Duelio — Privacy Policy

The short version

1. Who we are

Duelio is published by METK LLC (“METK”, “Duelio”, “we”, “us”), a limited liability company whose sole owner is Tarek Khalifa.

• Contact: contact@metkapps.com
• Postal address: 3625 10th St N, Unit 708, Arlington, VA 22201, United States

If you have a question about your privacy, or want to report something a player said or drew, email us at the address above. We aim to review reports of objectionable content and abusive behaviour, and to act on them, within 24 hours.

For the purposes of the UK and EU GDPR, we are the data controller for the data described in this policy.

2. When Duelio uses a server

This distinction matters more than anything else in this policy, so it comes first.

Asynchronous iMessage and Pass & Play games send no gameplay to us. An iMessage turn is packed into the message you send and stays in that conversation; Pass & Play stays on the shared device. We have no server involved in those turns.

Standalone online games and live multiplayer connect to a Duelio server. Live rooms use it while the match is open. App-based asynchronous games sent in Duelio chat store their current turn so each player can return later. Section 4 describes online game data.

Duelio Friends uses our server. It stores the social information described in Section 5 so friends can see requests, presence, chats, challenges, and game cards across launches.

Separately, Duelio makes one short DeviceCheck request when it tries to grant the five starter hints described in Section 5. That request is not game activity and does not reveal what you play.

3. What we do not do

All of the following are true of Duelio, and we intend to keep them true:

• No advertising. Duelio contains no ads and no advertising software.
• No analytics or tracking. We do not measure how you use the app, and we do not collect an advertising identifier. We do not track you across other apps or websites, and we do not combine your data with data from anyone else. We do not sell or share your personal information.
• No location. Duelio never requests or receives your location. The app requests no location permission and could not access your location if it tried.
• No contacts, location, microphone, photos, or health access. If you choose Scan Friend QR Code, iOS asks for camera access. The camera image is processed on-device and is not uploaded. Duelio never requests your address book.
• No traditional account. There is no sign-up, login, password, email address, phone-number lookup, or contact upload. A hidden random social ID lets Friends work.
• No crash or diagnostic reporting of our own.
• Your complete statistics record is not uploaded. Wins, best scores, streaks and unlocks may sync through Apple's iCloud key-value storage. If you use Social, only the four aggregate values explained under “Worldwide leaderboards” are uploaded to a Duelio server.

Because Duelio contains no third-party software of any kind, there are no advertising networks, analytics vendors, or data brokers involved in any part of it.

4. Live multiplayer games

Duelio games can be played online from the standalone app or from an iMessage invite. To make live play work, your device opens a connection to a Duelio server while the match screen is open. The connection closes when you leave.

What is sent to our server

• Your display name, as you typed it in Duelio.
• An anonymous player identifier. Messages supplies a random identifier for an iMessage room; standalone online play uses a random per-install identifier. Neither is your name, phone number, Apple ID, or advertising identifier.
• Your chosen avatar, badge, and cosmetic settings.
• What you do in the match — your moves, scores, guesses, and game state.
• Anything you type or draw during the match. Depending on the game, this includes chat messages, drawings, prompts, custom words, and your answers.
• Your IP address. Our hosting provider necessarily sees this because your device connects to it. We do not use it to work out where you are.

Why, and on what legal basis

We use this only to run the match and relay it to the other players. There is no other purpose. We do not profile you, personalise anything, or make automated decisions about you.

If you are in the UK or EU, our legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) — performance of a contract: this data is what makes the game you chose to start work. Nothing here is optional, and there is nothing to consent to or opt out of, other than not playing live games.

Live matches are not end-to-end encrypted

Your connection to our server is encrypted in transit using TLS, which prevents anyone in between from reading it. But the encryption ends at our server, which processes your match data in readable form in order to relay it.

We are saying this plainly because Duelio launches from inside an iMessage bubble, and iMessage itself is end-to-end encrypted. That protection does not extend to live Duelio matches. Please don't treat a live Duelio match as a private channel the way you would treat an iMessage conversation.

