The short version. Your words, answers, streak and settings are stored on your device. If you use iCloud, a backup of your progress is kept in your own iCloud account, which we cannot see. We don't ask for your name, email or Apple ID, we don't use advertising, and we don't sell anything about you. The app sends anonymous usage stats, which you can turn off. Friend leagues, challenges and problem reports send data to Word a Day's server only when you use them, under a random ID the app makes and the display name you choose. You can delete everything the server holds, any time, in Settings › Privacy.
What the app stores
- Your progress: the words you've seen, your answers, review dates, streak and level. Stored on your iPhone.
- Your settings: level, words per day, reminder time, sound and haptics. Stored on your iPhone.
- iCloud backup (optional): if iCloud is on for your device, the app saves a copy of your progress to your private iCloud storage so it survives a new phone or reinstall. Apple stores it under your Apple Account; Lyravant has no access to it. The backup also holds the random server ID below, so a reinstall keeps your leagues.
Two random IDs
The app makes two random IDs of its own. Neither is a hardware identifier or Apple's advertising identifier, and neither contains your name. One tags the anonymous usage stats; the other is how Word a Day's server knows your phone for leagues, challenges and reports. The server's ID is kept with your iCloud backup, and Delete my data replaces it with a new one.
Anonymous usage stats
With Settings › Privacy › Share anonymous usage stats on (the default), the app sends:
- Usage events (such as a session finished or a streak milestone) to our analytics provider, PostHog, under the first random ID. PostHog estimates a country and city from the request. These aren't linked to you.
- How you did on each word the first time you saw it (knew it, missed it, or didn't know it) to Word a Day's server, under the server's ID, so the app can say “73% of players knew this word”. Practice, challenges and the 60-second round never count. A word's percentage appears only once 30 regular players have answered it.
Turning the switch off stops both and clears answers waiting to be sent, except what an active friend league needs to count your points. Once a day the app also downloads the published percentages; that download carries no ID. The app also checks lyravant.com once a day for corrections to the words (definitions, examples, questions); that download carries no ID either, and nothing is sent.
Leagues, challenges and reports
These send data only when you use them, to Word a Day's server (run by Lyravant on Supabase), under the server's random ID:
- Friend leagues: the display name you choose, the league's name, your weekly points, and while you're in a league, your answers (which word, right or wrong, and when) to count those points. Members of the league see the names and points.
- Challenges: the five words, your score and your display name, if you've set one. Anyone with the link sees the sender's name and score and the top results, including your display name if you play. The app tells you before your name is shown. Challenges are deleted when they expire after 30 days.
- Problem reports: the word, what's wrong, your note and the app version. If the server can't be reached, your email app opens instead and we see only what you send.
- Reporting a name: which name you reported and where you saw it (the league or challenge), under your server ID. The other player isn't told who reported them. If several players report the same name, the server replaces it with “Player” and a number and won't accept it again. Hiding a player happens only on your phone.
How long we keep it
Answers, weekly points, league memberships, reports and name reports stay until you delete them, or until a league is left empty. Challenges and their results are deleted 30 days after they're made. Upload IDs (used so a resent batch never counts twice) are deleted after 7 days. To limit abuse, the server counts requests per ID and per IP address; it keeps the IP address only as a salted hash, for two days. Our hosting providers may keep short request logs, including IP addresses, for a few days for security.
What we don't collect
The app has no accounts and contains no advertising or tracking code. We don't collect your real name (unless you type it as a display name), email address, contacts, precise location, hardware identifiers or advertising identifier. Reminders are local notifications scheduled on your phone. Pronunciation uses the voices built into iOS on your device.
Widgets
The home and lock screen widgets read today's word and your streak from a small file the app shares with its widget on your device.
Word data
Definitions and examples ship inside the app. Sources and licenses are listed in the app under Settings › Credits and licenses.
Deleting your data
Settings › Privacy › Delete my data removes everything Word a Day's server holds for your phone right away: answers, points, league memberships, your challenges and results, reports, and name reports you made or that were made about your names. You leave your leagues, and the app starts a new random ID; an older iCloud copy or another device can't bring the old one back. Your words and progress on the phone stay. Deleting the app removes its data from your phone. To remove the iCloud backup, go to Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Manage Storage on your iPhone. Analytics events can't be tied back to you, so there is nothing of yours to look up in them; questions go to the address below.
Children
Word a Day is not directed to children under 13.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top and describe material changes in the app's release notes.
Contact
Questions: support@lyravant.com.