Privacy Policy

Effective Date: October 12, 2026 (originally published February 28, 2026)

Sparrowstep LLC ("Sparrowstep," "we," "us," or "our") operates the Bossword mobile application and the website at bossword.app (collectively, the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our Service.

By using Bossword, you agree to the collection and use of information as described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

1. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Account information: When you create a Bossword account, we collect your email address for authentication purposes.
• Profile information: You may provide your name, city, state, and a profile photo.
• Crossword solve times: You enter your daily crossword puzzle solve times, including the date, time, and publisher.
• League data: If you create or join leagues, we store league membership, competition results, and standings.
• Friends: If you add friends on Bossword, we store who your friends are, any friend requests you have sent or received, and the private code behind your personal friend link.
• Chat messages: Messages you send in league Crosstalk chat rooms.
• Reports and blocks: If you report or block another user, we store that report so we can act on it.
• Imported solve history: If you use the solve-history import tool at bossword.app/import, the import runs in your own web browser, inside your own logged-in session on the publisher's website, and sends us only the puzzle dates and solve times it finds. Bossword never sees, receives, or stores your publisher username, password, or login cookies. Imported times are stored exactly like times you enter by hand. You can also import a spreadsheet of your own times.

Information Collected Automatically

• Push notification token: If you enable push notifications, we store your device's push token to deliver notifications.
• Notification preferences: Your notification settings are stored to personalize which notifications you receive.
• Subscription status: If you subscribe to Bossword Elite, we receive subscription events (purchase, renewal, billing issue, expiration) from Apple via our subscription management provider, RevenueCat, so we know whether your subscription is active. We do not receive your payment card details — Apple handles all payment processing.
• Crash and error reports: If the app crashes or hits an unexpected error while you are signed in, it sends us a report so we can find and fix the problem: the error itself, the app version, your device model and iOS version, the screen you were on, and a short list of recent app events (such as a screen opening or a sync starting). Reports are linked to your account, go only to us, and are never used for advertising or tracking. If you use Bossword without an account, no reports are sent.

Information We Do NOT Collect

• We do not track your device location.
• We do not use third-party analytics or advertising services (no Google Analytics, no ad trackers, no pixels).
• We do not sell or share your personal information with data brokers or advertisers.
• We do not access your contacts, photos, or other device data beyond what you explicitly provide.

Local-Only Data (No Account)

If you use Bossword without creating an account, all your data (solve times, statistics) is stored locally on your device and is never transmitted to our servers.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and manage your account
• Authenticate your identity via one-time passcode (OTP) sent by email
• Sync your crossword solve times across devices
• Facilitate league competition and display standings
• Deliver push notifications you've opted into (league and tournament activity, race reminders, puzzle reminders)
• Display your profile to other players, and your qualifying times on community leaderboards
• Maintain, improve, and secure the Service

3. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in the following limited circumstances:

These providers process data on our behalf and are contractually bound to use it only for the purposes we specify.

We may also disclose your information if required by law, legal process, or government request, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of Sparrowstep, our users, or the public.

4. What Other Users Can See

• Visible to league members: Your name, profile photo, city and state, solve class and rank, and your crossword solve times within leagues, tournaments and races you share.
• Visible on public leaderboards: Bossword has community boards (such as Daily Best Times, All-Time Records, Divisions and race results). A qualifying time can place you on them, alongside your name, profile photo, solve class and rank; the All-Time Records board also shows your city and state.
• Visible on your profile: Any Bossword member who taps your name sees your profile: name, photo, city and state, and whether you are a Bossword Elite member. Any member can also find you by searching for your name. By default your profile also shows three more things, each of which you control (see below): your Standings (solve class, rank, Division standing, number of solves, and your race record), your Stats (your full history of solve times, day by day), and your friend list (the names and photos of your friends).
• Visible to your friends: Friendships are two-way: someone becomes your friend only when you accept their request, they accept yours, or one of you opens the other's personal friend link. Your friends see your solve time for a puzzle in their Friend Circle once they have recorded a time of their own for that puzzle.
• Your privacy controls: Your profile has three settings, all on (or set to Everyone) by default:
  • Include your times on Leaderboards — turn it off to stay off the community boards (Daily Best Times, All-Time Records, Divisions and race results). You always see your own placement.
  • Who can see your Standings/Stats — No one, Friends, or Everyone. This covers both the Standings on your profile and your full solve history.
  • Who can see your Friend List — No one, Friends, or Everyone.
  Whatever you choose, someone you have blocked, or who has blocked you, sees none of these. Older versions of the app show a single Make your stats public setting instead; turning that off does the first two together.
• What your solve history never shows: The private notes you attach to a time are never shown to anyone else. A time for a puzzle that is still open is shown only to members who have recorded their own time for it, and times in a league stay hidden from your leaguemates until they have shared their own, exactly as they are inside the league.
• Always private: Your email address is never displayed to other users.
• League chat: Messages you send in Crosstalk are visible to all members of that league.

5. Data Retention and Account Deletion

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. If you reset your account through the app, your local data is erased and you are signed out; your data remains on our servers so you can sign back in later.

You can permanently delete your account at any time in the app (Settings → Account → Delete Account). This deletes your login and email address, your name, profile photo, city and state, push notification token, personal solve times, Division standing, friendships and friend requests, your friend link, league invitations, blocks, subscription records, crash and error reports and pending race sign-ups from our servers. Two things persist after deletion, by design of league competition:

• League and race history: Solve times and chat messages you contributed to leagues, tournaments and races you competed in remain part of those competitions' records, so other players' standings and history stay intact. They are attributed to "Deleted User", with no name, photo or location; your solve class and rank badge as they stood at deletion stay with them, because a rank is an achievement, not an identifier. If you owned a league, ownership passes automatically to its longest-tenured remaining member.
• Copies on other devices: League members' devices keep a local copy of the league records you appear in. Your name and profile photo are replaced with "Deleted User" on their devices the next time they sync.

Separately, you can download every solve time you have recorded at any time (Settings → Download Your Data). This works with or without an account.

6. Data Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your data, including encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), row-level security on our database, and secure authentication via one-time passcodes. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Children's Privacy

Bossword is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

8. Your Rights Under California Law (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

• Right to know: You can request what personal information we have collected, the sources, the purposes, and with whom it has been shared. Your solve times are available to you directly at any time via Settings → Download Your Data.
• Right to delete: You can delete your personal information yourself at any time using the in-app Delete Account feature (see Section 5), or by contacting us. Deletion is subject to the league-history exceptions described in Section 5.
• Right to opt out of sale: We do not sell your personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of.
• Right to non-discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

To exercise these rights, contact us at hello@bossword.app. We will respond within 45 days as required by law.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will post the updated policy on this page and revise the Effective Date at the top — that date is always the authoritative version marker.

If the changes are material — for example, if we begin collecting a new category of personal information, share it with a new kind of recipient, or make something previously private visible to other users — we will give you reasonable advance notice by a method we believe will reach you, such as a notice in the app or an email to the address on your account.

Your continued use of Bossword on or after the Effective Date of an updated policy constitutes your acceptance of it. If you would like a copy of a previous version, email hello@bossword.app.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your privacy rights, contact us at:

Sparrowstep LLC
Email: hello@bossword.app