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Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 19, 2026  ·  Last Updated: August 19, 2026

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how we ("we," "us," or "our") collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect information in connection with the website located at guessmacro.com (the "Site" or "Service").

This Policy is incorporated into and forms part of our Terms of Service. Please read it carefully. If you do not agree with this Policy, please discontinue use of the Site.

2. Guest Data vs. Account Data

Guess Macro treats your information very differently depending on whether you play as a guest or register an account. This distinction is fundamental to understanding what we know about you.

2.1 Guest Data — Stored On Your Device Only

If you play without registering, we do not create a server-side record of you, and we do not store your gameplay on our servers.

Guest information lives entirely in your own browser's localStorage and consists only of:

Your in-progress guesses and round state exist only in your browser's memory for the duration of the page session.

Important characteristics of Guest Data:

• It never leaves your device and is never transmitted to or stored on our servers.
• It is not associated with your name, email address, or any account.
• It is permanently lost, with no possibility of recovery, if you clear your browser data or cookies, use private/incognito browsing, switch browsers or devices, or uninstall your browser.
• We cannot restore it. We have no copy of it. Because we never receive it, we cannot retrieve, export, or delete it for you — you control it entirely through your own browser settings.
• Guest gameplay is not eligible for the leaderboard and is not saved to any profile.

Note that this describes only the data we store locally. Third-party services described in Section 6 — Google Analytics and Google AdSense — do set their own cookies and do collect data about guest visitors. See Section 6 and our Cookie Policy.

2.2 Account Data — Stored On Our Servers

If you register an account, we create and maintain a server-side record of you in Amazon Web Services infrastructure located in the US East (N. Virginia) us-east-1 region.

Public visibility: Your display name, scores, completion times, and rankings are publicly visible on the global leaderboard and on your public profile page. Your email address is never displayed publicly. If you do not want a name shown publicly, choose a display name that does not identify you.

2.3 Data Collected From All Visitors

Regardless of whether you have an account, we and our third-party providers automatically collect:

• Usage data — pages visited, time spent, referring URL, interactions with the Site, collected via Google Analytics;
• Device and technical data — browser type and version, operating system, device type, screen size, language, and approximate geographic location derived from IP address;
• Server logs — IP address, timestamp, request path, and response status, collected by Amazon API Gateway and AWS CloudWatch for security, abuse prevention, and troubleshooting.

3. How We Use Information

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your email address with advertisers. We do not use your gameplay data to make automated decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects about you.

4. Data Retention and Deletion

4.1 Retention Periods

We may retain limited information longer where required to comply with a legal obligation, resolve a dispute, prevent fraud or abuse, or enforce our Terms of Service.

4.2 Your Right to Erasure — How to Delete Your Account

You may request deletion of your account and associated personal data at any time. There is currently no self-service delete button in the app; deletion is handled manually by us. To exercise your right to erasure:

• Step 1. Send an email to ryanhhogan@gmail.com from the email address associated with your account.
• Step 2. Use the subject line: "Account Deletion Request — Guess Macro".
• Step 3. Include your display name (username) in the body of the message.
• Step 4. We will verify that the request comes from the account holder. If we cannot verify it from the sending address, we may ask you to confirm ownership through a verification email before we act — this protects you from someone else deleting your account.
• Step 5. We will acknowledge your request within 7 days and complete deletion within 30 days of verification.

What is deleted:

• Your Amazon Cognito user record, including email address and password hash;
• Your profile record, including aggregate statistics;
• Your personal score history;
• Your display name and all entries from public leaderboards and profile pages.

What may be retained after deletion:

• Anonymized or aggregated statistics that can no longer be linked to you (for example, total games played across all users);
• Security and server logs for up to 90 days, for fraud prevention and security purposes;
• Encrypted backups for up to 35 days, after which they are overwritten on a rolling basis;
• Any records we are legally required to retain.

Deletion is permanent and irreversible. Your scores, streaks, history, and leaderboard standing cannot be recovered, and your display name may become available for another user to claim.

4.3 Other Data Rights

You may also request to access a copy of your data, correct inaccurate data, export your data in a machine-readable format, restrict or object to certain processing, or withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. Use the same email address and process described above. We do not charge a fee for these requests unless they are manifestly unfounded or excessive.

