Privacy Policy

1. Data Controller

Pito is the data controller responsible for protecting and managing your data. You can reach the operator of Pito at the contact below.

Contact: pito@pito.games

This Privacy Policy is governed by the same laws as our Terms of Service (the Kurdistan Region and federal Iraq) and forms part of those Terms.

2. Information Stored Locally

The App stores gameplay progress and settings on your device. A Google or Apple Account sign-in is required to enter the App. Before sign-in, or when an authenticated session is unavailable, some technical services may still operate: crash diagnostics, content and configuration requests, security checks, and advertising where enabled.

Game statistics:

• Games played, wins, current streak, best streak, win rate
• Game history (words and results)
• Solitaire bankroll (cumulative Klondike Vegas score, may be positive or negative)

Game economy:

• Stars, coins, and suns (Helo currency)
• Hint usage history
• Purchased items (themes, skins, boosters)

Settings:

• Audio and haptic feedback preferences
• Interface language
• Selected theme color

Important: Uninstalling normally removes the App's local data. It does not delete an online Account or Account-bound balances; use the in-app deletion control for that.

3. Account Data

When you create the required Account using Google or Apple Sign-In, the following is stored on our servers:

• Full name and email from your sign-in provider (Google/Apple)
• Username (if you choose one)
• Instagram username (if you choose to add one — displayed publicly on your profile)
• Profile picture (if you upload one, compressed to 400x400)
• Game statistics (scores, stars, coins, streaks, Solitaire bankroll)
• Per-game online ratings for every online game, and your match history
• Purchased items (themes, colors)
• Date of birth, gender and place (your country and, for Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria, your city) — declared by you once after sign-in. The App never uses device location services for this; the place is whatever you choose from a list. Your birth date can be corrected for 7 days after you first enter it and is fixed after that; gender and place can be changed at any time from your profile

How these details are used and shown. Your birth date is never displayed to anyone. Your age (in whole years), gender and place are hidden from other players by default; you can switch each one on separately under Settings → Privacy, and switch it off again at any time. We use these details to understand who plays Pito, to make the App and its content appropriate for you, and — only as anonymised, aggregated statistics (for example “40% of active players are aged 18–24”) — to report our audience to advertising and promotional partners. We do not sell or share your individual date of birth, gender or place with any partner.

The primary Supabase project that stores this data is hosted in Sydney, Australia (ap-southeast-2). Data is protected in transit using HTTPS/TLS and by provider and application access controls; no internet service can promise absolute security. Authentication email is not displayed publicly. Public profile and leaderboard information is described in Sections 18–20.

4. Online Multiplayer Data

When you play any of our online games (Chess, Dama, Tawla, Okey, Domino, Aznif, Barricade and Snake and Ladder), the following additional data is collected and stored on our servers:

• ELO Rating: A per-game numerical skill rating calculated from your wins and losses, publicly visible on leaderboards
• Match History: Game results (win/loss/draw), opponent ID, game duration, and timestamps
• Matchmaking Queue Data: Your user ID and rating are temporarily stored in a matchmaking queue while searching for an opponent; this data is deleted once a match is found or you cancel
• Real-Time Game State: Dice rolls, moves, doubling cube actions, tile plays, card plays, and emoji reactions are transmitted between players during a match via our self-hosted WebSocket game servers
• Completed Match Records: When a rated online match ends we keep a record of it — the players, the result, the rating change and the sequence of moves — so that match history, leaderboards and ratings work
• Fair-Play Signals: For our rated strategy games (currently Chess and Dama) we also store, per move, how long you took and whether the App was in the foreground on your device. This is used solely to detect the use of chess engines and other outside assistance in rated games. It is never used for advertising or profiling
• Game Invites: When you share an invite link, only a game ID is included in the URL. No personal information is embedded in invite links

Online play requires a Pito Account and an active connection. Match data is collected only when you use an online mode.

5. Voice Chat

Online matches include an optional voice chat feature. Voice chat is not activated automatically — you must tap the microphone button during a match to connect.

