Huddle Privacy Policy
In short: Huddle has no accounts, no servers of its own, no analytics and no tracking. We (the developer) never receive any data about you. What you type and do in the game only travels over your local Wi-Fi to the other phones in your room.
Who we are
Huddle is made by an independent developer, Ali Diab. Questions about this policy: diabali.main@gmail.com.
What we collect
Nothing. Huddle has no sign-up, no login and no server that stores player data. We don't use analytics, advertising identifiers, crash-reporting services or tracking of any kind, and we don't sell or share data, because we never have it.
What is shared with the other players in your room
Huddle is played by phones in the same place, connected to the same Wi-Fi network or to one phone's personal hotspot. One phone hosts a room and the others join it directly over that local network, without going through the internet. To play together, the phones exchange:
- Your player name and your character's look (outfit, face, colours).
- Your game moves (taps, steering, votes, emotes) while you play.
- Your player key and player ID. On first launch your phone creates a random cryptographic key pair. The public key, and the short player ID made from it (like HUD-7K3-F9Q), identify you to the other phones, so friends can add you and season points can be counted fairly. The secret half never leaves your phone.
- Signed game results. When a game ends, the phones in the room sign the result (game, time, ranking and points, listed by player key, not by name). Phones swap these signed results when they meet, so a result you took part in can later reach other Huddle players' phones through people you played with.
While a room is open, the host's phone announces it on the local network as "name's room" (using the host's player name) so nearby phones can find it. Any device on that same network can see that announcement.
Huddle has no chat. Player names are the only text you type that other people see.
What stays on your phone
Huddle stores these only on your device:
- Your player name, character look and settings (sound, language, graphics, bot difficulty).
- Your player key. The secret key is kept in the phone's secure storage (Keychain on iOS, Keystore on Android) and is not backed up or synced.
- Your friends list, and a list of people you have played with (their player name, look, player ID and when you last played).
- A ledger of signed game results, used for the season board.
- On the phone that hosts: the room's season start date and, for games that can be continued later, a save that includes the players' names.
Other players' phones keep the same kind of information about the people they played with, including you.
If you have device backups switched on (iCloud or Google), your phone may include Huddle's stored data, except the secret key, in that backup. Apple or Google handle the backup under your account. We have no access to it.
Phone permissions
- Local network (iOS) and Wi-Fi/network state (Android): to find rooms and connect to the other phones in the room.
- Motion: to steer karts by tilting your phone. The motion readings are used on your phone; only the resulting steering is sent to the room.
- Microphone (iOS): Huddle never records you and never asks for microphone access while you play. The sound library it uses for game sound effects also has recording features, so iOS requires apps that include it to describe microphone use. The Android version doesn't request microphone access at all.
- Install updates (Android versions downloaded outside Google Play only): see below.
Internet use
Huddle doesn't need the internet to play. The only internet requests the app makes are:
- Update check (Android versions downloaded from our GitHub releases page, not the Google Play version and not iOS). On launch the app downloads a small public file from GitHub to see if a newer version exists. If you tap Update, it downloads the new version from GitHub and hands it to Android's installer. No personal data is sent. Like any website, GitHub receives your IP address and basic request details as part of the connection. See GitHub's privacy statement.
- Store features. The app may show the App Store's or Google Play's own rating prompt. If you tap Share, Support or Privacy Policy, your phone's share sheet, mail app or browser opens. Those are run by Apple, Google or the app you choose, under their own privacy policies.
Apple and Google may give developers anonymous, aggregated statistics such as crash reports and install counts if you have allowed sharing with app developers in your phone's settings. These don't identify you.
Ads and purchases
No ads are shown in this version, and there are no in-app purchases. The app contains code for optional ads and purchases that might be used in a future version, but it is switched off and the advertising and purchase services are never started. If that ever changes, we will update this policy and the store privacy labels first.
Children
Huddle is a family-friendly party game. It doesn't collect personal information from anyone, children included. Player names are only shown to people in the same room. We suggest children use a first name or nickname.
Your choices and deleting your data
- You can change your player name and look at any time.
- Deleting the app removes everything Huddle stored on your phone, including your player key. Your next install gets a new player ID.
- We hold no data about you, so there is nothing on our side to request or delete. Copies kept on other players' phones (your name, look, player ID and signed results) are under their control. They go away when those players delete the app.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top before the new version of the app is released.