Privacy Policy
Expert Cat Mouse
This policy explains how this application handles information and how to contact us about privacy.
Information we process
Expert Cat Mouse stores campaign progress, current board positions, undo history, hint use, trophies, settings, daily puzzle cache and pending daily results locally on your device. The campaign works offline. When you request a daily puzzle, our server receives the requested date and normal network request metadata. When you share a daily result, the app automatically obtains a random installation identifier and secret. The secret stays in this device’s Keychain; the server stores only its salted bcrypt hash, the random installation identifier and creation time. Daily result records contain the hashed installation reference, puzzle date, verified number of moves, win or loss, whether hints were used and submission time. A move trace is sent to verify the result but is not stored in the database or application logs. We do not request your name, email, password, contacts, location or photos.
How we use information
Local data allows you to resume a hunt, undo moves, remember settings and keep earned rewards. The server delivers the puzzle of the day, verifies submitted gameplay and calculates public aggregate winner counts and median moves. Installation credentials authorize access to that installation’s results and deletion, without creating a user account. Temporary in-memory request counters limit abuse and protect availability. No advertising, marketing, third-party analytics or support message service is included.
Service providers and sharing
The application backend and PostgreSQL database are hosted on Railway. Railway processes network requests and operational information needed to host the service, including information that can appear in infrastructure logs such as IP addresses, request timing, paths, response status and connection details. The application does not deliberately log request bodies, move traces or authorization secrets. Public daily statistics disclose only aggregate counts and median moves, not installation records. We do not sell data or send it to advertising or analytics providers. Data may also be disclosed where required by applicable law. Railway’s independently managed infrastructure log retention is not controlled by this app and no fixed duration is asserted here.
Data retention
Local campaign and settings data remain until you reset them in Settings or remove the app. The installation secret remains in this device’s Keychain until in-app data deletion; deleting an app alone may leave Keychain items. Server installation and result records have no automatic expiration and remain until you use authorized data deletion. The server retains public daily puzzle definitions, which do not contain personal gameplay records. Rate-limit information exists only in bounded memory buckets that expire after up to one hour and are pruned at minute intervals or lost on restart. We have not configured a separate application backup or promised a provider backup retention period. Provider-managed backups or infrastructure copies, if any, may retain historical copies under the hosting provider’s practices and are not edited individually by the app’s deletion operation.
Deleting your information
Settings contains Delete progress and daily data with explicit confirmation. If an installation secret exists, the app first requests authorized deletion of that installation and all its results in a database transaction, then clears local progress, cache, settings, pending results and the Keychain secret. Aggregate statistics are recalculated from remaining results. If the server cannot be reached, local data and the secret are kept so you can retry; deletion is not presented as successful. Public puzzle definitions remain. There is no sign-in, cross-device recovery or way to restore an installation after its secret is lost. You can contact florimel.penrose@icloud.com about deletion, but without the secret we may be unable to securely identify a particular anonymous installation.
Permissions and your choices
The app does not ask for location, contacts, camera, microphone, photo library or notification permission. Audio playback and device networking are used without requesting those protected-data permissions. Sound, music and reduced motion can be controlled in Settings. Choosing not to use daily hunts avoids their network features; the campaign remains offline. You can withdraw further use of the service by not opening daily hunts, deleting your data or removing the app. Device and system privacy settings remain under your control.
Your privacy rights
Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or restrict processing of information and to complain to a relevant privacy authority. Contact the product owner at florimel.penrose@icloud.com for privacy questions and rights requests. This email is a public privacy contact only; the app has no email delivery, registration or feedback form. The app’s authorized deletion control is the direct way to delete installation data. We may need enough information to verify a request, and anonymous records cannot reliably be associated with a person without that installation’s credential.
Security
The client uses HTTPS for deployed service requests. Installation secrets are randomly generated, stored in device-only Keychain storage and checked against salted bcrypt hashes on the server. Database access is confined to the backend; no shared server credential is embedded in the app. Requests have validation, size limits, timeouts and rate limits. Deletion and result writes enforce installation authorization and database transactions. No transmission or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure. You should protect access to your device and avoid sharing your installation secret.
Children’s privacy
Expert Cat Mouse is designed for puzzle players aged 12 and older, not specifically for young children. It has no accounts, advertisements, purchases, social chat or collection of names and email addresses. We do not knowingly seek personal information from children through these features. A parent or guardian concerned about a child’s use can delete the app’s data through Settings or contact florimel.penrose@icloud.com.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when product features, processing practices or hosting arrangements change. The current policy and its effective date are published on this page and linked in the app’s Settings. Material changes will be explained in the updated policy. Review this page periodically before using optional online daily hunts.