Inkwell Puzzles

Privacy policy

Last updated: 31 October 2026

Grapevine Studios LLC ("we", "us") makes Inkwell Puzzles (the "game"). This policy explains what information the game uses, why, who receives it, how long we keep it and the choices you have. Contact: support@grapevinestudios.net, 82 Wendell Ave., Ste 100, Pittsfield, MA 01201, USA.

The short version

You play without an account: the game creates an anonymous player ID. We do not ask for your real name, email address or phone number in the game. To play online with others you choose a display name, and you sign in with Game Center (iPhone) or Google Play Games (Android).
Before online play and ads, the game asks your birth month and year. Our servers keep only whether you are under 13 (or a child where you live) or older, never the date.
We keep your game progress on our game servers (run for us by Unity), so it is safe if you reinstall.
Usage statistics are collected only if you agree (you can change your mind in Settings).
Crash reports help us fix problems; they do not include your player ID unless you agreed to share usage data.
Purchases are handled by Apple or Google; we never see your payment details.
Ads play only when you choose to watch one for a reward. They come from Google AdMob, and are personalised only with your consent.
You can copy all your data, or delete your account and its data, in Settings ▸ Your data.

What we collect and why

Information	When	Why (legal basis)	Who processes it
Player ID (random, anonymous) and a session token on your device	Always, when the game connects	To keep your progress and run the game (contract)	Unity Technologies (Unity Gaming Services)
Game data: progress, coins and items, puzzle results, settings that affect play, the News Room, purchases' transaction IDs	As you play; sent in batches every few minutes and when you leave the game	To save your progress, enforce the game's rules and prevent cheating (contract; legitimate interest in fair play)	Unity Technologies
App version and platform	When the game connects	To tell you when an update is required, and for maintenance notices (legitimate interest)	Unity Technologies
Purchase receipts: product, transaction ID, purchase time; for the Press Card subscription, its renewal date and the store's subscription reference (on Google Play, its purchase token), to check renewals	When you buy something	To check the purchase with Apple or Google and deliver it, and to handle refunds (contract; legal obligation for records)	Apple or Google; Unity Technologies
Usage statistics: game events such as levels started and completed, power-ups used, purchases (no names or contact details) with your player ID and device information	Only if you agree	To understand how the game is played and improve it (consent)	Unity Technologies (Unity Analytics)
Crash and error reports: what went wrong, device model, operating system, app version; your player ID only if you agreed to share usage data	When the game crashes or hits an error	To find and fix problems (legitimate interest)	Unity Technologies (Unity Diagnostics)
Linked game account: your Game Center (iPhone) or Google Play Games (Android) player ID, linked to your player ID	When you sign in, which online play needs, or choose "Save your progress"	To restore your progress on a new device, and to make sure online players are real people (contract; legitimate interest in preventing abuse)	Apple or Google; Unity Technologies
Age group: whether you are under 13 (or a child where you live) or older, worked out from the birth month and year you enter (the date itself stays on your device)	When you answer the age question, before online play and ads	To keep children's online play to friends only and their ads non-personalised (legal obligation; legitimate interest in protecting children)	Unity Technologies
Online profile: the display name you choose (shown with a four-digit tag, like Ana#4821), the picture and border you pick from the game's own set, your friend code, and badges for albums you complete	Only if you set up online play	To let other players find and recognise you. A player under 13 is shown by name only to their friends (contract)	Unity Technologies
Friends and safety: your friends, friend requests, the players you block, and names you report	As you use online play	To run friends lists, keep blocked players away, and remove offensive names (contract; legitimate interest in safety)	Unity Technologies
Online games: Press Duel games (moves, letters held, scores), Circuits races (how long each puzzle took), your ratings and online statistics, daily puzzle results you share with friends (coloured grids and times, never the letters), reactions and nudges, and your inbox	As you play online	To run online games, rank players fairly, and show friends' results (contract)	Unity Technologies
Platform friends (Android): the Google Play Games player IDs of your Play Games friends	Only when you open "Find friends"	To show which of your Play Games friends also play. Compared on our server, not kept (contract)	Google; Unity Technologies
Notifications token: a code from Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging that lets the server reach your phone, with your choice about nudges	Only if you play online and allow notifications	To tell you when it is your move, about challenges and friend requests (consent: the phone's permission; turn them off in the phone's settings or the nudges switch)	Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging); Unity Technologies
Ads you choose to watch: your device's advertising ID (on iPhones only if you allow tracking), IP address, device and app information, and how you interact with the ad	Once you have answered the age question, when the game gets an ad ready; an ad plays only when you tap "Watch an ad"	To show the ad and give its reward, to measure it and to prevent fraud; personalised ads only with your consent where the law requires it (consent; otherwise legitimate interest) Google uses this information under its own privacy policy, as an independent controller.	Google (AdMob)
Word lookups: the word, your device's IP address and the app's name and version	Only when you open Definitions (English)	To show a word's definition (contract)	Wikimedia Foundation (Wiktionary)
Support messages: your email address and what you write	Only if you contact us	To answer you (legitimate interest)	Northwest Registered Agent, our email host

The game also stores on your device: your settings (sound, text size, language), which tutorials you have seen, the day's mini-game boards and reminders you turned on. Reminders are scheduled on your device; only online play's notifications, if you allow them, come through a push notification service (Firebase Cloud Messaging).

