Privacy Policy — Mini Cross (תשבצון)

Last updated: 2026-10-31

Mini Cross is made by Magmanet. The short version: your data stays on your device, unless you choose to join the online leaderboard. The app also sends anonymous usage statistics, which you can turn off.

What we collect

By default, only anonymous usage statistics (see below), which you can turn off. Mini Cross has no sign-up, no accounts, no advertising and no tracking. We never sell or share your data.

The other exception is the optional online leaderboard (below): if, and only if, you join it, the nickname, city and daily results you choose to publish are sent to the Magmanet leaderboard server.

Where your data is stored

Your games (the letters you typed, checks, reveals and times), statistics, streaks and settings are saved only on your device, in the app's private storage. They are removed when you uninstall the app, or when you use Settings → Reset games and stats.

Copy backup (Settings → Your data) copies your data as text to your clipboard; where you paste it is up to you, the app never uploads it. Share result opens your phone's share sheet with a short text (puzzle number, your time, how much help you used, coloured squares showing the grid shape and the app link, never the answers) and only goes where you send it.

Online leaderboard (optional, off until you join)

Mini Cross can show a public leaderboard for the daily crossword (in your city, your region, Israel and the world; today and this week). The first time you open it, the app asks whether you want to take part. If you choose "Not now", nothing is ever sent to the leaderboard.

If you join:

• What is sent: a nickname you pick, the city you pick from a list (for players outside Israel: the country you pick), the district (region) of that city, and for each daily crossword you solve on its own date: your time on the clock plus 30 seconds for each revealed letter, the number of revealed letters and checks, and the puzzle number. Crosswords from the archive, unfinished ones and fully revealed ones are never sent. The letters you typed are never sent.
• What is not sent: no email, no phone number, no name, no contacts, no location from GPS or the network, no advertising or device identifiers. The account is anonymous: the server creates a random user id and access tokens, stored on your phone. The app also stores a random number made at install time (not a device identifier), which it sends once when the account is created so the server can limit abuse.
• Who sees it: your nickname, city and results appear in the public tables, for every Mini Cross player.
• Where it goes: the Magmanet leaderboard server, run by Magmanet on a server hosted in the European Union (by Contabo). It is not sent to Google or any other third party, and it is not used for advertising or profiling. Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS).
• How long: your profile and results stay on the server until you delete them (see below).
• Change or delete: Settings → Leaderboards lets you change your nickname or city, stop sending results, or Delete my leaderboard data, which deletes your account, your profile and all your results from the server at once. Uninstalling the app does not delete online data (the anonymous account can't be reached any more), so delete it in the app first, or contact us (below) with your nickname and we will remove it.

Daily reminder (optional, off by default)

If you turn on the daily reminder in Settings, the app asks for permission to show notifications and schedules one local notification a day on your phone. Reminders are created on the phone; nothing is sent anywhere.

Internet use

Without the leaderboard, Mini Cross works entirely offline; the only internet requests are the update check and the anonymous usage statistics below. With the leaderboard joined, it also connects to the Magmanet leaderboard server, to send your results and load the tables.

Once a day the app checks for a newer version by asking the Magmanet server (EU, Contabo) — the request contains only the app name, its version number and how it was installed; the server stores no identifiers and no IP address. If the server is unavailable the app downloads the public version file from GitHub Pages instead (GitHub may see your IP address). You can turn this off in Settings.

Anonymous usage statistics

Mini Cross sends anonymous usage statistics over HTTPS (a short ping once a day; usage events a few times a day at most, batched) to Magmanet's own server in the EU (Contabo), not to Google or any other third party. It sends the app name and version, your Android version, phone manufacturer and model (never the name you gave the phone), your language, how the app was installed, a random install ID made by the app, and anonymous usage events (which screens and features are used, for how long, solve times and the number of checks and reveals). Never the letters or words you type, and no leaderboard nickname or city. On the server the ID is hashed and no IP address is stored; raw data is deleted after 400 days. It is used only to count active users and improve the app.

This is on by default. Turn it off in Settings ("Share anonymous usage statistics"); that stops sending immediately and deletes the random ID and any unsent events from your phone.

Permissions

• Internet: for the update check, the anonymous usage statistics and the optional leaderboard.
• Notifications (asked only if you turn on the daily reminder, which is off by default), run at startup (to keep the reminder after a restart) and vibration (for the reminder). Reminders are created on the phone; nothing is sent.

No location, camera, microphone, contacts or storage permissions.

Children

Mini Cross is a general-audience word puzzle. It is not directed at children under 13 and collects no personal information unless a player chooses to join the leaderboard, which is not meant for children.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, we'll update the date above. Questions? Open an issue at https://github.com/Shauls/magmanet-apps/issues