Who can join a live match

A live match is identified by a random code carried inside the invite in your conversation. We do not verify who joins. Anyone who has that invite — including anyone it is forwarded to, and everyone in a group conversation — can join the match and see the players' names, avatars, chat, and drawings. Please treat a live match as visible to everyone who can see the conversation it came from.

5. Things worth calling out specifically

We would rather over-explain these than have you discover them later.

Bug reports and suggestions

The Settings panel includes an optional Bug Report / Suggestions form. Nothing is sent while you type. If you tap Transmit Feedback, we send the note (up to 8,000 characters), whether it is a bug report or suggestion, an anonymous per-install identifier, your current display name, and the app and operating-system versions. Our hosting provider also necessarily sees the connecting IP address. The note is stored so the developer can review it; it is not used for advertising, analytics, profiling, or tracking.

Player reports

In a live ready room, tapping another player's seat lets you report that player. If you choose a reason and send the report, Duelio sends your anonymous player identifier, the reported player's identifier and current display name, the room and game identifiers, and the reason you selected. There is no free-text report field. Our hosting provider necessarily sees the connecting IP address. We store the report in a protected review inbox so we can investigate objectionable content and abusive behaviour. Reports are used only for moderation and are deleted automatically 90 days after their most recent submission.

Friends, presence, challenges, and Duelio chat

The standalone app's Friends area sends a hidden random social ID, your display name, and your chosen avatar and cosmetics to our server. The server stores your add code, accepted friendships, pending requests, blocks, recent players, conversations, challenges, and whether you are online or currently in a game when online visibility is enabled.

Duelio direct and group chat messages, game-invite cards, and app-based asynchronous game turns are stored so participants can read or play them later. They are encrypted in transit but are not end-to-end encrypted. Do not use Duelio chat for sensitive information. Duelio does not read your phone contacts, ordinary iMessages, phone number, email address, Apple ID, or contact cards.

A friend share link or QR contains a replaceable add code, not the hidden social ID. The QR scanner processes frames only on-device. You can delete your social profile, relationships, requests, blocks, challenges, recent-player records, conversation memberships, messages you sent, and hidden social ID from Settings → Duelio Social Privacy → Delete Duelio Social Data.

Worldwide leaderboards

When you use Social, Duelio reads the same statistics record shared by the standalone app and the iMessage extension and uploads four lifetime aggregates: overall wins, highest Word Hunt score, highest Bowling score, and highest Word Bomb round score. This means qualifying results earned through either place can contribute after the standalone app next refreshes Social. Duelio does not upload the words you found, opponents, individual match results, full statistics history, or which route you used to earn a result for this feature.

The server stores those four values with your hidden social ID, chosen display name, and chosen avatar and cosmetics. The leaderboards show the name, avatar, rank, and aggregate value to other Duelio Social users worldwide. A submitted lifetime value is kept at its highest received value so an older device cannot accidentally lower it. Blocked players are omitted from one another's boards. These records are used only to provide the leaderboards, not for advertising, analytics, tracking, or marketing profiles. Deleting all Duelio social data also deletes your leaderboard record; the complete statistics stored on your device and in iCloud are not deleted.

Five starter hints and DeviceCheck

Each physical Apple device can contribute five starter hints once. To stop deleting and reinstalling Duelio from granting them again, the app asks Apple for an encrypted, temporary DeviceCheck token and sends that token, a random request identifier, and whether the build is a development or production build to our server. Our server immediately forwards the token to Apple's DeviceCheck service to read and set one yes/no claimed bit.

We do not receive your Apple ID, device serial number, phone number, advertising identifier, or a DeviceCheck identifier we can use across other apps. The DeviceCheck token is not stored. Our server stores only the random request identifier and whether that request was granted for up to 30 days, so the same installation can safely retry if its first response is interrupted. Our hosting provider necessarily sees the connecting IP address. This information is used only to deliver the one-time starter hints and prevent repeat claims; it is not used for advertising, analytics, profiling, or tracking.

