Bugdle is operated as a personal hobby project. This page explains what data Bugdle collects, why, and what your rights are. It is written in plain language; the legally binding terms are in the Terms of Service.
Data we collect
Bugdle stores the following information only in your browser's local storage, never on a server we control:
- Your current streak and play history per puzzle.
- Whether you've seen the first-visit help modal.
- UI preferences (e.g. modal-dismissed state).
This data never leaves your device. Clearing your browser storage for this site will reset your streak and play history; we cannot recover it for you because we do not have a copy.
Server logs
When you visit Bugdle, our hosting provider (currently Vercel) may record standard request information — your IP address, user-agent string, the URL requested, and a timestamp — for short-term operational and security purposes (rate limiting, abuse prevention, debugging). We do not maintain a long-term database of this data.
Analytics
When deployed, Bugdle uses Plausible Analytics — a privacy-friendly analytics service that does not set cookies, does not collect personal information, does not track users across sites, and is GDPR/CCPA-exempt by design. Plausible aggregates anonymous pageview and event counts so we can see which puzzles are popular and where players get stuck. No consent banner is required for Plausible's own use.
We track a small set of in-game events (puzzle started, solved, failed, share clicked, settings changed) without any personally identifying information attached. If you'd prefer to block even this, install any standard ad/script blocker — it will work.
Advertising
Bugdle is supported in part by display advertising. Where ads are shown they are served by Google AdSense, Google's third-party advertising service. The disclosures below are required by AdSense's publisher policies and apply to every page on Bugdle.
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this and other websites.
- Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to Bugdle visitors based on their visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
- How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services is described at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
- You can opt out of personalized advertising via Google's controls at adssettings.google.com.
- You can opt out of additional third-party vendors via the Network Advertising Initiative at optout.networkadvertising.org and the Digital Advertising Alliance at optout.aboutads.info.
Consent for visitors in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland
Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland are shown a consent banner the first time they visit Bugdle. Until consent is granted, Bugdle does not set advertising cookies and does not request personalized ads. Once Bugdle is enrolled with Google's certified consent management platform ("Privacy & messaging," formerly Funding Choices), that interface will replace the placeholder banner and store your choice via the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF v2.3). You can change your decision at any time by clearing your browser storage for this site, which will re-display the banner.
For California residents (CCPA / CPRA)
Bugdle does not sell personal information for monetary consideration. Where personalized advertising results in a "share" of personal information under the CPRA, you can opt out by selecting "Reject" on the consent banner, by enabling the Global Privacy Control signal in your browser, or by emailing privacy@bugdle.dev with the subject "Do Not Sell or Share."
While ads are not enabled
Until the AdSense publisher id is configured for this deployment, no advertising scripts load on any page. You can verify this by inspecting the network requests on any Bugdle page; you should see no requests to googlesyndication.com, doubleclick.net, or comparable ad-tech domains.
Children
Bugdle is designed for software engineers; it is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect any information from children. If you believe a child has provided information, please contact us so we can investigate.
Your rights
Because Bugdle does not store your data on our servers, the traditional GDPR/CCPA rights to access, port, and erase data are satisfied by clearing your browser's local storage for this site. If you have a question about a specific data flow we might have missed, please get in touch.
Changes to this policy
If we make a material change to this policy — for example, when we enable analytics or advertising for the first time — we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We will not silently switch on data collection that this page does not already describe.
Contact
Privacy questions: privacy@bugdle.dev.