The short version: Tinkle has no accounts, no cookies and no ads. Your progress lives in your own browser. The answers you type are sent to our server to be scored. We use cookieless analytics to understand visits and gameplay. Gameplay analytics can be turned off in Settings.

What stays in your browser

When you first play, Tinkle makes up a random player id and stores it in your browser's local storage, alongside your dives, results, streaks, pack progress and settings. It contains no name or email address. It never leaves your device except as described below, and if you clear your site data it is gone. Download a progress backup in Settings to keep a copy. You can import that file to merge your completed games and preferences into another browser.

Progress backup files include saved answer text, scores, streak history, pack progress and preferences. They exclude player and analytics identifiers. Downloads and imports happen in your browser; the backup file is not uploaded to our server. Keep the file somewhere you trust.

What reaches our server

Each time you submit an answer, the answer text, the prompt it was for and your random player id are sent to our server so the answer can be scored. When you finish a dive, your score and player id are sent so the results screen can draw the depth curve. Gameplay analytics described below record actions, not your answer text. Our host, Vercel, keeps request logs for operating the service. If optional AI checking for off-list answers is enabled, the submitted answer is sent to the configured model provider and may appear in diagnostic logs.

Analytics

We use Vercel Web Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights. They record page views, the country a visit came from, device type, browser, the referring site and page performance. They set no cookies and keep no persistent identifier for you. Vercel's own privacy policy is at vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy.

Our own gameplay analytics record visits, starts, accepted-answer counts, completed rounds, finishes, sharing actions and submission errors. They use a separate random browser identifier to measure return visits, a session identifier, the game mode and short campaign labels. They do not include the answers you type, your name, email, or the full referring URL. These events are written to our hosting logs and may be exported to calculate aggregate reports. Log availability depends on our hosting configuration. You can turn gameplay analytics off in Settings; we also respect Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control for these events. Clearing site data resets the browser identifier.

Third parties

Tinkle is hosted on Vercel. There are no ad networks, no social media trackers. Sharing a result copies text to your clipboard or opens your device's share sheet, and, when gameplay analytics are enabled, records that the copy or share action succeeded. We do not receive who you shared it with.

Terms

Tinkle is free to play and provided as is, without warranty of any kind. Please don't hammer the API, scrape the answer lists or try to break the game for others. The artwork, writing and prompt sets are ours. Your share cards are yours to post anywhere you like.

Changes and contact

If any of this changes, this page will change with it. Questions, corrections, or an answer you think should have counted: tinkleday@proton.me.

last updated 29 September 2026