Security

It's fair to wonder what happens to your data in a small app made by someone you have never met. A sensible default is to assume an app is insecure until shown otherwise, so this page doesn't promise that GameSquire is safe. It describes how it is built, in enough detail that you can judge for yourself, including the parts that aren't reassuring.

There are no secrets in the app

The app on your phone contains exactly two credentials: the address of our database and a publishable key. Both are public by design, in the same way a website's address is public. The keys that do need protecting (for AI features, email delivery, the board game database, and the administrative database key) live only in server-side configuration. None of it has ever been in the app or in the source code, so there is nothing in the download for anyone to extract.

The database enforces the rules, not the app

Because that publishable key is public, we assume every request could come from someone holding it rather than from our own screens. So access control lives in the database. Every table has row-level security switched on, and has since the day the database was created. The database itself decides which rows you can read, so a modified app, a script, or anyone else with the key gets exactly the answer you would.

Permissions also limit what you can change on your own account. On your profile, your sign-in can edit your username, display name and avatar, plus two flags that record whether you have seen the intro and finished setup. That's all, so you can't grant yourself a paid subscription. Game information that comes from BoardGameGeek is checked by our server: when a game is added to GameSquire for the first time, the server looks it up on BoardGameGeek itself and replaces whatever the app sent. And every server-side function works out who you are from your verified sign-in session, never from what the request says about itself.

That rule about game information exists because reviews found real gaps, twice. The first time, an app could write its own text into a game's empty description, so we moved descriptions to the server. In September 2026 a second review found that the first person to add a game could still send a made-up name or picture for it. We compared every game in GameSquire against BoardGameGeek and none had been tampered with, and the server now checks each new game within seconds. We mention both because a security page that only lists successes tells you nothing about whether anyone is checking.

What we actually hold

An email address, a display name, and the games and plays you enter. No location, no contacts, no postal address, no payment details, no advertising SDK, and no ad tracking of any kind. There are no ads in GameSquire and there never will be. When paid subscriptions arrive, Apple and Google handle the billing, so card details never reach anything we operate.

We never see your password. Our authentication provider stores it hashed, and we can't read it at any point. If you sign in with Apple or Google there is no password at all, and with Apple's Hide My Email we never learn your real address either. If you do use a password, make it one you don't use anywhere else. That part is up to you.

We do use product analytics to see which features get used, and on mobile that can include session recordings used for fixing bugs, with password fields automatically hidden. That is described properly in the privacy policy, which is the authoritative document on what is collected and why.

Who can see your data

Your profile (display name, username and avatar) is visible to any signed-in user, because friend search needs it. Your shelf, wishlist and play log are visible only to friends whose requests you have accepted, and only in the ways the app is designed to show them. If you join a household, its members also see the games you own, since that shared shelf is the point of a household. A game you enter by hand is yours: friends and household members can see it, but nobody else can add it to their own shelf. BoardGameGeek game records are shared by everyone, and rulebook uploads are crowd-sourced, so any signed-in user can add one. Neither contains personal data.

Backups

The database is backed up nightly. The backups are encrypted before they are stored, and every one of them is automatically restored into a clean database with the row counts checked coming out, because a backup nobody has ever restored is just a file you hope about. If a restore ever fails, we find out that night instead of on the day it matters.

Getting your data out, and deleting it

You can export your whole shelf and wishlist to CSV at any time, from inside the app, without asking us. Your play log isn't part of that export yet. Deleting your account from Profile → Delete account removes your profile, collection, play logs and friend connections straight away, with no waiting period.

What we cannot claim

There has been no third-party penetration test. There is no SOC 2 report, no ISO certification, and no bug bounty program. GameSquire is built by one person, so the honest description is "designed defensively and reviewed carefully", and you should weigh it accordingly. That is why this page explains how things work instead of asking you to trust us.

Being on Google Play doesn't add a second opinion either. Store review checks that an app behaves and is truthful about what it collects, and Google also scans for malware and known-vulnerable components. Neither has ever looked at our server, our database rules, or who can read what.

The worst case is limited, though. If everything above failed at once, an attacker would get your email address, your display name, and the games and plays you logged. Your game collection is often already public on BoardGameGeek anyway. There is no financial data, no identity documents and nothing medical. That wouldn't excuse a breach, but it helps to know what you are actually risking by signing up.

Found something?

Email support@squirebuilds.com. The person who wrote the code will reply to you directly. If you report something in good faith, we won't come after you for it. We will fix it, and if it affected anyone's data, we will say so publicly.