Word of Life Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Word of Life (the “App”), published by Carbide Coding LLC (“Carbide Coding,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), handles information when you use it. Carbide Coding's general website privacy policy is at carbidecoding.com/privacy; this document covers the Word of Life app specifically.

The short version

There is no traditional sign-in — no email, no password. When you use the App's online features, it signs you in anonymously so your puzzle progress, best times, badges, streaks, and hint balance can back up to the cloud and sync across your devices; you can optionally link Google Play Games or Apple Game Center so that data survives reinstalling. If you use the social features (Circles and challenges), a nickname you pick and your puzzle times are visible to the groups you join — nothing more. If you turn on notifications, the App stores a notification token and your time zone so it can remind you and alert you to Circle activity. The App shows one small banner advertisement served by Google AdMob, and that advertising service collects some device data described below, under consent controls you can change at any time. Buying the optional Remove Ads subscription stops ad serving (and the data collection that comes with it) entirely; optional one-time hint packs are also available.

What Word of Life does

Word of Life is a Bible word search game: a journey through the books of the Bible, finding hidden words drawn from Scripture passages, with the verse revealed when a puzzle is completed. Puzzles are generated on your device. It is an online game — an internet connection is required to play.

Information we collect ourselves

No traditional accounts, no chat, and no analytics SDK from us. To back up your progress and power the optional social features, the App signs you in anonymously through Google Firebase and can store, in our Firebase database and tied to a random anonymous identifier: your game progress (completed puzzles, best times, badges, streaks, and hint balance) so it syncs across your devices and survives reinstalling; the display name you choose (please don't use your real full name); and the circles you join. You may optionally link Google Play Games (Android) or Apple Game Center (iOS) to that anonymous identifier so your data follows you to a new device — we receive only the linked platform's player identifier, never your email or password. Circle information is shared only with members of circles you join — there are no public profiles and no way for strangers to find you. Leaving a circle removes you from it; to have your cloud data deleted entirely, email privacy@carbidecoding.com.

Information stored on your device

• Progress — which puzzles you've completed and your best times.
• Preferences — appearance (light/dark) and similar settings.
• Subscription status — a local flag indicating whether Remove Ads is active.
• Review-prompt bookkeeping — a counter so the App stops asking you to rate it.

These values are kept on your device for fast access; when you're signed in for online features, your progress and hint balance are also backed up to our Firebase database as described above, so a reinstall restores them. Uninstalling the App removes its local data.

Notifications

If you allow notifications, the App registers a Google Firebase Cloud Messaging token for your device and stores it, along with your time-zone offset, so it can send puzzle reminders and alerts about activity in your Circles. You can turn notifications off at any time in your device settings; doing so stops these messages.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

The App displays a single banner advertisement served by Google AdMob, part of Google LLC. To serve and measure ads, prevent fraud, and (where you consent) personalize ads, the Google Mobile Ads SDK collects device information which may include:

• Device identifiers — such as the advertising ID (Android) / IDFA (iOS, only with your App Tracking Transparency permission) and app-set identifiers
• IP address — used to estimate general (coarse) location
• Ad interaction data — such as impressions, taps, and video views within ads
• Diagnostics — app performance information such as launch time and crash-related signals relevant to ad serving

This collection is performed by Google under Google's own privacy policy (policies.google.com/privacy). Details of how Google uses information from apps that use its services are at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Your advertising choices

• Consent form (GDPR / UK) — in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, the App shows Google's certified consent form before serving ads, and you can change your choice at any time from Settings → Privacy options.
• US state privacy — where applicable US state laws provide opt-out rights, the same in-app privacy options apply.
• iOS App Tracking Transparency — on iOS the App asks permission before accessing the device advertising identifier. If you decline, ads still show but are not personalized using that identifier.
• Device controls — you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your device's privacy settings at any time.
• Remove Ads — the optional subscription removes the banner entirely; with no ads served, the SDK's ad-serving data collection stops.

Purchases

Word of Life offers an optional Remove Ads subscription (monthly or yearly) and optional one-time hint packs. Purchases are processed entirely by the app store you installed the App from — Google Play, or on iOS the Apple App Store. We never see or receive your payment or billing details. The App only learns whether your subscription is currently active and which hint packs you have purchased, so it can credit your hint balance. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled; you can cancel anytime in your store account settings. Your purchase data is handled under the store's own privacy policy (Google · Apple).

Children

Word of Life is a general-audience app enjoyed by all ages, but it is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Ad requests are configured to require family-safe ad content (Google's most restrictive content rating) and are not flagged for child-directed treatment under COPPA. We do not use personalized advertising for users the applicable consent framework identifies as under the age of consent.

Third parties

The App uses: Google AdMob (banner advertising, as described above), Google Firebase (anonymous sign-in, cloud backup of your progress, the database behind Circles and challenges, and push notifications, under Google's privacy policy linked above), Google Play Games / Apple Game Center (optional account linking so your data follows you across devices), your app store's standard services for distribution, in-app purchases, and the optional “rate this app” prompt, and your device's network status to know whether you're online. There are no other third-party SDKs, no social logins, and no data brokers. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it except as described in this policy.

Security

The small amount of social data described above lives in Google Firebase, protected by Google's infrastructure, encryption in transit, and access rules that limit writes to your own entries. Data handled by Google's advertising service is protected by Google using encryption in transit. Your on-device data is protected by your device's own security.

Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the effective date above. If a future version of the App ever changes what is collected, we will update this policy before the change ships.

Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy: privacy@carbidecoding.com · Carbide Coding LLC.