Crossweek
Privacy Policy
Crossweek is a daily crossword for iPhone and iPad. It has no accounts and no servers of its own. This page explains what stays on your device, what Apple handles, and what Google's advertising service collects.
Who we are
Crossweek is made and published by Zachary Kane, an independent developer in Pennsylvania, United States. In this policy, "we" means Zachary Kane. Questions go to zachary.k@protonmail.com.
What we collect
There's no sign-up, and we don't run a server that receives your puzzle data or personal details. Our advertising partner collects the device and usage information described below when ads are enabled.
Your puzzle progress, solve times, streaks, streak freezes and stamps are saved in the app on your device. They aren't sent to us. Removing the app removes its local copy; an iOS device backup may still contain a copy.
Game Center
If you're signed in to Game Center, the app sends your longest streak, your fastest clean solve of the day and your stamp progress to Apple's Game Center, so they can appear on leaderboards. Apple handles this under its own privacy policy. You control who sees your Game Center profile in your device's Settings. If you're not signed in, nothing is sent.
Purchases
The one-time "Remove Ads" purchase is processed by Apple. We never see your payment details. The app only asks Apple whether you own the purchase, so it can turn ads off.
Advertising
Unless you've bought Remove Ads, Crossweek shows ads served by Google AdMob, using the Google Mobile Ads SDK. To show ads, measure them and prevent fraud, Google may collect:
- device and app information, such as the device model, operating system version and an app-specific identifier;
- your IP address, which gives an approximate location;
- how you interact with ads, such as views and taps;
- diagnostic information, such as crash and performance data from the ads SDK.
Before requesting an ad, Crossweek asks for permission through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt to use activity across companies' apps for ad targeting and measurement. If you decline, the device advertising identifier (IDFA) isn't available to Google through the app. You can still play and see ads.
If you're in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the app shows Google's consent form before any ad is requested, and asks whether ads may be personalized. You can change your answer at any time from "Privacy choices" on the Remove Ads screen. In other places, Google may show personalized or non-personalized ads according to its policies and your device settings.
Google's use of this information is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and in the Google Privacy Policy.
Buying Remove Ads stops the app from requesting new ads.
What we don't do
- We don't use analytics services of our own.
- We don't access your contacts, photos, location services, camera or microphone.
Children
Crossweek isn't directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has provided information through the app, contact us and we'll help.
Your choices and rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal information, and to object to or limit its use. We don't run an account or server that stores your puzzle progress; deleting the app removes its local data from the device, though a copy may remain in an iOS backup. For information Google holds from ads, use Google's own tools at myaccount.google.com, or change your consent choice in the app. You can also turn off personalized ads for your device in iOS Settings under Privacy & Security.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top. Significant changes will also be noted in the app's release notes.