Pythia
Play free

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 8 September 2026

The short version. Pythia shows no ads and runs no analytics or third-party tracking. You can play entirely as a guest — pick a display name, play, done. An optional free account (email or Sign in with Apple) exists only to keep your coins and match history across devices, and you can delete it in the app at any time.

Who this covers

This policy applies to the Pythia app and website (the “Game”), an online trick-taking card game for 3–6 friends. The Game is free of charge, with no ads and no in-app purchases.

Controller in the sense of Art. 4(7) GDPR is the person named in the Impressum.

Playing as a guest — nothing is stored

You can join any room without an account. As a guest you choose a display name for that session. That name and your moves (bids, the cards you play, connection state) are relayed over a WebSocket to the other players in your room so the game can run, and they live in the server's memory only for the life of the room. When the room ends, nothing about you remains.

Optional account — what we store and why

If you choose to create an account, we store:

  • Your email address (email sign-up only) — to identify your account and, if you ask for it, to send a password-reset link. It is never used for marketing.
  • An Apple-provided identifier (Sign in with Apple) — if you choose Hide My Email, Apple gives us only a private relay address; we never see your real Apple ID email, and we never see your Apple password.
  • Your display name and avatar choice — shown to the other players in your games.
  • Your coin balance — the in-game currency earned by playing.
  • Your match history — games, rounds, bids and scores, so your progress follows you from one device to the next.

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR: this is the service you asked for when you created the account. Nothing here is required to play — guest play is always available.

What we do not collect

  • No advertising identifiers, and no advertising of any kind.
  • No third-party analytics, tracking pixels, or cross-app / cross-website tracking.
  • No location data, contacts, photos, microphone or camera access.
  • No payment information — the Game is free and there is nothing to buy.
  • No phone numbers.

Cookies

This website sets no cookies and embeds nothing from third parties — no fonts, scripts, maps or videos are loaded from anyone else's server. That is also why you are not being asked for consent: there is nothing to consent to.

On-device settings

The Game keeps a few preferences (chosen language, light or dark theme) in your device's own local storage. They never leave your device, and clearing your browser or app storage removes them.

Standard connection metadata

Like any website, our hosts briefly process your IP address to route network traffic and to defend against abuse (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We do not use it to build a profile of you.

Who processes data for us

  • Render (Render Services, Inc., USA) — runs the game server and the Postgres database that holds account data.
  • Cloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc., USA) — serves this website.

Both are engaged as processors under Art. 28 GDPR; transfers to the USA rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

How long we keep things

Rooms are ephemeral — guest play leaves nothing behind once the room ends. Account data is kept until you delete the account.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from inside the app: Profile → account actions → Delete account. Deletion is immediate and permanent; your email or Apple identifier, display name, coins and match history are removed from our servers. Guest sessions leave nothing to delete.

Your rights

You have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and to object to processing (Art. 15–21 GDPR). The fastest route for erasure is the in-app delete above; for anything else, write to us at the address in the Impressum. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.

Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your information with advertisers or data brokers. The only “sharing” is the intended one: your display name and your moves are visible to the other players at your table while you play together.

Children

Pythia is rated 4+ and is family-friendly. Guest play requires no personal information at all. Please choose a display name that does not reveal a child's real identity.

Changes to this policy

If the Game changes how it handles data, this page changes with it and the date above is revised.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Write to [email protected], or see the support page.