Privacy Policy
Effective: 8 October 2026 · Contact: kenyancharades@gmail.com
Kenyan Charades is an accountless, offline-first party game. Normal bundled gameplay works without sharing analytics, detailed diagnostics or crash reports. Those optional categories are off until you choose to enable them.
Who this policy covers
This policy covers the Kenyan Charades Early Access release currently distributed through Google Play and this public website. Kenyan Charades is operated by Alan Ngari Kivuti in Kenya. Google Play can temporarily distribute more than one Early Access artifact; where a build does not expose a control or configured endpoint described below, that path does not collect or transmit data. The game is intended for a general audience aged 13 and over and is not directed primarily at children under 13.
Your three optional data-sharing choices
The latest launch code defines three separate privacy categories. Google Play can temporarily distribute more than one Early Access artifact, so an older build may expose fewer controls. A category that is absent from your build cannot collect through that path. Where the controls are present, you can use the game with all three turned off and change them later in Settings.
| Choice | What it can include | Current release behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Share play insights | Bounded information about decks, rounds, scores, app/content version and feature use. Google Firebase Analytics may also process a random app identifier and estimate a broad region from network information. Kenyan Charades does not request precise GPS location or the Android advertising ID. | If enabled, approved product events may be sent to Google Firebase Analytics. A bounded first-party copy may also be queued locally on the device; the current Early Access release does not configure a Kenyan Charades first-party telemetry endpoint. |
| Share detailed play diagnostics | Stable deck/card IDs, card outcomes and bounded gesture summaries such as timing bucket, sensor path, orientation/sensitivity category and manual recovery. It does not include card text, raw accelerometer/gyroscope samples or arbitrary free text. | In the current Early Access release, approved diagnostics may be stored in a bounded local queue when you enable this setting, but the Kenyan Charades first-party telemetry endpoint is disabled, so these diagnostics are not uploaded to a Kenyan Charades server. |
| Share crash reports | Crash details, relevant app/device state and a random installation identifier used to diagnose failures. | If enabled and Firebase is available, Google Firebase Crashlytics may receive crash data. |
Turning off Product Analytics or Detailed Play Diagnostics stops future collection for that category and clears applicable unsent first-party queued events. Turning off Crash Reports stops Crashlytics collection and deletes unsent Crashlytics reports. Disabling Product Analytics also resets Firebase Analytics data for the app on the device.
Local first-party queue
Kenyan Charades uses a bounded local event queue for approved Product Analytics and Detailed Play Diagnostics events. The queue is capped at 500 pending events and is stored in the app's private data. In the current Early Access release, no Kenyan Charades first-party telemetry endpoint is configured, so this queue is not sent to a Kenyan Charades server.
If a later release enables first-party telemetry, this policy and the release privacy evidence must be updated before activation. Previously queued events must not be silently treated as newly approved server uploads without that release review.
Highlights, camera and microphone
Highlights are optional. If you choose to enable them, the app explains the feature before requesting camera and microphone permissions. The front camera records your group during the final seven seconds of a round. The microphone adds sound when you allow it; if microphone permission is denied, the clip is silent.
Highlight clips stay in app-private storage and are never uploaded automatically by Kenyan Charades. A clip leaves the app only when you deliberately use Android's Share action and choose a destination.
Shared Highlight files may contain limited embedded game context such as deck ID/name, game mode, difficulty, score, recording time, round/turn context, app version and content version. The metadata format explicitly excludes player names, team names, location, advertising IDs, analytics identifiers and arbitrary free text.
Highlight storage is managed by available device space rather than a fixed clip-count cap. When more space is required, the app may remove the oldest clips that you have not marked to keep. Kept clips are not silently deleted merely to satisfy the storage reserve. You can also delete clips yourself.
Feedback and Suggestions
This Early Access release configures anonymous HTTPS endpoints for in-app structured Feedback and Suggestions. Sending either is always optional and separate from the Firebase play-insights, diagnostics and crash-report choices above. First-party gameplay telemetry remains disabled. Because Google Play can distribute more than one Early Access build, an older build that does not expose these controls does not collect or transmit through them.
Feedback. When you deliberately submit a game-result feedback chip or a Help rating, the app sends a bounded, anonymous report over HTTPS. Result reports can include the selected feedback reason, deck ID/name, difficulty, game mode, round counts, content/app version and a limited set of played word/action context. Help reports include a Help topic ID and a helpful/not-helpful rating; a not-helpful rating can include one structured reason and, only if you choose, up to 280 characters of explanation. The app does not ask for a name, email, phone number, account, precise location, photo or audio for this submission.
