Privacy Policy

Effective 16 October 2026

The short version

We collect only what's needed to run quests between friends.
No advertising. No tracking. No selling or sharing your data. No third-party analytics.
Photos and videos stay inside your quest and are deleted 7 days after the quest ends (the one exception: if we ever have to move our servers, we may keep a temporary copy for up to 30 days, see section 6). A challenge's proof is seen by the players who review it. A Quest Memory you post is seen by everyone in your quest, and a finished quest's album gathers every player's memories and every team's public challenge photos and videos, including ones that did not count (not those for spicy challenges), so players can save them to their own photos. If a photo or video is reported, we keep it for longer so we can look at it.
Your location is used only while the app is open, and never in the background except while a challenge records your route (a GPS path challenge, or a distance challenge measured by GPS, such as one you do as a passenger): while that challenge runs, and only then, the phone keeps recording your route with the screen locked (iOS shows its blue location indicator) until you finish, give up or time runs out. On a GPS path challenge the route is shown on a map, with the distance, to the players who vote on that challenge, while they vote; on a distance challenge it is used only to work out the distance and is shown to no one. Either way it is deleted with the photos 7 days after the quest ends. Roughly where you are (your position rounded to about 1 kilometre, never your exact spot) is also sent when you open the app during a quest and when you start or finish a challenge, only to work out sunrise and sunset so that after-dark and daytime challenges are dealt and unlocked at the right time. It is never shown to any other player, it is deleted when your quests end, and you can say no in iOS Settings (the game still works). On a challenge that asks for your location ("find somewhere you can see water"), the spot you check in at is shown on a map to the players who judge that proof (and the host if a vote ends in a tie), while they vote, so they can tell whether it was somewhere the challenge could be done; the app tells you before it is sent.
You can delete your account any time from inside the app.

1. Who we are

Blake Olinger-Royer ("we", "us", "our") makes The Couple’s Quest, an iPhone game for couples, and runs this website at thecouples.quest. This policy explains what information we collect when you use the app or the website, what we do with it, and the choices you have.

Blake Olinger-Royer
3801 S Main St
Elkhart, IN 46517

Questions or requests: contact@thecouples.quest

2. Information we collect

We collect only what the app needs to work. Here is what that includes, and why.

