The short version
Local games, tutoring, analysis and practice progress stay on your device. Optional online play stores match records in Google Cloud Firestore's European eur3 multi-region; Firebase anonymous authentication is processed in the United States. Online match records expire 30 days after creation. You can request online-data deletion in Settings → Privacy: access is blocked immediately, while record removal may take up to 30 days. Optional nearby-game QR scans are processed on your device. The v1 release does not offer physical-board assistance, microphone input or spoken coaching. Firebase Analytics, Performance Monitoring and Crashlytics are not configured for the initial release.
Games and learning on your device
Local matches, settings, engine analysis, saved practice positions and progress are kept in the app's local storage. The backgammon engine and tutor explanations run on the device. Deleting a saved match in History also removes its linked practice exercises and attempts. You can remove individual exercises in Learning, or reset practice progress while keeping saved exercises and History. Clear local error reports in Settings → Diagnostics. Your device's own backup settings may also apply to app data.
Deleting local History is not a request to delete online match records; those are separate.
Online and nearby matches
If you choose online play, the app uses Google Firebase anonymous authentication and sends a pseudonymous player identifier, match settings, moves, events and dice-handshake records so the players can share one match. Hosted match records are stored in Cloud Firestore's eur3 European multi-region. Access expires 30 days after the match was created, including unfinished matches, and scheduled cleanup removes their records. The anonymous sign-in can be reused between launches.
Firebase Authentication is a separate service processed in the United States. Google says it keeps logged authentication IP addresses for a few weeks; after Freevia initiates deletion of an associated user, other authentication data is removed from Google's live and backup systems within 180 days. This provider retention is separate from Freevia's 30-day deletion-request handling. See Firebase's privacy information for its processing and retention details.
Online connections to Google are encrypted in transit. Nearby play sends match information and network addresses directly to the other device over unencrypted local UDP and WebSocket connections; use trusted Wi-Fi. Discovery uses a generic app label rather than your device's hostname. A nearby game's QR code is decoded on your device without uploading the camera image. Nearby play does not store the match in Firebase.
Usage and crash diagnostics
The initial release does not configure Firebase Analytics, Performance Monitoring or Crashlytics, so the app does not send optional usage, performance or crash reports to those services. Local error details remain on your device unless you choose to include an excerpt in a feedback draft, and you can clear them in Settings → Diagnostics. If optional cloud diagnostics are added later, this policy will be updated before they are enabled.
Camera for nearby pairing
In v1, the camera is optional and used to scan a nearby game's QR code. QR decoding runs on your device, and the app does not upload camera images. You may refuse camera access and enter the pairing address manually. Local on-screen games do not require camera access. The v1 release does not request microphone access or provide spoken coaching.
Earlier internal test build
Internal test build 0.14.0+10017 included experimental physical-board Buddy Mode. This feature is excluded from v1 and reserved for future development. For testers still using that earlier build, board-camera images and optional brief microphone buffers are processed on the device and are not uploaded by the app; microphone input is a dice-landing sound hint, not a retained recording.
That earlier Android build can request speech from an installed English voice that reports no network requirement. It checks the voice before each utterance, makes no voice-download or system-engine-change request, and falls back to text when no eligible voice is available. These controls do not audit every background network action of a third-party system speech engine.
Feedback you choose to send
Opening a GitHub issue draft sends its prefilled app version and platform to GitHub before any public issue is posted. A report from Diagnostics can also include a local error and stack-trace excerpt. Diagnostics shows the exact report on your device first: choose Cancel to send nothing, or Open GitHub to transmit it in the draft URL. Ordinary feedback includes version and platform details.
You can edit the draft before submitting a public issue, but details in the URL have already reached GitHub when it opens. GitHub may retain requests and posted issues. Check the local preview for private information; you can cancel and prepare your own report instead. You can also contact [email protected].
Retention and deletion
Local match and practice records remain on your device until you use the app's deletion controls or remove the app, subject to any device backup. Deleting local History does not itself delete a hosted online match.
Online match access expires 30 days after creation. In Settings → Privacy, use Delete online identity and data to send an authenticated request. Once accepted, the request immediately blocks online-match access for that identity and both players' access to its associated matches. The app clears its local online sign-in, or tells you if local sign-out failed; the server-side block still applies. Your local History and practice data remain available. Freevia handles the underlying identity and shared match-log deletion within 30 days; the immediate block and later record removal are different steps. A minimal completion marker containing the player identifier, status and timestamps is kept for 24 hours against stale sign-in tokens, then removed by scheduled cleanup.
You can also email [email protected] about deletion, including if you cannot access the app. We must verify that you own the online identity before acting; a player identifier or match invitation alone is not proof of ownership. Do not send passwords, access tokens or unrelated personal information. Deleting your online data does not erase another player's local saved History or your device backups. Google's separate authentication-data retention is described above.
Contact and changes
For privacy questions, contact [email protected]. For product help, see Backgammon Buddy support. We will post changes to this policy at this URL with a revised date.
Backgammon Buddy is in development. This page does not announce a public Android or iOS store release.