Sqwidge privacy policy

Last updated: 4 October 2026

Sqwidge is a virtual pet that lives on your iPhone's Home Screen and Lock Screen. We keep the data we collect to what the game needs, never sell it, never use it for advertising, and never track you across other apps or websites.

On your iPhone only

Steps and walking distance (Apple Health). If you choose to walk with your Sqwidge, the app reads your daily step count and walking distance to give step treats, hatch walked eggs, move your creature along its journey map and set a few hidden challenges. Your step counts and walking distance are processed on your iPhone and never leave it. If you sign in, only game values worked out from them (step treats earned, days you walked 5,000 steps or more, and journey distance) are saved with your account — see "What we collect" below. We never use Health data for advertising or analytics. You can switch this off in Sqwidge's Settings or in the Health app at any time.
Approximate location. When an egg hatches, Sqwidge asks Apple Weather for the weather, sunrise and sunset where you are, so your creature can be born with a rain, frost or golden-hour trait. The location is used once, for that request, and is not stored or sent to us.
Your creatures and game progress are saved on your iPhone (shared with Sqwidge's widgets). If you sign in, a copy of your creatures is also kept with your account — see below.
Hidden challenges look at things on your iPhone such as the time, your time zone and whether the battery is low. These are checked on your iPhone and never sent to us.
When you usually visit. The time you first open Sqwidge each day, for the last two weeks, is kept on your iPhone so your Sqwidge can look out of the window for you around then. It is never sent to us.
Arcade runs. Your best run in each Arcade game (its score and your moves) is kept on your iPhone. Runs you play while signed out, or when Sqwidge can't reach our server as a run starts, stay on your iPhone and are never sent to us. A signed-in run waits on your iPhone until it has been sent (at most three, each for up to an hour).

Signing in with Apple is optional; you need it only for friends, the Happiness League, the Arcade's tables and the numbers on limited pieces (including the founders' gift). When you sign in we store, on servers run for us by Supabase (see "Where it's kept"):

An account id from Sign in with Apple, and the display name you choose. Sqwidge doesn't ask Apple for your email address. If Apple shares your name, the app offers your first name as your display name and saves it only if you choose it.
Your time zone (such as "Europe/London") and when your game last synced, so days, visits and league scores follow your local time.
Your friend code, friends list and friend requests. Each friend request you send by code is also logged with its time, to limit how many you can send; the log is cleared within a week.
Game data needed for the league and friends: your creatures (name, appearance, level, stage and game state such as needs and XP), care events (such as "fed at 08:12"), hourly happiness scores and league results. Care events are deleted after 60 days, and happiness scores after about five weeks.
Fitness values derived from your walking, if you walk with your Sqwidge: step treats earned, which days you walked 5,000 steps or more, and journey distance rounded to 0.1 km. Never your step counts, walking distances or any other raw Health data.
Visits between friends' creatures and their small gifts.
Arcade scores. For each Arcade run you play while signed in: the game, whether it was an Assisted run (played with Slower play, a switch on the Arcade's start card that anyone can turn on or off; it starts on while VoiceOver is on, and we record only whether Slower play was on, never whether you use VoiceOver), the number our server picks to lay out the run, when it started and when it was sent, your score, the wave you reached, how it ended, a record of your moves (where the basket was, or where and when you tapped, moment by moment) so our server can replay the run and check the score is real, the results of those checks, and which of your Sqwidges played and how it looked then. We keep the moves for 7 days, except for your best score in each game, a week's top 10, world records (so a record can be replayed) and runs being checked. Runs are deleted after 35 days unless they're your best score or a record. A run being checked is kept until it has been checked (one our automatic checks flagged, for at most 60 days).
Your arcade nickname, the name other players may see on the Arcade's tables: two words from our lists, such as "Sunny Puffin", given at random once you're signed in, until you pick your own (nobody types it). And whether you've chosen to show your scores on the Everyone tables.
Ribbons and world records. The ribbons you win on the Everyone tables, the record cups you're given, and the history of each game's world record: who held it, with which score and how far they got, from when to when, and their Sqwidge's form and colours. Kept for good, unless you delete your account (below).
Score reports. If you report a score on an Everyone table: who reported which run, and when, so we can check it. Kept for 35 days, or longer while the run is being checked.
Records of in-app purchases (product, transaction ids, date and Apple's signed record of the transaction) so they can be checked with Apple and restored.
Numbers for limited and earned pieces: which piece, its number, why and when it was given (for a purchase, its App Store transaction id) and, if you were one of the first 500 to sign in after launch, your founder number.
Each purchase check, logged with its time to limit how many can be sent, and cleared within a week.
Name reports: if you report a player's names, who reported whom and when, and the names reported (their display name and their creatures' names), so we can check them.
Blocks: the players you've blocked, when, and the name you knew them by (shown only to you, in Settings), so they can't send you friend requests or see your names and creatures.

