Deckhand Privacy Policy
Deckhand is a party card game app for playing games like War, Bull, and Ride the Bus with friends. One device creates a room and others join with a room code; a server hosts the game for as long as that room is active. This policy explains what information Deckhand handles and why.
No accounts, no sign-up
Deckhand does not require you to create an account, and we do not collect emails, passwords, or any information that identifies you personally. The app does keep one anonymous identifier for its own install — see Anonymous install identifier below.
Information used during a game
When you create or join a room, you choose a display name and the app connects to our game server using a room code. Your display name, the cards you hold, and your in-game actions exist only in the server's memory for the duration of that session. They are never written to a database, and they are discarded automatically when the game ends, the room is abandoned, or the server restarts.
The room code is the one exception: it appears in our technical logs and is kept for a short period. See Operational logs below.
On-device preferences
Deckhand stores a small number of preferences locally on your device, such as your chosen visual theme. This information stays on your device and is never sent to us.
Anonymous install identifier
The first time Deckhand runs, it generates a random identifier for that installation and stores it on your device. The app sends it to our server when it connects, and it appears in our technical logs. We use it for one purpose: to count how many separate installations of Deckhand are being used, so we can tell whether the app is being played without tracking anybody.
This identifier is random and specific to Deckhand. It is not your device's advertising ID or any other identifier supplied by your phone, it is not linked to your display name or anything else about you, and it is not shared with anyone. It is removed when you uninstall the app; reinstalling generates a new, unrelated one.
Network connection data
As with any online multiplayer app, your device's IP address is visible to our server for the duration of a live connection. Our application does not log or store it, and we do not use it beyond what's required to operate that connection. Our hosting provider may process connection metadata as part of running the service.
Operational logs
To keep the service running and to diagnose faults, our server writes technical logs. These record the room code, a connection identifier, a randomly generated per-session player identifier, the anonymous install identifier described above, which mobile platform the app is running on, which version of Deckhand it is, which game was played, how many players were in the room, and how long the game lasted. They do not record display names, the cards anyone holds, or the content of any game action.
None of these identify you personally. The per-session player identifier is generated fresh each time you join a room and is discarded with it; the install identifier is the only one that persists, and it says nothing about who you are. Logs are retained for 3 days and then deleted automatically. We may keep aggregate counts derived from them — totals such as how many installations played a game in a given month — for longer, in a form that contains no identifiers at all.
Our infrastructure providers process this data on our behalf: the game server runs on a cloud hosting provider, and logs are held by a log management provider. They act as our processors and do not use this information for their own purposes.
Advertising
After a table finishes a game and returns to the lobby, Deckhand shows an advertisement served by Google through its AdMob service. Ads are shown at most once every four minutes, and never during a device's first-ever completed game. The Google Mobile Ads SDK that serves these ads is not loaded when the app launches; it is only initialized right before the first ad is requested.
To deliver and measure these ads, Google collects information from your device directly, including your advertising ID, your device's app set ID, your IP address, device and app information, and data about how you interact with ads. Google uses this for ad delivery, measurement, and fraud prevention, and, where you have consented, to personalize the ads you see. This is a real sharing of information with a third party: Google receives it from the ad SDK running inside the app, independently of us. Deckhand itself does not receive, see, or store any of it — the app has no accounts, no analytics SDK, and no crash reporting of its own. Advertising and purchases are the only third-party services it includes.
You have choices here. Before any ad is requested, Google's consent tool presents a consent form where one is required, and your answer there is respected. On iOS, the app also requests App Tracking Transparency permission; declining it does not remove ads, but Google shows only non-personalized ones. On both platforms, your device's system settings let you reset or delete your advertising identifier at any time.
For more on what Google collects and how it's used, see Google's Privacy Policy and how Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
Purchases
Deckhand offers one optional in-app purchase, Captain's Table, which removes the post-game advertisements and unlocks every cosmetic. It is bought through the App Store or Google Play; Deckhand never sees your payment details. Cosmetics can also be unlocked for free by watching a rewarded advertisement, and those unlocks are stored only on your device.
To confirm a purchase and restore it on a new device, the app uses RevenueCat, a purchase-management service. RevenueCat receives the store's purchase receipt, a randomly generated identifier for your install of the app, which mobile platform and version of Deckhand you are using, and your IP address. It uses this only to validate the purchase and tell the app what you own; it acts as our processor and does not use the information for its own purposes. The random identifier is created by RevenueCat's software on your device and is not linked to your store account, your name, or the install identifier described above. See RevenueCat's Privacy Policy.
Refunds are handled by the store you bought from, under its own terms. If a purchase is refunded, the ad-free access and cosmetics it granted are removed.
Children's privacy
Deckhand is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the update will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.
Contact
Questions about this policy can be sent to support@caratozzolo.dev. The rules of conduct at the table are the house rules.