Privacy Policy

Effective 3 November 2026

Thumb Wars is a game app for iPhone made by BatMonkey Games LLC, a California company ("we", "us"). It runs inside Messages and as an app on your home screen. This policy explains what information the app handles, where it goes, and the choices you have.

1. What stays on your phone

Almost everything the app knows is kept on your iPhone, in storage that only Thumb Wars and its Messages extension can use:

• the display name and avatar you choose;
• your level, XP, prizes, achievements and records against the CPU and against friends;
• your settings, and a game against the CPU that you have not finished.

None of this is sent to us. Deleting the app deletes it from your phone.

2. Your iCloud backup

If you are signed in to iCloud, the app backs up your progress (level, prizes, avatar, records and settings) to your own iCloud account using Apple's iCloud key-value storage, so it comes back if you reinstall or get a new phone. This copy is stored by Apple in your iCloud account. We cannot read it, and it never passes through our servers. Apple's privacy policy covers how Apple stores it.

To stop the backup, turn off iCloud for Thumb Wars in the Settings app (tap your name, then iCloud). See section 11 for removing it.

3. iMessage

When you play in Messages, each game is sent as a message in your conversation through Apple's Messages app. Apple delivers it, the same way it delivers your other messages; it does not pass through our servers. The game message carries the state of the game and the display name and avatar you chose, so the other people in the conversation can see who they are playing.

Apple does not give the app the names, phone numbers or email addresses of the people in a conversation, and the app cannot read your messages. Apple gives the app only random identifiers for a conversation's participants. The app uses them on your phone to tell the players apart. When it needs a chat room on our server for your conversation, it first turns them into a scrambled code (a one-way hash) that cannot be turned back.

Sending a turn from the home-screen app

If you play a turn in the home-screen app, the app can open Apple's contact picker so you can choose who the turn goes to. Apple's picker runs outside the app; the app does not get access to your contacts, only the one phone number or email address you tap. That value and a short label (such as "Sam's iPhone") are stored only in the app on your phone, so later turns in that conversation come already addressed. They are not backed up to iCloud and are never sent to us. You still tap Send yourself. "Change" on the game's menu forgets it.

4. Our game servers

Some features need a server: live games (such as Air Hockey, Quick Draw and Poker), group games, live turns, and the chat and walkie-talkie. These run on servers we rent from Fly.io in the United States (Los Angeles). When you use them, the server receives:

• your moves and the state of the game;
• the display name and avatar you chose, so other players see them;
• random match and player numbers made by the app (not your phone number or Apple ID);
• in the chat, the text you type and the voice you record (see section 5).

This information is held in the server's memory only to run the game or chat. It is not written to disk, sold or used for anything else. A game room is removed within about 24 hours after everyone has left it, and everything is lost whenever the server restarts. Two small exceptions: a note of which random player number took an open seat in a group game is kept for up to 7 days, and the final score of a live Air Hockey match (with the random player numbers, no names) is kept until the server restarts, so a player who dropped out can see how it ended.

Like any internet service, our servers see your device's IP address while you are connected. We use it only to make the connection and to stop too many connections from one address; we do not store it. Fly.io may keep standard network logs under its own privacy policy.

If the app has trouble showing a game card in Messages, it may send a short technical note to our server (for example, that a card was drawn or tapped) under a random four-character code. These notes contain no names or player numbers and are kept only in the server's short-lived logs, to help us fix bugs.

5. Chat, voice and the microphone

Each conversation has a chat inside the games. Text messages and voice notes are sent through our chat server to the other people in that conversation. They are kept in the server's memory for at most 24 hours, so a friend who is away can read or hear them later, and then deleted. A message is never kept longer than that.

The app uses your microphone only while you hold the chat button to talk. It asks for permission first, and you can turn it off at any time in the Settings app. What you say goes to the people in the conversation, live if they are there or as a voice note (at most 12 seconds) if they are not.

6. Play statistics

To learn which games people enjoy and which ones need work, the app sends us a small record of each game played:

• which game, and whether it was practice or against a person;
• how long it lasted and how it ended (won, lost, drawn or left);
• the app's build number and the day;
• a random number made by the app on your phone for this purpose only.

It does not include your name, your avatar, who you played, your conversation, your location or any other identifier. We cannot connect it to you, and we use it only as totals (for example, how many games of Chess were played this week). It is stored on our server at Fly.io. We do not use it for advertising or share it with anyone.

When the app starts, it also asks our server whether this version still works. That request sends nothing about you.

7. Premium and payments

Thumb Wars Premium is a subscription sold through Apple's App Store. Apple handles the payment, renewals, cancellation and refunds; we never see your name, Apple ID, card or billing details. Apple tells the app on your phone only whether your subscription is active. To manage or cancel it, open the Settings app, tap your name, then Subscriptions.

8. Ads

Thumb Wars does not show ads from advertising companies and contains no advertising software. If we add ads in a future version, we will update this policy before they appear and ask for your permission wherever Apple requires it.

9. What we don't do

• We don't sell your personal information or share it for advertising.
• We don't track you across other companies' apps or websites.
• We don't use third-party analytics, advertising or tracking software in the app.
• We don't ask for your contacts, photos or location.

10. Apple

If you choose to share analytics with app developers in your iPhone's settings, Apple may give us crash reports and usage totals that do not identify you. Apple's own handling of your information, including the App Store, iCloud and Messages, is covered by Apple's privacy policy.

11. Deleting your information

• On your phone: delete the Thumb Wars app. This removes your progress, settings and any saved contact from the phone.
• In your iCloud: turn off iCloud for Thumb Wars, and delete its data under Manage Storage in your iCloud settings where iOS lists it. The backup lives in your Apple account, so only you (and Apple) can remove it; if you need help, email us.
• On our servers: games, chat and voice notes delete themselves within about 24 hours. Play statistics cannot be linked to you, so we can't pick out yours, but you can email us with any question.

12. Children

Thumb Wars is rated 13+ on the App Store and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child under 13 has sent us personal information (for example, in an email), contact us at support@thumbwarsgames.com and we will delete it.

13. Your California privacy rights

If you live in California, you have the right to know what personal information we collect about you, to ask us to delete or correct it, and not to be treated differently for using these rights. We do not sell or share personal information, as those words are defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA), and we have not done so in the last 12 months. We do not use sensitive personal information to infer anything about you.

To make a request, email support@thumbwarsgames.com. Because we keep so little and almost none of it is linked to a person, we may not hold anything that we can connect to you; if so, we will tell you. People in other places may have similar rights, and you can ask us the same way.

14. Security and where data is kept

Connections to our servers are encrypted (HTTPS and secure WebSockets). Our servers are in the United States. If you use Thumb Wars from outside the United States, the information described in sections 4 to 6 is processed there.

15. This website

thumbwarsgames.com uses no cookies, no analytics and no advertising. It is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes standard request information, such as IP addresses, to deliver the pages. If you email us, we keep your message and address only to answer you.

16. Changes

If we change how Thumb Wars handles information, we will update this page and its date before the change takes effect, and tell you in the app when the change is significant.

17. Contact

BatMonkey Games LLC, California, USA
support@thumbwarsgames.com