Autoknowtive privacy policy

This policy covers Autoknowtive: Name That Car: the website at autoknowtive.com and the iPhone and Android apps. Autoknowtive is published by HOLLINGSWORKS LLC (“Hollingsworks”, “we”, “us”), a small software studio in Michigan.

Stored on your device

• Your settings, streaks, scores, Garage collection, Road Trip and Quick Play records and tutorial progress. On the web these are in your browser’s local storage, plus a user_stats cookie that lasts a year. In the apps they’re in the app’s own storage.
• A random player ID (for example 3f2a…), created the first time you play the Daily. It isn’t linked to your name, email or device identifiers.

Clearing this site’s data in your browser, or deleting the app, removes all of it. Settings › Reset progress clears your stats and collection (today’s Daily stays as played). On Android, the phone’s own Google backup (if you’ve turned it on in Android settings) can include the app’s data, so your progress comes back if you restore your phone.

Stored on our servers

The Daily. To check Daily answers without sending the answer to your device, our server (Google Firebase and Cloud Functions, in the United States) saves the guesses you make, the clues you use, whether you finished and the time, keyed to your random player ID and the day’s challenge. Your app or browser also sends your home region (worked out from your language and time zone, and changeable in Settings) so the Daily matches your market. We use this only to run the game, show results and stop cheating. We currently keep Daily records without a fixed time limit; they can’t be connected to you unless you tell us your player ID.

Signing in (website only, optional). You can sign in with Google or an email link to keep your progress in sync across browsers. Then:

• Firebase Authentication keeps your email address, and with Google also your Google account name and profile photo link;
• we keep a cloud profile with your Daily streak and stats, Road Trip record, Quick Play bests and Garage collection;
• your browser keeps a copy of your name, email and photo link so it can show who’s signed in.

Sign-in emails are sent by Google Firebase or by our email provider, Resend. The apps don’t have sign-in.

Messages you send us. If you use the contact form, we store your message, the topic you chose, the email address you give (if any), the page or car you came from and your browser type, so we can read and answer it. Your IP address is used only in scrambled (hashed) form to limit how many messages and sign-in emails can be sent per hour, and those records expire within hours. Messages are deleted automatically after 12 months.

Visit statistics on the website

If you’ve signed in on the website (or start signing in), the site loads Google Analytics through Firebase, which records pages viewed, approximate location from your IP address, device and browser details, and sets first-party cookies. We use it to understand how the game is played. Players who never sign in aren’t counted by Google Analytics. The apps don’t use analytics.

Technical data

Like any website, our hosting provider (Google Firebase) processes technical data such as your IP address and browser type to deliver pages and keep the site secure.

Advertising

On the website, ads come from Google AdSense.

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
• Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
• You can opt out of personalized advertising in Google Ads Settings, or opt out of some third-party vendors’ use of cookies at aboutads.info.
• Visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland are asked for consent before personalized ads are shown, and can change that choice at any time from the privacy link the consent message adds to the page.

In the apps, ads come from Google AdMob: banners, full-screen ads between games, and optional rewarded ads you choose to watch for an extra hint in Free Play or a refuel in Road Trip. Full-screen ads never appear in the Daily.

• Google may use your device’s advertising identifier, approximate location from your IP address, and information about how ads are viewed to show ads, measure them and prevent fraud.
• On iPhone, Apple asks whether the app may track you. If you choose Ask App Not to Track, the advertising identifier isn’t shared and ads are less personalized. You can change this in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking.
• On Android, you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone’s Google settings.
• Where the law requires it (the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and some U.S. states), Google asks for your choice before ads are personalized. You can change it later in the app’s Settings › Privacy choices.

Google’s use of data is covered by Google’s privacy policy and How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

Notifications

The apps can remind you about the Daily at 9 a.m. These are local notifications scheduled on your phone; no push service or server is involved. You can turn them off in Settings.

Car photos

Car photos and specs are gathered from public sources for identification and trivia. If you own a photo and want it credited or removed, contact us and we’ll take care of it.

Sharing

We don’t sell your personal information. Apart from the advertising described above, we share data only with the service providers that run the game (Google Firebase and Cloud Functions, Google Analytics, Resend), or when the law requires it.

Children

Autoknowtive isn’t directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. If you think a child has given us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Your choices and rights

• Clear your browser’s site data, use Reset progress, or delete the app to remove what’s on your device.
• Email us to delete your website account and cloud profile, a message you sent, or your Daily records. We’ll confirm when it’s done.
• Depending on where you live (for example California, other U.S. states with privacy laws, the EEA or the UK), you may have the right to access, correct or delete your personal information, to object to processing, to opt out of targeted advertising, and to complain to your local data protection authority. We won’t treat you differently for using them. We’ll answer within 30 days.

Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

HOLLINGSWORKS LLC, a Michigan limited liability company
Email: hello@hollingsworks.com · Contact form