Live-room chat and anything you type

Chat inside a live game room is relayed between players and is not stored after the room expires. Duelio Friends direct and group chats are stored as described above.

Drawings

Nothing leaves your device while you are drawing. When you submit a drawing, we send the finished image and the ordered record of the strokes that made it, so that other players' devices can replay it as an animation. Stroke data is sent when you submit, never while you draw.

In Tic-Tac-Toe and Dots & Boxes, a custom symbol you draw by hand is included in the message you send, and appears in that message's image.

Custom word lists in Draw

If you enter your own list of words in Draw's settings, that list is included in every Draw invite you send, and everyone in the conversation who has Duelio can read it — including in the game modes that do not use custom words, and including when the custom-words option is switched off. Switching the option off stops the words being used; it does not stop them being sent. Please don't put anything in that list you wouldn't want the whole conversation to see.

Two Truths and a Lie

This game asks you to write true facts about your own life. Those statements are sent to our server, saved as part of the match, and shown to everyone in the room — including anyone who joins later. Please don't write anything you wouldn't be comfortable being seen by everyone who can reach that conversation.

Games that show your typing as you type

In Word Bomb and Insider, other players can see your word forming as you type it. To do that, your device sends what is in the text field before you submit it, several times a second. This means text you type and then delete has already left your device.

Word games played by message

When you finish a word game that was sent to you as a message, your score and the words you found are included in the reply that goes back into the conversation. Everyone in that conversation who has Duelio can see them.

Landmark and Apple Maps

The Landmark game shows maps and street-level imagery from Apple Maps. To load them, your device asks Apple for imagery of the puzzle's location — a landmark from a list built into the app — and for the map tiles you pan around while guessing. Your own location is never requested, received, or sent. Apple receives these requests from your device, including your IP address, and handles them under Apple's privacy policy.

6. What stays on your device and in your iCloud

The following is stored on your device and may be mirrored through Apple's iCloud key-value storage so it returns on another device or after a reinstall. Some values are also sent only when a feature requires them, as specifically described below and in Sections 4 and 5:

• Your complete gameplay statistics — wins, best scores, streaks, fastest times — except for the four leaderboard aggregates described in Section 5 when you use Social.
• Which characters, badges and items you have unlocked.
• What you have bought — whether you own Pro, and how many hints you have left. Your purchase itself is handled by Apple; what we keep is only the result of it, on your device.
• Your display name and avatar choices, except that your display name is sent when live play, feedback, or a player report requires it as described in Sections 4 and 5.
• Your sound and game settings.
• Your hidden Duelio social ID may be backed up through your personal iCloud account so the same Friends profile can return after reinstalling or moving to another device.
• A record of the players you have played against, kept as the anonymous player identifiers described in Section 4, so the app can show your history with them.
• Saved progress in a turn you haven't finished yet.

Deleting Duelio deletes the local copy of the data above, but an iCloud copy may remain and be restored if you reinstall. Apple handles that storage under its privacy policy, not us. Feedback you already submitted remains in the developer inbox until it is manually deleted, and player reports remain until their 90-day deletion date. Contact us at contact@metkapps.com if you want to request deletion of a specific submission and can give us enough information to identify it.

7. Who else is involved

We keep this list as short as we can. It is:

• Cloudflare — hosts the Duelio server that relays live matches. Data described in Sections 4 and 5 passes through their infrastructure, and they necessarily see your IP address as part of delivering the connection. Friends, social chat, app-based game turns, feedback, reports, the worldwide leaderboard, and the brief DeviceCheck request use the same infrastructure. Social and leaderboard records, feedback, and reports are stored as described here; the DeviceCheck token is forwarded to Apple and not stored. Cloudflare acts as our processor under a data processing agreement.
• Apple — delivers every Duelio message as part of iMessage, provides the maps and imagery in the Landmark game, syncs the device record through iCloud, handles any purchase you make, and stores the DeviceCheck claimed bit used for the five starter hints. Purchases go through the App Store, so we never see your payment details.
• The other players — everyone in your match receives what you send them.

That is the complete list. There is nobody else.