What	Details	How it is used, and who can see it
Sign in with Apple	A stable identifier that Apple gives our app for your Apple Account, and the name you choose to share the first time you sign in. Apple lets you hide your email address. We don't ask for your email address, phone number, or a password.	To create your account and sign you in. Only we can see the identifier. We never receive your Apple password. If we ban an account from the app, we keep a one-way scrambled version (a hash) of this identifier so the ban can't be undone by deleting the account and signing up again; it can't be turned back into your identifier.
Display name	The name other players see. You can change it in the app.	Shown to the other players in your quests.
Gender (optional)	If you choose to tell us, whether you are a man or a woman. You can skip it, and change or clear it any time in Settings.	Only to choose which private cards you are dealt: some cards are written for one gender, and if you skip it you are dealt the cards written for everyone. It is never shown to other players, it is not put in a quest, a score, a notification or a review, and it is not displayed in our admin tools. Our servers use it for nothing else.
Card preferences (optional)	If you choose to set them, kinds of private card you would rather not be dealt, picked from a short list in Settings (for example no alcohol, no roller coasters or thrill rides, no heights, nothing that takes real effort). You can change or clear them any time.	Only to leave those kinds of card out of your own private hand. They are never shown to other players, to your partner, or to the host, they are not put in a quest, a score, a notification or a review, and they are not displayed in our admin tools. If your partner offers to swap a card with you, you are simply never handed one you left out, and nobody is told why. Our servers use them for nothing else.
Quest activity	Quests you host or join, invite codes, team names, scores, Quest Coins, the cards you draw and complete, the private cards you offer to swap with your partner (your partner sees the card you offer), your reviews of other players' proof, the timestamps and timing data the app sends so races are decided fairly, and when you were last active in a quest so the app can tell whether a team might be out of signal. From this activity the app works out your trophies and awards (wins, milestones such as cards completed or proofs reviewed) and keeps them on your account.	To run the quest and show scores. Visible to the players in that quest. Your private cards stay hidden from everyone else until you complete them. Your partner sees your proof; no other team does. Once a private card is completed, the card itself (its title, what it asks, its points, who completed it and when, never your proof) can be read by a team that uses the Peek power-up during the quest, and by every player in the quest once it has ended; a card with spice stays behind a tap. The exception is a private card that is set to be judged by the other teams (a small, silly photo challenge, never a spicy one): its title, its text and your proof go to the other teams to judge, like a public card, and the app tells you before you send it.
Photos and videos for challenges	Photos you capture in the app (or choose from your library) and videos you record in the app, as proof for a challenge. Videos are recorded at 1080p, with sound if you allow the microphone. Photos can carry hidden details such as when and where they were taken; see section 4.	See section 4. Shared with the players who review that proof. A proof for a private card goes to your partner, who can save it to their own photos; a private card set to be judged by the other teams goes to them instead, and cannot be saved by them from the app. When a quest ends, the confirmed proofs for public cards, and for private cards the other teams judged, from every team and not just yours, also appear in the quest's album, which every player in that quest can see. A proof for a spicy challenge (spice level above 0) is shown covered, with a warning, until the reviewer chooses to look, and it is not put in the album.
Quest Memories	Photos and videos you choose to post to your quest (taken in the app or chosen from your library), an optional caption of up to 140 characters, who posted it, which team they were on, and when. A photo is resized and stored without its hidden details. A video is stored as you posted it, up to 1 GB.	To share the quest's best moments. Seen by every player in that quest, including the host, and in the finished quest's album. You can delete your own memory at any time, and the host can remove any memory; it leaves the quest at once. Any player can report a memory. See section 4.
Suggestions you send us (optional)	If you choose to send one from Settings or from a quest: whether it is a challenge idea or a bug or problem, the kind of card you pick for an idea, the words you write (up to 1,000 characters), your display name, the quest you sent it from (its name, if you sent it from a quest), the app version and when you sent it.	Only to read what you wrote and improve the game: to write new cards and fix problems. It is read by us and sent to us by email, with your name and the quest it came from. It is never shown to other players. Please don't put passwords or anything private in it. We don't reply to it unless you write to us separately.
