Privacy Policy
Summary. Battles With Friends runs no servers of its own and has no accounts to sign up for. Single-player games stay on your device. Online play uses Apple's iCloud (CloudKit) and, if you choose, Game Center. Players who don't subscribe to Premium see ads from Google AdMob. We never sell your data.
Who we are
This policy covers the Battles With Friends app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, its iMessage app and App Clip ("the app", "we", "us"). Questions about privacy: see Support for how to contact us.
What stays on your device
Your captain profile (a random player ID, your captain name, rating and statistics), saved games, match history, campaign and tournament progress, achievements, the Battle Pass, your doubloon balance and owned cosmetics, settings and a copy of in-match chat are stored on your device. We can't see this data. Widgets, the Apple Watch app and the iMessage app read a summary of your games from storage shared only between the app's own components on your device.
What is stored in iCloud when you play online
Online play needs an iCloud account. The data is stored with Apple's CloudKit service under the app's iCloud container. We don't run any other backend.
| Data | Where | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Battles: moves, fleet placements (encrypted), turn timers, in-match chat messages and quick reactions, nudges | Your private iCloud database (battles you create) or the creator's (battles you join), shared between the two players | You and your opponent |
| Public captain profile: player ID, captain name, rating and rank, games played, wins, weekly and monthly wins, when you were last online, a redeemed referral code, and your public encryption keys (so other players can send you encrypted friend requests and challenges) | The app's public iCloud database | Other players (search, friends, leaderboards) |
| Your friends list, the friend requests you sent and the players you blocked | Your private iCloud database | Only you. Other players can't see who your friends are or whom you blocked; a player you block isn't told |
| Friend requests, direct challenges (with your name, rating and the battle's invite link) and the answers to them | The app's public iCloud database, end-to-end encrypted: only the player it is addressed to can read it. The keys that decrypt it stay in your iCloud Keychain | Only the recipient. Other signed-in iCloud users can see that a player received an encrypted item, from which iCloud user and when, but not what it is or what it says. Items are deleted once answered, or after 7 to 30 days |
| Matchmaking requests (name, rating, game mode) while you search | The app's public iCloud database | Players searching at the same time |
| Live battle broadcasts, when you allow spectators (on by default for battles against friends, off otherwise; change it in Settings or per battle): your player ID, captain name and rating, the game mode, your shots and their results, and ships you sank; your own fleet only after the battle has ended. While you watch a battle, a random per-device identifier and the time, to count spectators | The app's public iCloud database | Anyone with the battle's watch link, and your friends |
| Reports you send about other players (see below) | The app's public iCloud database, readable only by you and the developer | The developer |
Apple's handling of iCloud data is described in Apple's Privacy Policy. Push notifications ("your turn", challenges) are delivered by Apple's push service through iCloud. Notifications about friend requests and challenges don't say who sent them or what they are; the app decrypts them on your device.
Game Center
If you sign in to Game Center, your rating and weekly wins are submitted to Game Center leaderboards. Game Center is operated by Apple and is optional; without it the app shows rankings computed on your device.
SharePlay
When you play over FaceTime, moves and captain names are exchanged between the participants of the call through Apple's SharePlay service.
Advertising
If you don't subscribe to Premium, the app shows full-screen ads between games, provided by Google AdMob. In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, Google's consent message (Google User Messaging Platform) asks for your choice before the first ad; ads are only requested once that choice allows them, and you can change it at any time in Profile › Settings › Privacy Options. To know whether the message applies, the consent SDK checks your region with Google when the app starts (it's never started for Premium subscribers) and stores your answer on the device. Before the first ad, iOS also asks whether the app may track you (App Tracking Transparency). Google Mobile Ads collects device and usage information to serve, measure and protect ads, for example your IP address (which can indicate your approximate location), device type, ad interactions and diagnostics. If you allow tracking, it may also use your device's advertising identifier to show you more relevant ads. If you don't, the advertising identifier isn't shared. You can change this at any time in iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. Google's practices are described at How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services. Premium subscribers see no ads, and the ad SDK isn't started for them.
Purchases
Purchases and subscriptions are processed by Apple. We receive no payment details. The app checks your purchases on your device using Apple's StoreKit to unlock what you bought.
Chat, captain names and reports
Chat is only between the two players of a battle. Messages and captain names are checked by a profanity filter on the sending and receiving device. You can block a player and report a message, a captain, a friend request or a challenge. A report contains your player ID, the reported player's ID and captain name, the reason you chose, any note you add, and, for a message, the text you saw. Because friend requests and challenges are end-to-end encrypted, a report about one includes the content your device decrypted, with the sender's signature so we can confirm who sent it. Reports are kept for as long as we need them to review the report and keep the game safe. We may remove an offensive captain profile and exclude players who break the community rules from online play.
How we use data
We use the data above only to run the game: to let you play and chat with other players, show friends, leaderboards and matchmaking, deliver notifications, unlock purchases, review reports, and (for players without Premium) show ads. We don't sell personal data and we don't use it for our own advertising or profiling.
Deleting your data
- Online data: in the app, open Profile › Settings › Delete Online Data. This deletes your public captain profile and encryption keys, your friends list, friend requests, blocks and challenges, matchmaking requests and battle broadcasts, and withdraws or forfeits your running online battles. Finished battles are removed from your iCloud. A running battle you created is kept until your opponent has had the chance to see the result; run Delete Online Data again later to remove it. Blocks other players have placed on you, and other players' own friends lists, are their data and stay in place (you no longer appear in them while you have no public profile). Until you start or join an online battle or add a friend again, the app doesn't publish a new profile.
- Local progress: Profile › Settings › Reset Progress erases your saved games, statistics, progression, doubloons and unlocked items on this device (running online battles and your settings are kept). Premium, Battle Passes and bundles can be restored from the Store.
- All iCloud data of the app: iOS Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Manage Account Storage (or Storage) › Battles With Friends › Delete Data.
- Game Center: managed by Apple in iOS Settings › Game Center.
- Everything on the device: deleting the app removes its local data.
Data in another player's copy of a battle (for example, chat messages they received) is part of their game and isn't removed from their device.
Children
The app is not directed at children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. Parents can restrict iCloud, Game Center, in-app purchases and messaging with Screen Time.
Security
Data is transmitted over encrypted connections. Fleet placements are stored in CloudKit's encrypted fields and a cryptographic commitment proves a fleet wasn't changed during a battle. Friend requests and challenges are end-to-end encrypted between the two players (HPKE with P-256 and AES-GCM, using Apple's CryptoKit) and signed by the sender; your private keys stay in your iCloud Keychain.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct or delete your data, or to object to its use. Most of these you can do yourself in the app as described above. For anything else, contact us via Support.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date above and, for significant changes, tell you in the app.