Where your data goes

METK LLC is based in the United States, and the Duelio server runs on Cloudflare's global network, so live-match data described in Section 4 is processed outside the UK and EU. Where that happens, the transfer is covered by our data processing agreement with Cloudflare, which incorporates the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK Addendum to them.

8. How long we keep it

We keep as little as we can, for as short a time as we can. Specifically:

• Live ready-room chat is not stored after the room expires. It is relayed with the live room.
• Duelio Friends direct and group chats are stored so participants can read them later. They remain until the sender deletes all Duelio social data or we remove them for safety or operations.
• A match that never started is deleted immediately. When the last player leaves a room that hadn't begun, everything in it goes at once.
• Starting a rematch deletes the match before it. The saved game state is deleted the moment the room resets.
• A match that has started is saved while it runs, so that a player who disconnects can rejoin and catch up. What we save is the players' display names, the game's settings, and the game state itself — which, depending on the game, can include drawings, prompts, and Two Truths statements.
• A match abandoned partway through is deleted automatically, normally within about four hours of the last player leaving. We sweep for abandoned matches every hour and delete any that have been untouched for more than three.
• Feedback is kept in the protected developer inbox until it is manually deleted.
• Player reports are deleted automatically after 90 days. They are retained only long enough for moderation review and follow-up.
• Starter-hint retry receipts are deleted automatically after 30 days. The temporary DeviceCheck token itself is never stored by us. Apple retains the claimed bit under its privacy policy so reinstalling cannot reset the offer.
• Leaderboard records remain until you delete all Duelio social data or we remove them for safety or operations. The rest of your statistics stay on your device and in your iCloud — see Section 6.

9. Your rights

If you are in the UK or EU, you have rights over your personal data: to access it, correct it, have it deleted, restrict or object to how it is used, and to receive a copy. You also have the right to complain to your data protection authority — in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

An honest limitation, which we want to be upfront about. Duelio does not connect its random identifiers to your real-world email, phone number, Apple ID, or legal identity. We therefore cannot usually locate data from your real-world name alone. The in-app social deletion control is the most reliable way to identify and delete the social and leaderboard record authenticated by your device. For feedback, reports, or matches, we may still need the specific submission or room details.

What you can do today, without asking us:

• Delete all Duelio social data, including your leaderboard record, from Settings → Duelio Social Privacy without contacting us.
• Delete the app. The on-device data described in Section 6 goes with it; already-submitted feedback does not, but you can request its deletion at the contact address.
• Change your display name at any time in Duelio's settings.
• Not play live games. Turn-based games never contact our server for gameplay; voluntary feedback is a separate Settings action.
• Wait. Live match data is not kept indefinitely — see Section 8.

10. If you are in California

We do not sell or share your personal information, and we never have. We do not have the kind of relationships with third parties that would make that possible — see Section 7.

• Categories of personal information we collect: identifiers (a player identifier issued by Apple, a random per-install identifier, an IP address, the hidden random social ID, and the temporary DeviceCheck token and random request identifier described in Section 5), your display name and avatar choices, your overall-wins, highest-Word-Hunt-score, highest-Bowling-score, and highest-Word-Bomb-round-score leaderboard values, friend relationships, presence, requests, challenges, recent players, Duelio social chat content, app-based game turns, content you create in an online match, player-report details, and feedback you voluntarily submit.
• Categories of third parties we share it with: our hosting provider, Apple, and the other players in your match. Nobody else.
• Do Not Track: Duelio does not track you, so there is nothing for a Do Not Track signal to turn off.
• Third parties collecting information about you over time across services: none.
• Reviewing or changing your information: see Section 9.

11. Children

Duelio is intended for people aged 13 and over. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has used Duelio and sent us information, please contact us at the address in Section 1 and we will do what we can with the information available — noting the limitation described in Section 9.

12. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top, and post the new version at the same address. If a change materially affects what we collect or who we share it with, we will say so in the app before it takes effect.

13. Contact

METK LLC
contact@metkapps.com
3625 10th St N, Unit 708, Arlington, VA 22201, United States