Ish privacy policy

Ish is a drawing game made by NextGen Software Ltd (“we”, “us”), a company registered in England and Wales. This policy explains what the Ish app collects, why, who handles it, and what you can do about it. We are the controller of your data. Questions go to hi@nextgensoftware.co.

01 The short version

• There’s no sign-up. We never ask for your name, email, contacts, photos or location.
• The app gives you an anonymous player ID and a made-up player name, so your scores and streak count.
• We keep your round results and, for the Daily, your drawing.
• We measure how the game is played, to make it better.
• Ads pay for the game. They’re only personalised if you allow it.
• We don’t sell your data.

02 What we collect and why

Your anonymous player account

The first time you play, the app creates an anonymous account with a random ID and a player name such as “Scribbler-1234”. It also keeps your current and best Daily streak. This is how your results and streak work without a sign-up.

Your rounds

For each round you finish, the app sends the day, which country or flag it was, the mode (Daily or Endless), your score and how long you took. We use these to work out rankings, such as “You beat 64% of players today”, and your streak.

For Daily rounds, the app also sends your drawing itself (the pen strokes, at most 20 KB). We keep it with the result so we can check results and improve how the game scores drawings.

Other players never see your drawings, your scores, your player name or your player ID. They only see rankings worked out from everyone’s scores together.

How the game is used

The app sends events about how the game is played: opening the app, starting and finishing rounds (with the score, time taken and number of strokes), seeing results, sharing, ads shown or failed, and your ad and tracking choices. These are linked to your anonymous player ID.

Our analytics service, PostHog, also records basic device details: device model, iOS version, app version, language and time zone. It may use your IP address to estimate your country and city. We use this to understand what works in the game and fix what doesn’t.

Ads

Ish shows ads through Google AdMob: an occasional full-screen ad between Endless rounds, and optional ads you can choose to watch for a hint while you draw in Endless, to peek at an answer, or to have another go at the Daily. Google may collect information such as your device’s advertising identifier, IP address and how you interact with ads.

• On iPhone, the app asks whether it may track you. If you don’t allow it, Google is asked to show only non-personalised ads, and your advertising identifier isn’t available to it.
• In the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, Google’s consent form asks for your choice before any personalised ads. You can change it at any time in the app under Settings → Privacy options.
• Ads are limited to content suitable for a general audience.

Google explains how it uses this data at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites (opens in a new tab).

Sharing a result

When you share a result, the app makes the picture on your phone and hands it to the iOS share sheet. We don’t receive the picture or know where you sent it, only that you tapped Share.

On your phone

Your game progress, settings and sign-in token are stored on your phone. Results made while you’re offline wait there until they can be sent. All of this is removed when you delete the app.

03 Who handles your data

• Supabase stores your player account, results and Daily drawings, on servers in the EU (Ireland). Its short-lived security logs can include your IP address.
• PostHog stores usage events, on servers in the EU.
• Google AdMob serves ads and handles ad consent.

Supabase and PostHog process data on our behalf, under contract. Google acts under its own terms for ads. Where data leaves the UK or EU, each provider uses its own legal safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses. We don’t sell your data or give it to anyone else, unless the law requires us to.

04 Why we’re allowed to

We run your player account, rankings, streaks and game analytics because we have a legitimate interest in providing and improving the game, and it’s what you’d expect from a game you chose to play. Personalised ads and tracking happen only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

05 How long we keep it

We keep your player account, results and drawings while the game is running, or until you delete them in the app (Settings → Delete my data) or ask us to. Usage events are kept for as long as they’re useful for improving the game, and are deleted within 30 days of you deleting your data. Daily rankings are kept as counts of scores, with nothing that points back to you.

06 Keeping it safe

Everything the app sends travels encrypted (HTTPS). Each player can only read their own account and results, and only we can see the rest.

07 Your rights

You can delete your data yourself at any time, in the app under Settings → Delete my data. You can also ask to see the data we hold about you, to correct it, or to receive a copy, and you can object to how we use it. The delete your data page explains how. We’ll reply within one month.

Depending on where you live, for example California, you may have similar rights. You can stop ads personalised by tracking at any time: on your iPhone, go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

If you’re in the UK, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk (opens in a new tab). In the EU, you can complain to your local data protection authority.

08 Children

Ish is made for a general audience and isn’t directed at children under 13. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children. If you think a child has used Ish and want their data removed, email us and we’ll delete it.

09 Changes

If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top.

10 Contact

NextGen Software Ltd
hi@nextgensoftware.co