We do not sell your information or combine it with information from other sources. The game shows ads only when you choose to watch one for a reward: no banners, and no ads that interrupt play. They come from Google AdMob. Where the law requires it (for example in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and some US states), Google asks for your choices before ads are personalised, and you can change them in Settings ▸ Ad privacy choices. On iPhones, ads are personalised only if you also allow tracking when your phone asks. Players under 13, and players under the age of digital consent where they live, are never asked: their ads are not personalised, and they are shown only ads suitable for general audiences. Google handles this information under its own privacy policy (policies.google.com/privacy).

Only with the processors listed above, who act on our instructions, and when the law requires it. Apple and Google process purchases under their own privacy policies; Google receives what its ads need under its own privacy policy; Wikimedia receives word lookups under its own privacy policy.

International transfers

Unity, Apple, Google and Wikimedia may process information in the United States and other countries. Where information about players in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland goes to the United States or other countries, our service providers protect it with the safeguards the law provides for such transfers: the European Commission's standard contractual clauses (with the UK's addendum), or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider takes part in it.

How long we keep it

Game data: while your account exists. Delete your account to remove it.
Online records (your profile, friends, blocks, games under way, inbox): while your account exists; deleting your account removes them, withdraws your challenges and resigns your games. Items you sent to other players' inboxes are removed when they next open their inbox. Finished games may keep your player ID, but not your name. Circuits keeps finished race times as recorded runs for other players to race, with only the picture you chose, never your name or player ID.
Purchase records: kept after an account is deleted only in anonymised form (the record no longer names your player ID), so a receipt cannot be used twice. Records older than your last 1,000 purchases stay keyed by your player ID and contain only the ID and the product. We keep purchase records for 7 years.
Usage statistics and crash reports: kept by Unity for up to 13 months (crash reports for up to 90 days), then deleted.
Ad information: kept by Google as its own privacy policy sets out.
Support messages: 2 years, then deleted.

Your choices and rights

Usage statistics: Settings ▸ Share anonymous usage data, on or off at any time.
Ads: Settings ▸ Ad privacy choices, where the law gives you choices about personalised ads. On iPhones, tracking is also in the phone's Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Tracking; on Android, the advertising ID is in the phone's settings (Google ▸ Ads, or Privacy ▸ Ads).
Copy your data: Settings ▸ Your data ▸ Copy my data puts everything we hold about your player ID on your clipboard.
Delete your account: Settings ▸ Your data ▸ Delete my account removes your game data and any linked game account from our servers, then resets the game on your device.
Depending on where you live, you may also have rights to access, correct, restrict or object to processing, and to complain to a data protection authority. Write to support@grapevinestudios.net.

Children

Inkwell Puzzles is for a general audience. Players under 13 can play, with the limits below, and from them we collect only what the game needs to work: an anonymous player ID, their age group, game progress and purchases and, if they play online with friends, the display name and picture they choose from the game's set and, if notifications are allowed, a notifications token. None of it is used for advertising profiles or statistics, and the game never asks a child for an email address, a phone number or a real name.

Before online play and ads, the game asks for a birth month and year. For a player under 13, or under the age of digital consent where they live:

usage statistics are never collected, and ads are never personalised and are suitable for general audiences;
online play is with friends only: they can add friends only with a friend code (from an invite link, or read out), cannot be found by name, and are shown by name only to their friends. Matches and races with strangers are not available;
display names are chosen freely but filtered for offensive words, and any player can report a name;
online play's notifications are sent only if allowed on the phone.

A parent or guardian can ask to see or delete their child's information, or to stop its collection, by writing to support@grapevinestudios.net with the Player ID from Settings ▸ About. If you believe a child has used the game without permission, contact us and we will delete the data.

Security

Data travels encrypted (HTTPS only). The server checks every purchase with Apple or Google and keeps the rules of the game on the server.

Changes

We will update this page and its date when the game's use of information changes, and tell you in the game when the change is significant.

Contact

Grapevine Studios LLC, 82 Wendell Ave., Ste 100, Pittsfield, MA 01201, USA, support@grapevinestudios.net.