On this page
The short version
- We do not show ads. We do not sell your data.
- There are no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs in the app.
- If you only play against the AI, nothing leaves your phone.
- If you play online, we store the minimum needed to seat you at a table — your chosen display name, an anonymous device-bound identifier, and the score-sheet of any games you finish.
- You can wipe everything with one tap from inside the app, or by deleting the app.
Who we are
Tichu Master (“the app”) is built and operated by Jonas Schmidhalter (“we”, “us”), an independent developer based in Switzerland. You can reach us any time at support@tichu-master.com — questions about your data go straight to a real person.
Data stored on your device
Most of what Tichu Master remembers about you never leaves your phone. We use the operating system’s standard local-storage layer (UserDefaults on iOS, SharedPreferences on Android) to persist:
- Your settings (haptics, sound, animations, card style, bot difficulty, language).
- Your default display name.
- The state of in-progress AI games, so you can resume them.
- Your game history and statistics (Tichus called, bombs played, win rate, etc.).
- Your friends list (handles you’ve added) — held locally until our server-side roster is rolled out.
We never read this data. It exists only to make the app work on the device you installed it on. Uninstalling Tichu Master clears all of it.
Data when you play online
Online play is currently in preview and is opt-in: the app defaults to solo play against the AI, and only contacts our server when you choose a Quick Match, create a private room, or join one.
Our online backend is hosted on Supabase in the European Union. When you play online we store, on your behalf:
- Your chosen display name and a 6-character handle code (e.g.
ABC123). - An anonymous, device-bound identifier we generate ourselves — not a phone number, not an email, not your Apple/Google account.
- The game state and scoreboards of online games you join, so the table can keep playing if your phone briefly drops the connection.
- Your ELO rating and a per-game record of how it changed (wins, losses, opponents you faced).
- If you opt in: the push token for your device (see below).
We do not collect your real name, email address, phone number, contacts, location, photos, IP-derived precise geolocation, or any other personal identifier. We do not link anything you do in Tichu Master to any other product or account.
Push notifications
If you accept the system notification prompt, the app uses Firebase Cloud Messaging (a Google service) to deliver one kind of message: game invites from your friends. We send the FCM push token for your device to our server so we can route invites to it. You can revoke notification permission at any time in your phone’s settings — the app will stop receiving (and we will stop sending) push messages.
Children
Tichu Master contains no advertising, no in-app purchases, no chat, and no user-generated content. The app is not directed at children under 13, but is appropriate for all ages. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has used online play and you would like their data removed, please contact us.
Third-party services we use
We try to keep this list as short as possible. As of the date above, the only third parties involved in Tichu Master are:
- Supabase (Postgres + auth + realtime, EU-hosted) — stores the online-play data described above. See Supabase’s privacy policy.
- Firebase Cloud Messaging(Google) — used only to deliver push notifications you’ve opted in to. See Firebase’s privacy notice.
- Apple App Store & Google Play — our distribution channels. They tell us anonymous, aggregated install and crash counts via their standard developer dashboards. We do not see who you are.
That’s it. There is no Facebook SDK, no AdMob, no Mixpanel, no Sentry, no Crashlytics, no third-party A/B-testing tooling.
Your rights
Because we live under Swiss data-protection law and the EU GDPR, you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you.
- Correct it if it’s wrong.
- Erase it (the “right to be forgotten”).
- Export a copy in a machine-readable format.
- Object to specific processing or withdraw consent.
Email support@tichu-master.com with your handle code and we’ll action your request within 30 days.
Deleting your data
The fastest way to remove everything is from inside the app:
- Open Settings → Reset all data (coming in v1.1) and confirm.
- Or simply uninstall the app — your local data goes with it.
To remove your online-play records (ELO history, game records, handle), email support@tichu-master.com with your 6-character handle code (e.g. ABC123) and the words “delete my account”. We’ll confirm and erase within 30 days.
Changes to this policy
If we make a meaningful change — say, adding a new third-party service or a new category of stored data — we’ll bump the “last updated” date at the top of this page and, where the change is significant, surface a notice inside the app on next launch.
Contact
Jonas Schmidhalter — Tichu Master
Switzerland
support@tichu-master.com