Privacy Policy
Last updated 27 September 2026
5 To Win is made by one person, Aaron Reed, in Seattle, Washington. This policy describes exactly what the game stores, why, and how to get rid of it. It is short because the game collects very little.
There is no advertising in 5 To Win, no analytics or tracking SDK, no third party trackers, and nothing about you is ever sold or shared for marketing.
What is stored
Your account. Username, chosen by you and not required to be your real name. If you set a password, a one way hash of it, never the password itself. A random sign-in token for each phone you use, so the app can keep you signed in without storing a password. Account creation and last login times. Your avatar choice.
A recovery email, only if you add one. It is optional. Without it you simply cannot reset a forgotten password. If you add one, the address and a short lived verification code are stored until the code is used or expires.
Your games. Board state, moves, whose turn it is, and the result. Chat messages you send inside a game. Your friends list and pending friend requests. Win and loss totals used for the in game leaderboard, which shows usernames and records to other players.
To keep you signed in and to notify you. Session and device tokens on the server that let the app stay logged in. A push notification token from Apple, if you allow notifications, so the game can tell you it is your turn. Your notification preferences.
If you buy VIP. Apple handles the payment and I never see your card, your name, or your billing address. What I keep is the transaction id Apple signs, the product id, whether it came from the sandbox or the live store, and the time, stored against your account so the game knows the unlock is yours and so Restore Purchases works on a new phone.
Security housekeeping. IP addresses are used transiently to rate limit and to block abusive traffic. Blocked addresses are retained only while the block is in force.
What is not collected
No real name, no date of birth, no phone number, no contacts, no location, no photos, no advertising identifiers, no behavioural profile. The game does not read anything else on your device.
Who else sees it
- Other players see your username, avatar, game results, leaderboard standing, and any chat you send them.
- Apple delivers push notifications, if you enable them, and handles the VIP payment if you buy it. Your payment details go to Apple and never reach me.
- An email provider delivers verification and password reset messages to the address you supply, if you supply one.
- Nobody else. There is no data broker, no ad network, no analytics vendor.
Where it lives
On a server rented from Oracle Cloud in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, run by me. Traffic between the app and the server is encrypted with HTTPS. Backups of the database are taken daily.
Deleting your account
In the app: Settings, then Delete Account. You type your username to confirm. This erases your account and everything attached to it, in a single database transaction: games, chat, friends, leaderboard record, sessions, device and push tokens, verification codes, and any VIP license attached to your account. It cannot be undone.
Deleted data may persist for up to 30 days in encrypted database backups, which then age out on their own. You can also write to me and ask for deletion.
Children
5 To Win is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, write to me and it will be deleted.
Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask what is stored about you, ask for a copy, ask for a correction, or ask for deletion. Deletion is self service in the app. For anything else, use the contact form and expect a reply within a few days. This is one person, not a support department.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes, and the current version is always at this address.