Privacy Policy
Cartographer's Lie · Last updated 17 August 2026
Cartographer's Lie is a daily deduction puzzle game published by Kevin Marsh ("I", "me"). This policy describes exactly what the app collects, why, where it goes, and how to get rid of it. It is written to match what the app's database actually stores — not a generic template.
1. Who is responsible
Kevin Marsh is the data controller for Cartographer's Lie. Contact: info@mieruconsulting.ai.
2. What the app collects
2.1 Account identifier
You sign in with Sign in with Apple. I receive a stable, app-specific user identifier from Apple, which is stored as your account ID. If you choose to share your email address at sign-in, Apple may supply either your real address or a private relay address; if you choose to hide it, I never receive your real address. I do not receive your Apple ID password, your Apple account name, your payment details, or your device's advertising identifier.
2.2 Profile
A display handle you choose, a randomly generated friend code used to add friends, and your account creation date.
2.3 Gameplay history
This is the bulk of what is stored, and it is stored because the game's rating and streak systems cannot function without it:
| Data | Why it exists |
|---|---|
| Each guess you submit on a puzzle, which hex you chose, whether it solved, and whether it was your 1st, 2nd or 3rd attempt | Scoring, and preventing more than three attempts |
| When you started a puzzle and when you submitted, and the elapsed solve time in milliseconds | Solve timing, leaderboards, duel outcomes |
| Whether you played in assisted or pure note mode | Separating assisted from unassisted results |
| Optional clue timings — which clue you ticked off and how long into the solve | Post-solve analysis shown back to you; advisory only |
| Replay traces for puzzles where you race a "ghost" | Rendering the ghost replay |
| Skill rating, rating deviation and volatility, plus a dated history of every rating change | Matching you to puzzles of appropriate difficulty |
| Current streak, best streak, last play date, and streak freezes used | The streak feature |
| Season points, total solves and clean solves | Seasonal leaderboards |
2.4 Ratings you give
If you rate a puzzle, your 1–5 star vote is stored against your account and that puzzle. Votes are aggregated into a puzzle's public score; your individual vote is not displayed to other players.
2.5 Social connections
Friendships you form, setters you follow, and duels you take part in — including who challenged whom, who won, and the reason the duel ended.
2.6 Puzzles you create
If you set puzzles, your setter display name, setter rating, tier and reputation are stored, and your setter name is shown publicly alongside puzzles you publish.
2.7 Session presence
While the app or the website is open in the foreground, it sends a once-a-minute heartbeat so I can see how long the game is actually being used. A heartbeat carries a random session id, whether it came from the app or the website, and a random installation id (app) or browser id (web). It carries no gameplay data and nothing typed. Heartbeats stop the moment the app or tab goes to the background. These identifiers are generated by the game, are not Apple's advertising identifier, and are used for aggregate usage statistics only.
2.8 Address-derived rate limiting and counting
The server derives a salted, one-way hash from the network address of web requests, for two purposes: limiting how fast a single address can call the server, and estimating how many distinct anonymous players the website has. The address itself is never stored, the salt is held only on the server, and the two purposes use separate hashes that cannot be joined.
2.9 Membership status
Whether you hold an active Guild membership, which product you bought, and when the current period ends. Payments are processed entirely by Apple. I never see or store your card number, billing address, or any other payment instrument.
What the app does not collect: location data, contacts, photos, microphone or camera access, health data, browsing history, advertising identifiers, or biometric data. The app contains no advertising and no third-party trackers.
3. Why I'm allowed to hold it
For users in the UK, EU and other regions with equivalent law, the lawful bases are: performance of a contract for your account, gameplay history, ratings and membership status, since the game cannot deliver a rated, streak-tracking puzzle without them; and legitimate interests for preventing cheating and abuse. Where consent is the basis, you may withdraw it by deleting your account.
4. Who else receives it
| Recipient | What they get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | Your purchase and subscription transactions; the sign-in identifier originates with them | Authentication and payment processing |
| RevenueCat, Inc. | Your account identifier and subscription events (purchase, renewal, cancellation, refund, expiry) | Managing subscription entitlements |
| Supabase, Inc. | Hosts the database and server functions holding everything in section 2 | Backend infrastructure |
These are the only three. I do not sell your data, share it with data brokers, or use it for advertising. Data is stored on infrastructure located in the United States; if you are outside the US, your data is transferred there.
4a. Advertising on the website
The website (not the app) may show advertisements served by Google AdSense in the margins and below the chart, never over or inside the puzzle. Google and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to serve and measure ads, and may personalise them based on your visits to this and other sites. You can opt out of personalised advertising at google.com/settings/ads, and where the law requires it you will be asked for consent before any advertising cookie is set. Google's own description of how it uses data from sites that show its ads is at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. Guild members are not shown ads in the app; the website's ads do not depend on an account.
5. How long it is kept
Your account and its gameplay history are kept for as long as your account exists. Session heartbeats and rate-limiting hashes are operational data, not part of your account record. When you delete your account, your profile, submissions, ratings, streaks, social connections and rating history are deleted. Puzzles you published as a setter may remain available to other players, with your setter name removed. Anonymised, aggregate statistics that cannot identify you — such as a puzzle's overall difficulty score — are retained.
6. Your rights and how to use them
You can delete your account and all associated data from within the app; this is immediate and does not require contacting me. You may also request access to your data, correction of it, a portable copy, or restriction of processing, by writing to info@mieruconsulting.ai. I will respond within 30 days.
If you are in the EU or UK you may complain to your local supervisory authority. If you are a California resident, you have the rights described under the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know and the right to delete; I do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined there.
7. Children
Cartographer's Lie is not directed at children under 13, and I do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, write to me and I will delete it.
8. Security
All traffic between the app and the server is encrypted in transit. Database access is restricted by row-level security policies so that your data is readable only by your own authenticated session, except where the game deliberately shows information publicly — leaderboard standings, setter names on published puzzles, and handles visible to friends. No system is perfectly secure, and I cannot guarantee absolute security.
9. Changes
If this policy changes materially, the date at the top will be updated and the change will be noted in the app before it takes effect.