Effective 2026-07-20
An anonymous device identifier (a random UUID created on your device) — no accounts, emails, passwords, or real names. The interrogation messages you type or dictate while playing — when you dictate, we receive only the resulting text, never the audio. Gameplay records tied to your device identifier: scores, streaks, ranks, solved cases, a machine-generated detective handle (e.g. “Inspector Vale #214”), and your friend code plus mutual friend connections. Reminder and haptics preferences stay on your device. If you subscribe to Third Degree Pro: your subscription status — payment itself is handled by Apple and we never see your payment details.
Interrogation messages exist so suspects can answer you — that is the game. Gameplay records power your streak, rank, archive, and leaderboards. Subscription status unlocks Pro. We do not use advertising, analytics, or tracking SDKs, and we do not sell data.
Your interrogation messages are sent to our server and forwarded to Anthropic (the Claude API) to generate each suspect's in-character reply. Suspect replies are AI-generated fiction about fictional crimes.
Tapping the microphone is optional — you can always type instead, and the game is fully playable if you decline or later disable microphone access. When you dictate, your speech is turned into text by Apple's iOS speech-recognition services under Apple's privacy policy. Third Degree never receives, records, or stores audio. Only the text you choose to send reaches our servers, where it is treated exactly like a typed interrogation message. Dictated text lands in the input box for you to review or edit first — it is never sent automatically.
Third Degree Pro is billed by Apple through your Apple ID; Apple retains transaction history under Apple's terms. RevenueCat processes subscription status for us using your anonymous device identifier. We never see card numbers.
Game sessions (including your typed messages for the current case) are held server-side for up to 6 hours, then expire. Profiles, streaks, friends, and Pro status persist until you delete them. Leaderboard entries expire automatically (14–60 days). Our hosting provider (Vercel) may retain short-lived technical logs including IP addresses, which we use only for rate limiting and abuse prevention (kept ≤ 24 hours in our systems).
Leaderboards show only your machine-generated handle and score. Friends you add can see your handle and scores on shared boards.
In the app: Settings → Privacy → Delete My Data removes your server profile, streaks, friend connections, recent leaderboard entries, and Pro entitlement record, and resets the device identity. This cannot be undone. Apple and RevenueCat retain their own payment records under their policies. Daily reminders are off unless you enable them.
Traffic uses HTTPS and game logic runs server-side. No system is perfectly secure; we store the minimum the game needs.
Third Degree features fictional crime themes and AI chat and is intended for players 13 and older. It is not directed at children under 13.
We will update this page (and the effective date) if our practices change. Questions or requests: see Support.