Precise location	Your device's precise location while you are using the app, to check challenges that use your location. When a challenge asks for it, your location and its accuracy at the moment you submit proof are sent with that submission and kept with the quest record. The spot is shown to the players who review the proof (see the next column).	We ask only while the app is in use. We don't track your location in the background, with one exception: while a challenge records your route (a GPS path challenge, or a distance challenge measured by GPS) the phone keeps recording while the screen is locked, from Start until the challenge ends, and then stops (iOS shows its blue location indicator meanwhile). The route is sent with your finish; on a GPS path challenge it is shown on a map, with the total distance, to the players who vote on that challenge (the other teams on a public card, your partner on a private one, and the host if a vote ends in a tie), only while the vote is open, never on the board, the scores or the recap, and is not kept in their app. We also use it to work out the distance for challenges measured by GPS (including ones you do as a passenger by bus, train, ferry or car). On a challenge that asks for your location, the spot you check in at is shown on a map to the players who vote on that proof (the other teams on a public card, your partner on a private one, and the host if a vote ends in a tie and they have to decide), only while the vote is open, and the app says so before you finish; it is not shown on the board, the scores or the recap, it is not kept in the reviewer's app once the vote is decided, and the map and the name of the spot come from Apple Maps on their phone.
Approximate location (rounded to about 1 km)	Your position rounded to two decimals of latitude and longitude (about 1 kilometre), and whether you have allowed location. It is sent when you open the app during a quest, and with Start and Complete of a challenge. Your exact position is never part of it.	Only to work out whether it is dark or light where you are, so that after-dark and daytime-only challenges are dealt to you and can be started at the right time. If you don't allow location, the game still works: you are just not dealt those challenges, or challenges that need your location. We keep only your latest approximate position and show it to no one (not your partner, not other players, not the host). It is read only while the app is open, never in the background.
Wish lists	The items you write on your Shopping and Spicy wish lists (up to 200 characters each, up to 30 per list), and whether and when you marked one done.	So that challenges for your partner can ask them to get or do one of your items. Your partner can see both of your lists from inside a quest you share, but your Spicy list only in a quest at spice level 3 or 4 where you both have agreed to that level. No one else can see them: not the other players, not the host. An item goes into one of your partner's challenges when that challenge is dealt, and the challenge keeps those words even if you later change or delete the item. Items are not shown on the board, in the album, in recaps or in notifications. If your partner reports an item, we keep a copy of the words so we can look at it.
Daily Wheel spins	Which segment you landed on each Game Day and what it gave or cost your team (points, Quest Coins, a power-up or a curse).	Only to play the game. Your team's scores and Quest Coins change, and a curse that lands on your team is visible to everyone in the quest, like any curse. The spin itself is shown to your team only.
Steps and motion (only if you allow them)	If you allow Motion & Fitness, the phone's barometer (how high you have climbed, or descended, since you tapped Start), step counter and walking distance, for climb, steps and distance challenges. If you allow Health, your step count for each Game Day (counted from midnight on the day it began, the way Health counts the day), read from Apple Health (steps you typed in by hand are ignored). We read nothing else from Health and write nothing to it. When you submit a climb, steps or distance challenge, the measurement (for example "312 m climbed, 4,100 steps", or "1.4 km walked") is sent, with where you started and finished a walk, with that submission and kept with the quest record.	To judge those challenges, and, if you switch it on, to show your steps for the Game Day and in total on the Scores screen to the players in that quest (never on the main board). Sharing is your choice, on by default only after you connect Health, and you can turn it off in Settings: that removes your steps from every quest at once. We never use this data for advertising or marketing and never sell it. A challenge's measurement is seen by the players who review it, like a photo.
Notification token	A token from Apple that lets us send push notifications to your device, such as "a card was claimed" or "you have proof to review". We also keep the tokens Apple gives us for Live Activities (the display of a running challenge on your lock screen and in the Dynamic Island), so we can start, update and end one for you.	Used only to deliver quest notifications and Live Activities through Apple's push service. A Live Activity shows what is running for you in a quest: your challenge (only its card title, a private card's too, never the card's text or your proof), a curse on your team, or a timeout. It is on your lock screen, so anyone who can see your lock screen can read it. You can turn it off in Settings in the app, or in iOS Settings under The Couple’s Quest.
Reports and messages	If you report a player, a team, a wish-list item, or a photo, video or memory, we keep your report: who and what you reported, the reason and note you wrote, and what we decided. We keep the reported photo or video so we can look at it (see section 6). We may reply to you, or write to the player you reported, as a message in the app. If you email us, we keep what you send us.	To investigate, respond, and keep players safe.
Server and diagnostic logs	When the app or this website contacts our servers, our systems record standard technical information: IP address, date and time, the request made, app version, device model and operating system version, and error details.	To run, secure, and troubleshoot the service. Not used for advertising.
Purchases	If you buy the Host Pass, Apple processes the payment and we don't receive your card or payment details. The app sends us Apple's signed purchase record (Apple's transaction identifiers, the product, the purchase date, and whether it was a test or real purchase), which we check using Apple's certificates. Apple may also tell us if a purchase is refunded.	To unlock hosting on your account and to honour refunds. Only we can see it.