• Microphone Access: The App requests microphone permission when a voice or recording feature first needs it. You can deny or revoke this permission at any time in your device settings
• Audio Transmission: Voice audio is processed and streamed in real time through a self-hosted LiveKit service. Pito does not intentionally record or store the live audio stream
• Technical data: Connection metadata and diagnostics may be logged to operate, secure, and troubleshoot the service. The audio stream ends when the call or voice session disconnects

Voice chat requires a Pito Account and a supported call or online match. The stream is necessarily processed by the transport service to deliver it, but is not used for advertising.

6. Text Chat Data

When you use in-app chat (one-to-one and group conversations), the following data is collected and stored on our servers:

• Messages: Text messages sent between you and your friends are stored on Supabase servers
• Read Receipts: We track whether a message has been read by the recipient
• Mute Preferences: Your choice to mute a conversation is stored with your account
• Pinned Messages: Which messages you have pinned is stored with your account
• Conversation Wallpaper: If you set a shared chat wallpaper, your choice is stored with the conversation

Disappearing messages: If you enable disappearing messages, content is hidden after the applicable timer and the records are removed by recurring cleanup. A daily cleanup currently deletes expired, unsaved message records after an additional operational delay of up to about 24 hours. Copies in backups, delivery queues, abuse reports, or another user's screenshots may last longer.

Friends can message directly. If your privacy setting permits it, another user may send a message request; group members can communicate inside shared groups. Messages are not public, but they pass through our service providers and may be checked automatically for prohibited content. Reported or flagged content and enough context to assess it may be reviewed for safety, abuse prevention, and legal compliance.

7. Voice Messages & Snaps in Chat

In addition to text, chat supports optional voice messages and view-once photo "snaps":

• Voice Messages: Audio clips are stored on access-controlled Supabase Storage or Cloudflare R2 so recipients can play them. Listen-once clips are queued for deletion after listening
• Snaps (view-once media): Photos and short videos are stored while delivery or viewing is pending. Once the applicable recipients view a snap, the database marks it viewed and a server-side deletion worker removes the object. Retries can cause a short delay
• Media is delivered to the recipients or group members you selected and processed by the storage/delivery providers named below. It is not used by Pito to personalize ads

This is separate from real-time in-game voice chat (Section 5), whose live audio stream Pito does not intentionally record or store.

8. In-App Purchases & Payments

Pito offers optional purchases of Pito Coin packs. Pito Coins can then be spent on cosmetics, gifts, or a fixed-term Pito Plus membership. Every game is free to access; purchases are not stakes or entry fees and no balance can be wagered or cashed out. Real-money purchases are processed by the Apple App Store or Google Play using your store account.

• We never see your payment details: card numbers, bank information, and billing addresses are handled by Apple and Google. Pito does not receive, store, or have access to this information
• Purchase verification: after a purchase, we verify the store receipt with Apple/Google to confirm it is genuine, and we store a transaction record (such as a product identifier, store transaction ID, and timestamp) tied to your account to prevent fraud and to deliver what you bought
• Entitlements: we record what you are entitled to (for example, an active Pito Plus membership and its expiry) so your benefits work across your devices
• Pito Coins balance & ledger: we keep your Pito Coins balance and a ledger of how coins were earned, purchased, gifted, spent, or redeemed, so the in-app economy is accurate and disputes can be resolved
• Gifts and gift codes: if you send a gift or redeem a voucher/gift code, we record the related transaction so the recipient receives the item and codes cannot be reused

Refund requests are handled through the applicable App Store. Pito Plus does not auto-renew as a separate real-money subscription; it lasts for the period bought with Pito Coins. Store refund/reversal notifications may cause the corresponding Pito Coins or entitlement to be removed.

9. Push Notifications

If you allow notifications, we use them to alert you about things like game invites, your turn in an online match, chat messages, gifts, and important account updates.

