Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how ChessFrog ("ChessFrog," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and protects information when you use our chess puzzle solving and training platform (the "Service"). It should be read together with our Terms of Service.

2. Information We Collect

Account information you provide:

• Email address and password, if you sign up directly — your password is stored only as a secure one-way hash, never in plain text.
• Username, display name, and avatar selection.
• Country, which is optional and used only to place you on the correct regional leaderboard.
• Timezone, detected automatically from your browser or set by you, used to determine your local day for daily challenges and streaks.

Authentication information:

• If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive limited profile information from that provider — see "Google and Apple Sign-In" below.

Puzzle and training activity:

• Puzzles you attempt or solve, your puzzle rating and rating history, XP, level, coins, diamonds, streaks, challenge progress, achievements/badges, and favorited puzzles.
• Your Puzzle Training progress, tracked separately from curated puzzle activity.

Feedback:

• Any bug reports, feature requests, or comments you submit through our feedback form.

Technical information:

• Standard technical information inherent to using a website, such as browser type, device information, and general usage data, some of which may be processed by our infrastructure and service providers — including our analytics provider, see "Analytics" below — in the course of operating the Service.

We do not collect precise location, street address, or government ID information. The only location signal we store is the country you optionally choose in your profile — we do not derive your location from your IP address.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information described above to:

• Create and maintain your account and authenticate you.
• Provide the Service, including tracking your puzzles, ratings, XP, coins, diamonds, streaks, challenges, and progress.
• Personalize your experience, such as showing you puzzles suited to your skill level.
• Show leaderboards and enable social features like friends, where you choose to use them.
• Communicate with you about your account, such as password reset requests.
• Maintain the security and integrity of the Service, including detecting and preventing abuse.
• Respond to feedback you send us.
• Understand how the Service is used so we can improve it, using aggregated or pseudonymous analytics.

4. Google and Apple Sign-In

ChessFrog lets you create an account or sign in using "Continue with Google" or "Continue with Apple." When you use one of these options, we receive limited profile information from that provider, as permitted by the authentication flow you approve — typically your name, email address, and a unique account identifier from that provider. We use this information solely to create or sign you in to your ChessFrog account. We never receive or have access to your Google or Apple account password, and we do not access any other information in your Google or Apple account beyond what that sign-in flow provides.

5. Cookies

ChessFrog uses a small number of cookies that are essential to operating the Service:

• An authentication cookie that keeps you signed in.
• A session cookie that lets you use ChessFrog as a guest before creating an account, so your early progress can carry over if you sign up.
• Short-lived cookies used only during the "Sign in with Google/Apple" process to protect against cross-site request forgery; these are deleted immediately after sign-in completes or expires.

These essential cookies are required for the Service to function and are not used for advertising — we do not use advertising cookies. Our analytics provider may also set its own cookies or similar technologies in your browser to help distinguish visitors and measure usage, as described below.

6. Analytics

We use PostHog, a product analytics service, to help us understand how people use ChessFrog and to improve the Service. PostHog may collect information such as the pages you visit, actions you take in the app, and general device/browser information. Session recording — video-style playback of your on-screen activity — is explicitly disabled in our PostHog configuration. If we add other analytics or error-monitoring tools in the future, we will update this section.

7. Third-Party Services

We use a limited number of third-party services to operate ChessFrog:

• Google, to offer "Sign in with Google."
• Apple, to offer "Sign in with Apple."
• PostHog, for product analytics, as described above.
• Hosting and database infrastructure providers, who process information on our behalf to store and run the Service.

We do not currently use a payment processor, since ChessFrog does not offer paid features today. If that changes, we will update this Privacy Policy to name the relevant payment provider before any payment feature launches. We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

8. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect the information we hold, such as storing passwords only as secure hashes and using authenticated, encrypted sessions. No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. We do not currently hold any specific security certifications.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Service, maintain your account, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. If you delete your account, we permanently delete your account data as described in "Your Data, Your Choices" below.

10. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights regarding your personal information, including rights to access, correct, delete, or request restrictions on certain processing of your information. To exercise these rights, you can update most of your information directly in Settings, delete your account as described below, or contact us using the information in "Contact Us."

11. Children's Privacy

ChessFrog is not directed to children under 13, or the minimum age required in your country to use online services without parental consent, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under that age. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under the applicable minimum age without appropriate consent, we will take steps to delete that information.

12. International Users

ChessFrog may be accessed by users in different countries. If you use the Service from outside the country where our servers or service providers are located, your information may be processed in a country other than your own, which may have different data protection laws than your country.

13. Your Data, Your Choices

You can permanently delete your ChessFrog account at any time from Settings → Danger Zone → Delete Account. Deleting your account permanently removes your profile, rating, XP, coins, diamonds, streaks, and puzzle history from our systems. This action is immediate and cannot be undone, so please be sure before you confirm.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the Service or our practices. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, please contact us at: support@chessfrog.com.