What we don't collect

We don't collect your contacts, your photo library (beyond the photos and videos you choose to submit or post; saving to your photos uses add-only access, so the app can put things in your library but cannot read it), audio at any time other than while you record a video, health data, payment card numbers, advertising identifiers, or your location in the background (except for the route of a challenge that records one, while it runs). We don't build advertising profiles.

3. How we use information

To create your account and run quests, teams, boards, scores, and reviews.
To decide races fairly, using the timing data the app sends.
To send the notifications you allow.
To keep the service and its players safe: handling reports, blocking abuse, and preventing cheating.
To fix bugs, maintain the service, and answer your questions, and to read the suggestions you choose to send us.
To meet legal obligations.

We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't sell it.

4. Photos and videos

Only inside the quest. Photos and videos are stored within the quest session they belong to. There is no public feed, no gallery open to everyone, and no explore page: only the players in a quest can see what belongs to it.
Challenge proof is seen by the reviewers. A proof photo or video is shared with the players who review it: players on the other teams for a public card, and your partner for a private card, unless that private card is set to be judged by the other teams. If a review dispute needs settling, the quest's host may also see it.
Your partner can save a private card's photo. The partner who reviews a private card's photo or video can save it to their own photos. The screen where you take it tells you so. Once saved on someone's phone, that copy is theirs and our deletion can't reach it, so only send what you're comfortable with.
A Photo Tax photo goes to one team. When a Photo Tax curse is cast on your team, you send one live photo of your team, taken with the camera in the app. Only the team that cast the curse sees it, and only while they check it. It is deleted as soon as they answer, or when the time to answer runs out, and in any case no later than 7 days after the quest ends. A screenshot someone takes is theirs, so only send what you're comfortable with.
Quest Memories are seen by everyone in your quest. A Quest Memory is a photo or video you choose to post to your quest, with an optional caption. Every player in that quest can see it, and it appears in the finished quest's album. You can delete your own at any time; the host can remove any memory in their quest. A deleted memory leaves the quest at once, but the file is kept until the 7-day deletion described below, so it can still be looked at if it was reported.
The album. When a quest ends, its album gathers all of the quest's Quest Memories and the proof photos and videos for public cards from every team, not only yours, including proofs that the other teams voted down or that never counted, which the album marks as failed (never private-card proofs, and never proofs for spicy challenges, meaning challenges above spice level 0). Every player in that quest can see the album and can save its photos and videos to their own photo library, into an album named after the quest. Saving is your choice, uses add-only access, and never lets the app read your library.
Spicy challenges. A challenge can have a spice level. A photo or video proof for a challenge above spice level 0 is shown covered, with a warning that it may contain explicit content, so a reviewer can choose to look at it privately. It is not put in the quest's album.
Reporting and removal. Any player can report a player, a team, a wish-list item (only your partner can report one), or a photo, video or memory from the app. Reports go to us and not to the other players, and nobody is told who reported. Reporting a memory also hides it for you at once, and if a second player reports it, it is hidden from everyone but its author and the host until the host decides to keep it or remove it. We look at reports and may hide a photo or video, remove a player from a quest, or ban a player from the app if they break the Terms of Use. We may write to the player and to the person who reported, as a message in the app.
Hidden details are removed. A photo file can contain the time and place it was taken, the phone model, and other metadata. Our server reads the capture time and, for challenges that must be done at a place, the location, only to check that a proof photo was taken during the challenge. It then stores a copy of the JPEG photo with that metadata removed, so other players see the picture and not where or on what it was taken. The original file you sent is not kept. A Quest Memory photo is also resized and re-saved without its hidden details before it leaves your phone, and again on our server. A video is stored as it was recorded: the app doesn't add your location to it, though a video file can carry the time it was recorded and the phone model. Videos are played in the app.
Deleted after the quest. Photos, videos and Quest Memories (with their captions) are deleted 7 days after the quest ends, or sooner if you delete your account. If you delete a memory yourself it leaves the quest at once and is deleted with the rest. The album's items go with them, so save what you want to keep. A photo or video that a report is holding is kept longer, as explained in section 6, so that we can look at it.
Not backed up by default. Photos and videos captured in the app are not backed up to iCloud by default.
Staff access is limited and logged. We don't browse photos and videos. We look at a specific one when it has been reported, when we need to investigate abuse or a safety issue, or when the law requires it. We may also open one to tell what a file is while we look after our servers (for example, a very large file that is using up disk space), but only a photo or video that every player in that quest could already see. We never do that for anything sent for a private or spicy challenge, anything from a quest played above spice level 0, anything that has been removed from the quest or that a report is holding: those we open only from a report. Each time one of us opens a photo or video, it is recorded with who did it and when.
Screenshots are possible. Anyone who can see a photo or video can screenshot, screen-record or save it. Only capture and post what you're comfortable sharing with the players in your quest, keep it within the spirit of the game, and ask before photographing or filming anyone who is identifiable.

