Contact
Word Route is provided by G&K Studios LLC. For privacy or support questions, email support@gandkstudiosllc.com.
Privacy at a glance
- Word Route requires a Google or email/password account to enter the campaign.
- Firebase stores a limited account profile, level progress, and confirmed purchase summary.
- Your typed word guesses, routes, board contents, and hidden answers are not uploaded.
- Optional assists can use one purchased token or a rewarded ad. Ads never add tokens.
- Google's ad SDK processes device and ad-interaction data, subject to applicable privacy choices.
- You can delete your Word Route account in the app or request deletion from the web.
Account and authentication data
Word Route uses Firebase Authentication. You can sign in with Google or create an account with an email address and password. Firebase supplies a unique account ID and may supply your email address, display name, profile-photo URL, sign-in provider, and email-verification state. Word Route stores the bounded email, display name, and HTTPS photo URL in an owner-readable profile for that account.
Google receives and processes Google sign-in credentials. Firebase Authentication receives email/password credentials for email accounts. G&K Studios LLC does not store your plaintext password in the Word Route profile or campaign data. Email accounts may receive verification and password-reset messages from Firebase.
Cloud profile, purchases, and progress
Firebase Cloud Firestore stores your account profile, purchased token balance, interstitial-removal status, and separate level progress. Level records contain catalog and level identifiers, assigned packaged-board identifiers and ordinals, best stars, Route Facts and Blackout activations, revisions, and save timestamps. Someone with the same packaged catalog can resolve an assignment to its board, so those identifiers are not anonymous. Your played route, cell sequence, board contents, hidden solutions, and unfinished run are not uploaded.
Progress saves automatically when a level's durable progress changes. Offline changes remain on the device and saving resumes when the connection returns. Opening the app with the same account on another device reads its saved progress and purchases. Offline gameplay requires the Remove Ads purchase; gameplay without it requires internet. The app uses the confirmed removal status stored for the signed-in account on this device to allow offline play. A new account or device must first load its account, progress, and confirmed purchase while online.
Google Play purchases are verified by Cloud Functions. Only the server can change the confirmed purchased balance or confirm interstitial removal. Remove Ads owners can use stored tokens offline. The device saves pending token spends and the assist locally, then sends those requests when reconnected. The server updates the account balance and selected level together without charging the same request twice. A rewarded ad unlocks the selected assist directly and saves the changed level; it does not add tokens to your balance.
A token-spend request includes the selected assist, a random operation reference, that level's existing progress and board assignment, and whether it was queued offline. To prevent the same interrupted request from charging twice, the server retains a minimal receipt with a one-way operation key, pseudonymous account reference, one-way request hash, zero-or-one token charge, and completion time. It stores no raw account ID, level details, words, or board contents in that receipt. These references are not anonymous.
Google Play purchases
Purchases in the account center offer optional token packs and a one-time Remove Ads purchase that unlocks offline gameplay and includes 10 bonus tokens once. Google Play processes payment. Word Route does not receive your card number or payment-account credentials. Google Play receives a pseudonymous account reference derived from your Word Route account ID. This binds a purchase to that account; these references are not anonymous.
The app sends the product ID and purchase token to our protected verification service. The service checks purchase status, product, quantity, purchase option, account reference, and fulfillment state with Google before granting value. Pending or canceled payments grant nothing. Each verified purchase grants its tokens once. The server completes Google Play consumption or acknowledgment after saving the grant.
The private receipt stores a one-way purchase-token hash, pseudonymous account reference, product ID, credited token quantity, grant time, and finalization status. It contains no raw purchase token, raw account ID, email address, payment details, or gameplay content. Purchase tokens are used transiently and are not saved in the app's local cache or our receipt records. A later restore reads the confirmed balance; it does not grant the same purchase again.
Data stored on your device
Word Route stores each signed-in account's local campaign profile separately. This includes assigned boards, best stars, enabled assists, and limited unfinished game state. The app also stores the account profile, confirmed purchased balance, removal status, save status, and local information needed to recover interrupted account deletion. Purchase verification does not store a purchase-token journal. Pending assist operations store their operation references, selected assists, and level assignments locally until saved, so offline token spends and interrupted token spends or earned assists can recover. The displayed available token balance accounts for locally pending spends before they reach the server. The offline queue also records whether each assist has been applied on this device, so reopening does not apply it again. Pending offline spends are not included in device backup.
Clearing app storage or uninstalling removes this local copy, subject to Android's backup behavior. Unsaved offline changes may be lost. Signing in again restores the account data that was successfully saved to Firestore.
Your word guesses
Word Route evaluates your chosen route on the device. G&K Studios LLC does not transmit, collect, log, or store your raw, normalized, hashed, encoded, or otherwise guess-revealing word identifiers for authentication, cloud backup, analytics, advertising, crash reporting, or support. A word may remain in local game state when needed to restore the route you are playing, but it is not uploaded.
