🔒 Privacy Policy

Swordspeak · swordspeak.com · last updated 22 October 2026

The short version. You can play as a guest without giving us anything. If you make an account, we keep your username, a scrambled form of your password and your game progress so you can play on any device. When you use 🎯 detailed pronunciation coaching, your recording goes to a speech service to be scored and isn't kept by us. When the game's AI helps you, what you typed or said goes to Anthropic's Claude. The free game shows ads from Google, which uses cookies to show and measure them (personalized ads only where you agree). ⭐ Sylladin payments are handled by Paddle, our reseller: we never see your card. We don't sell your data, and you can delete your account and everything with it from ⚙️ → 👤 Account at any time.

Who we are

Swordspeak ("we", "us") is a language-learning game made and run by Brian Jones, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For anything about your data, write to support@swordspeak.com.

What we collect, and why

What	Why	Kept
Account: your username, your password (only as a salted scrypt hash: we can't read it), passkeys you add (their public key and the device type, such as “iPhone · Safari”), and when you joined and last played.	To sign you in and keep your hero yours.	Until you delete your account.
Your game: the cloud save (your hero's name, level, words learned, stamps, settings, anything you drew on a shirt) and up to 30 backups of it.	So your progress follows you to any device, and can be recovered if something goes wrong.	Until you delete your account.
Voice recordings, when you press 🎤 and 🎯 detailed coaching is on (it spends ⚡ energy for free players).	Sent to Microsoft Azure Speech to hear what you said and score each word and sound. We don't store the recording. Otherwise your browser's own speech recognition listens, under its maker's policy (Google, Apple or Microsoft).	Not kept by us.
What you write or say to the game's AI: your answers, sentences and questions, with the line, word or scene they're about.	Sent to Anthropic's Claude to explain mistakes, grade free answers, play scenes and translate. Answers are cached so the same question isn't paid for twice; a cached answer isn't linked to your account, but it may quote what you wrote or said.	Cached answers: as long as the game runs. Not tied to you.
Voice lines the game speaks (the text of characters' lines).	Sent to Microsoft Azure, or ElevenLabs for ⭐ Sylladin members' natural voices, to make the voice; the audio is cached by its text.	As long as the game runs.
Usage counts: voice lines, recordings and AI calls your account used each day, ⚡ energy spent and refilled, rewarded ads watched.	To keep the game affordable (daily limits, the energy bar) and to spot abuse.	400 days. If you delete your account, only anonymous totals stay.
💡 Ideas you send from the game, with your username and the date.	To pick one to build each day (its author gets a lifetime ad-free pass).	Until you delete your account. An idea we built stays, without your name.
⭐ Your subscription: Paddle's ids for you as a customer and for your subscription, its status, the end of the period paid for, and any 🎁 lifetime ad-free pass.	To give you what you paid for, on every device. Paddle handles your payment details, address and taxes: we never see your card.	Until you delete your account (Paddle keeps its own records as the seller, as the law requires).
Friends and duels: who you've added, friend requests, duel scores, and whether you're online now (friends only).	So you can play with your friends. They see your username and online status.	Until you remove them or delete your account.
Internet address (IP).	Short-lived rate limits, and a scrambled (keyed hash) form that limits how many accounts and rewarded ads one connection gets.	Rate limits: up to a day. The scrambled form for sign-ups: up to 10 years. Our host's logs: see Vercel below.
On your device: your save and settings in the browser's storage, when you last saw an ad (so ads stay rare), and the sign-in cookie.	So the game opens where you left it.	Until you clear it or sign out.

Ads and cookies

The free game is paid for by ads from Google AdSense (its games ads): short ads between activities, and rewarded ads you choose to watch for a reward. Google and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to show ads, limit how often you see them, measure them and fight fraud; where you agree, they also personalize ads based on your visits to this and other websites. See how Google uses information from sites that use its services. You can turn personalized ads off any time in Google's Ad Settings, or opt out of many other vendors at aboutads.info.

In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, and in US states with privacy laws, Google's consent message asks for your choices before any personalized ads, and lets you change them later. If you don't agree, you may still see non-personalized ads. ⭐ Sylladin members see no ads at all.

Our own cookie only keeps you signed in. We don't use analytics trackers.

Who processes it for us

Vercel (hosting; USA) runs the website and its server, and keeps short request logs.
Upstash (database; via Vercel) stores accounts, saves, limits and caches.
Microsoft Azure (Speech) scores recordings and makes the clear voices.
ElevenLabs makes the natural voices for ⭐ Sylladin members.
Anthropic (Claude) answers the game's AI requests. Anthropic doesn't train its models on this data under its commercial terms.
Google (AdSense) shows the ads, as an independent controller for its own cookies and ad data.
Paddle (Paddle.com and its affiliates) is our reseller and the Merchant of Record for every Sylladin order: it processes the payment, sales tax, invoices and refunds as an independent controller under its own privacy notice, and tells us your subscription's status.

Most of them are in the United States, so your data may be processed there, under their contractual safeguards (such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework). We don't sell or rent your data to anyone.

Why we may use it (EEA and UK)

To provide the game you asked for (contract): your account, saves, coaching, the AI, friends and duels, and Sylladin.
Legitimate interests: security, limits against abuse, usage totals, and reading the ideas you send.
Consent: personalized ads and the cookies that need it, through Google's consent message.
Legal obligations: tax and accounting records, which Paddle keeps as the seller.

Your rights

You can ask to see, correct, export or delete your data, object to or restrict how it's used, and withdraw consent at any time (for ads: Google's consent message or Ad Settings). Write to support@swordspeak.com. You can also complain to your data protection authority.

Deleting your data

In the game, open ⚙️ → 👤 Account → 🗑️ Delete my account, and confirm with your password (or a passkey). That deletes, at once: your account, passkeys, cloud save and its backups, friends and friend requests, duels, energy, ideas not yet built, and your subscription's record with us; a running Sylladin subscription is cancelled straight away so you aren't charged again (Paddle keeps receipts for past payments, as the seller). Your usage counts become anonymous totals. Short-lived counters expire within a day. If you can't sign in, email us and we'll help.

Children

Swordspeak is for players 13 and over. It has no adult content (it's PG-13 throughout), and its ads aren't directed at children. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13; if you believe one has made an account, write to us and we'll delete it.

Security

Everything travels over HTTPS. Passwords are stored only as salted scrypt hashes, sessions are signed, and the sign-in cookie can't be read by scripts. No system is perfectly secure; please use a password you don't use anywhere else, or a passkey.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we'll say so in the game before it takes effect. The date at the top shows the latest version.