Other players in your quest, as described above.
Apple, which provides Sign in with Apple, push notifications, App Store purchases and, on your device, Apple Maps (the map a reviewer sees for a location challenge) under its own terms and privacy policy (see apple.com/legal/privacy).
Our hosting provider, which hosts our servers, database, and file storage on our behalf.
Google (a temporary copy when we move servers). If we have to move to a bigger server or free up space, a member of our staff may copy the database and all photos and videos into a private Google Drive account we control, to carry them over. This is done by hand and rarely. The copy is not encrypted, is deleted from Drive automatically within 30 days at the latest (7 days unless a move needs longer) and by hand when the move is done, and Google handles it only as storage, under its own terms and privacy policy (see policies.google.com/privacy).
Cloudflare (backup storage). We keep encrypted copies of our database with Cloudflare so we can recover from a failure. They are encrypted on our server before they are sent, with a key Cloudflare does not have, and they contain no photos or videos.
Authorities and others when the law requires it, or when it is necessary to protect someone's safety or our rights.
A future owner, if we merge with or are acquired by another company. We'd update this policy and tell you if your choices change.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. The app contains no third-party analytics or advertising code, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

6. How long we keep information

Information	How long
Account (Apple identifier, display name, and your gender and card preferences if you chose to share them)	Until you delete your account.
Quest records (teams, scores, reviews, event history)	While your account exists, so you can look back at past quests. When you delete your account, records other players still rely on are kept without any link to you (see section 8).
Location check-ins (coordinates, accuracy)	With the quest record, like other quest activity. When you delete your account, records other players still rely on are kept without any link to you.
Wish lists	Until you delete the items or your account. A challenge already dealt keeps its words until the quest records are deleted, and a copy of a reported item is kept for as long as the report is.
Daily Wheel spins	With the quest record, like other quest activity.
Your approximate position (rounded to about 1 km)	Replaced by each new position. Deleted when your last quest ends, after 7 days at most, or sooner if you delete your account.
Step counts shown on the Scores screen	Deleted 7 days after the quest ends (with the photos), or at once if you turn sharing off or delete your account. The measurement attached to a challenge you submitted stays with the quest record.
The route of a GPS path or GPS distance challenge	Deleted with the photos: 7 days after the quest ends, or sooner if you delete your account. A route is not held for a report: it is deleted on that schedule whatever happens. The distance and the number of points stay with the quest record, without the route.
Photos and videos (challenge proof)	Deleted 7 days after the quest ends, or sooner if you delete your account. A photo or video a report is holding is kept longer (see Reports below).
A Photo Tax photo	Deleted as soon as the team that cast the curse confirms or disputes it, or the time to answer runs out, and no later than 7 days after the quest ends.
Quest Memories and their captions, and the quest's album	Deleted 7 days after the quest ends. A memory you delete (or the host removes) leaves the quest at once, and its file is deleted with the rest after those 7 days. Memories are deleted at once if you delete your account, unless a report is holding one. Copies a player saved to their own phone are theirs and are not affected.
Trophies and awards you earn	Kept with your account so your trophy case stays complete, even if a quest is later removed. Only you can browse them; the other players in a quest see what was earned in that quest when it ends. Deleted when you delete your account.
Notification token	Until you turn notifications (or Live Activities) off or delete your account.
Invite codes	Each code belongs to one quest; codes expire, and the host can rotate them.
Purchase records (Apple transaction identifiers, product, date)	Kept so that refunds and Restore Purchases keep working. If you delete your account, the record is kept but is no longer linked to you.
Reports	A report, our notes and what we wrote about it are deleted a year after we close it. The photo or video a report is about (and, in a report about a player, what that player sent to that quest) is kept past the usual 7 days so we can look at it: until we decide, for up to 180 days, then 90 days more if we acted, in case of an appeal. If we find nothing wrong, it goes with the usual 7-day deletion. A copy of a profile or team photo made for a report is kept for the same time.
Messages from us about a report or your behaviour	Shown in the app under Settings, Reports & Messages, and deleted when you delete your account (or a year after we close the report).
Suggestions you send us	Deleted a year after you send them, or at once if you delete your account.
A ban from the app	The one-way scrambled (hashed) version of your Apple identifier and our reason, kept so the ban holds even if the account is deleted, until we lift the ban.
Backups of our database	Encrypted copies of the database (accounts, quests, scores, reports, suggestions and any routes not yet deleted) are kept off our server for up to about 30 days, then deleted. Our routine backups never contain photos or videos. If you delete your account you can stay in a backup until it ages out, and if we ever restore from a backup we delete your account again.
A temporary copy for moving servers (Google Drive)	Only when we move or free up our servers, and only made by hand: a copy of the database and of all photos and videos, not encrypted, in a private Google Drive account. It is deleted automatically within 30 days at the latest (7 days unless a move needs longer), and by hand when the move is done. A photo or video the app had already deleted is not in a copy made afterwards, but it is in a copy made before, until that copy is deleted. If you delete your account, your information stays in a copy that already exists until that copy is deleted; we restore from it only to rebuild our servers, and then we delete your account again.
Server and diagnostic logs	A limited period, for security and troubleshooting.
Emails you send us	As long as needed to help you and keep a record of the conversation.

