Controller and contact
Hilo is an app by Ogam Labs. For privacy questions or requests, contact [email protected].
Data stored on your device
Hilo keeps your progress, daily games, streaks, preferences, purchase status and private created hilos on your device. Supported data may also sync through your Apple iCloud account when that service is available.
Creating or saving a hilo does not publish it to the community. Publication requires an explicit action. If you share a link yourself, anyone who receives it can access its content. So that the link is short and shows a preview, sharing a private hilo stores its content (title, category, the words, the clues and the author name you entered) on the community server; it is not reviewed beforehand and does not appear in the community.
Community and accounts
Community features use a guest identifier or an account created with Sign in with Apple. We store an internal account identifier, your chosen public alias, session credentials and, for Apple sign-in, the Apple account identifier and the tokens needed to manage access and revoke it. Hilo does not request or store your Apple email address or password.
When your publication is approved, the hilo content, your alias and play counts become public so others can find and play it. We store publication identifiers, play starts and results, reports and blocked-author preferences to run the community, calculate counts and moderate abuse. Public counts do not identify individual players. These operational records are separate from optional Analytics. We also store likes linked to your account and which hilos you have unlocked, including the date and whether they used the free allowance, to retain your reactions and enforce the daily limit. Like totals are public; we do not publish a list of people who reacted. Deleting the account removes its likes and access records.
Community features are not directed at anyone under the age required to consent to the processing of their data in their country (between 13 and 16 in the European Economic Area); if you are younger, use them only with the permission of a parent or legal guardian. To limit abuse, the server uses your IP address transiently when applying request limits; it does not store it in its database.
Analytics
Firebase Analytics is off by default and collects usage events only after you enable it in Privacy and notifications. It can receive game outcomes, feature interactions, purchase events and technical app/device information with an app-instance identifier. This is pseudonymous usage data, not an assertion that no identifiers are processed.
Hilo configures Analytics without IDFA or IDFV collection, does not set a community user ID and does not send aliases, published content, entered words, free-text reports or account identifiers as Analytics parameters. Advertising storage, advertising user data and ad personalization are denied for Analytics. Turning it off stops new collection and resets local Analytics data; it does not automatically erase previously collected reports. Advertising consent is managed separately.
Ads and consent
Hilo may show rewarded ads to unlock hints and interstitial ads at limited moments in the game. Ads are served through Google AdMob.
Where required, Google User Messaging Platform may show a consent form or let you manage privacy choices. If consent does not allow ads tailored to your interests, the app should continue with limited options or ads that are not tailored to your interests when available.
Purchases
Apple App Store processes purchases and subscriptions; Ogam Labs does not receive full payment details. Hilo stores purchase status and verifies signed Apple transactions on the community server when required for publishing access. Transaction references, entitlement status and a keyed fingerprint derived from the verified Apple identity may be retained to restore access to the same Apple account and prevent fraudulent reuse, without retaining the original Apple account identifier in those purchase records. If you separately enable Analytics, a verified direct purchase may also be reported through Firebase Analytics.
Notifications
Daily reminders are local and independent of community notifications. Community notifications use Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service only if you have granted the system permission. They are turned on when you enable them or when you publish a hilo with that permission already granted: in that case we enable only the notifications about your own hilos (review outcome, featuring and play milestones), and you can turn them off in Settings › Privacy and notifications. Occasional featured hilos are always optional and chosen separately.
For delivery, the community server stores an installation identifier, the Firebase installation identifier, language, time zone and selected notification preferences. You can turn these notifications off in the app or manage system permission in iOS Settings. Turning them off removes the server subscription and unregisters messaging; failed requests are retried. Messages already in delivery may still arrive.
Third parties
- Apple: App Store, StoreKit, Sign in with Apple, iCloud, Game Center and push delivery for the features you use.
- Hetzner: hosting of the community service and its database, operated by Ogam Labs.
- Google Firebase Cloud Messaging for community notifications and Google Analytics for Firebase for optional product analytics.
- Google AdMob and Google User Messaging Platform for advertising and advertising consent. Apple and Google may process data outside your country under their applicable privacy terms and transfer safeguards.
Retention and deletion
Local data and iCloud copies are managed through the app and Apple system settings; uninstalling the app does not by itself delete a community account or all cloud copies. Community records are kept while needed to provide the service, maintain published content and counts, and handle safety or legal requests.
Withdrawing a hilo removes it from public discovery and play; its record and content are kept on the server for one year and then deleted. Deleting your signed-in community account from its profile removes your profile, published hilos, sessions and notification subscriptions and starts revocation of Sign in with Apple access. Plays and reports on other authors’ hilos may remain without the link to your account; purchase references and a keyed fingerprint derived from the verified Apple identity may remain to restore access to that same Apple account and prevent fraudulent reuse, without storing the original Apple account identifier in those purchase records.
Retention periods on the community server: sessions expire after 30 days; guest accounts with no active session are deleted after 90 days; reports, one year after they are resolved; hilos that were rejected or withdrawn, by moderation or by their author, one year after the last decision about them; the internal log of moderation decisions, one year; notifications already sent, 30 days; and purchase notifications sent by Apple, 180 days. Private hilos shared by link are deleted one year after the link was last opened, or earlier if you delete your account. Published hilos and your profile are kept until you withdraw them or delete your account. Encrypted backups are kept for 30 days, so deleted data may remain in them for up to that period.
Limited moderation, security and purchase records may need to remain for those purposes or legal obligations. Encrypted credentials pending Apple revocation are kept until revocation succeeds. Copies already received or independently shared by other people cannot be recalled. For access or deletion requests concerning retained records or provider data, contact [email protected].
Your choices and rights
We process the data needed to provide requested community functions and purchases, and to protect the service from abuse. Optional Analytics and notification choices are separate and can be withdrawn without preventing ordinary play.
Depending on applicable law, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability or object to processing, and complain to your data protection authority. Contact [email protected] so we can assess your request and verify the account concerned. For provider-specific handling, consult Apple’s privacy policy and Firebase’s privacy information.
Changes
We may update this policy when the app, providers, or applicable rules change. The current version will be published on this page.