• Push notifications are delivered through Firebase Cloud Messaging. We store a device push token with delivery settings and technical details such as platform, device model, OS version, and App version
• You can turn notifications off at any time in your device settings; doing so does not affect your ability to use the App
• We do not include sensitive personal data in notification payloads beyond what is needed to take you to the relevant screen

10. Crash Diagnostics

Firebase Crashlytics may automatically collect stack traces, relevant App state, device and OS metadata, an installation identifier, and developer-provided diagnostic logs or keys. A report may be linkable to an Account or session when we deliberately attach an identifier for debugging. Crash diagnostics can be sent even when you are not signed in and are used for reliability, security, and troubleshooting.

11. Profile & Cosmetic Data

Your account profile includes optional personalization that is stored with your account, and some of it is shown publicly to other players:

• Profile basics: your username, optional profile picture, optional Instagram handle, and online status
• Cosmetics: any cosmetic items you own or have equipped — such as avatar frames, name styles/colors, profile-card backgrounds, a "verified" badge, and other unlockables — are stored with your account and displayed alongside your profile in games, leaderboards, and chat
• Verification status: if you have an active Pito Plus membership or verified status, the related badge and benefits are reflected on your profile until that status lapses

Cosmetic ownership is recorded so your items persist across your devices. This data contains no full card or bank details and is removed after permanent Account deletion.

12. Purpose of Data Use

Primary: Providing game services, saving progress, enabling features (hints, store), preserving settings, displaying game history.

Technical and security: Improving performance, fixing bugs, preventing data loss, validating purchases and scores, enforcing bans, detecting fraud or cheating, and protecting Accounts and infrastructure.

First-party analytics: For signed-in users, Pito may store session, economy, purchase, notification, and button-interaction events together with user ID, session ID, screen context, platform, App version, and basic OS information. High-volume screen-view and game-start/game-end events are currently dropped. Events queue locally and are uploaded only when an authenticated session is available and analytics is enabled by App/server settings.

Educational: Supporting Kurdish language learning and promoting Kurdish culture.

Advertising: Pito does not give Account profile data or chat content to advertisers. The ad SDKs described below process device/network identifiers, consent signals, approximate location inferred from network information, and ad interactions to deliver, measure, secure, and—where permitted—personalize ads.

13. Legal Basis for Processing

Depending on your location and the activity, we rely on consent, performance of our agreement with you, legitimate interests, and legal obligations or protection from fraud and harm:

• Consent: when you make an optional choice that requires consent, such as an ad/tracking choice or uploading a profile picture
• Contract: to provide the Services you request under our Terms
• Legitimate interests: to operate, secure, and improve the App and prevent abuse, balanced against your rights
• Legal obligation / vital interests: to comply with law and to prevent fraud, cheating, and harm

Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it through the available App, provider, or device control, or by contacting us. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal.

14. Third-Party Services

We do not sell personal data. We use the following providers to operate, secure, support, and fund the App:

• Apple and Google — App distribution, Sign in with Apple/Google, in-app payment processing, purchase receipts, refunds, and platform security. Pito does not receive full card or bank details
• Supabase — authentication, the primary database, first-party analytics, server functions, and Storage. The primary project is in Sydney, Australia
• Oracle Cloud and self-hosted services — game, chat/WebSocket, moderation, and operational services. Logs can contain user IDs, game/conversation IDs, actions, timestamps, device/app context, and error details needed for security, fair play, delivery, and debugging
• Cloudflare R2 — access-controlled chat photo, video, and voice-media storage and delivery
• Firebase Crashlytics and Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google) — crash diagnostics and push delivery as described above
• Google Mobile Ads / AdMob — banner and rewarded ads, consent management, delivery, measurement, fraud prevention, and personalization when permitted
• Meta Audience Network — an AdMob mediation/bidding partner that may receive an ad request and related device, network, consent, and interaction data when selected by AdMob
• TikTok (TikTok App Events SDK) — advertising measurement and attribution. When Pito advertises on TikTok, the SDK reports app events (installation, app launch, and return visits) together with advertising or app-scoped identifiers, IP address, and device/App information, so we can tell which advertising led to an install. Pito does not send your name, email address, phone number, chat content, voice recordings, or photos to TikTok
• KLIPY — GIF and sticker search. The search text and technical request information are sent to KLIPY; Pito does not intentionally include your Account identity in the search request
• LiveKit (self-hosted) — real-time voice transport during supported calls or matches. Pito does not intentionally record or store the real-time audio stream
• Apple App Attest, Google Play Integrity, and Talsec/freeRASP — device/app integrity and tamper signals used to protect Accounts, scores, purchases, and the service

