Privacy Policy
Last updated 24 August 2026
The short version. Word Hug has no accounts and no sign-in. Your puzzles, streak, coins and settings are stored on your phone and nowhere else. We do not run analytics, we do not track you, and we do not sell anything to anybody. Data leaves your device in only two cases: when you buy something, so the purchase can work; and when ads play, because ads are served directly by Google — described fully below.
Who we are
Word Hug is made by Games for Strangers. If you want to ask about anything on this page, write to kinzinzombe07@gmail.com and a person will reply.
What stays on your device
Everything the game knows about you is written to local storage on your phone. It is not backed up to us, it is not synced between devices, and we cannot read it. That includes:
- Which puzzles and levels you have solved, and when
- Your current and longest streak
- Your coin balance and which hints you have used
- Which packs you own
- Your settings — sound, haptics, and your reminder time
Deleting the app deletes all of it. There is no copy anywhere else, which also means we cannot restore it for you if you lose your phone.
What we do not collect
We think this list is more useful than the one above, so it is deliberately specific. Word Hug does not collect, store or transmit:
- Your name, email address, phone number or date of birth
- Your location, at any precision
- Your contacts, photos, camera, microphone or files
- Usage or analytics events — nothing in the app transmits them. It embeds Expo's small insights module, which as shipped only notes startup milestones in the phone's own local log; nothing goes to us or to Expo
- Crash reports
One nuance worth naming rather than hiding: the advertising software described below uses your device's advertising identifier while choosing ads. It flows directly between your phone and Google — we never see it, receive it or store it.
There is no account to create, so there is nothing to log in to and no password to lose.
Purchases
The daily puzzle and the first fifty levels are free. If you choose to buy a level pack or a handful of hint coins, the purchase is handled by Apple or Google depending on your phone, and processed through RevenueCat, which tells the app what you own.
We never see your card. Apple and Google do not give it to us. What RevenueCat receives is a randomly generated identifier for your installation and the receipt for the purchase — enough to confirm you paid and to restore your packs if you reinstall. That identifier is not linked to your name or your email, because we do not have either.
- RevenueCat's privacy policy: revenuecat.com/privacy
- Apple and Google handle payment data under their own policies, which apply to the store you bought from.
Hint coins are consumable. Because they are spent on your device rather than held on a server, reinstalling the app restores your packs but not your unspent coins. We would rather say that here than have you find out.
Ads
From version 1.1 the free game carries advertising, which is what pays for it to stay free. There are two kinds, both full-screen video, and both follow the same rule: they never interrupt a puzzle.
- Optional rewarded videos. Wherever you see an offer like "watch a short video for a coin", nothing plays until you tap it — and watching adds one coin to your balance. Close the video early and you simply get no coin; there is no penalty and no nagging.
- A full-screen ad after some levels. Once every three levels you finish — never on your first day — an ad may appear after the celebration has finished. The daily puzzle never ends in one.
The ads are served by Google through its AdMob platform. To select and measure them, Google receives your IP address, device identifiers and characteristics, your approximate location (never your precise location), and your device's advertising identifier. We do not send Google anything about you ourselves — we have nothing to send.
If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, Google's consent form appears before the first ad of each session and asks how your data may be used, including a clear option to decline. Your choice is stored on your own device (under names beginning IABTCF_) and lasts up to 390 days. You can change it at any time from the app: Settings → About → Ad privacy options. Declining does not block anything — you still see ads, just non-personalised ones — and it never blocks gameplay.
Elsewhere in the world, ads may be personalised by Google based on the data described above; Google's own controls apply.
- Google's description of how advertising works: policies.google.com/technologies/ads
- How Google uses information from apps that use its services: policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
Reminders
If you turn on the daily reminder, the app asks your phone to show you a notification at the time you picked. That schedule lives on your phone. There is no push server, we never receive a device token, and we cannot send you anything you did not ask for.
You can turn reminders off in the app's settings, or in your phone's own notification settings, at any time.
Word lookups
The puzzles are bundled inside the app, so playing needs no connection at all. We check our own word list against a public dictionary service while writing puzzles, but that happens on our machines before release — your phone never sends a word anywhere.
Children
Word Hug is suitable for all ages and contains no chat, no user-generated content, no social features and no way for one player to reach another. It is a general-audience app: not directed at children, not part of any kids-only programme, and we collect no personal information from anybody ourselves.
The app does contain optional purchases and, from version 1.1, advertising. If you are a parent, your phone's built-in purchase controls will restrict the first; the second is subject to the consent choices described above wherever the law requires them.
This website
wordhug.gamesforstrangers.lol is a static site with no analytics, no cookies and no tracking pixels. Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, which may include your IP address, for security and reliability.
Your rights
Under the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR and similar laws elsewhere, you have the right to see, correct and delete the personal data a company holds about you. We hold none, so there is nothing to request — but the practical version of "delete my data" here is uninstalling the app, which removes everything.
If you would like to make a request or a complaint anyway, write to kinzinzombe07@gmail.com. In the UK you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters — new data collected, a new third party involved, advertising added — the date at the top will change and the app's release notes will say so. We will not quietly widen it.