Oakferry Games Inc. does not collect, store, sell, share, or transmit personal data from anyone who plays SumWord. 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. SumWord has no account, no login, and no analytics or crash reporting of its own — no telemetry, no event logging, on-device or otherwise.
SumWord is a web build running inside a native iOS shell, so it saves your progress with the browser’s local storage rather than in a cloud account. Your streak, your lifetime count of exact hits, the number of days you have played, today’s guesses and which past puzzles you have unlocked are written to local storage on your own device. 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. This is the only ad in the app: it appears only when you tap a locked puzzle in Past puzzles and confirm. SumWord asks first, and nothing is requested until you tap Watch (Cancel closes the question). There are no banner ads and no interstitial ads anywhere in SumWord, and nothing shows up on its own. 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 SumWord tells you so. If another screen is open when you tap Watch, the puzzle stays locked and SumWord asks you to close that screen and tap again. If the ad takes too long (a minute or so), the puzzle unlocks anyway, and SumWord 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 SumWord’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 SumWord 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, and only after ad consent allows ads. SumWord’s own code never reads the advertising ID.
04Consent
Where the law requires it (the EEA, UK, and Switzerland), SumWord shows Google’s consent form before the first ad can load, using Google’s User Messaging Platform, the first time you tap Watch. 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 SumWord tells you so. You can change your answer any time from the help card: open the ? button and tap Ad privacy settings. The button appears when the law requires it. Opening the help card asks Google only for your current consent status; it shows no form.
05What we collect
| Data | Collected | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Game progress, stats, streak, 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 — SumWord 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 |
| Approximate location (from Google’s SDK, when you watch an ad or open the help card) | Yes | Sent to Google; see “Rewarded video ads” above |
| Ad interaction and usage data (from Google’s SDK, when you watch an ad) | Yes | Sent to Google; see “Rewarded video ads” above |
| Diagnostics and crash reports (from Google’s SDK, when you watch an ad) | Yes | Sent to Google; see “Rewarded video ads” above |
This table covers what SumWord itself collects, which is nothing. The rows that say Yes and go to Google (advertising identifiers, approximate location, ad interaction and usage data, and diagnostics and crash reports) are Google’s ad software collecting on its own behalf, not SumWord’s own code. Opening the help card sends Google’s consent service a request for your current consent status. Like any web request it carries your IP address, and Google’s consent library lists approximate location among what it collects. AdMob’s own data practices are described above and in Google’s privacy policy; SumWord 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 SumWord, 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
SumWord has two optional leaderboards. If you sign in to Game Center, how you did on today’s target and your lifetime count of exact hits 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. SumWord 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. The Leaderboard button on the daily result card shows only while you are signed in to Game Center. If you finish a puzzle while offline or signed out, the score waits on your device and is sent later. Past puzzles played from the archive never reach the leaderboards, so watching an ad can never buy rank.
08Purchases
There are none. SumWord 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. Watching a rewarded ad costs nothing but your attention.
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 or Apple’s own frameworks. At launch, SumWord asks for no ad consent: it shows no consent form or tracking prompt and makes no ad request. The first time you tap Watch on a locked puzzle, SumWord asks Google whether it may request ads and, once, whether you allow tracking, then starts Google’s ad SDK and loads the ad. Nothing plays until you confirm Watch. Opening the help card asks Google only for your current consent status, so it can show Ad privacy settings when the law requires it; that request shows no form, loads no ad and starts no tracking prompt. 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.
When today’s result card shows, which is when you finish today’s puzzle or open the app again after playing it, SumWord asks Apple’s public App Store lookup (itunes.apple.com/lookup), once per launch, whether Driftspell and Anvil Word 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. SumWord keeps nothing from it between launches, and Oakferry runs no server that receives it. If the answer is yes for a game, the result card shows a Next up link to it; if the answer is no, or the request is slow or fails, the link does not appear.
Sharing your result hands an emoji grid to the iOS share sheet. And signing in to Game Center submits your scores to Apple, as described above.
10Children
SumWord is rated 4+. We ask AdMob to serve only ads rated for a general audience (G). SumWord 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