What we collect and why
Last updated 2026-10-11. Version v1 (2026-10-11).
The short version. We collect your email so you can sign in, your nickname and games so you can play, and the topics you name so we can write questions. We use Stripe for payments, Resend for sign-in emails, AI providers to write questions, and Meta and PostHog to measure whether our ads and the game work. We store everything on a server in the United States with backups in the United States. We do not sell your personal data. You can turn ad measurement off below, and you can ask us to export or delete your data by email.
1. What we collect
| What | When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email address | When you sign in or ask for a code | We store the address as you typed it, plus the time and IP of each sign-in attempt, so we can spot abuse. The 6-digit code itself is stored only as a hash and expires in 10 minutes. |
| Nickname and colour | When you start or join a game | Shown to the other player and to anyone with the game's link. |
| Game history | As you play | Which games you played, scores, every question you have been shown (so you never see it twice), your answers, hints used, heckles sent, and feedback you leave on a question. |
| Topics and briefs | When you name a topic | The topic name and the short description you write, the questions we generate, and what it cost. |
| Device and network | Every request | IP address, browser type, the pages and screens you open, errors. Kept in server logs for 30 days. |
| Ad tags | When you arrive from an ad | The campaign tags in the link (utm_* and fbclid) and Meta's _fbp and _fbc cookies, so we know which ad brought you. |
| Product events | As you use the service | Named events like "game started" or "topic built", with no question text. Kept 90 days. |
| Payment details | When you buy | Handled by Stripe. We receive your Stripe customer id, what you bought, when, and the last four digits of the card. We never see the full card number. |
| Support email | When you write to us | Your message and our replies, kept with your account. |
Cookies
- Session cookie (strictly necessary): keeps you signed in for up to 180 days. HttpOnly, so scripts cannot read it.
- Theme and similar settings: stored in your browser, never sent to us.
- Ad measurement: Meta's _fbp and _fbc cookies and PostHog's analytics cookie, described in section 4. These load only if you have not opted out.
- Privacy choice: a cookie that remembers that you opted out of ad measurement.
2. Why we use it
- To run the game: sign you in, keep your record, avoid repeating questions, show your opponent your nickname.
- To write questions for the topics you name, and to bill the credits that costs.
- To take payments, send receipts and handle refunds.
- To send you sign-in codes and service emails (receipts, "your topic is ready", changes to terms). Marketing email only if you opt in, and every marketing email has an unsubscribe link.
- To measure whether our ads work and which parts of the game people use, so we can improve it.
- To find and stop abuse, fraud, cheating and attacks on the service.
- To meet legal duties, such as tax records.
We do not use your data to make decisions with legal effects on you, and we do not use your topics or game history to train AI models.
3. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it with anyone for their own marketing. We share it only with the companies below that help us run the service, each under a contract that limits what they can do with it.
| Company | What they do for us | What they get |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Payments, receipts, subscription management | Email, what you bought, card details (entered on Stripe's own form) |
| Resend | Sends our emails | Email address and the message |
| OpenRouter and the AI model providers it routes to | Write and check questions | Your topic name and brief. Never your email or identity. |
| Meta (Facebook and Instagram) | Measures whether our ads led to sign-ups and purchases | Pixel events from your browser, and server-side events with your email hashed (never in plain text), unless you opt out |
| PostHog | Product analytics | Which screens you use and product events, tied to a random id, unless you opt out |
| Cloudflare | Domain, email routing, and Turnstile (the "are you human" check on the sign-in form) | Your IP and browser signals when the check runs |
| DigitalOcean | Hosts our server in the United States | Everything, encrypted in transit, on our own server |
| Backblaze | Stores our encrypted backups in the United States | Backup copies of the database |
We may also share data if the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, to enforce our terms, or as part of a sale or merger of the business (in which case this policy keeps applying to your data).
4. Ad measurement and your choices
We use Meta's pixel and PostHog to measure ads and product use. Both are optional. You can turn them off for this browser here, and we honour the Global Privacy Control signal: if your browser sends it, we treat it as an opt-out without you doing anything.
Checking your current setting.
This sets a cookie that tells us not to load Meta's pixel or PostHog, and not to send ad measurement events for you. Your games and account are not affected.
If you clear cookies, your choice is cleared too, so come back here to set it again. To opt out across every browser, email support@tipsytrivia.ai and we will mark your account.
5. Where your data lives
Our server is in the United States (DigitalOcean), and the database is a single SQLite file on that server, encrypted in transit and readable only by the app. Nightly backups go to Backblaze in the United States, encrypted. The companies in section 3 process data in the United States or under US contracts. The service is for people in the United States; if you use it from somewhere else, your data comes to the United States.
6. How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Account, games, topics, credits | While your account is open, then up to 30 days after you ask us to delete it |
| Server logs (IP, browser, requests) | 30 days |
| Product events | 90 days |
| Backups | 30 days, then overwritten. A deleted account can live on in a backup for up to 30 more days and is never restored into the service. |
| Sign-in attempt records | 12 months, for abuse investigation |
| Payment and tax records | 7 years, as the law requires, held by Stripe and us |
| Guest accounts that never signed in | Deleted after 12 months without a game |
7. Your rights
Whoever you are, you can ask us to:
- Export your data. We send a file with your account, games, topics and questions.
- Delete your account and data. We confirm by email to the address on the account, then delete within 30 days. Payment records are kept as the law requires.
- Correct your email address or nickname (you can also do this in the app).
- Opt out of ad measurement (section 4) and of marketing email (the unsubscribe link in every one, or email us).
To do any of these, email support@tipsytrivia.ai from the address on the account. We reply within 10 business days and we never treat you differently for exercising a right. If you live in a state with a consumer privacy law and you think we got a request wrong, reply to our answer and a person will look again.
8. Children
The service is not for children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you think a child under 13 has an account, email support@tipsytrivia.ai and we will delete it.
9. Security
We use HTTPS everywhere, store sign-in codes only as hashes, keep the session cookie HttpOnly, rate-limit sign-in and the API, and keep the database on a server only we can reach. No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a breach that affects your personal data, we will email you at the address on your account and tell any regulator the law requires, without undue delay.
10. Changes
When we change this policy the "Last updated" date and version at the top change. If a change means we collect something new or share it with someone new, we email account holders before it takes effect.
11. Contact
Sheikh Consulting Corp, a Wyoming corporation, operating from Massachusetts, United States. Email: support@tipsytrivia.ai. Put "Privacy" in the subject and we will get to it faster.