Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

GameSquire is made by Squire Builds, a sole proprietorship operated by Vincent Demeulenaere, based in Belgium. We're the data controller for the information described below. Contact us at support@squirebuilds.com with any question or request.

2. What we collect

If you ask for GameSquire news on this site: your email address. If you use the GameSquire app: your email address and password (handled by our authentication provider, we never see your password in plain text), profile info (display name, username and avatar you choose) and your data (the games you add to your shelf or wishlist, the plays you log (date, duration, notes, who played) and your friend connections). If you choose to, you can also add photos (of a game box or a score sheet) and use your phone's location once to suggest a place name (see sections 7 and 8). We don't read your contacts. We keep a push notification token for each phone you sign in on (section 10) and use device and session identifiers for product analytics (section 3).

3. Why we collect it

To run the app: showing your collection back to you, letting friends see what you own and what plays you've logged with them and keeping your account secure. We also use your email address for account emails you cannot opt out of, such as confirming your address or resetting your password and rarely to tell you about a change to the service your account depends on, such as what Premium costs. You can unsubscribe from those at any time with the link in each one and doing so never affects your account. News (new releases and what is new in GameSquire, a few times a year, never ads) is only sent if you ask for it: on this site, where we first email you a link to confirm, or with the News and new releases switch in the app's Notifications settings. Either way it covers news by email and by app notification: if you confirm on this site with the address of your GameSquire account, the switch in the app shows on and you get the news as notifications too. We record when and where you said yes. Turn the switch off or use the unsubscribe link in any news email and it stops. We also use privacy-focused product analytics (cookieless on this website, tied to your account inside the app) to see which pages and features people actually use (for example, adding a game, logging a play or sending a friend request), so we can improve GameSquire. Inside the app, these events are tied to your account, not to any advertising profile. Inside the mobile app, this can include session recordings of your on-screen activity, used only to find and fix bugs; password fields are automatically hidden in these recordings. We don't sell your data or use it for advertising. GameSquire has no ads and no ad tracking of any kind.

4. Who can see what

Inside the app, your profile (display name, username, avatar) is visible to other signed-in users so they can find and add you as a friend. Your shelf, wishlist and play log are visible only to accepted friends, in the ways the app is designed to show them (e.g. "games you both own"). Notes you write on a play are visible to anyone who can see that play. The email address you leave for GameSquire news is never shown to anyone else.

5. Where it's stored

We use Supabase, a third-party infrastructure provider, to host the app's database and handle authentication and PostHog (hosted in the EU) to record the product-analytics events and session recordings described in section 3. Anthropic's Claude API is our AI provider (see section 7). Billing is handled by Apple or Google directly (see section 9). Tips paid on the web are processed by Stripe, which handles your payment details on its own checkout page. If you ask for GameSquire news, your email address and when and where you said yes (this site or the app) are stored with Resend, our email provider, which sends the confirmation and news emails on our behalf.

When you scan or type a game's barcode in the app, we send the barcode number to GameUPC, a community database of board game barcodes, to find the game. If GameUPC doesn't know it, we send the number to EAN-DB, a product database. That lookup sends nothing about you. When you confirm which game a barcode belongs to, we also send GameUPC that game, its edition if you picked one and a scrambled code made from your account ID. That code is never your name or email address and GameUPC cannot turn it back into your account. It lets the next player who scans that box find the game straight away. It also lets GameUPC undo the matches of anyone who enters false ones.

When you sign in to GameSquire in a web browser, it sets one small cookie on gamesquire.app that says only that this browser uses the web app. It contains no account details and is not used for analytics or advertising. Its only job is to let a friend's invite link on this site take you straight to their profile in the web app instead of to the download page. Signing out removes it.

6. Rulebooks and the rules assistant

GameSquire keeps a library of rulebooks so its rules assistant can answer questions about a game. Most of them come from publishers' own websites. You can also upload a rulebook PDF yourself. Before you do you confirm that you have the right to share the file and that it is read by an AI to answer questions for other players of the game. We check that the file is a rulebook for that game and store it. We then use it to answer the questions of every player of that game. The file is sent to Anthropic's Claude API, our AI provider, only to check it and to answer questions.

