Privacy policy

Nothing leaves the room

Applies to the Circle of Joy app for Android and iOS. Last updated 23 September 2026.

What the app collects

Nothing. Circle of Joy has no account, no sign-in, no analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting service and no server of its own anywhere. It does not ask for your name, your email address, your location, your contacts or anything else, and it does not read them without asking.

What the app sends

Nothing. The app makes no network request of any kind — not to us, not to anyone. Every question, word, puzzle, passage, font and page it uses ships inside the app itself. It works in a hall with no signal.

How the room works, then

One phone runs the room. The other people in the room connect to that phone directly, over your own Wi-Fi network or the phone's hotspot, and play in their browser. Nothing on that link goes any further than the phone hosting the room.

• When someone joins they type a name and may add a photo. Both live on the host's phone for as long as the room is open, and are gone when it closes.
• Scores exist for the length of a game and are shown only to the room.
• If someone reports a mistake in a question, that report — the question's id, the reason, a note if they wrote one, and the name they joined with — is saved on the host's phone. It is never sent anywhere by the app. The host can pass it on themselves, using their own mail app, if they choose to.

Permissions

On iPhone the app asks for local network access, because that is what letting other phones in the room reach it requires.

On Android it asks, when you open a room, for permission to show a notification — the note in your notification shade that the room is open while the phone is in your pocket — and, on Android 16 and later, for local network access, for the same reason as on iPhone. Saying no to the notification does not stop the room working.

It uses these for nothing else, and asks for no other permission on either platform.

Payment

Hosting a room is a subscription, bought through Google Play or the Apple App Store. We never see your payment details; the store handles the purchase and holds them. Manage or cancel it in the store's own subscription settings.

Children

The games include a level for children. The app collects nothing from anyone, children included, and shows no advertising.

Changes

If any of this ever changes, this page will change first and the date above will move.

Contact

Questions about privacy, or about the app: write to us.