In short: NowSolitaire has no ads, analytics, accounts or in-app purchases, and your games and statistics stay on your phone. When you play with friends on other phones, your nickname, colour and race progress go directly between the players' phones over the local network or Bluetooth. The app connects to nowstacks.com only to check for updates and to send feedback or crash reports when you choose to.
NowSolitaire (package com.nowstacks.nowsolitaire, "the app"), a collection of solitaire card games, is published by NowStacks (nowstacks.com; "we", "us") and developed for us by our development partner, Gemini Digital Solutions. This policy explains how the app handles information.
1. Information we collect
We do not collect your name, location, contacts or any game data. We receive information only in the situations described in section 4 — an automatic update check, and feedback or crash reports that you choose to send. The app never sends anything to analytics or advertising services.
2. Information stored on your device
The app saves a small amount of data on your phone:
- the game in progress (which game, the deal number and the moves played) so you can continue it later,
- your statistics: games played and won, times, scores, streaks, daily challenges won, and your results against computer opponents and in races with friends,
- settings (sound, vibration, gameplay and display options, card back and table colour, Klondike scoring and the Vegas balance), the nickname and colour you choose for playing with friends, and a random player ID that lets you rejoin a room if your connection drops,
- your update, rating-prompt and crash-report choices, and — only until they are sent or you decline — up to five crash reports waiting to be sent (section 4).
This data never leaves your device except as described in sections 3 and 4, and is not accessible to us. Apart from pending crash reports, it may be included in your phone's own Android backup if you have backups turned on. It is deleted when you clear the app's data or uninstall the app.
Playing against the computer and passing one phone between friends happen entirely on your phone; nothing is sent anywhere.
3. Play with friends on other phones (local multiplayer)
Hosting or joining a room connects phones in the same place directly to each other; there is no server in between.
- What is shared: your nickname, your colour, your random player ID (so the host can let you rejoin), and your race progress (cards cleared, score, moves, finishing time, whether you gave up), plus the room settings and the deal number chosen by the host. This goes only to the phones in that room and is kept by them only while the room is open.
- Wi-Fi / Hotspot mode sends this data directly between the phones over the local Wi-Fi network or the host's mobile hotspot — never over the internet. Phones find each other with standard local network discovery (mDNS), which announces the host's nickname to devices on the same network, and the room code contains the host phone's local network address. Like most local multiplayer games, this local traffic is not encrypted, so only play on networks you trust.
- Nearby (Bluetooth) mode uses Google Nearby Connections, part of Google Play services, which connects phones over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct or the local Wi-Fi. While a room is being set up, the host's and joining players' nicknames are visible to nearby devices that are searching for rooms. Google Play services may collect diagnostic information about Nearby connections (such as connection reliability, device model and country); you can turn this off in your phone's Settings → Google → Usage & diagnostics. Google's handling of this data is covered by Google's Privacy Policy.
- The host phone keeps the race clock and the standings. Computer opponents added by the host run on the host's phone and are always shown as computers.
Other players — and nearby devices or devices on the same network, while a room is being set up — can see the nickname you choose, so pick one you are happy to share. There is no chat and no way to send other players anything except your nickname, colour and race progress.
4. Update checks, feedback and crash reports
The app connects to nowstacks.com, our own server, only for these features:
- Update check — when you open the app, it asks nowstacks.com whether a newer version is available, so it can tell you when an update is recommended or required. The request contains only the app's package name and version and, like any internet request, your IP address.
- Feedback and ratings — only if you choose to send feedback (Rate & feedback or Report a problem). We receive your star rating, your message and, only if you type it, your email address, together with the app version, Android version, device model and language.
- Crash reports — if the app closes unexpectedly, it asks you before sending a crash report, unless you chose to send them automatically (you can change this choice in the app's settings). A report contains the technical error details, the app version, Android version, device model, language and any comment you add. It does not include your documents, files, photos, game data or other personal content — although, rarely, a technical error message can quote a small piece of the data the app was handling when the error happened.
We use this information only to reply to you, fix problems and improve the app. It is stored securely on nowstacks.com's infrastructure (our database and hosting providers process it on our behalf), is never sold, and is never shared with advertisers or other third parties. A one-way hashed (non-reversible) form of your IP address is stored with feedback and crash reports only to prevent spam. We delete feedback and crash reports when they are no longer needed, and you can ask us to delete anything you sent at any time (see "Contact").
5. Third-party services
The app contains no advertising, analytics, sign-in or social-media SDKs. The only third-party component is Google Nearby Connections (Google Play services), used solely for the Nearby mode of playing with friends. Crash reports and feedback go only to our own server, nowstacks.com (section 4).
6. Permissions
- Internet: connecting phones directly on the same Wi-Fi or hotspot when you play with friends, and the update checks, feedback and crash reports in section 4. Game data never travels over the internet.
- Network (network / Wi-Fi state, change Wi-Fi state, multicast): used only to connect phones on the same Wi-Fi or hotspot when you play with friends, and to find rooms on that network.
- Bluetooth and Nearby devices (Android 12 and newer): used only for the Nearby mode of playing with friends, and requested only when you choose it.
- Location (Android 12 and older only): Android requires the location permission for Bluetooth scanning on these versions. The app never reads, stores or shares your location; the permission is requested only when you choose Nearby, and is not requested at all on Android 13 and newer.
Vibration (a light tick when you move a card) uses Android's built-in haptics, needs no permission and can be turned off in the app's settings.
7. Children
The app is made for players aged 13 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13; the only information the app sends us is described in section 4, and a child should not type an email address into the feedback form without a parent's help.
8. Your rights and deleting your data
Your games, statistics and settings stay on your device under your control. To access feedback or crash reports you sent us, or for any question under a privacy law, contact us.
Delete NowSolitaire data on your phone: clear the app's data (your phone's Settings → Apps → NowSolitaire → Storage → Clear storage) or uninstall the app. This deletes the game in progress, your statistics, settings, nickname, player ID and any crash reports waiting to be sent. If your phone's Android backup includes the app, you can delete that copy in your Google account's backup settings.
Ask NowStacks to delete data you sent us. We don't keep user accounts, so:
- Email gauravkr2506@gmail.com or use the contact form with the subject "NowSolitaire data deletion".
- Include the email address you typed in the feedback form, if you gave one. If you didn't, tell us roughly when you sent the feedback or crash report and what it said, so we can find it — it is not linked to your name or your device.
- We delete it within 70 days and reply to confirm.
What is deleted: your feedback (message, star rating and email address), your crash reports (error details and any comment you added), and the app version, Android version, device model, language and hashed IP address stored with them. What is kept: none of it — copies in our database provider's automatic short-term backups are removed when those backups expire. The update check stores no personal data.
9. Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will be published on this page with a new "Last updated" date.
10. Contact
NowStacks — Email: gauravkr2506@gmail.com · Contact form: nowstacks.com/contact