Backups are encrypted on our server before they leave it, so the storage provider cannot read them, and they are overwritten on the schedule above.

7. Security

The app talks to our servers over encrypted connections. Photos and videos are served only through short-lived links, and only to players allowed to see them. Access to our systems is limited to people who need it. No system is perfectly secure, so we can't promise absolute security.

8. Your choices and rights

Edit your display name in the app, and change or clear the gender and card preferences you shared (Settings).
Location, camera, microphone, and notifications are controlled in iOS Settings under The Couple’s Quest. Some challenges can't be completed without location, camera or microphone access.
Delete your account from the app: Settings, then Delete Account. See Delete your account for exactly what is deleted and when. When you delete your account we remove your sign-in link, display name, notification tokens, and photos, and we keep any quest records other players still rely on without any link to you.
Ask us to access, correct, or delete your information by emailing contact@thecouples.quest. Because we don't hold your email address, we may ask for details only you would know, such as your display name and a quest you played, to confirm the account is yours.
Your local law may give you additional rights, such as to object to or restrict processing, or to complain to a data protection authority. Contact us and we will respond to valid requests as the law requires.
Sign in with Apple can be managed in your Apple Account settings. Removing The Couple’s Quest there stops sign-in but does not delete your quest data; use in-app deletion for that.

9. Reporting and blocking

Any player can report a player, a team, a wish-list item (only your partner can report one), or a photo, video or memory from the app: use the flag or the Report item in the menu on it, or go to Settings, then Report a Player. Reports go to us and never to the other players, and the person you report is not told who reported them. We review every report. We may hide a photo or video, remove a player from a quest, or ban a player from the app if they break the Terms of Use, and we may write back to you in the app (Settings, then Reports & Messages). You can also email us at contact@thecouples.quest. Blocking individual players inside the app is not available yet; if someone is bothering you, report them. The author or the host can still delete a memory.

10. Children

The Couple’s Quest is rated 17+ and is not directed to children. We don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 17. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we will delete it.

11. Where information is processed

Depending on where our hosting provider operates, your information may be processed in a country other than the one you live in. Wherever it is processed, we handle it as described in this policy.

12. This website

This website uses no cookies, analytics, advertising, or third-party fonts, scripts, or embeds. Our web server keeps standard access logs (IP address, date and time, page requested, browser type). The invite page (/join/) shows the code that is in the link you opened. That code is part of the link, so it is in the request our server receives, but the page doesn't send it to anyone else.

13. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we'll update it here and change the effective date. If a change materially affects how we use your information, we'll also tell you in the app or by another suitable means.

14. Contact us