Who sees your names: your friends see your display name and your creatures' names, and the numbers of the limited pieces your creatures are wearing. A player you send a friend request to sees your display name and friend code too, so they can decide whether to accept. Everyone else, including your league group and the global level board, sees you as "Keeper" and the last four characters of your friend code, with your league score or your best creature's level and stage, never your display name or your creatures' names.

On the Arcade's tables, your friends see your display name, your Sqwidge's name and look, your scores and how far you got, and whether a run was Assisted (played with Slower play, which anyone can choose). Other players see your scores only if you choose to show them to everyone, and then only with your arcade nickname, your Sqwidge's form and colours (never its outfit), how far you got and, for a world record, the day it was set. Assisted runs have Everyone tables of their own. There, players who aren't your friends never see your display name, your Sqwidges' names, your friend code, where you are or when you played. You can change this in Settings → Account at any time.

This data is linked to your account and used only to run the game: friends, visits, league tables, the Arcade's tables and records, name and score reports, blocks and purchase checks. It is not used for tracking or advertising and is not shared with anyone except our hosting provider, Supabase, which handles it only on our instructions.

Why we're allowed to use it

UK data protection law asks us to say which of its reasons we rely on:

To provide what you signed in for (a contract with you): your account, friends and visits, the Happiness League, the Arcade's tables, restoring purchases and the numbers on limited pieces.
To keep the game fair and safe (our legitimate interests): checking scores and purchases, limiting how many friend requests and purchase checks can be sent, sign-in records, and name and score reports and blocks.
Because you said yes (consent): the values worked out from your walking, which are sent only while Walk together is on (switch it off in Settings to stop), and showing your scores on the Everyone tables. You can change your mind at any time.

Where it's kept

Your account's data is stored by Supabase, our hosting provider, in its London (eu-west-2) data centre. Supabase acts as our processor: it handles the data only on our instructions, under a data processing agreement. Supabase is a US company, so some of its staff or services may reach the data from outside the UK; the agreement includes the safeguards UK law requires when data leaves the UK.

Server logs

When the app (or our website) talks to our servers, they keep standard logs to keep the service running and secure:

Sign-in records. Supabase's sign-in service records each time you sign in, refresh your session or sign out, with the IP address it came from. We keep these while you have an account and delete them with it.
Request logs. Supabase also keeps logs of requests, which include IP addresses, for a short time.
Our website (sqwidge.app) uses no cookies or analytics; its host keeps standard server logs, including IP addresses, for a short time.

How long we keep it

Everything above is kept for as long as you have an account, unless it says otherwise (care events, happiness scores, Arcade runs and moves, score reports and the rate limits' logs go sooner). When you delete your account, it all goes (below). An account that stops being used isn't deleted on its own: delete it in Settings, or email us.

Purchases

Payments are handled by Apple. We never see your payment details.

Your choices

Use Sqwidge without signing in: everything except friends, the league, the Arcade's tables and the numbers on limited pieces works without an account, and Arcade runs played without an account stay on your iPhone. Everything except those and the shop's Limited section (which asks our server what's on sale, without sending anything about you) works offline.
The Everyone tables: your Arcade scores go on them only if you say yes, with "Show me" when Sqwidge asks or the switch in Settings → Account. Until then, or if you choose "Friends only" or close the question, only your friends see them. Change it, or your arcade nickname, in Settings → Account at any time. Switching it off takes your scores off the Everyone tables straight away, and a world record you hold passes to the next-best score.
Delete your account at any time from Settings → Account → Delete account. You confirm with Sign in with Apple, then your account and all data linked to it are removed from our servers straight away and Sqwidge's Sign in with Apple access is revoked. That includes your Arcade runs, bests, ribbons, record cups and score reports, and your sign-in records. A world record you set stays in the record history as "A former keeper": its score, how far it got and when it was held, with nothing about you. Your creatures stay on your iPhone unless you delete the app.
Notifications are optional (at most two a day) and can be turned off per kind in Settings. The Arcade never sends any.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, to delete it, to limit or object to how we use it, or to have it in a form you can take elsewhere. Email us (below); we answer within a month, and may first ask you to show the account is yours. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.

Children

Sqwidge is suitable for everyone. It has no chat or free-text messaging; friends see only display names and creatures. Any friend or friend request can be reported or blocked. The Arcade's Everyone tables are off until you choose them, and show other players only a nickname made from our word lists, never anything typed. Our rules for names and scores, and what happens to a report, are at sqwidge.app/rules.

Who we are and how to reach us

Sqwidge is made by SessionLinked Ltd (a company registered in England and Wales, company number 17142090, registered office 66 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NA), which is responsible for the data described here. Questions or requests, including asking for a copy of your data: support@sqwidge.app.

This is the same policy you'll find in the app, under Settings → About → Privacy policy. Questions about it? Email support@sqwidge.app.