Privacy Policy
Effective Date: March 19, 2026
1. Introduction
Welcome to Scootch ("we," "our," or "us"). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through this Privacy Policy. This document explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you play the Scootch mobile application or visit our web version.
2. Information We Collect
We intentionally keep data collection to an absolute minimum to respect player privacy.
- Information You Provide to Us: To participate in the Hall of Fame leaderboards, we collect the three-letter initials you choose to enter, your chosen PIN, and your gameplay statistics (such as scores, badges earned, and words discovered).
- Automatically Collected Information: When you access the game, standard diagnostic data such as your IP address, browser type, device type, and operating system may be temporarily logged by our hosting providers to ensure the game runs smoothly.
- Local Storage: The game utilizes local device storage (and standard web cookies/local storage) to save your current game state, daily streaks, tutorial completion, and interface preferences so you can resume playing without losing your progress.
3. How We Use Your Information
We only use the data we collect to operate and improve the game. Specifically, we use it to:
- Display your chosen initials and scores on the global Hall of Fame leaderboards.
- Track and publicly credit "first-time" global word discoveries.
- Secure your player profile and prevent duplicate leaderboard entries.
- Diagnose technical issues and improve game performance.
4. Third-Party Services
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. However, the game utilizes a few trusted third-party services that may collect standard data to function:
- Google Play Services: Used for app distribution and basic diagnostic reporting on Android devices.
- Buy Me A Coffee: Our web version features a voluntary support widget. If you interact with it, Buy Me A Coffee will process your interaction according to their own privacy policy.
5. Data Security
We implement reasonable security measures, including database encryption where applicable, to protect your initials, PINs, and score data against unauthorized access. However, please be aware that no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure.
6. Children’s Privacy
Scootch does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can delete it from our servers.
7. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify players of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Effective Date" at the top.
8. Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please contact us at: