Privacy Policy

Effective 1 October 2026 · applies to the Padamz website (padamz.com) and the Padamz apps for Android and iOS.

The short version: Padamz has no accounts and no sign-up. We do not collect, store, or sell your personal information. Your game data stays on your device. We count anonymous usage — how many devices play, roughly where, and in which language — with no identity attached and no IP address. The website shows ads from Adsterra. The Android and iOS apps show no ads today. Seven things can leave your device, and only those seven: the player name you choose and the avatar you pick from our 90 drawings, your scores on the leaderboards, a word you deliberately suggest for a word list, a message you send us through Feedback, your position in a two-player duo game while you are playing one, your moves in an online Ashta Chamma, Wagh Bakri, Paramapadam or Dahdi game while you are playing one, and — if you join one — your answers in a Festival Quiz. Voice and video calls go straight between the players' phones, never through us. A photo you add as your avatar never leaves your device. Each is explained below.

Data stored on your device

Your statistics (games played, streaks, guess distribution), settings (language, theme, sound, haptics, color-blind symbols), and daily progress are saved only in your browser's or app's local storage. They never leave your device and we cannot see them. Clearing your browser's site data, or uninstalling the app, deletes them permanently.

Anonymous usage statistics

So we can tell how many people play and which languages to invest in, Padamz sends a small number of anonymous events to our own database (hosted by Supabase). Exactly this and nothing else is sent:

• a random identifier generated on your device the first time you play — it is not derived from your device, your phone number, or anything about you;
• the fact that a session started, and when a daily puzzle is finished: the language, whether it was solved, the number of guesses, and how long it took;
• your device's time zone and browser language (for example "Asia/Kolkata" and "en-IN"), which is how we estimate the countries we are played in;
• whether you are on the web, the Android app or the iOS app, and the app version.

We do not collect or store your IP address, name, email, phone number, contacts, precise location, or the words you type. There are no analytics cookies and no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs — the data goes only to us and is never sold or shared. Because the identifier is random and stored on your device, clearing your browser's site data or uninstalling the app permanently disconnects you from any past events, which then refer to no one.

These events are kept for 13 months and then deleted automatically.

Turning it off. Open the ✦ stats panel and switch Usage stats off. Nothing further is sent from that moment, on the website and in the app alike, and the game works exactly as before. This is why Padamz shows no cookie banner: the measurement is our own, first-party, never shared with anyone, never combined with other sources, never used to profile or target you, limited to 13 months, and switchable off in one tap — the conditions under which EU rules treat audience measurement as exempt from prior consent.

Your profile and the leaderboards

Padamz asks you once for a player name and lets you pick an avatar from 90 drawings. Both are optional, and there is no account behind them and no password — they are simply a label on the random identifier above. Please choose a nickname, not your real name: other players can see it.

You can also add a photo as your avatar. It stays on your device. It is never sent to us or shown on any leaderboard — everyone else sees the drawing you picked.

When you finish a round, or change your name or avatar, this is sent to our database (hosted by Supabase) and nothing else: the random identifier, your name, your avatar's number and your score. For the daily word that score is worked out on our side from the words you guessed, the number of hints and whether you opened the clue, and how long it took; we keep the points, the number of guesses, hints and time, not the words. Your name, avatar and points are shown on that game's leaderboard, so anyone viewing it can see them — that is what a leaderboard is. The random identifier is never shown to anyone.

Scores are kept until you delete them. To delete your name and every score, tap 🗑 Delete my scores in the ✦ stats panel; it takes effect at once. You can also email us with the random identifier (see Your rights below). Names that are offensive are replaced with "Player" automatically, and we may remove scores that are clearly not genuine.

Suggesting a word

If you send us a word for a language's word list, we receive the word, the language and the app version — and nothing that identifies you. No name, no identifier, no device information. It is not linked to you in any way, and it is sent only when you choose to send it.

Playing a duo game with a friend

Maze Wordz has a two-player mode: one of you starts it and reads out a three-digit code, the other types it in, and you both race the same maze on your own phones. It happens only if you start or join one. While a duo is running, these are sent to our database (Supabase) and nothing else:

• the player name described above, which your opponent sees on their screen;
• the same random identifier, so each phone knows which bunny is which;
• where your bunny is in the maze, how many letters you have collected and how many lives you have left — which is what lets your opponent see you running.

No email, no phone number, no account, and nothing about your device. A room is reachable only by the code you read out, and the code stops working a couple of hours later. The room and both players' rows are deleted automatically one day after the game. If you never start a duo, none of this applies to you.

Playing Ashta Chamma online, and its voice and video calls

Ashta Chamma can be played with family and friends on their own phones: one of you shares a five-letter room code or invite link, and the others join. It happens only if you invite someone or join a room. While the game is open, these pass between the phones in that room through our real-time service (Supabase Realtime) and are not stored by us:

• your player name and your avatar drawing — never a photo you have added, which stays on your phone;
• your piece colour and cowrie design;
• the moves of the game, with a random identifier made for that game only.

Anyone with the code can join or watch the room while it is open, so share it only with people you know. When a player leaves, the game stops for everyone and the room is forgotten.

Voice and video calls. If you tap the call or video button, the app asks for your microphone (and your camera, for video) — and only then. Sound and picture travel directly between the players' phones, encrypted, and never pass through or are stored on our servers; nothing is recorded. To connect the phones, a few technical connection details (including network addresses) are exchanged through the same real-time service, and a public STUN server run by Google tells each phone its own public address. Leaving the call, or the game, turns the microphone and camera off.

