connects devices directly (Bluetooth / local network) and never touches our servers. Online party mode relays game state (player names, avatar emoji, card plays and scores) through a room while the party is live; rooms are ephemeral and game state is not retained after the party ends.
Sharing is yours to initiate. AirDrop, Messages and file exports move your deck directly to the person you choose, not to us.

Deck submissions on this website

If you submit a deck to be featured (the Submit a deck page), we receive and keep: the deck file you upload, the deck details you type into the form, your display name and email address from the sign-in provider you choose (Google or Apple), and standard anti-abuse signals (an IP-derived rate-limit counter and a Cloudflare Turnstile anti-spam token). We use these solely to review, contact you about, and — if selected — feature your deck. Submissions are stored with our hosting provider (Cloudflare) and can be deleted on request.

Signing in on this website (Google, Apple or a one-time email code) shares with us only your basic profile (name or chosen display name, and email address). We use it to keep the packs you own with your account, to remember your 18+ answer and setting (see 18+ age check), and, if you submit a deck, to attribute your submission and contact you about it. We set one signed, HTTP-only session cookie so you stay signed in; it contains no third-party trackers and expires automatically.

The main app can sign in to the same optional account (Apple, Google or a one-time email code) so packs you own follow you between devices. While you are signed in, ratings and reports you give are stored against that account instead of the hashed install ID. You can sign out or delete the account in Settings → Account; deleting it removes your sign-in details, the packs recorded on it and the ratings and reports it gave. Deck Huddle Kids has no sign-in.

18+ age check on this website

The website’s 18+ section on deckhuddle.com/play asks for your date of birth before it shows adult content. We use the date only to work out, at that moment, whether you are 18 or older; we do not store your date of birth. If you are under 18, the section stays closed and nothing is kept. We never ask for an ID document, a photo of you or a payment card for this check. The apps do not have this section and never ask for your date of birth.

Without an account: if you are 18 or older, we set a signed, HTTP-only cookie (dh_age) in your browser that records only that this browser answered 18+ and when; it expires after 30 days. Turning the 18+ section on sets a second cookie (dh_xp) that remembers that choice for 30 days. Clearing your cookies removes both.
When you are signed in: we also record on your account that you declared you are 18 or older, the date and time, the method (self-declaration), and the country (and, where available, region) that our hosting provider derives from your IP address at that moment, plus whether you turned the 18+ section on. We keep this until you delete the account.

We use this only to keep adult content away from minors and to apply the rules of the place you are in; it is never used for advertising or tracking.

Ads and analytics

The main Deck Huddle app includes the Google AdMob SDK. Ads are currently disabled by default and, if shown, are non-personalized. When ads are served, Google may collect device identifiers, coarse location (derived from IP address), ad-interaction data, and diagnostics to serve and measure ads and prevent fraud — see Google's privacy policy and their ad-technology partner disclosures. We do not use the advertising identifier (IDFA) and do not request App Tracking Transparency. Deck Huddle Kids contains no ads SDK at all.

Our own usage statistics are described above: first-party (sent only to deckhuddle.com), not linked to your identity, not used for tracking or advertising, and you can opt out. Neither app embeds any third-party analytics SDK. This website and the web game use no cookies for analytics or advertising and no third-party analytics; the web game sends the same anonymous events as the app only after its start-up notice, and honors the opt-out.

If we expand ads or change how analytics work, we will update this policy first, name the providers, describe exactly what they collect, and provide any consent and opt-out mechanisms required by applicable law (GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, COPPA and platform policies).

Legal basis and retention

Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, we process anonymous usage statistics on the basis of our legitimate interest in keeping the app working and improving it (you can object at any time with the in-app switch), and push tokens on the basis of your consent (the notification permission, which you can withdraw in the app or in your device settings). Usage events are kept for up to 3 months and then deleted, except as aggregated counts that cannot identify an install. Push tokens are kept until you turn notifications off, uninstall (the token stops working and is then deleted), or ask us to delete them. Ratings and problem reports you choose to give are processed on the basis of our legitimate interest in improving the decks, and kept until you ask us to delete them. The website’s 18+ age check is processed on the basis of our legitimate interest in, and legal duty of, keeping adult content away from minors; its cookies expire after 30 days, and the result stored on an account is kept until the account is deleted.

Children

The main Deck Huddle app is rated 18+ in the app stores and is not directed at children under 13; we do not knowingly collect personal information from children through it. Its 4+/12+/18+ age filters let a host limit which decks appear in a session. For children we offer a separate app, Deck Huddle Kids, described below.

Deck Huddle Kids

We also offer Deck Huddle Kids, a separate kids edition. It is designed to qualify for a “Data Not Collected” privacy label:

No personal data is collected from anyone, children included: no accounts, no sign-in, no ratings or reports, no names or contact details leave the device.
No ads, no analytics of any kind, no push notifications from us, no tracking SDKs — the kids edition contains zero third-party code, Game Center is compiled out, it sends no usage statistics (not even our own anonymous ones) and it never registers a push token. Reminders a parent schedules behind the parental gate are local to the device.
Nothing leaves the device except anonymous, identifier-free HTTPS fetches of the static deck catalog / configuration files and family card artwork, and the platform's own purchase system (Apple App Store / Google Play) if a parent buys a pack.
Content is locked to family-rated decks; teen and adult decks never surface in the kids edition.
A parental gate (a written-number challenge an adult must solve) protects purchases, Restore Purchases, and any link that leaves the app — including the links to this page.

Consistent with COPPA and similar laws, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 anywhere in the Service. If you believe a child has nonetheless provided us personal information (for example through the website's submission form), email [email protected] and we will delete it.

Your choices & rights

Delete the app to delete everything it stores on your device.
Switch off “Share anonymous usage data” in Settings to stop usage statistics, or reset the install ID there. Turn notifications off in the app (or in your device settings) to stop push notifications; doing it in the app also deletes your push token from our server. In the web game, the Privacy link on the /play start screen does the same: switch statistics off, reset the anonymous ID, or turn browser notifications off (the web game keeps its push registration under a separate random ID, so it is not linkable to its usage statistics). The web game stores these choices only in your browser’s local storage — no cookies.
Because usage events are not linked to your identity, we cannot pick out “your” events; they expire automatically after 3 months. If you send us your install ID (shown in Settings) we will delete any push token stored with it.
Email us to access or delete anything you have submitted through this website, or the ratings and reports given from your account or install ID (include the install ID shown in Settings if you were not signed in).
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights (access, correction, deletion, portability); we honor reasonable requests regardless of jurisdiction.

Changes

We will post any changes to this policy on this page and update the date above. Material changes will be called out in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions, requests, or anything else: [email protected].