Support & Privacy
Help for Spell Duel
Word duels against rivals at your level: find the word before they do and climb from Bronze to Legend. This page answers the questions that come up most, and sets out exactly what the app does and doesn't collect.
Common questions
Grouped by the tab they live in, so you can check the answer against what's on screen.
Arena
How does a duel work?
You and your rival get the same word, with the first letter given, and six tries each. It's a race: whoever finds it first wins, however many tries it took. If neither of you finds it, it's a draw.
A red square is the right letter in the right place. A yellow dot is a letter that belongs somewhere else in the word.
Who am I playing against?
Rivals are matched to your trophy count, so a Gold player meets Gold rivals. Your rival is another player's recorded run whenever one fits, and a practice bot otherwise. You never wait for anyone: the run is already recorded, and it plays out against yours in real time. The clock only runs while you are in the duel. Your own finished duels become rivals for other players in the same way.
How many duels can I play?
As many as you like, at any time. There is no energy, no daily cap and nothing to unlock before you can play.
Why is there an ad after my duel?
A video ad plays when you leave the result screen. It is what keeps every duel free. The Ad-Free subscription removes it; see the Profile section below.
Leagues
How do trophies and leagues work?
Every win earns trophies and every loss costs a few. Beating a rival from a higher league pays more; losing to a weaker one costs more. Your trophy count places you in one of seven leagues, from Bronze to Legend, and the Leagues tab shows how far you are from the next one.
Can I lose a league?
Yes. Leagues follow your trophies both ways, so a run of losses can drop you back. Your best trophy count is kept on your profile.
Ranking
Where are the rankings?
In the Ranking tab. Every arena has an all-time ranking by trophies and a weekly ranking by wins since Monday, and a worldwide board compares your best arena with everyone else's. Your own row is pinned at the top so your rank is never a scroll away. Achievements live on Game Center; the rankings work without it.
Is my progress backed up?
Only achievements, which Game Center keeps against your Apple Account. Everything else (trophies, duel history, nickname, avatar and settings) lives on the device and is lost if you delete the app. The runs you share with other players are not a backup and cannot restore progress.
Profile
What does Ad-Free include?
- No ad after any duel
- Nothing else changes: every duel, league and ranking is already free
It is a monthly subscription, priced in your local currency and shown in the app before you buy. Cancel any time and it runs to the end of the month you paid for.
I paid, but I still see ads.
Open Profile › Remove ads and tap Restore, signed in with the Apple Account you bought with. If ads still appear, email me the date of purchase and I'll look into it.
How do I cancel, or get a refund?
Both are handled by Apple, not by the app. Cancel in Settings › your name › Subscriptions on your device, or through Profile › Ad-free › Manage. For refunds, use reportaproblem.apple.com.
When something breaks
Game Center won't sign in
Check Settings › Game Center on your device is signed in, then tap Sign in on the Profile tab. If you dismissed Apple's sign-in sheet once, iOS stops showing it for a while; the app keeps working with your nickname in the meantime.
A word seems wrong or misspelled
Please tell me which one. The word lists ship inside the app in English and French, and an odd entry gets fixed in the next update.
An ad froze or wouldn't close
Ads come from Google's network and occasionally misbehave. Swipe the app away and reopen it: your duel result and trophies were saved before the ad started.
Terms of Use
Community rules
Spell Duel shows other players your name (your Game Center name, or the nickname you pick), your avatar and your recorded runs. By playing you agree to these rules, in addition to Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement.
- Zero tolerance. No names that insult, harass, threaten or discriminate, no sexual or violent content, no hate symbols, and no pretending to be someone else.
- Play fair. No modified apps, scripts or anything else that fakes a run.
- Filtering. Names are checked against lists of offensive words in all eight languages and replaced automatically when they match.
- Enforcement. Every report is reviewed within 24 hours. A player who breaks these rules has their runs removed from every duel and cannot share new ones.