Other players are never shown your name or your file. The app only tells them that a rulebook was uploaded by a player and has not been checked against the publisher. You can download the rulebooks you uploaded from the rulebook screen in the app. We record when you confirmed that you have the right to share a file and that record is not shown to anyone else. The files of refused or replaced uploads are deleted 30 days after that decision. If you delete your account we delete your uploads that were not approved. Approved uploads stay in the shared library without your name attached, because other players rely on them. If a publisher asks us not to use their rulebook we switch the rules assistant off for that game.

The questions you ask the assistant and its answers are stored with your account so you can see your recent questions. They count towards your daily and monthly limit. If you use the report button on a rulebook we keep your report (the rulebook, the problem you chose, your message and your account) so we can review it and we email it to ourselves. A report never removes anything by itself.

7. AI features: what is sent to Anthropic

Three features use Claude, an AI model from Anthropic. Using one sends the content below to Anthropic, only to produce the answer or the reading you asked for.

Rules questions: the question you type and the relevant pages of the game's rulebook. Box photos: the photo you take or pick when you scan a game box. Score photos: the photo of a score sheet you take or pick. A score sheet photo contains whatever is written on it, such as the names of the players.

We do not send your name, email address or account ID to Anthropic with any of these. Under Anthropic's commercial terms Anthropic does not use this content to train its models. Nothing is sent to Anthropic unless you ask a rules question or choose to scan a box or a score sheet. If you would rather not share a photo or a question, do not use that feature. The rest of GameSquire works without it.

8. Location

Location is used in one place: the "Use my location" button when you log a play. It is optional and the phone asks your permission when you tap it. GameSquire reads your position once, never in the background and rounds it to roughly the nearest block.

To turn that position into a place name, the app uses your phone's own address lookup, which is provided by Apple on iPhone and by Google on Android. That service receives the rounded coordinates. GameSquire never sends your position to its own servers or to analytics and it does not store it on our side. The place name you accept is saved with the play like any other text you type. The app also remembers the positions of your own places on your phone only, so it can suggest the same name next time. That list is erased when you delete your account.

9. Subscriptions and purchases

Subscriptions, question top-ups and tips bought in the iOS or Android app are sold and billed by Apple or Google. We never see or store your card or payment details. We use RevenueCat to check what you have bought: it receives a purchase record linked to your account ID so that your Premium status and extra questions appear in the app. Apple and Google keep their own purchase records under their own policies. Cancelling a subscription is done in your Apple or Google account settings. Deleting your GameSquire account does not cancel it.

10. Push notifications

If you allow notifications, the app stores a push notification token for each phone you sign in on, linked to your account. We use it only to send you notifications you have asked for, such as friend requests and play tags. We send news about GameSquire only if you switch on "News and new releases". Notifications are delivered through Apple's and Google's push services. You can turn notifications off in your phone settings. A token is removed when you sign out of that phone or delete your account.

11. Blocking and reporting players

You can block another player and report a player or a piece of content from inside the app. A block stops that player from finding you or sending you requests. A report sends us the player or content you reported, the reason you chose, any message you add and your account, so we can review it. We use this information only to review the report and to protect other players. A person you report is not told who reported them. Our rules for content are in the Terms of Use.

12. How long we keep it

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. For GameSquire news, if you unsubscribe we keep your email address marked as unsubscribed so we never email you news again by mistake. Ask us and we delete it completely. Deleting your app account also deletes your address from our news list. You can delete your app account at any time from Profile → Delete account, which permanently removes your profile, collection, play logs and friend connections. The full list of what is deleted and what is kept and how to ask for deletion by email without the app, is on our account deletion page.

13. Your rights

Under EU/Belgian data protection law (GDPR), you can request access to, correction of or a copy of your data and can request deletion at any time (see above or email us). If you believe we've mishandled your data, you can lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit.be).

14. Children

GameSquire isn't directed at children under 16. If you believe a child has created an account or signed up for GameSquire news without appropriate consent, contact us and we'll remove it.

15. Changes

We may update this policy as the app changes. Material changes will be reflected here with an updated date.

16. Contact

Squire Builds: support@squirebuilds.com