Suggestions. You may choose to propose a deck, cards for a selected deck, or an app feature. A proposal can contain the title, bounded description or example card text you enter, and the existing deck ID/name when relevant. Submissions are anonymous, automatically checked for likely contact information and rejected if detected, and held for human moderation; nothing is automatically published to the game. Please do not include your name, contact details, personal information about others or sensitive information in any free-text field — filtering lowers risk but cannot guarantee every personal detail is detected.
Both features use an app-private retry queue that preserves an unsent submission when you are offline. Locally queued submissions older than 89 days are deleted when the app next accesses the queue; a device that stays unopened may retain its queue until the app next runs or its data is cleared. Accepted reports are stored in a restricted first-party database and, together with any text-bearing moderation copies, are deleted within 90 days. A submitted report is not automatically public content, an account or an advertising profile.
Feedback requests are processed by Cloudflare and stored in a dedicated Neon-hosted PostgreSQL database; Suggestions are processed through Vercel and stored in a separate Neon-hosted PostgreSQL database. These providers act as our processors on our behalf and may process data outside Kenya under their service terms and applicable transfer safeguards. Sending a Feedback or Suggestions report is optional and separate from enabling Firebase play insights, diagnostics or crash reports.
If you email support, the message and any information you choose to include are processed so we can respond to your request. Please do not send passwords, sensitive account information or media unless it is genuinely necessary for the support request.
Data we do not require
Kenyan Charades does not require a user account, advertising identifier, precise GPS location, contacts, phone/SMS access, payment information or broad photo/media-library access for normal gameplay. The current release has no adverts and no in-app purchases.
Permissions
The Android app uses Internet access for optional network services and standard online actions, vibration for haptic feedback, and optional Camera/Microphone permissions for Highlights. See Data & Permissions for the current permission-by-permission explanation.
Service providers and international processing
If you enable Product Analytics or Crash Reports, Google Firebase acts as a service provider for those functions. Firebase may process data in countries outside Kenya. This public website is hosted by Vercel; the site itself has no Kenyan Charades analytics or advertising scripts, but Vercel may process basic request/security logs needed to deliver and protect the site.
We minimise the information sent to service providers and do not sell personal data or use it for behavioural advertising. Google Play currently displays the app as sharing no user data with third parties under Play's Data Safety definitions; service-provider processing is still described here for transparency.
Retention
- Local consent and settings: stay on your device until you change them, clear app data or uninstall the app.
- Local telemetry queue: bounded to the most recent 500 pending events and cleared by category when you withdraw the corresponding consent.
- Highlights: remain locally until you delete them, uninstall/clear app data, or storage-pressure rules remove an unkept clip.
- Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics: retained according to the active Firebase project settings and Google's applicable service terms. Kenyan Charades does not maintain a separate account-linked copy of those provider records in the current release.
- First-party Feedback and Suggestions: locally queued player-authored text is expired on app access after 89 days; the hosted database records and all text-bearing moderation copies are deleted within 90 days. First-party gameplay telemetry endpoints remain disabled in this release.
- Support email: retained only as long as reasonably needed to respond, keep an appropriate support record, resolve disputes or meet legal obligations.
- Website hosting logs: handled by Vercel under its service/privacy terms.
Your choices and deletion requests
You can stop future optional app collection at any time in Settings → Privacy. Clearing the app's data or uninstalling removes Kenyan Charades data stored only in the app's private local storage.
You may also request access, correction or deletion of personal data by emailing kenyancharades@gmail.com. Because Kenyan Charades deliberately has no account and minimises persistent identifiers, we may not always be able to connect a previously transmitted pseudonymous Firebase record to an email address. Where a record can be identified and a request is legally/technically applicable, we will process it; where it cannot, we will explain the limitation. See the dedicated Data deletion page for local controls and request steps.
You may also have rights under applicable data-protection law, including the Kenya Data Protection Act. Complaints in Kenya may be raised with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.
Lawful basis and international processing
Where Kenyan data-protection law applies, optional Analytics, Detailed Play Diagnostics and Crash Reports are based on your affirmative consent. Support messages are processed to respond to your request and keep the service secure. Website request/security data is processed only as needed to deliver and protect the site. Google/Firebase and Vercel may process data outside Kenya under their service terms and applicable transfer safeguards.
Security
Enabled network services use HTTPS. The app's telemetry contract rejects unknown fields and prohibits raw motion streams, precise location, contacts, advertising IDs, account identifiers, media and arbitrary free text from gameplay telemetry.
Website privacy
This website is a static product/support site. Kenyan Charades does not set advertising cookies or embed a Kenyan Charades analytics tracker on it. Links to Google Play, Firebase, Vercel or other third-party sites are subject to those services' own privacy practices.
Changes
Material changes to data handling will be reflected here with a new effective date. A later app release that enables first-party telemetry, Feedback, Suggestions or another new off-device data flow requires a fresh privacy/Data Safety review before activation.