ITWORD

Privacy policy

Last updated: 16 October 2026

This policy explains what information ItWord (itword.io, "we", "us") collects when you visit or play, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have.

Who we are

ItWord is an independent daily word game run from the United Kingdom. We are the data controller for the personal information described here. For anything relating to your privacy, email [email protected].

What we collect

If you create an account

  • Your email address, username and password. Passwords are stored securely hashed, so we can never read them.
  • If you sign in with Google, the details Google shares with us: your Google account ID, name, email address and profile picture link.
  • When you joined, when you last logged in, and when you last changed your username.

When you play

  • The words you guess (including ones that aren't valid), when you guessed them, and your scores and times.
  • If you play without an account, your games are linked to a random identifier stored in your session rather than to you.

Technical information

  • Like most websites, our servers and the services described below receive your IP address and basic details about your browser and device whenever you load a page.
  • Your display preferences, if you choose any (see Cookies and similar technologies).

If you contact us

Your name, email address and whatever you include in your message, whether you email us or use our contact form. Messages sent through the form are delivered to us by email and aren't stored on the site. To stop the form being abused, we also keep a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address for up to an hour after you use it.

What's public

ItWord is a competitive game, so some account information is visible to everyone:

  • Your username.
  • Your profile: when you joined, your stats, streak, best words and game history.
  • Your completed games, including your guesses, and your place on each day's leaderboard.

Your email address is never shown publicly. Games played without an account don't appear on leaderboards. Please don't use your real name or anything else identifying as your username if you'd rather stay anonymous.

How we use your information

Under UK data protection law we need a lawful basis for each use of your information:

  • To run the game and your account, including saving your progress, scoring, leaderboards, profiles and sending account emails such as address verification and password resets. This is necessary to provide the service you've asked for (contract).
  • To keep ItWord secure and working, such as preventing abuse and cheating and fixing problems. This is in our legitimate interests in running a fair, reliable game.
  • To understand how ItWord is used through analytics, so we can improve it, and to show adverts that help keep ItWord free. Where these rely on optional cookies, we do so with your consent.

We don't sell your personal information.

Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small files stored by your browser. We use these ones that are essential for the site to work:

  • sessionid: keeps you signed in and keeps track of your game. Expires after two weeks.
  • csrftoken: protects forms against a type of attack called cross-site request forgery. Expires after one year.
  • messages: shows you one-off notices, such as confirming a change. Deleted when you close your browser.

These remember choices you make, and are only set once you make them:

  • darkmode and reducedmotion: your display preferences. Expire after one year.
  • Your browser's local storage also notes which introductory messages you've already seen, so they aren't shown again.

These are set by third parties:

  • Analytics: we use Google Tag Manager to load Google Analytics, which sets cookies such as _ga (for up to two years) to count visits and see how people use the site. Google Analytics reports are aggregated and don't identify you to us.
  • Advertising: Google and its partners may set cookies to show and measure adverts, as described below.

If you're in the UK, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, analytics and advertising cookies are optional and are only set once you agree to them in the consent message shown when you visit. Until then, Google's tags don't set these cookies, though they may still send limited measurements that don't use cookies.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser's settings. Blocking the essential ones will stop sign-in and saving your games from working.

Advertising

ItWord may show adverts served by Google AdSense. In connection with this:

  • Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
  • Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
  • You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some other vendors' use of cookies for personalised advertising at youronlinechoices.eu or aboutads.info.

To learn more, see how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Who we share information with

We only share your information with the service providers who help us run ItWord:

  • Our hosting provider, which stores the site and its database.
  • Our email provider, which delivers account emails and contact form messages.
  • Google, for Google sign-in (only if you use it), Google Fonts (your browser downloads our fonts from Google's servers), analytics and advertising.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of ItWord and its players.

Some of these providers, including Google, may process information outside the UK, such as in the United States. Where they do, they use legally recognised safeguards, such as the UK's International Data Transfer Addendum or an adequacy decision.

How long we keep it

  • Account information and games are kept until you ask us to delete your account.
  • Games played without an account are kept to power statistics such as score comparisons. Once your session expires they can no longer be linked to you.
  • Emails you send us are kept for as long as needed to deal with them.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

  • access the personal information we hold about you;
  • have inaccurate information corrected;
  • have your information deleted;
  • restrict or object to how we use it;
  • receive your information in a portable format;
  • withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on it.

You can change your username, email address and password in your account settings at any time. For anything else, including deleting your account, email [email protected]. We'll respond within one month.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, though we'd appreciate the chance to put things right first.

Children

ItWord isn't directed at children under 13, and they shouldn't create an account. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We'll change the date at the top when we do, and for significant changes we'll let account holders know.