Oakferry Games Inc. does not collect, store, sell, share, or transmit personal data from anyone who plays Anvil Word. Google’s ad software does collect some data, for Google; see Who is responsible for your data below. This page is the game-specific policy; the studio-wide policy is at oakferry.com/privacy.
01What the game collects
Nothing personal. Anvil Word has no account, no login, and no analytics or crash reporting of its own — no telemetry, no event logging, on-device or otherwise.
Your game progress, your best score, your lifetime total and which past puzzles you have unlocked are kept in the app’s own private storage on your device (UserDefaults), for today’s puzzle, the archive, and the one-time sample. Apart from the scores you send to Game Center if you use it (see “Game Center leaderboards” below), none of it is sent anywhere, and no server of ours ever receives it. Deleting the app removes them from your iPhone, and because there is no account behind them we cannot restore them. Restoring a device from an iCloud backup that included the app brings them back; reinstalling from the App Store does not.
02Rewarded video ads
Every puzzle from a previous day is free to unlock by watching one short rewarded video ad, served by Google AdMob. Ads only appear when you open the archive, tap a locked puzzle, and confirm with Watch — nothing shows up on its own, and today’s puzzle never shows an ad. There are no banner ads and no interstitial ads anywhere in Anvil Word. Watching the ad to the end unlocks that puzzle; closing it early leaves it locked, and you can try again any time. If an ad can’t be shown for any reason (none available, no connection, or you declined ad consent), the puzzle unlocks anyway, and Anvil Word tells you so. If there is no screen to show it on, the puzzle stays locked and you can tap it again. If the whole step takes longer than a minute, the puzzle unlocks anyway, and Anvil Word says the ad took too long.
To show an ad, AdMob needs to load one, which means your device talks to Google’s ad servers. AdMob may collect information such as device and app information, and it records that an ad was shown, requested or interacted with. This is separate from Anvil Word’s own data — there is none to separate it from — and is governed by Google’s Privacy Policy and, in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland, its EU User Consent Policy.
03App Tracking Transparency
Before the first ad, your iPhone asks whether Anvil Word may track you. Here, “tracking” means Google linking what it learns in this app with what it learns in other companies’ apps and websites, to choose ads. If you choose Allow, Google can read your iPhone’s advertising ID, a random code iOS gives your device. If you choose Ask App Not to Track, iOS gives Google a code of zeros instead. Either way the ad plays and the puzzle unlocks.
Apple requires the question because Google’s ad software counts the advertising ID as data it uses for tracking. iOS asks once, the first time you confirm Watch to unlock a past puzzle and ad consent allows ads. Anvil Word’s own code never reads the advertising ID.
04Consent
Each time it launches, Anvil Word checks your consent status — a silent check with Google’s User Messaging Platform that shows you nothing and runs for every player, wherever you are — so that where the law requires it (the EEA, UK, and Switzerland) the Privacy options control is there from the start. Google’s consent form appears only the first time you confirm Watch to unlock a past puzzle. Google’s consent form lets you set how Google may use your data for ads, such as whether the ads are personalized. If your choices mean no ad can be shown, the puzzle unlocks anyway, and Anvil Word tells you so. You can change your answer any time from the help card: open the ? button and tap Privacy options.
05What we collect
| Data | Collected | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Game progress, best score, lifetime total, and unlocked past puzzles | Yes | On your device; if you use Game Center, your daily and all-time scores also go to Apple’s Game Center |
| Contact info (name, email, phone) | No | — |
| Location (device location services) | No — Anvil Word never asks for location permission | — |
| Contacts | No | — |
| Photos, camera, microphone | No | — |
| Advertising identifiers | Yes, if you choose Allow; otherwise iOS gives Google a code of zeros | Sent to Google; see “App Tracking Transparency” above |
| Consent check (a silent request to Google’s consent service when the app launches, which reaches Google with your IP address) | Yes | Sent to Google; see “Consent” above |
| Approximate location (from Google’s SDK, when you unlock a past puzzle with an ad) | Yes | Sent to Google; see “Rewarded video ads” above |
| Ad interaction and usage data (from Google’s SDK, when you unlock a past puzzle with an ad) | Yes | Sent to Google; see “Rewarded video ads” above |
| Diagnostics and crash reports (from Google’s SDK, when you unlock a past puzzle with an ad) | Yes | Sent to Google; see “Rewarded video ads” above |
This table covers what Anvil Word itself collects, which is nothing. The rows that say Yes and go to Google (advertising identifiers, the launch consent check, approximate location, ad interaction and usage data, and diagnostics and crash reports) are Google’s ad software collecting on its own behalf, not Anvil Word’s own code. AdMob’s own data practices are described above and in Google’s privacy policy; Anvil Word has no way to see or store what AdMob collects.