Playing Paramapadam (Snakes & Ladders) online, and its calls

Paramapadam works exactly like Ashta Chamma above: rooms are joined only by a five-letter code or invite link, and while the game is open your player name, your avatar drawing (never a photo), your pawn colour and the rolls and moves of the game, with a random identifier made for that game only, pass between the phones in that room through Supabase Realtime and are not stored by us. Its voice and video calls work the same way as Ashta Chamma's: the microphone and camera are asked for only when you tap a call button, and sound and picture go directly between the players' phones, never through our servers.

Playing Dahdi / 3 in a Row online

Dahdi (3 in a row) is played with a friend the same way as Wagh Bakri below: by a five-letter room code or link, only if you invite someone or join a room. Your player name, the moves of the game and the answers to its "Still playing?" question, with a random identifier made for that game only, pass between the two phones through Supabase Realtime and are not stored by us. There are no calls in Dahdi.

Playing Wagh Bakri online

Wagh Bakri (tigers and goats) can be played with a friend on their own phone, the same way: one of you shares a five-letter room code or link and the other joins. It happens only if you invite someone or join a room. While the game is open, your player name and the moves of the game, with a random identifier made for that game only, pass between the two phones through the same real-time service (Supabase Realtime) and are not stored by us. There are no calls in Wagh Bakri. Anyone with the code can join the room while it is open, so share it only with someone you know.

Sending us feedback

If you write to us through the Feedback button, we receive the message you typed, the language the app was in, whether you were on the website, Android or iOS, and the app version — and nothing that identifies you. No name, no email, no identifier. That is deliberate, and it has one consequence worth stating plainly: we cannot reply to you. The card says so before you send. If you want an answer, email us instead (see Contact below).

Please do not type anything into that box that you would not want stored: whatever you write is what we receive.

Festival Quiz

A Festival Quiz is a live room: a host reads out a three-digit code, everyone in the room joins with it, and the room shares one scoreboard. It happens only if you join a room. While you are in one, these are sent to our database (Supabase) and nothing else:

• the first name you type to join — anything you like, it does not have to be your real name — which the other players in that room see on the scoreboard;
• the answers you tap and how quickly you tapped them, which is what the scoreboard is made of;
• the same random identifier described above, so the room can tell one player from another.

No email, no phone number, no account. A room is reachable only by the code the host reads out, and it stops accepting joins 12 hours after it starts. The event, its players and all of their answers are deleted automatically 30 days after the quiz, and the host can end a room at any time. If you never open a Festival Quiz, none of this applies to you.

Ads on the website

The website — including when you install it to a home screen and play it in the browser — shows ads from Adsterra. Adsterra is a third-party advertising network: it may set or read cookies and use your device and browsing information to select and measure ads, including personalised ads where permitted. We do not receive that information ourselves.

You can opt out of interest-based advertising from participating vendors at aboutads.info or, in Europe, at youronlinechoices.eu. Adsterra's own policy is at adsterra.com/privacy-policy.

We have asked Adsterra to block adult, dating and vulgar creative categories on our account, to match this game's age rating.

Apart from Adsterra and the anonymous statistics described above, the website runs no third-party trackers. Our hosting provider (Vercel) may briefly process your IP address in ordinary server logs to deliver the site securely, as virtually every website's host does.

Ads in the apps

Neither app shows ads today. We plan to add ads to the apps later, served through Meta Audience Network using AppLovin MAX, to keep Padamz free. Until then the apps contain no advertising SDK and request no ads. Earlier Android versions showed ads through Google AdMob; that was removed on 30 August 2026.

The iOS app asks for permission to track. Shortly after you open it, iOS may show Apple's standard "Allow Padamz to track your activity…" prompt. We ask now, before any ads exist, so that the question comes once rather than in the middle of a game later. If you allow it, your device's advertising identifier may later be used by those ad partners to show you more relevant ads. If you decline, nothing in the game changes — every game and feature works exactly the same, and any ads shown later are simply less relevant. Today the app does not read the advertising identifier either way. You can change your answer at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

Android does not read or transmit your device's advertising ID — the app does not hold the permission required to access it. If that changes when ads arrive, this policy will be updated first and Android's own Settings → Privacy → Ads controls will apply.

The ads described in the website section above are on the website only; the apps never load them.

Purchases

Padamz is free and has nothing to buy — no in-app purchases and no subscriptions — so we handle no payment details of any kind.

Children

Padamz is a general-audience word game. It has no accounts and asks for no personal information from anyone, including children — no email, no phone number, no date of birth, no address. It asks only for a player name and an avatar drawing for the scoreboards — both optional. The name should be a nickname, not a real name, precisely because other players can see it, and a photo added as an avatar never leaves the device.

Your rights

The Usage stats switch in the ✦ stats panel stops the anonymous statistics. There is no ad-consent choice to offer any more, because the apps carry no ad SDK.

Because we hold no information that identifies you, there is normally nothing for us to access, correct, or delete on our side — your game data is under your control on your own device, and the usage statistics above cannot be traced back to a person. If you want the events from your device removed anyway, email us with the random identifier (it is stored under padamz-device in your browser's local storage) and we will delete those rows. The same goes for your leaderboard entries — which you can also delete yourself with 🗑 Delete my scores — and for a Festival Quiz name and its answers before the 30 days are up. If you have any privacy question or request (including under the GDPR or India's DPDP Act), email us and we will help.

Changes & contact

If this policy changes, we will update this page and its effective date. Contact: info@padamz.com