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Spinkle Privacy Policy

Effective date: 25 October 2026

Spinkle is a song-guessing game for iPhone and iPad made by Yağız Ada Umur, an independent developer based in Çanakkale, Türkiye ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the Spinkle app and this website (spinkle.magalar.com) use, who receives it, and what choices you have. We've kept it as short and plain as we can.

For users in Türkiye, this policy is also our information notice (aydınlatma metni) under Article 10 of the Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 ("KVKK").

The short version

  • No accounts of our own. We never ask for your name, email address, phone number or location.
  • Your stats stay on your device. Streaks, daily results, practice stats, badges and settings are stored on your iPhone or iPad.
  • Game Center is optional. If you're signed in to Apple's Game Center, your scores and achievement progress go to Apple for the leaderboards and achievements. Nothing from Game Center comes to us.
  • Anonymous song counters. When you finish a song, the app adds one to an anonymous counter for that song (for example "solved at 3 seconds") in Apple's iCloud. That's how we show "How others guessed". The app writes no name and no identifier of its own.
  • Music comes from Apple. Song clips and cover art are downloaded from Apple's servers.
  • No ads, no analytics, no tracking. The app contains no advertising, analytics or tracking tools, and this website uses no cookies.
  • Apple handles payments. We never see your payment details.
  • We don't sell your data, and we don't share it for advertising.

1. Who is responsible

Yağız Ada Umur is responsible for the processing described in this policy. That makes us the "controller" under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") and the data controller (veri sorumlusu) under KVKK.

Spinkle runs on Apple's services (the App Store, iCloud, Game Center and Apple's music preview servers). Apple handles the data it receives through those services as an independent company, under its own Privacy Policy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/

2. Information stored only on your device

The app saves the following in its own storage on your device:

  • your settings (language, sound, haptics, daily reminder on or off)
  • your daily results and guesses, streaks and practice stats
  • your badge progress (the counts behind each badge on the Me screen, such as how many dailies you've solved)
  • a short list of recently played songs, so new practice rounds feel fresh
  • whether you've already seen the "How to play" card
  • whether Pro is active, as a copy of what Apple last confirmed, so Pro also works offline
  • when you last played your free daily round in a Pro category, so the app knows when the next one is available (it comes back at midnight, your local time)
  • what the home screen widget shows (today's daily, whether you've played it, and your streak). The app shares this with its widget only on your device.
  • cached cover art images, so they don't have to be downloaded again
  • the preview clips of the round you're playing, as temporary files that are deleted when the song or the round ends

We can't see any of this. It stays on your device until you delete the app, and deleting the app also resets your free daily round. Like other app data, it may be included in your iCloud or computer backups, which you and Apple control.

3. Information that leaves your device

Songs, previews and cover art (Apple)

The list of songs is built into the app. When you play, the app downloads each song's 30-second preview clip and its cover art directly from Apple's servers. These are the same previews Apple uses in the iTunes Store and Apple Music. If a clip's link has expired, the app asks Apple's iTunes lookup service for a fresh link for that song.

As with any internet request, Apple can see your IP address and standard technical details of the request, such as the app's version. We don't receive this information.

Your guesses (on your device)

You guess by picking one of the song options shown on screen. Your guesses are checked on your device and aren't sent to Apple or to us. Apart from the anonymous counter described next, nothing about your guesses leaves your device.

Anonymous "How others guessed" counters (Apple iCloud)

When you finish a song, in the daily or in practice, the app adds one to a counter for that song in a shared, public iCloud database (Apple CloudKit) that Apple runs for Spinkle. Each song's record contains only:

  • the song's ID, and
  • six counts: how many players solved it at each stage (0.1s, 0.5s, 3s, 5s, 10s) and how many missed it.

The app does not write your name, email address, device ID or any other identifier into these records. It also reads the counts to show the "How others guessed" chart, which only appears once a song has at least 25 results.

Updating a counter requires your device to be signed in to iCloud. If it isn't, the counter isn't updated and the game works exactly the same.

As part of how iCloud works, Apple stores standard system information with each record, including an app-specific, pseudonymous identifier of the iCloud user who created the record and of the one who last changed it. The app never reads or uses this information, and it doesn't tell us who you are.