These providers process data under their own terms and privacy policies. Pito Plus suppresses ads in the App, but does not retroactively delete information previously processed by an ad provider.

15. International Data Transfers

Pito is operated from Iraq and uses providers in multiple countries. The primary Supabase database and Storage are in Sydney, Australia; edge functions, authentication, content delivery, advertising, crash, security, App Store, and support services may process data in other regions. We use provider contractual, organizational, and technical safeguards appropriate to the service and applicable law.

16. Cookies, Advertising and Device Identifiers

The pito.games website does not currently run advertising or analytics cookies. The mobile App uses SDKs and identifiers rather than browser cookies.

• Advertising: Google Mobile Ads and its mediation partners may process advertising or app-scoped identifiers, IP address, device/OS/App information, approximate location inferred from IP, consent choices, and ad views, clicks, or reward events. The exact data depends on device settings, region, consent, provider configuration, and whether an ad is requested
• Consent and choices: Google UMP requests consent where required. On iOS, Pito asks through App Tracking Transparency before the IDFA can be accessed. If permission is denied, IDFA is unavailable and the App requests non-personalized advertising; platform and in-ad privacy controls may provide more choices
• Advertising measurement: when Pito runs advertising campaigns on TikTok, the TikTok App Events SDK reports installation, launch, and return-visit events together with advertising or app-scoped identifiers, IP address, and device/App information, so we can measure which campaigns work. On iOS this is subject to App Tracking Transparency: if permission is denied the IDFA is unavailable and measurement falls back to Apple's aggregated SKAdNetwork reporting. On Android it uses the advertising ID and the Google Play install referrer
• Device identifier: we record an App-specific device identifier together with your device model, operating-system version, and App version. We use it to associate notification/call delivery tokens, enforce bans, detect cheating or fraud, and protect the Service. Pito does not use this identifier to track you across unrelated apps or websites
• Location: Pito does not request precise GPS location for these purposes. Service providers can infer an approximate city/region from IP address as part of ordinary network and ad processing

17. Content Updates

Pito may download updated game content (word lists, impostor words, bomb prompts) from secure servers. These downloads:

• Use HTTPS only
• May be requested automatically so the App can receive current content or configuration
• Normally fall back to bundled content when the network is unavailable
• Expose ordinary network information, such as IP address and technical request headers, to the hosting provider; the content request is not intended to contain chat, profile, or gameplay content

18. Leaderboards

If you have an Account, casual scores and online ratings may be publicly visible. Leaderboards and linked profile sheets may show username, profile picture, score/rating, rank, badges, achievements, selected cosmetics, and other public profile details. Authentication email and payment information are not displayed.

19. Profile Pictures

You can upload a profile picture from your camera or gallery. The image may be resized or compressed and is stored on Supabase Storage.

• Your profile picture is public: it is shown to other users of the App on leaderboards, your profile, chat, and online games
• Other users can see it and — like any image on a screen — may screenshot or copy it, which we cannot prevent
• Only upload a picture you are comfortable being public; if you do not want your photo to be public, do not set it as your profile picture
• You can delete or change it anytime
• Permanent Account deletion queues the profile photo for removal; backups or deletion queues may take additional time

20. Public Information & Others' Conduct

Some information is public by design and is shown to other users: your username, profile picture, Instagram handle (if you add one), online status, scores, and ratings.

