Privacy Policy

1. Information collected by the developer

The developer of the App does not collect any personal information.

We never collect your name, email address, phone number, location, contacts or photos. No account or sign-in is required.

However, because the App shows ads, Google, as the ad provider, may collect some information. See the next section for details.

2. Advertising

The App shows a banner ad on the board screen, delivered through Google AdMob.

AdMob may collect information such as your IP address, device type, OS version and approximate region to serve ads, measure impressions and prevent fraud. This information is collected and processed by Google; the developer does not receive it.

The App does not request App Tracking Transparency permission and does not access the advertising identifier (IDFA).

If an ad cannot be loaded, a promotion for another app made by the developer is shown instead. No information is collected when it is displayed.

For how Google handles information, see Google’s Privacy Policy and “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services”.

If you purchase “Remove Ads”, ads are no longer loaded at all.

3. In-app purchase (Remove Ads)

The App offers a one-time (non-consumable) in-app purchase that removes ads. It does not unlock any features.

Neither the App nor its developer collects or stores payment information such as credit card details. Payments are processed by Apple (App Store).

The App communicates with Apple to check whether the purchase has been made. The purchase status is recorded only on your device.

4. Analysis by the shogi engine

Position analysis, full-game analysis and mate search all run on your device. Positions and game records are never sent to the developer or any third-party server for analysis.

The Suisho5 evaluation function is downloaded directly from its distribution source (a release published on GitHub by the YaneuraOu project) only when you choose to download it. Your IP address is sent to that server during the download, but the developer receives nothing.

5. Information stored on your device

The following is stored only on your device: saved games, imported games, viewing history, saved positions, full-game analysis results, app settings, the downloaded evaluation function, and whether you have purchased Remove Ads.

None of this is sent to the developer or any other third party. Deleting the App removes this data from your device.

If you use the Apple Watch app, game data is exchanged directly between your iPhone and Apple Watch, without going through any server run by the developer.

6. Network connections

The App connects to the network only when it fetches the list of latest games or a game record, downloads the evaluation function, loads ads, makes or restores an in-app purchase, or opens another app’s page from the fallback promotion.

The latest games are fetched from a shogi game database website (shogidb2.com). Your IP address is sent to that site when doing so. No information about you is sent to view or analyse the games.

7. Analytics on this website

This website is hosted on Firebase Hosting and uses Google’s Firebase Analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase) to understand how the site is used.

This may collect information such as pages viewed, referrers, approximate region and device or browser type. This relates to visits to this website only and is unrelated to your use of the App.

For details on Firebase Analytics, see Google’s Privacy Policy.

8. Third-party services

The App and this website use services from Apple (App Store / StoreKit), Google (AdMob / Firebase), GitHub (distribution of the evaluation function) and a shogi game database website (shogidb2.com).

Data handling by each service is governed by its provider’s privacy policy.

9. Android version

This policy also applies to the Android version of Kifu Reader. It differs from the iPhone and iPad version as follows.

Ads are always shown and there are no in-app purchases. For advertising, the Google Mobile Ads SDK may send information about your device and the app, including the Android advertising ID, to Google. You can reset or delete the advertising ID in your device’s Settings → Google → Ads.

App Tracking Transparency is an iOS feature and does not exist on Android. Ad consent in regions such as the EEA and the UK is handled by Google’s consent management tool (User Messaging Platform).

The Android version has no fallback promotion of other apps, no Apple Watch connection and no in-app purchases. Network connections occur only when fetching the latest games, downloading the evaluation function, and loading ads or checking ad consent.

Game files you receive through the share menu or “Open with” are handled only on your device and are never sent anywhere.

10. Children’s privacy

The App is not designed primarily for children.

The developer does not collect personal information from any user, regardless of age.

11. Changes to this policy

This policy may be revised without notice due to changes in law or in the App or this website. The revised policy takes effect when it is posted on this page.