Pro purchase (Apple)

Spinkle Pro is a one-time in-app purchase sold and processed by Apple. It isn't a subscription. Apple handles your payment details, and we never see them. The app only checks with Apple, on your device, whether Pro is active for your Apple Account, so it can unlock Pro features and restore your purchase.

Game Center leaderboards and achievements (Apple, optional)

Spinkle uses Apple's Game Center for its leaderboards and achievements. Signing in is optional: you don't need a Game Center account to play, and the whole game, including the badges on the Me screen, works without it. If your device is already signed in to Game Center, the app connects to it automatically once you've finished your first game, or when you open the Me screen (iOS may show a short welcome banner). You can sign in or out at any time in iOS Settings › Game Center.

While you're signed in, the app sends the following to Game Center:

  • your scores for four leaderboards: your longest daily streak, how many dailies you've solved, your best practice round score, and your points for today's global daily (with the daily's number)
  • your progress toward 13 achievements, which match the badges on the Me screen

Game Center is run by Apple. Apple links these scores and achievements to your Game Center profile, and other players may see your nickname, photo and scores on the leaderboards, depending on your Game Center settings.

To show who's signed in, the app reads your Game Center nickname and photo and displays them on the Me screen. They're shown only on your device: the app doesn't save them and doesn't send them anywhere. We don't run a server of our own, so your scores and achievement progress go to Apple, not to us, and we don't collect anything else through Game Center.

Free daily round (on your device only)

If you don't have Pro, you can play one free round a day in a Pro category. The app keeps track of this only on your device (see section 2), and nothing about it is sent to us or to Apple.

Daily reminder (on your device only)

If you turn on the daily reminder, iOS asks for your permission, and the reminder is scheduled on your device as a local notification. No push notification service is involved and nothing is sent to us. You can turn it off in the app's Settings or in iOS Settings.

Sharing your result

The Share button opens the iOS share sheet with a result card image and a short text such as "Spinkle 🌍 #12 🟥⬛🟩⬜⬜ 🔊 3s", with a link to Spinkle on the App Store. The card and the text show how you did, never the song, and contain no personal information. Nothing is shared unless you choose an app or person to send it to.

If you choose "Save Image" in the share sheet, iOS asks whether Spinkle may add photos to your library. This permission only lets the app add the card: it can't see or read your photos. You can change it at any time under Photos on Spinkle's page in iOS Settings.

Apple Music links

"Listen on Apple Music" opens the song's page in Apple Music or your browser. From there, Apple's privacy policy applies.

Ratings (Apple)

After a good game, the app may ask iOS to show Apple's standard rating prompt. iOS decides whether it actually appears and limits how often it does. Ratings and reviews go to Apple and are published on the App Store under Apple's terms. You can turn these prompts off in the App Store section of iOS Settings.

Crash reports and App Store statistics (Apple)

If you've turned on "Share With App Developers" in iOS Settings (Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements), Apple may send us crash reports and aggregated statistics about how the app is used, such as the number of sessions. Apple also gives us sales and download reports. None of this identifies you, and you can turn the sharing off at any time in the same place.

Emails you send us

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write. We use it only to reply to you and to help with your request. Our mailbox is provided by Google (Gmail), so your messages are stored on Google's servers.

4. This website

spinkle.magalar.com is a plain information website. It uses no cookies, no analytics, no ads, no tracking pixels, no forms and no content loaded from other websites.

Like every website, the server that hosts it receives standard technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, the page you asked for, the time, and your browser's name and version. This is needed to send you the pages and to keep the site secure. Our hosting provider may keep it in server logs for a short time. We don't use these logs to identify visitors, and we don't combine them with any other information.

5. What we don't do

  • No accounts, usernames, profiles or friend lists of our own. (Game Center is Apple's optional service, see section 3.)
  • No ads, and no third-party advertising, analytics or tracking tools in the app or on this website.
  • No tracking across other companies' apps or websites.
  • No selling of personal information, and no sharing of it for targeted advertising.
  • No profiling and no automated decisions that affect you.
  • No access to your location, contacts, camera, microphone, music library or the contents of your photo library. The only Photos permission the app can ask for is "add only", when you choose to save a result card (see section 3).

