Privacy Policy
ChessFlex collects
nothing about you.
Effective Date: October 15, 2026 · Version 1.1
Nothing about this changes if you only play other iPhones. Playing someone on Android is your choice, every time: it is off until you turn it on, you can decline any invite from an Android player, and even those games carry nothing that identifies you.
Data We Collect
None about you. ChessFlex does not collect any personal information, usage analytics, advertising identifiers, or location data. There is no account to create — no email, phone number, real name, age, or photo is ever requested or stored. The only game data that ever leaves your device is described below: games with other iPhones through Apple's iCloud, and, only if you choose it, games with Android players through Google Firebase.
Your Identity
On first launch, ChessFlex creates a local profile: a handle you choose (a pseudonym — you are never asked for your real name) and a device identifier. The device identifier is derived from Apple's per-app vendor ID and then hashed, so the raw value is never stored or transmitted and the identifier resolves to nothing outside the app. A simple animal avatar is generated from it. Your profile, including your ELO rating and game statistics, is stored locally on your device using Apple's standard storage and is not accessible to Labham LLC.
Playing Games — Peer-to-Peer
ChessFlex games are played asynchronously between two devices. A game is shared as a QR code, a file, or a link that you send through iMessage or any app of your choice. The game data contains only the moves, the two players' handles, and their ELO ratings — never any personal contact information.
To deliver moves between players without either person needing to be online at the same time, ChessFlex uses Apple's CloudKit as a relay. Each player's device writes only its own copy of the in-progress game to a shared public CloudKit database; the opponent's device reads it. Apple operates this relay — Labham LLC runs no server of its own and stores nothing. Your Apple ID is never visible to your opponent, and the relay cannot introduce one player to another: a game record can only be reached by someone who already has its identifier.
Completed games are kept on your own device. Records placed on the CloudKit relay are for games in progress (or games you deliberately publish, such as a tournament broadcast) and are not a permanent store of your history.
Playing Someone on Android (only if you choose to)
Games between two iPhones use only Apple's iCloud, exactly as described above, and never anything else.
Android phones can't use iCloud, so a game with an Android player has to travel another way: through Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore), a relay run by Google. That happens only if you choose it:
- Off until you turn it on. "Play Android players" in Profile is off by default. While it is off, ChessFlex never contacts Firebase.
- You can refuse. When an invite from an Android player arrives, ChessFlex tells you it would go through Google Firebase and asks first. Decline, and nothing is sent; your games and settings stay exactly as they are.
- Only that game. If you accept, only that one game travels through Firebase. Your other games, your contacts and your profile stay where they are.
- Nothing that identifies you. The game carries what every ChessFlex game carries: your handle (a nickname you chose), a random ID made by the app, your rating, the moves and the result. No Apple ID, name, email, phone number, contacts, location or advertising identifier is ever sent. Firebase gives the app a random anonymous ID so that only your device can write your side of the game.
- Not kept. The app deletes its copy once both players have the result, after 30 days without a move, or when you remove the game.
Turn "Play Android players" off at any time; games with other iPhones were never affected.
Communication Between Players
ChessFlex has no chat. The only messages players can exchange are standard chess annotation symbols (such as "!" for a good move or "?" for a mistake). No free text passes between players, so no personal information can be shared and there is nothing to moderate.
Contacts
When you connect with another player, their handle is stored as a contact locally on your device only. Your contacts are never uploaded to Labham LLC or any third party, and ChessFlex never reads your phone's address book.
In-App Purchases
ChessFlex Study is a one-time in-app purchase processed entirely by Apple through StoreKit. Labham LLC does not receive or store any payment information. Apple's privacy policy governs that transaction.
The Website
Game invitation links may open a page on labham.com/chess. This is a static page; the game data is carried in the part of the link after the "#" symbol, which web browsers never send to any server — so invitation contents are not logged. As with any website, your web host's standard server logs may record the IP address and timestamp of a page request. Labham LLC does not process or retain these logs beyond standard hosting.
Third-Party Services
ChessFlex does not integrate any third-party analytics, advertising, crash-reporting, or tracking SDKs. Only if you choose to play someone on Android, that game goes through Google Firebase, as described above.
Children's Privacy
ChessFlex does not knowingly collect any personal data from anyone, including children under 13. Because the app has no chat and no way for one player to reach another except through a code or link shared deliberately, there is no open channel through which a child could be contacted.
Changes to This Policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this URL with a revised effective date.
Contact
Labham LLC
Email: Contact us
Website: labham.com