Word Ladder · Legal
Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 25, 2026
1. What we collect
Word Ladder does not require an account. There is no sign-up, no login, and no email address. The table below summarizes what stays on your device and what is sent to our leaderboard service:
| Data | Where it lives | Do we see it? |
|---|---|---|
| Puzzle progress, stats, settings | On your device only | No |
| A random player ID, generated when you first open the app | On your device, and sent with leaderboard requests | Yes, to keep one score per player per day and to let you change your name. It is not linked to your identity and is never shown to other players. |
| Your display name (one you choose, or an automatic one like PLAYER_AB12) | Our leaderboard service | Yes, and it is shown publicly to other players on the leaderboard |
| Daily puzzle completion time, how many Computer Assist hints you used, and the puzzle date | Our leaderboard service | Yes, to show your rank |
| Reports you send about another player's name | Our leaderboard service | Yes, to moderate the leaderboard |
| Advertising data (device and operating system information, IP address, ad interactions, and, only if you allow tracking, your advertising identifier) | Collected directly by our advertising partner, Google AdMob, when an ad is shown | We receive reports about ad performance and revenue. We do not receive your advertising identifier or your individual ad activity. |
| Content you choose to share | Handled by your device's native share sheet | No |
Word Ladder does not collect your contacts or photos, and it does not ask for your precise location. It contains no third-party analytics. It does show optional advertising, described in Section 5, and our advertising partner collects the data listed in the table above. Like any internet service, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) processes network information such as your IP address when your device connects to the leaderboard, in order to deliver the service and keep it secure. We do not use it to identify you or to track you across other apps or websites.
2. Local storage
Your puzzle progress, statistics, and settings are stored locally on your device, using standard on-device app storage. We never receive or see this data. If you uninstall the app, this local data is deleted with it.
3. Leaderboard and display names
When you complete the daily puzzle, Word Ladder sends your completion time, your Computer Assist count, the puzzle date, your random player ID, and your display name to our leaderboard service, so you can see how you rank against other players that day.
After your first daily puzzle, the app suggests a display name and lets you choose your own. Your display name is public: every player who views the leaderboard can see it. Please do not use your real name, your contact details, or anything else that identifies you. You can skip choosing a name, in which case you appear under an automatic name like PLAYER_AB12, and you can change your name at any time from the Top Scores screen. When you change it, the new name replaces the old one on your existing leaderboard entries.
4. Moderation and reports
Display names are checked automatically for inappropriate language, impersonation, and personal information such as phone numbers, and names that fail the check are not accepted. Any player can report a name they find offensive from the leaderboard. When several different players report the same name, we automatically reset it to a default name and lock it from further changes. We may also review reports ourselves and reset or remove any name or score that breaks our Terms of Use. A report records the date, the reported entry, and your random player ID, and is used only for moderation.
5. Advertising
Word Ladder is free. To support it, the app offers optional rewarded video ads: if you want a Computer Assist hint, you can choose to watch a short ad to get it. Ads are never shown unless you ask for the hint.
Who provides the ads. Ads are served by Google AdMob and the advertising networks that work with it. When an ad is requested, these companies collect information directly from your device, such as your device model and operating system version, your IP address (from which they can infer an approximate location), and how you interact with the ad. If you allow tracking, they can also use your device's advertising identifier (IDFA). They use this to deliver and measure ads, to prevent fraud, and, if you allow tracking, to personalize the ads you see. Google's own explanation is at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not give advertisers your display name, player ID, or leaderboard scores.
Your choices.
- Tracking permission (iOS). The first time ads are used, Apple's system prompt asks whether Word Ladder may track you across other companies' apps and websites. If you choose "Ask App Not to Track," the app does not receive your advertising identifier, and ads are not personalized based on it. You can change this at any time in iOS Settings under Privacy & Security, then Tracking.
- Consent in Europe and the UK. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another region that requires it, you will be shown a consent form before any ad data is used, and you can change your choice later from the app's privacy options where available or by reinstalling the app.
- Reset or limit ads. You can reset your advertising identifier in iOS Settings, and you can manage Google's personalized ads at adssettings.google.com.
- Don't use ads. Watching an ad is always optional. Everything else in Word Ladder works without it.
Depending on where you live, laws in some US states treat sharing data for personalized advertising as "sharing" or "targeted advertising" and give you the right to opt out. Declining tracking, as described above, is how you opt out in Word Ladder.
6. Sharing your results
If you use the in-app share feature, it hands your result and a link to Word Ladder to your device's native share sheet. What you choose to share, and with whom, is entirely up to you and governed by the app or service you share to, not by us.
7. Children's privacy
Word Ladder is built for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. The app does not ask for personal information from anyone, regardless of age, and we do not knowingly collect data from children under 13, including for advertising. The only data it sends us is the leaderboard data described in Section 3, including a display name that the player types in or accepts from a suggestion, which other players can see. Our advertising partner collects the data described in Section 5 when an ad is shown. If you believe a child has put personal information in a display name, contact us and we will remove it.
8. Retention and deletion
We keep leaderboard entries, display names, and moderation reports for as long as the leaderboard operates. Because there are no accounts, we cannot look you up by an email address or login. To ask us to remove your leaderboard entries or a display name, use the contact form and tell us your display name and the date of a score, and we will remove the matching entries. Uninstalling the app deletes the data stored on your device, but not entries already on the leaderboard.
9. Security
Requests to our leaderboard service are sent over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, and we use reasonable technical measures to protect the data it holds, including keeping player IDs private from other players. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Data stored locally on your device is protected by your device's own operating system and security settings.
10. Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or some US states), you may have the right to ask what data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, and to object to or opt out of certain uses, including personalized advertising. We do not have accounts, so see Section 8 for how to ask us to remove leaderboard data. Advertising data is held by Google and its partners, and you can manage it through the choices in Section 5 and the links there. To make any request, use the contact form. If you are in the EEA or UK, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by an updated "Last updated" date at the top of this page, and, where required, surfaced in the app itself.
12. Contact
Questions about this Privacy Policy or how Word Ladder handles your information? Reach us through the MeremAI contact form.