Speciedle is a free daily guessing game run as a small independent project. This page explains, in plain English, what data is and isn't handled when you play. The short version: Speciedle has no accounts and doesn't ask you for any personal information — but it does show ads and use a hosting provider, and those third parties have their own data practices, described below.
If anything here is unclear, please reach out via the Contact page.
What Speciedle itself collects
Nothing personal. There are no accounts, no sign-ups, no logins, and no forms. Speciedle doesn't ask for your name, email, or any other identifying information, and it doesn't build a profile of you.
Your game progress and statistics — your guesses for the day, your win
rate, your current and best streaks, and your guess-count history — are stored in your
browser's localStorage on your own device. This data:
- never leaves your device and is never sent to me or any server I control;
- exists only so you can close the tab and resume, and so your stats persist day to day;
- can be cleared at any time using the "Reset statistics" button in the game's Stats panel, or by clearing your browser's site data for Speciedle.
Because this data is local, it isn't synced between your devices, and it won't follow you if you switch browsers.
Third parties that do handle data
Speciedle relies on a few outside services to run and to stay free. Each has its own privacy policy, linked below.
Google AdSense (advertising)
Speciedle displays ads through Google AdSense (publisher ID
ca-pub-3385027171411949). Ads are how the game stays free to play.
- Google and its advertising partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve and measure ads. Depending on your settings and consent, ads may be personalized (based on your interests and prior browsing) or non-personalized (based only on general context like the page content and your rough location).
- Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visits to this and other sites.
- I don't receive or have access to the personal data Google may process for ads; that relationship is between you and Google.
You can learn about and control how Google uses this data here:
- How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services
- Google Ads personalization settings — turn personalized ads on or off
- Google Advertising Policies
Consent for the EEA, UK, and Switzerland
If you're visiting from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you'll see a consent message the first time you visit (and whenever you choose to revisit your choices). This is provided through Google's certified Consent Management Platform (CMP) and, together with Google, records your choices about the use of cookies and data for advertising purposes, in line with Google's consent requirements and applicable law.
You can change your consent choices at any time — reopen the consent options via the privacy/consent control shown on the page. Non-personalized ads still use cookies for purposes such as frequency capping, aggregated ad reporting, and fighting fraud and abuse.
Vercel (hosting and analytics)
Speciedle is hosted on Vercel. Like any web host, Vercel processes standard technical request information (such as your IP address and browser user-agent) as part of delivering the site to you.
Speciedle also uses Vercel Web Analytics to understand aggregate, anonymous usage — things like which pages are visited and roughly how many people play. Vercel describes this product as privacy-friendly and designed not to use cookies or to track individuals across sites. See Vercel's Privacy Policy for details.
Wikimedia Commons (species photos)
Species photos are loaded directly from Wikimedia Commons when you view them. As with loading any image from another domain, your browser makes a request to Wikimedia's servers, which means your IP address and basic request information are visible to Wikimedia as part of serving the image. See the Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy.
Cookies and local storage, summarized
-
Speciedle's own storage:
localStorageonly, for game progress and stats, on your device. Not cookies, not sent anywhere. - Advertising cookies: set by Google/AdSense and its partners, subject to your consent where required.
- Consent record: stored so the site remembers your ad-consent choices.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and you can clear Speciedle's local data as described above. Blocking cookies may affect how ads are shown but won't stop the game from working.
Children
Speciedle is a general-audience game and isn't directed at children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your country). It doesn't knowingly collect personal information from children.
Your choices
- Turn off personalized ads: Google Ads settings and the industry opt-out pages at YourAdChoices and Your Online Choices (EU).
- Revisit your consent choices (EEA/UK/Switzerland): reopen the consent control on the site.
- Clear your local game data: use "Reset statistics" or clear site data in your browser.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, I'll update the effective date at the top. Significant changes will be reflected here rather than announced individually, since there are no accounts to notify.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Get in touch via the Contact page or email contact@speciedle.com.