Privacy Policy

Hot & Cold is operated by Lambda 7 Tech LLC (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what data the app may process, why we process it, and your choices.

1. Data we generally do not collect

• No contact list, photo library, or precise location data.
• No GPS location data.
• No email address. Sign-in (described in §4) deliberately uses minimal scopes that exclude email and profile name.
• No mandatory sign-in for core gameplay.
• No push notifications, and therefore no push token, no device registry, and no notification content sent from our servers. The optional daily reminder is scheduled by your own device (see §15).
• No analytics SDK in the mobile app. Web analytics are described in §10; the mobile app's optional rewarded ad is described in §14.

2. Data stored on your device

The app stores gameplay state locally so your experience can resume between sessions, including progress, stats, display preferences, and a locally-generated identifier used for multiplayer presence.

You can wipe local data via Settings → Reset data → Reset everything, or by uninstalling the app. That only affects local storage. For server-side data tied to a signed-in account, see §11.

3. Multiplayer (challenge rooms)

When you join or host a challenge room, the display name you choose and the gameplay data needed to run the match are processed by our backend. Challenge rooms are temporary and retained only as long as needed to operate active sessions.

4. Optional sign-in (Apple / Google)

Sign-in is optional and only required for the public leaderboard, cross-device stats sync, and reporting other players' display names. You can play Daily, Endless, and Challenge modes anonymously without signing in.

We use Apple's “Sign in with Apple” and Google Sign-In with the minimal scope needed to identify your account (the provider's “subject” identifier). We do not request your email address or your provider profile name. After sign-in we store on our backend:

• The provider (Apple or Google) and the opaque subject identifier returned by that provider.
• An internal account ID we generate.
• The display name you set inside the app (you choose it; we never copy a name from the provider).
• The date the account was created and, if applicable, a flag indicating the name has been hidden by moderation (see §6).

Apple and Google receive standard authentication metadata (your IP address, the redirect to Hot & Cold, etc.) when you sign in. Their privacy policies apply to that exchange.

5. Display name and public leaderboard

The display name you set when signed in is shown publicly on the daily leaderboard and to opponents in challenge rooms. We display it together with a short tag derived from your account ID (for example, Cooper #A1B2) so two players with the same name aren't visually identical. The leaderboard also shows your score, guess count, whether you completed the puzzle, and (if any) a small supporter badge described in §14.

Anonymous players appear on the leaderboard as a generic Player #XXXX handle and can sign in later to claim their score for that day.

6. Reports and display-name moderation

Signed-in players can report another player's display name from the leaderboard. When you submit a report we store the report (your account ID, the target's account ID, the category you chose, a snapshot of the offending name at the time of report, and a timestamp) so we can act on it. Reports are visible to our moderators. They are not shown to other players.

When enough distinct reporters flag the same display name, we automatically hide that name on the leaderboard and replace it with the generic Player #XXXX handle. The affected player can recover by picking a new display name in the app.

Hidden names are also added to a permanent banlist so the same name (and trivial morphs of it) can never be reused on Hot & Cold. The banlist stores the offending name and a normalised form used for matching. It does not store who originally used the name.

7. Cloud-stored stats (signed-in players)

When you are signed in, your aggregate Daily-mode stats (games played, won, current streak, total score, etc.) are stored on our backend so they sync across devices that sign in to the same account. Anonymous play stays on your device only.

Alongside those stats we store the state of the streak features described in §14: how many streak protections you have earned and spent, the date of your most recent streak repair, and whether you have auto-protect switched on. These are account-scoped rather than device-scoped on purpose — the protections you earn are meant to be spendable only once, no matter how many devices you sign in on. All of it is deleted with your account (§11).

8. App content

The app may download and cache game content over HTTPS so features work reliably across sessions.

9. Daily mode

Daily mode uses our backend to run the puzzle and keep your progress consistent across sessions. The backend records anonymous gameplay (guess counts, hints used, time taken, final result) tied to a per-day identifier so we can build aggregate statistics and, for signed-in players, the public leaderboard described in §5.

10. Analytics and diagnostics

On the web (hotandcold.app and related pages, including the in-browser game at /play), we use Google Analytics 4 to understand aggregate usage. Google Analytics may collect standard web request metadata such as IP address (used to derive approximate, non-precise location), user agent, device and browser information, referrer, page path, and interaction events. It may set cookies or use local storage to operate. See Google's Privacy Policy and How Google Analytics handles data for details. You can opt out using the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on or by blocking analytics cookies in your browser. The mobile app does not include an analytics SDK.

We may also collect diagnostic data to maintain reliability. If this changes materially, we will update this policy.

