Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Cognitive Squad (“we”, “us”) handles your information when you use the Chess 3D Play and Learnmobile game (the “Game”). The Game is free, shows no ads, and uses no advertising, attribution or third-party analytics SDKs.

Unlike a purely offline app, Chess 3D Play and Learn has accounts and online play: to give you a rating that follows you between devices, to match you with other players, and to keep a leaderboard, we have to store a small amount of data on our servers. This page says exactly what.

Information we collect

Account

• Guest (anonymous) sign-in: the Game can create an anonymous Firebase account with a random identifier. No personal details are needed, and you are never asked for your name, email or phone number.
• Google sign-in (optional):you may sign in with Google, or link Google to an existing guest account, so your rating and history survive a new phone. We ask Google only for the sign-in itself and the account’s email scope. The Game never reads, stores or displays your Google name, profile photo or email address — those stay with Google and with Firebase Authentication.
• Sign in with Apple (optional, iPhone and iPad): on iOS you may sign in with Apple, or link Apple to an existing guest account, instead of using Google. Apple sends us a signed identity token proving the sign-in, which Firebase Authentication exchanges for your account. The firsttime you authorise the Game, Apple may also release your name and an email address — and if you chose Hide My Email, that address is Apple’s private relay (…@privaterelay.appleid.com) rather than your real one. The Game never reads, stores or displays your Apple name or email address — relay or real — to you or to anyone else; they stay with Apple and with Firebase Authentication, which holds them for the sign-in itself. Your handle remains the only name another player can see. We treat a private relay address exactly like any other email address: we never email it, never share it and never show it.
• Your handle:a 3–16 character in-app name (letters, digits and underscore). It is the only name any other player ever sees — on the board, in their game history and on the leaderboard. You can change it once every 30 days.
• Language and country:your device’s locale and two-letter country code, recorded once when your account is created and used for matchmaking regions and future translations.

Gameplay data

• Your chess profile: handle, chosen avatar, rating (MMR) and peak rating, league and division, trophies, coins, wins/losses/draws against people and bots, checkmates, win streaks, daily play counters, the cosmetics you own and have equipped, and your in-game settings (sound, haptics, premove, auto-queen, confirm move, show legal moves).
• Game records:every finished game is stored with the moves, the clock, the result and the reason it ended, both in your own history (we keep your most recent games, currently the last 200) and, for games against people, in a shared game document that both players can read. A shared game document holds each side’s handle, avatar and rating at the time — never a real name.
• Rating log:for each rated game, the rating before and after, the change, your opponent’s rating and the result. This is how we can explain and audit a rating.
• Puzzle and training progress: puzzle rating, puzzles solved, streaks, per-theme ratings and the stars, XP and milestones you have earned.
• Matchmaking: while you are searching for an opponent we hold a queue entry with your handle, avatar, rating, chosen time control, region and a device identifier (used to avoid seating one device against itself). The entry is deleted as soon as you are matched, leave the queue, or the search expires.
• Presence: while you are on a board, your app sends a heartbeat (your id, a timestamp and whether the app is in the foreground) so your opponent can see you are still there and so an abandoned game can be closed fairly. This is the only thing the Game itself writes directly to our database; every score, rating, trophy and coin is written by our server after it has verified the game.
• Play with Friends rooms:a room you create holds its 6-character code, both players’ handles, avatars and ratings, and expires automatically (currently after 15 minutes). Sharing the code is done by your phone’s own share sheet; we do not see who you send it to, and we do not read your contacts.
• Fair-play signals: counters and flags our server raises on a game or an account (for example impossibly fast play), used to keep ratings and the leaderboard honest.

Technical data

• Crash reports: Firebase Crashlytics collects the stack trace, device model and OS version when the Game crashes, so we can fix it.
• Analytics: Firebase Analytics is built into the Game. The only event we log ourselves is a sign-in event recording which methodwas used (Google, Apple or guest). Firebase’s own automatic measurement (app opens, sessions, screen views, an app-instance identifier) also applies. We do not send your handle, your moves or anything you typed to analytics. There is currently no in-app switch to turn analytics off; you can limit it with your device’s own advertising/analytics controls, or delete your account (below).
• Notifications: if your device provides one, a Firebase Cloud Messaging push token is stored on your profile (at most five, one per device) so we can notify you about a game in future. We do not currently send any push notifications from this Game.
• Server logs: our backend (Google Firebase) processes ordinary technical information such as IP address and device type to run the service and prevent abuse.

What stays on your phone

Your local save (profile, settings, saved games and any results waiting to be uploaded) and the chess engine that plays the bots both live on your device. Bot games are played entirely offline — no move is sent anywhere while you play one; a finished bot game is uploaded afterwards so it can be verified and rated.

What we do NOT do

• We do not show ads and include no advertising or attribution SDK.
• We do not sell or rent your information to anyone.
• We do not read your contacts, location, photos, files, camera or microphone.
• We never show your Google or Apple name, photo or email address (Apple’s private relay address included) to another player; only your handle is public.
• There is no chat and no voice chat in the Game.
• We do not use artificial intelligence services on your data. The opponents are a chess engine running on your own phone.

Why we are allowed to hold it

We process this data to provide the Game you asked for (your account, your rating, your games), to keep it fair and secure, and to fix faults. Where your consent is required — for example notifications on your device — you give it through the operating system and can withdraw it there.

Where your data is stored

On Google Firebase (Google Cloud Platform) in the Mumbai (asia-south1) region. Google’s own practices are described in the Firebase Privacy documentation.

Retention and deletion

Your data is kept while your account exists. You can delete it at any time from inside the Game, or ask us to — see Account Deletion, which lists exactly what is removed. Games you played against other people keep their moves and result for your opponent, with your handle and avatar replaced by “Deleted player” and your account id removed. We also keep a minimal internal record that a deletion happened, for audit purposes.

Children

The Game is not directed at children under 13 (or the minimum age required where you live). If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Coins

Coins are earned by playing and are spent only on cosmetic items (piece sets, board themes, sound packs, emblems). They have no real-world value, cannot be bought, sold, transferred or cashed out, and there is no wagering or gambling of any kind in the Game. See our Terms of Service.

Changes

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page and, for a material change, tell you in the Game.

Contact us

Cognitive Squad
Email: contact@cognitivesquad.com
Phone: 8961150663

See also our Terms of Service, Support page and Account Deletion instructions.