Privacy Policy
The short version
- Your camera is processed on your device. We never receive, record or store your face or video.
- During a match, only a cropped strip of your eyes is streamed directly to your opponent.
- Your name, email and birthday are private. Other players see your username and game stats only.
- We don’t sell your data, show ads or use tracking analytics.
- You can delete your account and data at any time from Settings.
Who we are
Stare Down (“we”, “us”) is a game where adults hold ranked staring contests with strangers. This policy explains what information the Stare Down app and website collect, how it’s used and the choices you have. Questions can be sent to privacy@example.com.
Information we collect
Information you give us
| Data | Why | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Username | Identifies you in matches and on the leaderboard; used to sign in. | Public |
| Full name | Account records and support requests. | Only you and us |
| Email address | Signing in and contacting you about your account. We don’t send marketing email. | Only you and us |
| Birthday | Confirming you are 18 or older. | Only you and us |
| Password | Signing in. Stored only as a one-way scrypt hash; we can’t read your password. | No one |
Information created when you play
- Game records: rating, tier, wins, losses, draws, streaks, stare durations, achievements and match history (opponent usernames, results and times). Your username, rating, tier, record, best streak and longest stare appear on the public leaderboard and are shown to your opponents.
- Sessions: when you sign in we issue a session token that is stored on your device. We keep only a hash of it, so we can recognise your device without storing the token itself.
- Time zone offset: your device’s time zone offset is used during a session to award time-based achievements. It isn’t stored with your account.
- IP address: our server receives your IP address when you connect, as every internet service does. We use it in memory to limit repeated sign-in attempts. Our hosting provider may keep standard server logs.
Your camera
Stare Down needs your camera to play, and it’s built so that as little of it as possible leaves your device.
- Off until you play. The camera turns on only when you search for a match or test it yourself, and turns off when you return to the lobby.
- Processed on your device. Face tracking, blink detection, the live-face check and head-turn detection all run locally on your phone or computer. Facial measurements are used moment to moment and are never sent to us or stored.
- Eyes only. Your device crops the camera image to a strip around your eyes. During a match, only that strip is sent to your opponent. The rest of your face and surroundings never leave your device.
- Peer to peer. The eye strip is streamed directly between you and your opponent using encrypted WebRTC. If a direct connection isn’t possible, the encrypted stream passes through a relay (TURN) server, which forwards it without recording it.
- Not recorded. We don’t record, save or review match video. However, we can’t technically stop an opponent from recording their own screen, so only play if you’re comfortable with a stranger seeing your eyes.
How we use information
- To create and secure your account and keep you signed in.
- To match you with opponents, referee matches, and calculate ratings, rankings and achievements.
- To enforce our age requirement and protect the game from abuse and cheating.
- To respond to your requests and contact you about your account.
We don’t use your information for advertising, we don’t build marketing profiles, and we don’t sell or rent personal information.
Who we share it with
- Other players see your username, rating, tier and game stats. During a match, your opponent sees the live strip of your eyes.
- Your opponent’s device learns your IP address when a direct peer-to-peer connection is set up. This is how WebRTC works.
- Service providers help us run Stare Down: our hosting provider, a TURN relay provider, and Google, whose public STUN servers help devices find a connection path and whose font service supplies the website’s typefaces. These providers receive technical data such as your IP address in order to provide their service.
- Legal reasons: we may disclose information if required by law, or to protect the safety of users or the public.
Data stored on your device
The app keeps your session token and settings (camera choice and sound) in your device’s local storage. Signing out removes the session token. We don’t use advertising cookies or third-party trackers.
Retention and deletion
We keep your account information for as long as your account exists. You can permanently delete your account at any time in Settings → Delete account. Deletion immediately removes your profile, private details, password hash, sessions, ratings, achievements and history from our database. Your username may still appear in the match histories of people you played, as it appeared at the time.
Your choices and rights
- Access and correction: you can view and edit your name and email in Settings, and change your username.
- Deletion: delete your account in Settings, or ask us to.
- Camera: you can revoke camera permission in your device settings at any time. You won’t be able to play without it.
- Other requests: depending on where you live (for example, the EU, UK or California), you may have additional rights to access, export, restrict or object to processing of your data. Contact us and we’ll respond within the time required by law.
Adults only
Stare Down is only for people 18 and older, and we check your birthday when you sign up. We don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If we learn that a minor has created an account, we will delete it.
Security
Passwords and session tokens are stored only as hashes, sign-in attempts are rate-limited, and connections to our servers and between players are encrypted. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a unique password.
International users
Our servers may be located in a different country from you. By using Stare Down, your information may be processed there, with the protections described in this policy.
Changes
If we change this policy we’ll update the effective date above. For significant changes, we’ll notify you in the app before they take effect.
Contact
Privacy questions or requests: privacy@example.com