11. Your rights and account deletion

You can:

• Wipe local data inside the app at any time (Settings → Reset data).
• Sign out from inside the app to unlink the device from your account. Your account row, leaderboard entries, and synced stats remain on our backend.
• Permanently delete your account from inside the app: Settings → Account → Delete account. This removes your account record, every leaderboard entry tied to your account, your synced stats, and reports you submitted. The action is immediate and cannot be undone.
• If you can't sign in (lost device, etc.), email support@hotandcold.app from a device that's previously been signed in, or include your account ID (visible in Settings → Account when signed in) and we'll perform the deletion for you.
• Uninstall the app to remove all local data from your device.

Two narrow exceptions apply on deletion: (a) entries on the display-name banlist (§6) are kept for ongoing moderation integrity, and (b) we may retain limited records required to comply with legal obligations.

12. Service providers

We rely on infrastructure, identity, hosting, and analytics providers to operate the Service. As with any internet service, providers may receive standard request metadata (for example IP address and user agent) in transit.

• Cloudflare: hosting, edge compute, and database infrastructure.
• Apple: “Sign in with Apple” identity verification.
• Google: Google Sign-In identity verification, Google Analytics 4 web analytics, and Google AdSense web advertising (see §14).
• Unity / ironSource (LevelPlay): optional rewarded-ad mediation in the iOS and Android app (see §14).

13. Children

Hot & Cold is suitable for general audiences and does not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal data via our Service, contact us and we will delete it.

14. Advertising

Web. On the web (hotandcold.app and the in-browser game at /play) we show ads served by Google AdSense.

Mobile app. The iOS and Android app includes an optional rewarded video you can choose to watch, served by Unity LevelPlay (ironSource) ad mediation. It is entirely voluntary. No part of the game is gated behind watching an ad, and the app shows no other ads. When you choose to watch, LevelPlay and its mediated ad networks may process device and advertising identifiers (such as Apple's IDFA / Google's Advertising ID), coarse device and network information, and ad interaction events to serve and measure the ad. On iOS we ask, via Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt, before any cross-app advertising identifier is used; you can decline and still use the app (ads, if you choose to watch one, are then non-personalized). You can reset or limit your advertising identifier in your device settings (iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking / Apple Advertising; Android: Settings → Privacy → Ads). See Unity's privacy policy for how LevelPlay handles this data.

If you watch a rewarded ad while signed in, we increment a supporter count on your account. That count doubles as your bank of streak protections, each of which can cover a missed day of your daily streak. It has no effect on your score or your position on the leaderboard. The count is shown on your own menu and, for signed-in players, as a small badge next to your display name on the public leaderboard. Anonymous play keeps the count on your device only until you sign in.

A signed-in player whose streak has just been broken by a missed day can also choose to watch one ad to repair it. When you do, our backend works out what the streak was worth by reading the days you previously completed, which it already stores for the leaderboard (§5) and your synced stats (§7). No new data is collected to run a repair, and your app never tells us what your old streak was — the server reconstructs it from your own recorded results. We store the date of the repair so repairs can be rate-limited.

Google and its ad partners may use cookies, device identifiers, and similar technologies to serve and measure ads, including to show ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. Google may collect standard request metadata such as IP address (used to derive approximate, non-precise location), user agent, and the pages you view, and may combine it with data it holds. We do not share your account identity, display name, or gameplay data with advertisers.

For users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, we present a Google-certified consent message (a Consent Management Platform) before personalized ads are served, so you can grant or refuse consent for ad personalization. You can change your choice at any time via the privacy/consent control on the page.

You can manage or opt out of personalized advertising through Google My Ad Center, the controls at aboutads.info and youronlinechoices.eu, or by blocking ad cookies in your browser. See How Google uses cookies in advertising for details.

15. Notifications (iOS and Android)

The app can send you one optional reminder a day, in the evening, to play the Daily puzzle before your streak lapses. It is off until you turn it on, and you can turn it off again at any time from Settings → Notifications or in your device's own notification settings.

These reminders are local notifications: your device schedules and shows them by itself. They are not push notifications. That means:

• We do not create or store a push token, and we operate no device registry.
• No reminder is ever sent from our servers, and no server is told whether one was shown, opened, or dismissed.
• Your timezone and local clock are used only on the device to pick the delivery time. Neither is transmitted to us.
• The reminder text is composed on your device from data already on it (your current streak and the upcoming puzzle number).
• Your on/off choice is stored on that device only. It is not part of your account and does not sync between devices, so each device you play on is set separately.

Before your device's operating system asks for notification permission, we ask inside the app first, so you can decline without spending the one-time system prompt. Declining either prompt leaves reminders off and changes nothing else about the game. If you later grant permission and turn reminders on, only the schedule above applies — we do not use the notification channel for marketing.

16. Changes

We may update this policy. Material changes will be reflected by an updated date at the top of this page.