Spell Duel is provided as is. These rules may change; the app asks you to agree again when they do.
Reporting and blocking
Report a player
On the result screen, or next to the duel in your history, tap ⋯ beside the rival's name, then Report player and pick a reason. Reporting also blocks them for you straight away. You can also email the address at the top of this page.
Block a player
Same menu, Block player. You will never be matched with their runs again. Profile › Blocked players lists everyone you blocked and lets you unblock them.
Privacy policy
What we collect
Spell Duel has no accounts of its own. It never asks for your email or your date of birth. Your duel history, trophies and settings are stored on your device. What leaves it is your recorded runs, so they can be rivals for other players: each one carries the name and avatar you play under.
Six services receive something. Each is listed below with what it gets, why, and whether you can switch it off.
| Service | What it receives | Why | Optional? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Center | The achievements you unlock, sent to Apple under your Apple Account, and your Game Center name and photo, shown to you in the app. | Achievements, and playing under your Game Center name. | yes — don't sign in |
| Amplitude | Which screens you open, duels started and finished with their outcome and length, and whether a purchase screen was shown. Plus a per-device identifier and an approximate location (country and city, from your IP address). No name, no email, no words you typed. | To see which leagues and word lengths people enjoy and where they stop. | yes — off anytime |
| Google AdMob | The data an ad request needs, which may include a device advertising identifier if you allow it in the iOS tracking prompt. | To show the ad after a duel that keeps duels free for people who don't subscribe. | yes — see below |
| Firebase (Firestore and Authentication) | After every finished duel: your public name (Game Center name or nickname, after the offensive-word filter), your avatar emoji, the arena, your trophy count, the word, and the replay of your run: when each letter was typed and the colour of each tile, never the letters themselves. Tied to a random identifier Firebase creates on your device, with no link to your Apple Account. Reports you send (which player, which reason). | So your runs can be rivals for other players, and to review reports. | no — every duel is shared; delete anytime |
| Firebase Crashlytics | When the app crashes: the stack trace, device model, iOS version, and which arena and league you were in. No name, no email, no words you typed. | To find and fix crashes. | no — diagnostics only |
| RevenueCat | Whether the Ad-Free subscription is active, against a random identifier generated on your device. Never card or payment details: Apple handles payment and never passes those to the app. | To remove ads on the devices you own and to restore it when you reinstall. | no — required to sell |
Your choices
Turn off analytics
Profile › Share anonymous usage data. Switching it off stops collection immediately and discards anything still waiting on your device. The app works exactly the same with it off.
Turn off personalised ads
The first time an ad is about to appear, iOS asks whether Spell Duel may track you. Choosing Ask App Not to Track means ads still appear but are no longer personalised. You can change your mind in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. The Ad-Free subscription removes ads altogether.
Keep Game Center out of it
Don't sign in, or sign out in Settings › Game Center. Duels, leagues, trophies and rankings work the same either way; only achievements need it.
Delete your shared runs
Profile › Delete my shared runs removes every run you have shared from the server at once. Duels you play afterwards are shared again.
Delete everything
Delete your shared runs first (above): deleting the app removes every piece of on-device data, including the identifier your runs are filed under, so they can then only be removed by email. Game Center data is managed by Apple from Settings › Game Center. To have analytics data already collected deleted as well, email me with the approximate date you last played, since there is no account to look you up by.
Children
Spell Duel is rated 4+ because nothing in it is unsuitable for a young player, but it is a general-audience app rather than one built for children, and it does contain advertising. It is not directed at children under 13, and no personal information is knowingly collected from them. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the app, email me and I will delete it.
Requests and rights
If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you have the right to ask what data relates to you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to its processing, and to receive a copy of it. Write to the address at the top of this page and I will respond within one month.
Because the app holds no account, requests are matched on the device identifier and the dates you played, so those details help. Analytics data is kept for as long as it is useful for the questions above and no longer than two years.
If this policy changes in a way that affects what is collected, this page is updated and the date below changes with it.