AskMe Privacy Policy
The short version: AskMe collects the minimum it needs to run a card game with accounts, your email address if you sign in, the cards you play, and the content you create. We don't run third-party analytics or tracking SDKs in the app, we never see your payment details, and we never sell your data. You can export or delete everything from inside the app.
1. Who we are
AskMe is developed, owned, and operated by Pharanos, a technology company registered in the United Kingdom ("we", "us"). We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.
Contact: hello@askmecards.com
2. What we collect
2.1 Account information
You can play AskMe without creating an account. If you sign in (with email and password, Google, or Apple), we store:
- Your email address and a display name. If you use Sign in with Apple's private relay, we store the relay address Apple gives us, you never have to reveal your real email.
- Your date of birth, used only to confirm you are old enough to use the app and, if you're 16+, to unlock mature-rated decks. We don't use it for anything else.
- Which sign-in provider(s) you used.
Authentication itself is handled by Google Firebase Authentication. We never see or store your password, Firebase holds credentials on our behalf.
2.2 Gameplay
We record which cards you've answered or skipped so your progress syncs across devices, and which decks you've played. Progress data is linked to your account (or an anonymous session if you haven't signed in).
2.3 Content you create
Cards and decks you write, designs you apply to them, questions you post to the community feed, and cards you save from other players. Community posts are reviewed by human moderators before publication.
2.4 Sharing and referrals
If you share a card, we create a share record with the card's text and design so the recipient can see it. When someone answers a shared card, we temporarily record the responder's IP address for abuse prevention. If you invite friends with a referral link, we record that a referred account signed up, referrers see only counts and dates, never who.
2.5 Purchases
Purchases are processed by Apple's App Store (or Google Play). We never receive your card number or payment details. We store which products you own and receipt identifiers needed to verify purchases and restore them.
2.6 Support messages and reports
If you contact us or report community content, we store your message, the contact details you give us, and our replies, so we can hold a conversation and keep a record of it.
2.7 Notifications and devices
We store in-app notifications addressed to you (for example, when a community post is approved) and basic device records used to deliver them.
3. What we deliberately don't do
- No third-party analytics, crash-reporting, or advertising attribution SDKs are embedded in the app.
- No advertising network is currently connected. If we introduce one, we will update this policy first and ask for any consent the law requires, and personalised ads will never be shown to under-18s.
- We never sell your personal data, and we never share it with third parties for their own marketing.
4. How we use your data
- To provide the app: sync your progress, decks, and purchases across devices.
- To operate the community feed, including moderation and handling reports.
- To answer your support messages.
- To keep the service safe: rate limiting, abuse prevention, and age-gating mature content.
Under UK GDPR our lawful bases are: performance of a contract (running the app for you), legitimate interests (safety, abuse prevention), legal obligation (records we must keep), and consent where we ask for it.
5. Who we share data with
We use a small number of service providers who process data on our behalf:
- Google Firebase Authentication, sign-in and credential storage.
- Apple / Google, purchase processing through their app stores.
- Stripe, card payment and subscription processing for purchases made on the web. Stripe receives your card details, which we never see or store.
- Cloudflare, website hosting, DNS, and email routing for our support address.
Each provider is bound by its own data-processing terms and processes data only to provide its service to us. We may also disclose data if the law requires it.
6. How long we keep it
We keep your data while your account is active. If you delete your account, your personal data is deleted or unlinked: your email address is removed immediately (freeing it for re-registration) and your account is scheduled for erasure. Support conversations may be retained in de-identified form as a record of the issue. Backup copies expire on a rolling basis.
7. Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, export, and delete your personal data, to object to or restrict processing, and to withdraw consent. Two of these are built into the app:
- Export: Settings → "Export my data" gives you a machine-readable copy of everything linked to your account.
- Delete: Settings → "Delete account" erases your account and its data, as described above.
For anything else, email hello@askmecards.com. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).
8. Children
AskMe accounts require a minimum age of 13. Decks with mature themes are hidden behind a 16+ age gate. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13; if you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
9. International transfers
Our service providers (Google, Apple, Stripe, Cloudflare) may process data outside the UK. Where they do, transfers are protected by adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses.
10. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes, for example, connecting an advertising network, we will update this page and its "last updated" date, and notify you in the app where the change affects you.
Questions? Email hello@askmecards.com, a person reads every message.