Make A Hunt — Privacy Policy

Summary

Your hunts, photos, clues, players, and play history are stored on your device. The app does not require an account, and most of it works fully offline. Some features send data to external services so they can work — AI clue generation and AI photo verification send text or photos to an AI provider, location features use your device's location, subscriptions are handled by the app stores, and optional analytics are off until you turn them on. Each of these is described below.

Data stored on your device

Everything you create and do in the app — hunts, stops, clue variants, captured photos, themes, players (including the name, and optional avatar and birth year you enter when you first open the app), runs, and play history — is stored locally on your device in the app's own database and file storage. The app does not require sign-up, and this data never leaves your device unless you explicitly export or share it, or you enable an optional feature (described below) that transmits it.

AI clue generation and AI photo verification

The app offers AI-powered features that, by their nature, send data off your device to an AI provider so the feature can work:

• AI clue generation — when you ask the app to generate or polish clues, suggest a stop description, or generate a hunt from a prompt, the text you provide (such as a stop's location name or description, the theme, and your prompt) is sent to the AI provider to produce the result.
• AI photo verification — when a hunt uses AI-checked photo verification, the photo a player captures at a stop, together with the creator's description of what a correct photo should show, is sent to the AI provider so it can judge whether the photo matches. The verdict and a confidence score are returned and kept on your device.

We send only what is needed to perform the request, over an encrypted connection. We do not use your content to train AI models, and we ask our provider not to retain it beyond what is needed to return a result. These features are optional: clue and hunt generation only run when you choose to use them, and photo verification only applies to stops a creator has configured for it. The free memento photo mode keeps a photo as a keepsake without sending it anywhere for checking. AI requests are routed through our own server before they reach the provider; that does not change what is sent, only the path it takes. To operate these features fairly — counting your monthly allowance and preventing abuse — AI requests carry an anonymous device identifier, described under "Device identifier" below.

Device identifier

To run the app's online features fairly, we use an anonymous device identifier. It lets us meter the free monthly AI allowance, prevent abuse (including resetting those limits by reinstalling the app), associate a subscription with your device, and record which platform you use (iOS or Android) for support and reliability.

On iOS this identifier is a random value the app stores in the device keychain; on Android it is derived from the operating system's device identifier. In both cases it is designed to persist across app reinstalls, so it is not cleared simply by deleting and reinstalling the app — it is cleared by a factory reset or by erasing the device. It is not your name, email, or an account, is never used for advertising, and is not sold or shared with data brokers. It is sent only with AI requests and to our subscription provider (RevenueCat) to operate those features.

Location

Some hunts use a location requirement ("geofencing"), where a player must be physically near a point for a find to count, with an optional live distance and compass arrow. When a hunt uses this, the app reads your device's location while you play that stop, and uses it on your device to calculate distance and direction. The operating system will ask for your permission before location is accessed. Location is used in the moment to run the feature; it is not a continuous background tracker. You can decline or revoke location permission at any time in your device settings — hunts without a location requirement are unaffected.

Permissions

The app only requests system permissions when a specific feature needs them, and the operating system asks for your approval at that point:

• Camera — to capture photos for stops, to scan QR codes during play, and for AI photo verification.
• Photos / Files — to import and export .hunt files and to save or share content you create.
• Location — for the optional geofencing feature described above.

You can grant or revoke any of these permissions at any time in your device settings. The app continues to work without them, except for the specific feature that relies on the permission.

Sharing hunts (.hunt files)

You can export a hunt as a .hunt file — a self-contained package of the hunt and its photos — and share it through any channel you choose (AirDrop, messaging, email, a cloud drive, and so on). When you do, you select the destination, and from that point the file is subject to the privacy policy of whatever service you used. Importing a .hunt file someone sends you brings that hunt onto your device; the file's contents stay on your device just like hunts you create yourself. We do not receive a copy of hunts you share or import.

Analytics and diagnostics

The app includes optional usage analytics to help us understand how features are used and to catch crashes and errors. Analytics are off by default and never start until you opt in. Nothing is collected unless you actively agree through an in-app choice. You can turn analytics back off at any time in the app's settings, and we honor that choice.

When analytics are enabled, what we collect is limited to anonymous, aggregated usage signals — for example, that a hunt was created, a run was started or completed, a feature was used, or an error occurred, along with counts, types, and measurements. It does not include the contents of your hunts, clues, photos, player names, or any free text you enter, and it is not used to identify you personally. We currently use PostHog as our analytics provider for this purpose, and we may change providers over time without changing the privacy-first approach described here.

Purchases and subscriptions

The app offers optional paid subscriptions that unlock additional capabilities. These transactions are processed by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play), and subscription status is managed for us by RevenueCat, a billing service. We and RevenueCat receive the information needed to determine which features your subscription unlocks and to manage that access — associated with the same anonymous device identifier described above, not with your name or email. We do not see or store your payment-card details, which are handled entirely by the app store. You manage, renew, or cancel a subscription through your App Store or Google Play account.

Optional cloud features (planned)

We plan to add optional cloud features in the future — for example, backing up hunts online, downloading hunts to your devices, a library of hunts to browse, and a marketplace where creators can publish hunts. These features will be off by default. If you choose to use them, the data involved will be transmitted over an encrypted connection and stored in association with the account or identifier you provide, and you will be able to disable them and request deletion of the associated data. We will update this policy with specifics before these features collect any data.

Third-party services

The app relies on a few third-party services so certain features can work, and those services may receive only the data needed to perform their function, governed by their own privacy policies. These currently include an AI provider (for clue generation and photo verification), RevenueCat (subscription management), the Apple and Google app stores (payments), and PostHog (optional analytics, only if you opt in). We choose providers that take privacy seriously and limit what we share to what is necessary.

Children

Make A Hunt is designed for adults — parents, teachers, event planners, and party hosts — to create and run hunts, including hunts intended for children to play. The app is not directed at children as its users and does not ask children to provide personal information. Because an adult may capture photos that include children when building a hunt, those photos are stored on the device like any other hunt content, and are only sent off the device if that adult uses AI photo verification or shares the hunt. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

Your rights and choices

Because your content lives on your device, you control it directly: you can delete hunts, photos, players, and history in the app, and deleting the app removes its local data from your device. You can decline or revoke camera, photos, location, and tracking permissions at any time, and turn analytics off in settings. For any data stored on our servers once cloud features are available, you can request a copy or its deletion by contacting us at the address below.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. The updated version will be posted at this URL, with the effective date above updated to reflect the change. Material changes — especially the launch of features that collect or transmit new kinds of data — will be communicated through the app where appropriate.

Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns about this policy: [email protected]