5. Your Privacy Rights by Region

5.1 EEA, UK, and Switzerland (GDPR / UK GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, objection, and withdrawal of consent. Our legal bases for processing are set out in the table in Section 3.

Your data is processed and stored in the United States. Transfers of personal data out of the EEA/UK rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses as implemented in our providers' data processing agreements (including the AWS GDPR Data Processing Addendum and Google Ads Data Processing Terms).

You have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. We have not appointed an EU or UK representative under Article 27, as our processing is occasional and low-risk; contact us directly at ryanhhogan@gmail.com.

5.2 California (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information we collect and how it is used and shared; to delete personal information; to correct inaccurate personal information; to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information; to limit the use of sensitive personal information; and to non-discrimination for exercising these rights.

We do not sell your personal information for money. However, the use of advertising cookies by Google AdSense may constitute "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising under the CPRA. You may opt out by rejecting advertising cookies in our consent banner (where shown), by using Google Ad Settings, by visiting optout.aboutads.info, or by enabling a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal in your browser, which we honor.

We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16. Submit requests to ryanhhogan@gmail.com; we respond within 45 days (extendable by 45 more with notice).

5.3 Texas, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Other U.S. States

Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws — including the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act — have rights to access, correct, delete, and obtain a portable copy of their personal data, and to opt out of targeted advertising. Exercise these rights at ryanhhogan@gmail.com. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision; if the appeal is denied, you may contact the Texas Attorney General.

6. Third-Party Sub-Processors

We use the following third-party service providers ("sub-processors"), each of which may process data on our behalf under its own privacy policy and our data processing agreement with it:

6.1 Anthropic — Content Generation Only

Daily puzzle content for Guess Macro is drafted with the assistance of Anthropic, PBC's Claude models. Anthropic is not a sub-processor of your personal data. Puzzle generation happens on a scheduled backend job that authors word puzzles; it does not receive, and is not sent, your account information, email address, display name, scores, guesses, or any other user data.

Your guesses are evaluated entirely within our own AWS backend against stored puzzle answers and are never transmitted to Anthropic or any other third party.

6.2 Changes to Sub-Processors

We may add or replace sub-processors as the Service evolves. Material changes will be reflected in this Policy with an updated "Last Updated" date.

7. Cookies, Local Storage, and Tracking

We use cookies and browser storage for essential session management, preferences, analytics, and advertising. For a full description — including the distinction between guest and logged-in usage, the specific categories used, and how to control them — see our dedicated Cookie Policy.

Do Not Track: Browsers may send a "Do Not Track" signal. There is no accepted industry standard for responding to it, and we do not currently respond to DNT signals. We do honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as opt-out requests where applicable law requires.

8. Data Security

We take reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including:

• Encryption in transit — all traffic is served over HTTPS/TLS;
• Encryption at rest — DynamoDB tables and Cognito data are encrypted at rest by AWS;
• Credential protection — passwords are managed entirely by Amazon Cognito, stored only as salted hashes, and are never visible to us in plaintext;
• Access controls — administrative endpoints require authentication and membership in a restricted Cognito group;
• Server-side validation — guesses and scores are validated on our servers, not trusted from the browser;
• Least-privilege IAM — backend functions are granted only the permissions they require.

However, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and strength of your password, as described in Section 5 of the Terms of Service.

Breach notification: If we become aware of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and any applicable regulator as required by law — generally within 72 hours of becoming aware, where GDPR applies.

9. Children's Privacy

The Site is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.

In accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"), if we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child under 13 has provided us with personal information, contact us at ryanhhogan@gmail.com and we will promptly delete it and terminate any associated account.

Users between 13 and 18 should review this Policy with a parent or guardian.

10. International Users

The Site is operated from the United States. If you access it from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction. By using the Site, you consent to this transfer.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page and post the updated Policy on the Site. If changes are material, we will provide more prominent notice, such as a banner on the Site or an email to registered users.

We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. Continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

12. Contact Us

For any question about this Policy, or to exercise any privacy right described above:

• Email: ryanhhogan@gmail.com
• Website: guessmacro.com

Please include "Privacy Request — Guess Macro" in your subject line so we can route your request promptly.