Sudoku Buddy is published by Freevia. Questions about this policy or the app's handling of data can be sent to [email protected].
The short version
Sudoku Buddy has no account, ads, routine usage analytics, or ad tracking. Camera processing and puzzle history stay on your device. The app sends a puzzle report to Freevia only when you submit it or enable optional automatic sharing for uncertain readings. A report contains the straightened puzzle photo, original recognition results, uncertainty markers, and any corrections recorded for that reading. Submitted reports are used for recognition analysis and kept as private training examples until you delete them by receipt. Reports are not public. Sudoku Buddy does not currently train a model from submitted reports; learned changes in a model may remain if model training is introduced later.
What stays on your device
The app stores the following on your phone. Sharing is optional and is described below:
| What | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Straightened photographs of accepted scans | the app's private files directory | so a puzzle can be reopened from the history |
| The digits read from each puzzle, reading details and your corrections | the app's private files directory | so the reading and your progress survive closing the app |
| The last few photographs the app refused to read | the app's external files directory, or private storage if external storage is unavailable | so you can look at what went wrong, or choose to share it for support |
| Your settings | the app's private preferences | so they persist |
| Submission receipts for reports you sent | the app's private preferences | so you can identify a report revision if you ask Freevia to delete it |
Refused photographs normally live in the app's own folder on external storage. Access through a file manager or USB depends on the Android version and device. If that storage is unavailable, the app uses its private files directory instead. Either location supports the explicit sharing actions described below.
The app keeps at most six refused photographs and discards the oldest beyond that. You can delete any of them from the puzzle history at any time.
Network connection and optional report submission
Scanning, recognition, solving and tutoring run on the device. Report submission requires
an internet connection and the Android INTERNET permission. Other app functions remain
available offline. Report submission and receipt-based server deletion need a network connection.
Opening a website link or choosing a receiving app in the share sheet hands that action to another app. That app may use the internet under its own permissions and policies.
Sudoku Buddy does not run routine usage analytics, crash reporting, or ad tracking. If you choose to submit a puzzle report, Freevia can analyze its recognition results and any corrections to improve recognition, and retain the report privately until you request deletion. This report processing is not routine tracking of app use.
Sharing is your choice
When you choose Share, the app can hand a saved puzzle photograph or a refused scan to another app, such as a mail client or messaging app. Send diagnostics can hand over the retained refused photographs together with a text report, or the report alone if there are no refused photographs. The report includes the app version, date, phone manufacturer and model, Android version, and scan outcomes. You choose the receiving app in Android's share sheet. File access is read-only and limited to the photographs included in that share action. These share-sheet actions send nothing until you choose a receiving app. If you choose to send materials to Freevia for support, Freevia receives the information you include. Do not include photographs or other information you do not want the recipient to see. The separate optional automatic-submission setting for uncertain readings is described below.
The receiving app's policy also applies to any copy it receives. Sharing a file does not give Sudoku Buddy control over the recipient's copies. If Freevia is the recipient, the support-sharing description above still applies to what you send to Freevia.
Puzzle reports for recognition analysis
You can submit an uncertain reading from the puzzle screen. Submitting is optional and requires your action; submitted reports are used for recognition analysis and private training. The single option on the submission dialog can also turn on automatic submission for future uncertain readings and corrections. You can turn automatic submission off in Settings. Automatic submission is off by default.
A report includes the straightened square puzzle photograph, app version, original and current digit grids, each cell's recognition classification and confidence, uncertain cells, grid geometry, and the sequence of corrections with their times. This can show handwritten marks or other details visible on the page. Do not submit a page containing information you do not want Freevia to review.
Reports are private and are not posted publicly. Each uploaded revision is held in a private Cloudflare R2 store until you delete it from Submission receipts. The same stored report supports recognition analysis and training; there is no separate analysis copy or automatic expiry. Each revision has its own receipt. A successful deletion removes that revision from Freevia's report service storage. Sudoku Buddy does not currently train a model from submitted reports; if a model is trained on an example later, deleting that example may not remove learned changes from the model.
The app keeps receipts in Settings, even if you delete a puzzle from History. Open Submission receipts to delete a submitted revision. Corrected revisions have separate receipts and must be deleted separately. Deleting a puzzle from History removes its local copy but does not delete reports already sent. Cloudflare provides storage and request infrastructure on Freevia's behalf. When a report request passes through Cloudflare, it may process the request's IP address and infer an approximate location, such as country or region, for network routing and security under its own terms. The report service does not access or store the IP address or inferred location in its application records, and the report record does not store your identity.
GitHub feedback drafts
When you choose Report a bug or idea on GitHub and confirm Open GitHub, the app opens a GitHub issue URL in an external browser or another application that handles the link. The URL includes a prefilled title and report text with the app version/build number, phone manufacturer/model, Android version and recent scan diagnostics. GitHub receives this text when the link is opened, even if you do not submit the issue. No photograph is included in the URL or uploaded by Sudoku Buddy.
You sign in on GitHub, can edit the draft, choose any screenshots to attach there, and decide whether to submit it. Submitted issues and attachments are public. GitHub's own privacy policy applies to its website and account. Use email for support examples you prefer to share privately.
Camera processing
The app asks for camera access because reading a puzzle from a printed page is what it does. Camera preview frames are processed on the phone and are not saved. A captured photograph can be saved as a puzzle or retained as a refused scan. Capture can be manual or automatic when that setting is enabled.
Deleting your data
You can delete saved puzzles and retained refused photographs from History. Uninstalling the app removes its app-specific storage, including locally retained photographs and settings. Deletion from the app does not delete copies you already shared or copied elsewhere.
The app disables Android backup and explicitly excludes its storage from cloud backup and device transfer. There is no cloud history or automatic restoration to another phone.
Children
Sudoku Buddy is intended for a general audience aged 13 and over. Reports are sent only when a user submits them or enables optional automatic sharing. The report may include handwriting and other details visible in the photographed puzzle. The same choices and disclosures apply to all users.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it, and the history of this file is public in the repository it lives in.
Contact
Email [email protected]. You can also raise a public technical issue at GitHub Issues. Issues and attachments there are public, so include only information you intend to publish.