Playing as a guest
Leo creates a player profile so you can play without signing up. Your display name, achievements, quiz statistics, game records and recent question history are stored on your device. The app also keeps your preferences and a random player identifier used to recognize your progress.
Your progress is also saved on Leo’s game service under that random player identifier, so it isn’t lost: your display name and when you started playing, your quiz statistics and achievements, and your records, streaks and boards in progress in Word Quest, the Mini Crossword, Arrow Words, Word Wheel, the globe and Map Mission. When something changes, Leo sends the new version; when you open the app, it fetches what changed on your other devices. The identifier is kept in your device’s keychain, so your progress comes back if you reinstall Leo. If iCloud Keychain is turned on, Apple syncs the identifier, end-to-end encrypted, to your other Apple devices, which is how they find the same progress. Leo never receives your Apple ID.
When you request a question round, Leo sends the selected language and categories, previously seen question IDs, and—when available—answer events with question IDs, answer order, time and whether the answer was correct. The question service uses a random installation identifier to space question repeats. It does not need your email address for this.
When Leo opens, it asks its game service which versions of the app may still be played, sending its build number and your random player identifier, so Leo can tell how many players run each version before asking anyone to update.
When you finish a Word Quest game, or leave a daily puzzle you started unfinished, Leo sends a record of it to its game service with the same random installation identifier: a random game ID, the language, the word, whether it was the daily puzzle or free play, the day and time you played, whether you solved, missed or skipped it, how many tries you used, how many seconds you spent and whether you used a hint. Leo also sends the words you have had recently in that language so they aren’t dealt to you again; that list is not stored. The service uses these records to choose words of the day that few players have seen, to keep their difficulty similar in every language and to give you free-play words you haven’t had. The Mini Crossword only asks for grids: it sends the language, the day and the grids you already have, without your identifier. Deleting your Leo account removes these records; totals for each word, such as how many players solved it, are kept without your identifier.
If you connect an account
If you choose Sign in with Apple, Firebase Authentication processes the sign-in and gives Leo an account identifier. Apple may share the name or email you choose to provide, including a private relay address. Leo’s game service verifies the sign-in and links that account identifier to your random player identifier, so the same progress follows you on any device where you sign in.
Account creation is optional. Leo does not ask you to connect an Apple or Google account just to start playing.
Ads for hints
Leo shows an ad only when you ask for a hint and choose to watch one: no banners, and no ad you did not ask for. Ads come from Google AdMob and are never personalised; Leo does not ask to track you across other companies’ apps and websites.
When an ad is requested, Google’s Mobile Ads SDK receives information such as your IP address (which can suggest a general location), device and app information, an advertising or app-specific identifier, how you interact with the ad, and diagnostics. Google uses it to deliver and measure the ad and to prevent fraud. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Leo first asks for your choice with Google’s consent form; you can change it at any time in Settings → Ads → Ad privacy choices. Learn how Google uses this information at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
When you finish a word game with a hint, Leo tells its game service that a hint was used, so the word’s difficulty statistics are not affected.
Streak reminders and messages from Leo
Reminders are off until you turn them on. When you do, Leo registers your device with its game service so it can send you notifications: a push token from Firebase Cloud Messaging (which delivers through Apple’s push service), your time zone, the hour you usually open Leo (so a message arrives then and never at night), the language you read Leo in, your current day streak, the app build you run and your random player identifier.
The player identifier lets Leo send a message that suits how you play — for example a reminder when your streak is about to end, or a nudge to try a subject you have not played yet — using the answer and game records described above. Leo never sends your answers to anyone. Turn reminders off in Settings → Streak reminders, or in your device’s notification settings, to stop receiving them.
Those same answer records help Leo choose questions for you: in a round of every subject, a few more come from the subjects you find hardest.
Why we use this information
- To run quiz rounds, remember progress and show achievements.
- To choose questions in your language, avoid repeating them too soon, and lean rounds of every subject towards the subjects you find hardest.
- To send the streak reminders and messages you turned on, at a good hour and suited to how you play.
- To save your progress, bring it back after a reinstall, and keep it the same on your devices and your account.
- To show an ad you asked to watch in exchange for a hint.
- To respond when you contact Leo support.
Services and storage
Leo’s game service runs on Cloudflare Workers and D1: it stores your saved progress, the question, answer and word-game data described above, and, if you connect an account, the link between your account identifier and your player identifier. Sign-in is processed by Firebase Authentication, and notifications are delivered by Firebase Cloud Messaging. Ads for hints are provided by Google AdMob. These providers process information to operate their services.
Your device’s language setting helps Leo choose English, French or Spanish question text. Leo does not need your precise location to provide map missions.
Retention and deletion
Data on your device remains until you remove the app or its stored data. Saved progress and answer history remain on Leo’s game service under your random player identifier until you delete your Leo account or ask Leo Support to remove them. A player identifier replaced by another (for example when you sign in on a second device) has its progress merged into the new one and is then deleted. Deleting your account also unlinks your devices from it; a device keeps its reminders, without your identifier, until you turn them off.
To delete a connected Leo account and its saved progress, use Profile → Leo account → Delete account. If you can’t access the app, request deletion here. This does not delete your Apple or Google account.
Privacy questions and requests
If you have a question, want to make a privacy request or believe information was handled incorrectly, contact muse@apollosens.com. Please don’t include a password or sign-in code.