Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 18, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Gobang (Gomoku Online, the "App") collects, uses, stores and deletes your information. We build the App to collect as little data as possible: no real name, no phone number, no email address and no precise location is ever requested.

1. Information We Collect

• Device identifier. A random UUID generated on your device the first time you launch the App. It identifies your guest account so your progress can be restored on the same device. It is not your hardware serial number and cannot identify you personally.
• Apple user identifier. If you sign in with Apple, we receive the anonymous user identifier Apple assigns to the App. We do not receive your Apple ID, email or password.
• Nickname and avatar. The display name and avatar you choose for your profile.
• Chat and direct messages. Messages you send in game rooms and private messages you send to other players, kept so they can be delivered and so we can moderate abuse reports.
• IP address. Processed transiently for rate limiting and abuse prevention (for example, blocking bulk account registration and spam).
• Gameplay records. Match results, scores and rankings generated while you play.

2. How We Use Information

• To create and restore your account and keep you signed in.
• To provide online matches, friend lists, chat, direct messages and leaderboards.
• To keep the community safe: content moderation, handling reports, enforcing blocks and bans, and preventing abuse of the service.

We do not use your data for advertising profiles, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.

3. Storage and Security

Your data is stored on our servers hosted on Alibaba Cloud, located in mainland China, and is transmitted to those servers when you use online features. We restrict access to the data to the operation of the service.

4. Retention and Deletion

Your data is kept while your account exists. You can delete your account at any time inside the App (Settings → Delete Account). Deleting your account immediately and permanently removes your sign-in identifiers, profile data, settings, friend relations, private messages and block lists from our servers, and invalidates your credentials. Match results are retained in anonymized form (shown as a deactivated user) so that historical games and leaderboards of other players remain intact.

5. Sharing

We do not sell your personal information to anyone. We do not share it with third parties except where required by law. The App does not embed any third-party analytics or advertising SDKs that collect your data.

6. Children

The App is a board game suitable for general audiences and does not knowingly collect personal information beyond what is described above. If you believe a child has provided information that should be removed, contact us and we will delete it.

7. Changes to This Policy

If we change this policy, we will update this page and the effective date above.

8. Contact

Questions or requests about your data: [email protected]