06Who is responsible for your data
Oakferry Games Inc., incorporated in Canada, is the data controller for the little it receives: the email address and message you send to support@oakferry.com. We never receive the data Google’s ad software collects in Anvil Word, because it goes to Google.
Google is responsible for its own processing of that ad data. Google’s ads controller terms say that Google and its customer are each an independent controller of the personal data the terms cover, each deciding its own purposes and means and complying with the obligations that apply to it. Google’s ads services page lists AdMob as eligible to be in scope of those terms. Google’s own policies apply to its processing, including Google’s Privacy Policy.
In the EEA, UK, and Switzerland, Google’s consent form asks for your consent where the law requires it (see “Consent” above). Google says it respects the purposes described in the consent you give an app, and that you change or withdraw that consent in the app.
Oakferry keeps a support email only as long as it needs to answer you. Google’s retention page, “How Google retains data we collect”, describes how long Google keeps different kinds of data. For example, it says: “we anonymize advertising data in server logs by removing part of the IP address after 9 months and cookie information after 18 months.” How Google uses information from apps that use its services is in “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services”. We checked these Google pages on October 3, 2026.
You have the right to access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, and objection. Against Oakferry, email support@oakferry.com. Against Google, use the tools described in Google’s Privacy Policy. You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority, such as your national authority.
07Game Center leaderboards
If you sign in to Game Center, your daily score and your lifetime total are submitted to Apple so you can compare with other players. This uses the Apple ID you already have; the game has no account or login of its own.
Apple handles all of it under Apple’s privacy policy. Anvil Word has no server, and we never receive, see or store your Game Center identity, your alias or your scores. Decline the sign-in and nothing else about the game changes. While you are signed out, the Leaderboard buttons do not appear, and Help shows a line telling you to sign in to Game Center in Settings. If you finish a puzzle while offline or signed out, the score waits on your device and is sent later. Archive and sample puzzles never reach the leaderboards, so watching an ad can never buy rank.
08Purchases
There are none. Anvil Word is free, contains no in-app purchases and no subscriptions. There is no payment path in the app, so there is no billing information for us to see or store.
09Network access
The dictionary, the game logic and the interface are bundled in the download, so there is nothing of the game’s own to fetch — no web fonts, no content delivery network, no analytics endpoint, no update check. Today’s puzzle needs no network.
Four things reach outside the app, through the ad SDK, Game Center, or Apple’s App Store. Two of them — a silent consent check and signing in to Game Center — happen at launch. At launch, Anvil Word shows no consent form or tracking prompt and makes no ad request. Loading an ad waits for you to open the archive, tap a locked puzzle and confirm with Watch, which then asks Google whether it may request ads and, the first time ever, whether you allow tracking, before loading it. Nothing plays until you choose to watch it. Separately, when the app starts, Google’s ad software (part of the app) runs a network-reachability check on the name www.google.com; it makes no ad request, but like any network check it can reveal your IP address.
The App Store lookup waits for the result screen of the daily puzzle, which shows when you finish it, or when you open the app again after playing it. Then Anvil Word asks Apple’s public App Store lookup (itunes.apple.com/lookup), once per launch, whether Driftspell and SumWord are released. Each request names only that game’s App Store number and carries nothing about you beyond what any web request carries, such as your IP address: no advertising identifier, no cookies, no account, and no score or progress. Anvil Word keeps nothing from it between launches. A game that is released, or already on your iPhone, gets a “More games from Oakferry” card on the result screen that opens the game, or its App Store page if it is not installed; if the answer is no, or the lookup fails, there is no card. Nothing is sent to us or to them beyond the open request itself.
10Children
Anvil Word is rated 4+. We ask AdMob to serve only ads rated for a general audience (G). Anvil Word itself collects no personal data from anyone, including children. Oakferry receives only the email you send to support@oakferry.com; see “Who is responsible for your data” above. Google’s ad SDK may collect the data described above under App Tracking Transparency and Rewarded video ads; that data goes to Google, not to Oakferry.
11If you email us
When you write to us for support we necessarily receive your email address and whatever you put in the message. We use it only to reply, and keep correspondence no longer than we need to resolve the matter. We never add anyone to a mailing list and never pass correspondence to a third party.
12Your rights
Your rights, and how to use them against Oakferry and against Google, are listed in “Who is responsible for your data” above.
13Changes to this policy
If the game ever changes what it does — for example by adding a feature that genuinely requires data — we will update this page and change the effective date above before that version ships. We will not begin collecting data quietly under an old policy.
14Contact
Questions about privacy, or about anything else, reach a person directly.
- Company
- Oakferry Games Inc., incorporated in Canada
- Support
- support@oakferry.com
- Privacy
- support@oakferry.com
- Response
- Within two business days