• Once information is public, it may be viewed, copied, screenshotted, or re-shared by others — both inside and outside the App
• We cannot control how others use your Public Information, and we are not responsible for the conduct of other users
• If someone misuses your information or photos, report it to pito@pito.games and we will review and, where appropriate, act

21. Data Security

• Data encryption in transit and at rest
• Access controls and authentication
• Security monitoring, integrity checks, and network protections
• Automated backups

However, no method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure. While we work hard to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security, and you provide information at your own risk. If a data breach affects your personal data, we will take reasonable steps to address it and notify you or the competent authorities where required by law.

22. Data Retention

• Local data: Stored until cleared by an App control, operating-system cleanup, or uninstallation. Requesting Account deletion also wipes Pito's local account/cache data on that device after the server accepts the request
• Account, profile, social, chat, entitlement, and active game data: Kept while needed to provide the Account and feature, then deleted or de-identified after permanent Account deletion, subject to the exceptions below
• First-party analytics events: Current server cleanup retains a short rolling history of roughly two to three months; aggregated, non-user-identifying statistics may be kept longer
• Expiring messages/media: Removed according to the selected timer or view-once workflow plus operational deletion delays and retries. Other users may keep screenshots or copies
• Completed games, financial, receipt, fraud, safety, and audit records: May be kept as long as reasonably necessary for ratings and game integrity, accounting, refunds, disputes, security, abuse prevention, and legal duties. On permanent deletion, records designed for historical integrity are severed from the user's identity or otherwise de-identified where practicable
• Logs, backups, and provider records: May persist for limited operational, security, backup, or legal periods before being overwritten or deleted under provider schedules

23. Your Rights

• Access: View your data
• Rectification: Correct inaccurate information
• Erasure: Delete your data (via account deletion in Settings)
• Restriction: Limit processing
• Portability: Receive your data
• Objection: Object to processing

These rights depend on applicable law and may have exceptions. To request access, portability, correction, restriction, or objection, email pito@pito.games from the address linked to your Account. We may verify identity before responding.

24. Account & Data Deletion

You can request deletion in Settings. The Account is immediately deactivated, signed out, hidden from other users, and scheduled for permanent deletion after 30 days. During that grace period, signing in with the same Google or Apple identity gives you a choice to restore the Account or delete it permanently now. The initial request also wipes local Pito account/cache data on the requesting device.

Permanent deletion removes user-linked profile, social, active-game, chat, media, balance, entitlement, and authentication data. Some completed-match and financial/audit records are retained only in de-identified or identity-severed form for integrity, accounting, refunds, fraud prevention, disputes, and legal obligations. Limited backups, logs, and provider deletion queues may take longer to expire.

If you cannot sign in, email us at pito@pito.games from the address linked to your account and we will process your deletion request.

25. Minimum Age & Children's Privacy

The App Store/Google Play content rating describes game content, not permission to create an Account. Account, online multiplayer, chat, voice, public profile, advertising-consent, and purchase features are intended for users 13 years or older, or the higher minimum age required where they live.

Every Account is asked for a date of birth (Section 3). We use the declared age to apply age-appropriate settings: where the declared age is below the minimum for a feature, we may restrict or disable that feature for the Account, and we may raise the minimum age required to create or keep an Account at any time. A child's details are never used for advertising and never shared with partners except as anonymised aggregate statistics that cannot identify anyone.

If we determine that an Account was created in breach of the minimum age required where the user lives, we will disable it and delete or de-identify associated information as required by law and our operational deletion process. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has set a profile picture or provided personal information, contact us at pito@pito.games and we will remove it.

26. Changes to This Policy

We will update the date above when this Policy changes and provide additional notice when reasonably appropriate or legally required. If a change requires consent, we will request it before that processing.

27. Contact

Email: pito@pito.games

Supported languages: Kurdish (Sorani and Badini), Arabic, English