Quidsmith

Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-07-21

Quidsmith is a browser game that runs on your own device. It is an independent project, not a company. This policy explains the limited data involved when you play, the lawful basis for it, and the choices and rights you have. Plain English, no surprises.

The short version

Who is responsible

The data controller for this site is Callum McIntosh, the independent developer of Quidsmith, based in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. For any privacy question or request, contact hello@quidsmith.com.

What stays on your device

Quidsmith saves your progress in your browser's local storage so you can pick up where you left off, and it stores your cookie consent choice so it can stop asking. Both are strictly necessary for the game to work and are kept in your browser. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in providing a working game (and, for the consent record, our legal obligation to honour your choice). Clearing this site's data in your browser removes them and resets the game.

While you are signed out, none of this is transmitted to us. If you choose to sign in, a copy of your save is also stored on our server so it can follow you to another device, see Accounts. Your cookie choice always stays on your device only.

Accounts (optional)

You never need an account to play. Signing in exists so your progress can follow you between devices, and so you can take part in challenge rooms and hiscores, which by their nature involve other people seeing something about you.

What we receive when you sign in. We use Google Sign-In. Google passes us your email address, your Google display name and your profile picture. We never see your Google password, and we ask Google for nothing beyond those basic profile details.

What we store. Linked to your account: a display name (taken from your Google name at first, and changeable by you), your saved games, your cross-run career statistics, and, if you take part, your challenge-room results and hiscore entries. A hiscore entry also stores the record of decisions you made during that run, because scores are re-simulated on our server to check they were genuinely played rather than typed in.

What other people can see. Your display name and your scores are public on hiscore boards, in any challenge room you join, and on any result page you choose to publish. Nothing else about your account is public: not your email, and not your saved games. Publishing a result page is always your explicit choice, never automatic.

Lawful basis. Providing the account features you asked for (performance of a contract), and our legitimate interest in keeping competitive boards honest by verifying submitted runs.

Deleting it. Account → Delete account, in the game. This permanently erases your account, cloud saves, statistics, room results and hiscore entries. It is immediate and cannot be undone. The save on your own device is deliberately left alone, so you can carry on playing as a guest. You can also email us and we will do it for you.

Newsletter (optional)

If you have an account, we can send you an occasional email about new features and what has changed in the game. A few times a year at most.

You have to ask for it. We ask once, shortly after you create your account, with nothing pre-selected. If you do not answer, or you close the message, you are not signed up. We never add you because you registered, bought something or played a lot.

What we use. The email address Google passed us when you signed in, plus your display name to address the email. Nothing about how you play, and no run data.

Lawful basis. Your consent. We keep a record of when you consented and which version of the wording you were shown, so we can demonstrate that you actually chose it.

Stopping it. Turn off the newsletter under Account in the game, or use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any newsletter we send. Both take effect immediately and neither affects your account. You will still receive service messages such as sign-in links and notices about your account itself, because those are how the account works and are not marketing.

Never shared. We do not sell, rent or pass your email address to anyone else for their own marketing.

Payments (optional)

The game is free and needs no payment. If you choose to buy an optional membership, the payment is handled by our payments provider, Paddle (Paddle.com Market Limited), which acts as the Merchant of Record. Paddle is the seller of record and its own data controller for the payment: you enter your card or payment details with Paddle, not with us, and your card details never reach us.

What we receive and store. From Paddle we receive a transaction and customer reference and your membership status, which we store against your account so we know what you are entitled to. We do not receive or store your card number. The lawful basis is performance of the contract to provide the membership you bought.

International transfers. Paddle processes payment data under its own privacy policy and may process it outside the UK under appropriate safeguards. See Paddle's Privacy Policy.

Cancelling and deletion. You can cancel a membership at any time, which stops future renewals. Deleting your account removes the membership record we hold; if you have an active membership, cancel it as well so that billing does not continue, or email us and we will help.

Analytics

With your consent we use Google Analytics 4 to understand, in aggregate, how the game is used, for example which screens are visited, so it can be improved. Analytics is optional and off by default; the lawful basis is your consent. You accept or decline it through our own message on first visit and can change your choice at any time from Cookie settings. The tag runs in Google's Consent Mode: until you accept, it stores nothing on your device and sends only anonymous, cookieless signals. If you accept, Google Analytics may set cookies and collect usage data including a randomly generated identifier and an approximate location derived from your IP address. We do not receive your name, email or precise location, and we do not use this data to identify you.

Advertising

Quidsmith may carry advertising to help cover its costs. When enabled, ads are served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners use cookies, including the DoubleClick DART cookie, to serve ads based on your visits to this and other sites. The lawful basis is your consent, collected through Google's certified consent message (its Consent Management Platform) where the law requires it. Until you consent, no advertising cookies are set. Ad categories that conflict with the game's purpose, such as gambling, high-cost credit and get-rich-quick schemes, are blocked.

You can opt out of personalised advertising at any time:

Cookies and your choices

Necessary storage (your save and consent choice) is always on. Analytics is optional and off by default. Advertising, where shown, is handled separately through Google's certified consent message. You can review or change your choice at any time using the Cookie settings link in the game, which reopens the analytics message; declining returns analytics to its no-cookie state.

Retention

Data held on your device (your save and consent choice) remains until you clear it. Google Analytics data, if you accept analytics, is retained according to Google's settings, typically up to 14 months for user-level data. Advertising data is governed by Google's own retention policies.

If you have an account, the data attached to it is kept for as long as the account exists, and is erased when you delete it. Two things deliberately outlive the account: a hiscore board that has already closed keeps a frozen record of its final standings, which stores a display name and score but is detached from the account; and a result page you chose to publish stays public until you delete it. If you have never signed in, we hold nothing about you on our servers at all.

Third parties and international transfers

Account data is stored on our behalf by Supabase, acting as our data processor, on servers in Ireland (EU). Google provides the sign-in itself and tells us your email, name and profile picture when you choose to use it.

When analytics or advertising is enabled and consented to, your browser communicates directly with Google, which may process data outside the UK, including in the United States, under appropriate safeguards such as the UK extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses. Google's handling of this data is governed by its own policies. See Google's Privacy Policy and the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct or erase personal data, to object to or restrict processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time. Because the game holds no account and your save lives only in your browser, you can exercise most of these yourself by clearing this site's data or changing your cookie choice. For anything else, contact hello@quidsmith.com. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Children

Quidsmith is intended for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes materially, the date above is updated and, where the change affects cookies, the consent message asks again. Continued play after an update means the current policy applies.