Privacy policy

CHRONOS is a free daily history game at dailychronos.com. You don’t need an account to play. You can choose to sign in with Google to keep your scores on every device. This page explains what the game does collect, why, and what you can do about it.

What we collect

• A random player ID. The first time you play, your browser stores a random code. It lets the game pick up where you left off and keeps it to one game per day. It isn’t linked to your name or contact details.
• Your games. For each day you play, our server records the date, your guesses and when you made them, how long you took, whether you solved it, whether you played the day before and whether you pressed Share. If you arrived from another website or a shared result link, we record that site’s address or the link’s code.
• If you sign in with Google. Signing in is optional. Google tells us your account’s name, email address and profile picture and gives us an account ID; these are kept by Firebase Authentication so you can stay signed in. Against that account ID we keep, for each day you play, which of your games it was, whether you solved it and how many clues it took — so your record and streak follow you to another device, and you get one game a day wherever you sign in. The first time you sign in on a browser, the results of games played earlier in that browser are added to your account.
• Who’s playing right now. While the game is open and on screen, it tells our server about once a minute, so we can count how many people are playing at the same moment. These notes are set to expire after two hours.
• Feedback you send. If you use the feedback form, we store your message and category, the puzzle and how your game went that day, the version of the game, your browser and device type, and a one-way code made from your player ID so several messages from one player can be grouped. If you add an email address, we use it only to reply to you.
• Usage analytics. We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the site is used, such as visits, pages and the kind of device, and how games go: when one starts, which hint each guess was made on and whether it was right or how near it was, how many hints a finished game took, when a game is left part-way and when a result is shared. It is never sent what you typed or the answer. It uses cookies and similar identifiers. Google’s use of this information is covered by Google’s privacy policy.
• Game recommendations from Portol. Under your results, a “Play next” box from Portol suggests other games. To do that, your browser loads Portol’s script, which gives your browser its own random ID, and we tell Portol each time you start a game. We don’t send Portol your guesses, your results or anything about your Google account. What Portol does with its own data is covered by Portol’s own policies.
• Advertising from Google AdSense. The site loads Google AdSense, which may show ads. Google and its partners use cookies and similar identifiers to serve ads, measure them and limit how often you see one, and, where the law and your choices allow, to base ads on your earlier visits to this and other websites. We don’t send Google your guesses, your results or anything about your account. You can turn off personalised ads in Google’s ad settings, and read how Google uses information from sites that use its services in Google’s explanation.

What stays on your device

Your settings, such as sound, are stored only in your browser. So are your stats (games played, wins, streaks and how many clues each win took) unless you sign in, when they are worked out from the results kept against your account instead.

How we use it

• To run the game: serve today’s puzzle, judge your guesses and keep your game going if you come back.
• To understand how each day went, in totals such as how many people played, solved it or shared it.
• To find and fix problems, and to make the puzzles better.
• To reply to feedback when you’ve asked us to.

We don’t sell your information, and we don’t use it to build an advertising profile ourselves. Ads shown by Google AdSense work as described above.

Where it’s kept

CHRONOS runs on Google Firebase, so this information is stored and processed on Google’s servers, which may be outside your country, including in the United States. Game records are kept for as long as the game runs, so that past days’ results stay accurate. Feedback is kept until we no longer need it.

Your choices

• Start fresh: clearing this site’s data in your browser removes your player ID, your stats and your settings. The game will treat you as a new player.
• Sign out at any time from Settings. To have your account’s results deleted, ask us as below.
• Block analytics and ads: your browser’s cookie settings or a privacy extension can block Google Analytics, Google AdSense and Portol’s script, and Google’s ad settings turn off personalised ads. The game works without any of them.
• Ask us: to ask about your information or to have your feedback or account deleted, use the feedback form in Settings and include an email address so we can reply.

Children

CHRONOS is meant for a general audience and isn’t directed at children under 13. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you think a child has sent us personal information through the feedback form, let us know and we’ll delete it.

Changes

If what we collect changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top. Contact: info@dailychronos.com, or the feedback form in the game’s Settings.