App integrity and security signals
Word Route uses Firebase App Check with Google Play Integrity to help confirm that requests come from the expected app. Google may process app, device, and integrity information to provide that protection. Debug App Check tokens are restricted to non-production testing and are not embedded in a release.
Ads and assists
Word Route uses Google AdMob through the Google Mobile Ads Next-Gen SDK. Automatic interstitials may appear at a break after every five completed attempts. Remove Ads suppresses only those automatic interstitials and also unlocks offline gameplay. Optional rewarded ads remain available while connected for Route Facts and Blackout, and a rewarded interstitial is offered for Shuffle. You choose whether to watch or skip. An assist is granted only when the SDK reports that the reward was earned; skipping or an unavailable ad grants nothing.
Google's SDK collects and shares IP addresses, which can indicate approximate location; app and ad interactions such as launches, taps, and video views; performance diagnostics such as launch time, hangs, and energy use; and device or account identifiers such as the Android advertising ID and app set ID. Google uses these data for advertising, measurement, and fraud prevention, with encryption in transit. See Google's ad SDK data disclosure.
Word Route disables SDK crash reporting and publisher first-party ID. Other SDK performance diagnostics described above may still be processed. We request ads with the teen age treatment and a general-audience content rating, and do not add your Word Route account ID, email, words, played route, or level details to ad requests.
Your privacy choices
You can review the saved account state in the account center, sign out, or delete the account. The public Privacy Policy remains available from the app. You can also clear Word Route's local app storage through Android settings.
Google's User Messaging Platform checks your advertising privacy choices when the app opens and displays any required consent message. The app requests ads only when that platform permits them. When available, use Privacy and cookie settings in the game menu to review or change those choices. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID through Android settings. Declining an optional ad does not stop ordinary gameplay or erase an assist you already unlocked.
Service providers and sharing
Google provides Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Functions, App Check, Play Integrity, Google sign-in, Google Play Billing, AdMob, User Messaging Platform, and Android Publisher purchase verification. These services authenticate accounts, save progress, verify and fulfill purchases, and prevent duplicate grants. See Firebase privacy and security information and the Google Privacy Policy.
G&K Studios LLC does not sell a player list or word guesses. We share the limited information described in this policy with the providers needed to operate these features.
Retention and deletion
Account profiles, saved level progress, and purchase summaries remain while the Word Route account exists. Local data remains until replaced through play, cleared in Android settings, removed during account cleanup, or removed by uninstalling, subject to Android backup behavior.
You can delete your account in the account center or follow the web account-deletion instructions. Completed deletion removes the Firebase Authentication account, account profile, level progress, and purchase summary. Account deletion forfeits remaining purchased tokens and account-bound benefits. It does not request a Google Play refund or transfer purchases to another Word Route account.
We retain minimal pseudonymous purchase receipts while the related products remain supported for verification or restoration. The one-way purchase-token hash and pseudonymous account reference prevent duplicate grants and transfer to another account, including after deletion. These receipts contain no raw account ID, raw purchase token, email, payment details, or gameplay progress. They are not anonymous. The current service does not create purchase-attempt journals, separate advertising reward receipts, or scheduled purchase-recovery jobs.
Minimal token-spend receipts remain while token spending is supported, including after account deletion, to recognize repeated operations without charging again. These contain only the one-way operation key and request hash, pseudonymous account reference, token charge, and completion time. The account's level records and balance are deleted; these receipts cannot restore a deleted account or its purchased tokens. Google retains advertising and consent data under its own policies.
Interrupted in-app deletion uses an account ID, cleanup state, and random deletion receipt stored only in app-private device storage. This local journal is removed after cleanup is confirmed; the receipt is not sent to our server. A verified off-app deletion request is expected to be completed within 30 days. Limited request correspondence may be retained to complete or document the request, protect the service, or comply with law. Google retains its own purchase, authentication, security, and platform diagnostic records under its policies. Our application code does not log purchase tokens, authentication credentials, or gameplay content.
Security
Word Route uses encrypted transport, server-side account checks, App Check, owner-only database rules, server-written purchase records, and account-scoped local storage. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure. Do not send passwords, credentials, ID tokens, App Check tokens, payment details, or private gameplay content in a support request.
Features not yet active
Word Route does not currently use app-owned analytics, crash-reporting telemetry, Firebase Cloud Messaging or Daily Route rewards. The advertising SDK's separate data practices are described above. Purchase availability depends on the installed version and Google Play eligibility. Privacy disclosures will be updated before a new data practice is released.
Children
Word Route is a general-audience game intended for players 13 and older and is not designed or marketed as a child-directed service for children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 created an account or provided personal information, contact support@gandkstudiosllc.com so the account can be reviewed and deleted.
Changes to this policy
This policy will be updated when Word Route's data practices or service providers materially change. The latest version and its effective date will remain available at this URL.