If you're in the EEA, the UK or Türkiye, the law asks us to name a legal basis for each use:

  • Providing the game you asked for (song clips, the "How others guessed" chart, Pro and restoring it, the free daily round, and Game Center leaderboards and achievements if you're signed in): necessary to provide the service you requested (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b); KVKK Art. 5(2)(c)).
  • Anonymous counters, keeping the game working and free from abuse, and running this website securely: our legitimate interest in running the game and the site (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f); KVKK Art. 5(2)(f)).
  • Replying to your emails: our legitimate interest in answering you, at your request (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f); KVKK Art. 5(2)(f)).
  • Keeping records where the law requires it, and defending legal claims: legal obligation (GDPR Art. 6(1)(c); KVKK Art. 5(2)(ç)) and establishing, exercising or defending a right (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f); KVKK Art. 5(2)(e)).

We obtain this information automatically, through the app and the website, and directly from you when you email us. We don't ask for your consent for any of it, because none of these uses relies on consent.

7. Who receives information

  • Apple, as described in section 3: the App Store, iCloud (CloudKit), Game Center, Apple's music preview servers, and crash reports and statistics.
  • Google, which provides our email.
  • Our web hosting provider, which runs this website.
  • Public authorities, only if the law requires us to share information with them.

We don't give information to anyone else.

8. International transfers

We don't run servers of our own. Apple, Google and our hosting provider may process data in the United States and in other countries outside Türkiye, the EEA and the UK. They do this under their own privacy policies and the transfer safeguards they describe there, such as standard contractual clauses. The anonymous song counters contain no personal information.

9. How long information is kept

  • On your device: until you delete the app.
  • Anonymous song counters: for as long as the game offers global stats. They contain no personal information.
  • Your emails: as long as needed to resolve your request, then deleted, normally within 12 months, unless the law requires us to keep them longer.
  • Website server logs: only as long as our hosting provider's standard log retention, which is short.
  • Apple (including Game Center scores and achievements): according to its own retention policies.

10. Your choices and rights

Choices you can make right now

  • Delete the app to remove everything it stored on your device.
  • Turn the daily reminder on or off at any time.
  • Sign out of Game Center (iOS Settings › Game Center) to stop sending scores and achievement progress. The game and the badges keep working.
  • The song counters are anonymous. If you'd still rather not add to them, they aren't updated while your device is signed out of iCloud.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example the EU/EEA, the UK, Türkiye, or California and other US states), you may have the right to:

  • know whether we process personal data about you, and get a copy of it
  • have it corrected or deleted
  • object to or restrict how it's used
  • receive your data in a portable format
  • complain to a data protection authority, such as your local authority in the EU, the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK, or the Personal Data Protection Authority (Kişisel Verileri Koruma Kurumu) in Türkiye.

If you're in Türkiye, Article 11 of KVKK gives you the right to: learn whether your personal data is processed; request information about it if it is; learn the purpose of the processing and whether the data is used for that purpose; know the third parties in Türkiye or abroad to whom it's transferred; ask for incomplete or inaccurate data to be corrected; ask for it to be deleted or destroyed under the conditions in Article 7; ask that third parties who received it be told about a correction or deletion; object to a result against you that comes only from automated analysis; and claim compensation if unlawful processing causes you damage.

How to make a request. Email yadaumur@gmail.com and tell us what you'd like us to do. We reply free of charge within 30 days. Because Spinkle has no accounts of our own and we don't keep data that identifies you, we usually can't link any record to a particular person, but we'll always tell you what we can. For data that Apple holds, you can also use Apple's own privacy tools: https://privacy.apple.com

US state privacy laws: we don't sell personal information, we don't share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we don't use sensitive personal information. Since we don't track anyone, we treat every visitor the same way, including those who send a Global Privacy Control signal.

11. Children

Spinkle is rated 13+ on the App Store. It's a general-audience game and isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from children.

If a younger child does use the app: there's no account or sign-up with us, no ads and no chat, and nothing they do in the game identifies them to us. Game Center is optional and follows Apple's own settings, including the Screen Time restrictions parents can set. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, for example by email, contact us at yadaumur@gmail.com and we'll delete it.

12. Security

Data stored by the app is protected by your device's built-in security, and every network connection the app and this website make uses encrypted HTTPS. We also keep as little information as we can: data we never collect can't be lost or misused.

13. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update this page and the effective date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll also mention it in the app's release notes. Earlier versions are available on request.

14. Contact

Questions, requests or concerns: yadaumur@gmail.com