Simple Scoring privacy policy

This policy covers Simple Scoring for Scrabble (“Simple Scoring”) for iPhone, iPad and Android, published by HOLLINGSWORKS LLC (“Hollingsworks”, “we”, “us”), a small software studio in Michigan. Simple Scoring is an independent score keeper and isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by the owners of the SCRABBLE® trademark.

Simple Scoring is local-first: you don’t need an account or an internet connection to score, correct, finish, save or review a game.

On your device

Player names and local profile IDs, groups, scores, turn history, timers, saved and completed games, game-night sessions, seasons, settings, your spectator name and color, and the code of the Live Table you last joined are stored on your device. They stay there unless you share them (with the share sheet, a backup or an export) or host a Live Table. Deleting the app deletes this data, unless your device restores it from its own backup.

The app uses your camera only to scan a Live Table QR code, while the scanner is open (you can type the code instead), and opens files only when you pick a backup to restore.

Live Table

Live Table is optional and needs the internet. When you host one, the app gives you a short code and a QR code, and sends the game to Google Firebase so people with the code can follow along: player names and colors, scores, the current turn, timers or tiles left when they’re on, turn history (up to 500 turns), a title if you add one, and the final result. Anyone with the code can view that game, so don’t use anything sensitive as a player name.

• Hosts and spectators get an anonymous Firebase sign-in on their device. Simple Scoring never asks for an email address or phone number.
• Spectators choose a display name (it doesn’t have to be a real name) and a color. The host and other spectators can see them.
• If you join a lobby to play, the host’s phone adds you to their game as a player, with your display name and color, including in their local match history. Choose “Just watch instead” to stay a spectator.
• Rooms are set to expire: active rooms after about eight hours without updates, lobbies after two hours, finished rooms after an hour. After that, only the host can open them. Expired rooms aren’t yet deleted automatically from our database. We delete them periodically and will turn on automatic deletion.

Usage analytics and game reports

Google Analytics for Firebase helps us see which features are used. It’s on by default and you can turn it off in Settings › Usage Analytics. Events cover things like starting, saving and finishing games (with the number of players, the turn timer, the round reached and how long the game took), opening and completing a Plus purchase, creating or joining a Live Table (and broad error categories when that fails), changing themes and colors, and exporting. They never include player names, words you check, room codes, scores of named players or match IDs. Firebase also collects its standard data: an app-instance ID, device model, operating system, app version, language and approximate location derived from your IP address. On iPhone and iPad, if you allow tracking, Analytics can also use your advertising identifier.

While Usage Analytics is on, each finished game also sends an anonymous game report (number of players, whether it was a tie, broad ranges for the highest and lowest score and the game’s length, and whether end-game scoring was used), under an anonymous Firebase sign-in. It contains no names or exact scores.

Bug reports

If you send a report from Settings › Report a Bug, we store what you write, the email address you add (optional, so we can reply), the app version, your platform and the time, in Firebase. Please don’t include personal details you don’t want us to have. We use reports only to fix problems and reply, and delete them when they’re no longer needed.

Word Check

Word Check uses a dictionary built into the app, without sending the word anywhere. Only when a valid word has no built-in definition and you’re online does the app send that word to the free dictionary service at dictionaryapi.dev to fetch one. Checked words aren’t added to your history, Live Table or analytics. Word Check is a general reference, not an official tournament word list.

Ads

Free users see Google AdMob banner ads, and a full-screen ad after a game ends, never in the middle of a game. To show and measure ads, Google may process your device’s advertising identifier (if allowed), IP address and approximate location, ad interactions and diagnostic data. Google’s use of data is covered by Google’s privacy policy.

• Where the law requires it (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland), Google’s consent form asks first, and you can change your choice in Settings › Privacy Choices.
• On iPhone and iPad, you’re asked whether ads may use your advertising identifier. You can change this in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking.
• Simple Scoring Plus removes ads on your own device. A host’s purchase doesn’t remove ads for spectators on other devices.

Purchases

Simple Scoring Plus is a one-time purchase processed by Apple or Google. The app receives only the product and purchase status needed to unlock Plus and remember it offline. We never receive your card details.

Backups and exports

Backups and score-sheet exports are created on your device and shared only when you choose to. Backups leave out purchase records, advertising identifiers, Live Table credentials and spectator presence. Anyone who receives an export or backup can read the names and games in it.

Other services

The app downloads its fonts from Google Fonts and uses Firebase App Check (Google Play Integrity on Android, Apple App Attest or DeviceCheck on iPhone and iPad) to confirm requests come from the real app. Like any network request, these reach Google and Apple with your IP address.

Sharing

We don’t sell your personal information. Showing personalized ads with Google may count as “sharing” or “targeted advertising” under some U.S. state laws; you can opt out with the Privacy Choices and tracking settings above. Otherwise we share data only with the service providers named here (Google Firebase, Google AdMob, Apple, Google Play, dictionaryapi.dev), or when the law requires it.

Your choices

• Turn Usage Analytics off in Settings.
• Review your ad choices in Settings › Privacy Choices (where available) and your phone’s tracking settings.
• Stop a Live Table to stop sharing updates, and use any display name you like when joining one.
• Delete a match, clear all match history or delete a saved group in the app. Removing the app deletes everything on the device.
• Email us to delete a Live Table room, your bug reports or anything else we hold, and we’ll do it within 30 days.

Depending on where you live (for example California, other U.S. states with privacy laws, the EEA or the UK), you may also have the right to access, correct or delete your personal information, to object to processing, and to complain to your local data protection authority. We won’t treat you differently for using these rights.

Children

Simple Scoring is a general-audience app for families and game nights. It isn’t directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. Kids may appear as player names typed by an adult; if you host a Live Table, use first names or nicknames. If you think a child has given us personal information, email us and we’ll delete it.

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