Privacy policy

How SquidStudios handles app data and account information.

Last updated: May 14, 2026

Welcome to SquidStudios ("we," "our," or "us"). We are dedicated to delivering delightful, thoughtful mobile games and productivity applications, including Yacht-Zee, Card Club, AI Golf Caddy, Word Blitz, and Family Nest. We respect your privacy and are deeply committed to maintaining your trust by protecting the personal information you share with us.

This Privacy Policy explains in detail how we collect, use, store, share, and protect information when you use our mobile applications, services, and website (collectively, the "Services"). By downloading, accessing, or using any of our Services, you consent to the collection and processing of your information as described in this policy.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information across three main categories to ensure our Services operate smoothly, securely, and effectively:

A. Information You Provide Directly

  • Account & Profile Data: When you sign up or authenticate (e.g., via Google Sign-In, Apple ID, or email), we may collect your display name, email address, profile picture, and user identification numbers.
  • Household & Family Setup (Family Nest): When organizing a household in Family Nest, you may create profiles for family members, input daily chore lists, set up shared calendar events, and exchange intra-family messages or announcements.
  • Customer Support: If you contact us for technical assistance or feedback at squidstudios0@gmail.com, we collect your contact details and the contents of your message.

B. Automated Data Collection

  • Gameplay & Progress: We track scores, level achievements, win/loss records, virtual currency balances (coins/chests in Yacht-Zee and Card Club), word streak records (Word Blitz), and personalized settings.
  • Device & Usage Information: We log operating system version, device model, hardware specifications, language settings, IP addresses, mobile network information, crash logs, and session durations to monitor app stability and performance.
  • Advertising & Analytics Identifiers: We collect device-specific advertising IDs (such as Apple IDFA or Android AAID) and analytics identifiers to provide relevant advertising and measure engagement.

C. Feature-Specific Data

  • Camera & Motion Sensors (AI Golf Caddy): To provide real-time AI swing analysis, AI Golf Caddy accesses your device's camera or photo library. Swing path calculations and computer vision processing occur entirely locally on your device unless you explicitly opt in to cloud-based coaching backups.

2. How We Use Your Information

We utilize the collected information for the following commercial and operational purposes:

  • Delivering Services: Powering core gameplay mechanics, live multiplayer leaderboards, cloud save synchronization, and household scheduling tools.
  • Personalization & AI Logic: Generating tailored golf swing recommendations, adaptive puzzle difficulty curves, and custom game deck themes.
  • Improving User Experience: Analyzing aggregated player behavior to balance game mechanics, squash software bugs, and optimize battery/memory consumption.
  • Communications: Sending administrative notices, security alerts, and push notifications regarding daily rewards, turn reminders, or household task updates (which you can manage via your device settings).
  • Security & Integrity: Detecting fraudulent transactions, preventing unauthorized gameplay cheating/modding, and enforcing our Terms of Service.

3. Advertising & Monetization

To keep our games free and accessible, we partner with leading third-party advertising networks (such as Google AdMob) to display advertisements:

  • Rewarded Ads: Our games offer voluntary rewarded advertising opportunities, allowing players to watch a short video in exchange for instant chests, bonus dice rolls, extra time, or coin multipliers.
  • Personalized Advertising: Ad networks may utilize your advertising ID and IP address to serve tailored advertisements based on your browsing and app usage history.
  • Your Opt-Out Choices: You can opt out of interest-based advertising at any time by navigating to your device settings (e.g., enabling "Limit Ad Tracking" on iOS or "Opt out of Ads Personalization" on Android).

4. In-App Purchases & Financial Data

Our applications offer premium upgrades, virtual currency bundles, and subscription options. All payment transactions are securely handled directly by third-party application platforms (the Apple App Store and Google Play Store). SquidStudios does not collect, process, or store your credit card numbers, billing addresses, or direct banking credentials.

5. Third-Party Services & Analytics

We integrate established third-party platforms to support our underlying infrastructure. These providers operate under their own privacy policies:

  • Firebase & Google Cloud (Google LLC): Used for secure user authentication, real-time database storage (Firestore), and crash reporting (Crashlytics).
  • Apple Game Center & Google Play Games: Utilized for platform-level multiplayer matchmaking, universal achievements, and global leaderboards.
  • Vercel: Our official website (squidstudios.com) is hosted on Vercel and utilizes Vercel Web Analytics. This analytics service is cookieless, anonymized, and does not track visitors across external websites.

6. Data Sharing & Disclosure

We do not sell your personal data to data brokers. We only share information under the following specific circumstances:

  • Service Providers: With vetted cloud hosting, database, and analytics vendors operating under strict confidentiality obligations.
  • Other Users: When participating in public leaderboards or multiplayer matches, your display name, avatar, and game scores will be publicly visible. In Family Nest, your shared tasks and calendar entries are visible exclusively to authorized members of your designated family group.
  • Legal Compliance & Safety: If required by law, subpoena, or judicial mandate, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect user safety, investigate fraud, or defend our intellectual property.
  • Corporate Transactions: In the event of a merger, acquisition, corporate restructuring, or sale of assets, user data may be transferred to the acquiring entity under continued privacy protections.

7. Data Storage, Security & Retention

We implement robust industry-standard technical measures, including HTTPS/TLS encryption during transit and encrypted cloud databases at rest, to safeguard your information against unauthorized access or modification.

Retention: Local game progress remains on your device until cleared or uninstalled. Cloud-synced profile data is retained as long as your account is active. Upon receiving an account deletion request, we purge associated profile records and personal identifiers from our production servers within 30 days.

8. Children's Privacy (COPPA & GDPR-K)

Our gaming portfolio (Yacht-Zee, Card Club, Word Blitz, AI Golf Caddy) is intended for general audiences and does not knowingly direct marketing or collect personal data from children under 13 years of age (or under 16 in applicable EU jurisdictions).

Family Nest Compliance: Family Nest is designed for whole-household coordination. When a parent or legal guardian establishes a child profile within their household group, the parent retains absolute administrative authority. We restrict third-party tracking and behavioral advertising on child accounts. Parents can review, edit, or terminate child profile data at any time within the app or by contacting support.

9. Your Privacy Rights across Jurisdictions

Depending on your residency (including the European Union, United Kingdom, California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, or Utah), you possess comprehensive legal rights regarding your data:

  • Right to Know & Access: Request a copy of the specific categories and pieces of personal data we hold about you.
  • Right to Rectification: Correct inaccurate or incomplete profile information.
  • Right to Deletion (Right to be Forgotten): Request the permanent erasure of your account and associated personal data.
  • Right to Data Portability: Receive your account data in a structured, machine-readable format.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: Opt out of targeted advertising, profiling, or the sharing of personal data.

To exercise any of these rights without fear of discrimination, submit a verified request to squidstudios0@gmail.com. We will verify and process your request within 30 calendar days.

10. International Data Transfers

SquidStudios is headquartered in the United States. Your information may be transferred to, processed, and stored in the US or other hosting regions. For users within the European Economic Area (EEA) or UK, we ensure adequate cross-border protection through Standard Contractual Clauses or platform adequacy frameworks.

11. Changes to this Privacy Policy

As our feature sets and regulatory requirements evolve, we will update this Privacy Policy. We will post the revised policy on this webpage with an updated effective date. For significant material changes, we may notify active users via in-app alerts or email announcements.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or data requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our security practices, please reach out to our dedicated privacy support team at:

Email: squidstudios0@gmail.com