Privacy Policy

Who we are

Categories is an independent game operated by Joshua Twigger. This policy explains what happens to information when you play Categories in a web browser, as an installed web app or in the Categories iPhone app. If you have a question about it, email categories@website-whisperer.com.

No accounts, no adverts

You don’t need an account to play. Categories doesn’t ask for your email address, phone number, address or date of birth, doesn’t use your location, doesn’t show adverts, doesn’t sell anything and doesn’t track you across other apps or websites.

What information is used

• Your player name and avatar. You choose these when you create or join a game. They’re shown to the other players in the room (and on a shared TV screen if one is connected). You can use a nickname.
• Game content. The categories players suggest, the answers you type, votes and challenges, and scores, so the game can be played and scored. Other players in the same game can see the answers and categories when the game reveals them.
• An optional photo. If you choose to take a selfie or pick a photo, it can be shown next to your name to the other players and on a connected TV. A group “souvenir” image can also be created at the end of a game, which can include players’ photos or emoji avatars and names. See “Photos and camera” below.
• A room code and a private session code. A four-character room code identifies your game. Your device is also given a random private code so the game knows which player you are and lets you rejoin. It isn’t linked to an account. Only a scrambled (hashed) version of it is kept on our server.
• Information stored on your device. Categories saves your room code, private session code and player name on your device so you can rejoin a game, plus small preferences such as which tips you’ve dismissed. This uses your browser’s or app’s local storage rather than cookies. Categories doesn’t set cookies of its own.
• Technical information. Like any online service, the companies that host Categories receive technical information such as your IP address, device and browser type when your device connects. See “Who we share information with”.

We don’t knowingly collect anything else, and we don’t ask you to send us sensitive personal information.

How we use it

Only to run the game: creating rooms, letting players join and rejoin, showing answers and scores, settling challenges, showing photos to the room, keeping the service working and fixing problems. We don’t use it for advertising or profiling.

Photos and camera

Photos are always optional. You can play with an emoji avatar instead, and the game works the same if you decline camera access.

• When you choose a photo, your device crops and shrinks it and re-saves it as a new image, which removes information such as location that a camera may have attached. The result is uploaded and stored privately for your game.
• Your photo may appear on a shared TV screen and on other players’ phones during the game. Only choose a photo you’re happy for the people in your game to see.
• The camera is only used when you tap the selfie option, and Categories doesn’t use your photo library beyond the single picture you choose.
• Photos and group souvenir images are set to expire about 24 hours after they’re created (or earlier if the room is cleared, see “How long we keep it”). After that they can no longer be viewed in the game, and an automated clean-up permanently deletes the stored files shortly afterwards. It runs regularly, so deletion isn’t instant.
• The group souvenir can be opened by anyone who has its link or QR code while it’s available, so share it only with people you want to have it.

AI features

Categories uses AI for some features: suggesting categories, computer players, checking whether answers fit a category or are the same answer (“VAR”), and explaining a ruling when someone challenges an answer.

To do this, the game sends short pieces of game content to an AI provider: the round’s letter, the category wording, and the answers players typed for the category (or the categories already chosen, when suggesting new ones). We don’t send player names, room codes, photos or your device information to the AI providers. Please don’t type personal information as an answer, since answers are sent to the AI provider.

Our AI providers are Google (Gemini) and, as a back-up, OpenAI. What they do with the content they receive is set by their own terms and privacy policies. The AI only recommends: scores and outcomes are decided by the game’s own rules and by players. If the AI isn’t available, the game carries on without it.

The AI’s short explanations of rulings are stored with the game and cleared with it.

Who we share information with

We don’t sell your information. We use these service providers to run Categories, and information passes to them only so the service works:

• Supabase hosts the game database, live updates between players and private storage for photos and group souvenirs.
• Vercel hosts the Categories website and the server code behind it, and provides the privacy-focused visit statistics described below.
• Google and OpenAI process the game content described under “AI features”.

These providers may process information in countries outside the UK. Other players in your game can see what you put into the game, as described above.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it.

Visit statistics

The Categories website (not the iPhone app) uses Vercel Web Analytics to count visits and see general information such as which pages are visited, the type of browser or device and the country a visit comes from. It’s used to understand how the site is doing, not to identify you or follow you around the web, and it doesn’t use advertising cookies. Vercel explains how it works in its own documentation.

How long we keep it

• Games. A game and everything in it (names, avatars, answers, categories, votes, scores and AI explanations) is set to be deleted automatically after about four hours with no activity. A clean-up runs every 30 minutes, so deletion can take a little longer than that.
• Photos and souvenirs. Set to expire about 24 hours after they’re created, or sooner if the room is cleared. Expired photos can no longer be viewed, and an automated clean-up, which runs regularly rather than at an exact moment, permanently deletes the stored files.
• On your device. The saved rejoin details stay on your device until you leave the game, choose “Forget this device”, clear the site’s data or delete the app.
• Provider logs. Our hosting providers keep their own routine technical logs for their own periods, which we don’t control.

Children

Categories is a family game, and children may play alongside family and friends. It doesn’t ask for a child’s (or anyone’s) email address, age or account details. We encourage a parent or guardian to be involved when younger children play, and to decide whether a photo is used. If you’d like information about a child removed, email us and we’ll help.

Security

We use reasonable measures to protect information: private player codes are stored only in scrambled form, the database isn’t directly open to the public, photos are stored privately and delivered through short-lived links, and connections are encrypted. No online service can be completely secure, so we can’t promise absolute security.

Your choices and rights

You can play without a photo, use a nickname, decline camera access in your device settings, leave a game at any time and remove saved details with “Forget this device”. Because games are cleared automatically, most information disappears without you needing to do anything.

Depending on where you live, you may have legal rights over information about you, such as to ask what we hold, ask for correction or deletion, or object to how it’s used. To ask, email categories@website-whisperer.com and include the room code if it’s about a specific game, since we can’t otherwise tell which player is you. If you’re in the UK and are unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, you can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Categories changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.