Privacy Policy

What we collect

The Hot Potato collects the information needed to provide your account and games, including your phone number, profile information, game memberships, posts, images, voice notes, turn activity, invitation activity, and notification preferences. We also receive limited technical and delivery information from service providers that operate the app.

Recording a voice note is optional and requires microphone access. When you post it, we store the recording and its duration with your account and post so members of the group can listen. We do not transcribe voice notes or use them for advertising.

How we use information

We use this information to authenticate you, operate shared games, deliver content to the friends and family participating with you, prevent abuse, support the service, and send communications you have requested. We do not sell personal information.

To keep players safe, content may be reviewed for safety, including automated screening of text and review of reports. When you report or block someone, we keep a record of the report and a copy of the reported content so we can review it.

Text messaging

Authentication texts confirm access to your account when you request a sign-in code. We no longer send gameplay texts. Historical gameplay text consent and opt-out records remain subject to this policy.

All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information won’t be shared with any third parties. We may provide the minimum information necessary to communications providers that deliver messages on our behalf.

Service providers and disclosure

We use service providers for hosting, authentication, storage, and communications. They process information for us under their own legal and security obligations. We may also disclose information when legally required, to protect users or the service, or as part of a business transfer subject to appropriate safeguards.

Retention and security

We keep information for as long as reasonably necessary to operate the service, meet legal obligations, resolve disputes, and prevent abuse. We use technical and organizational safeguards, but no internet service can guarantee absolute security.

After account deletion, we retain limited records of the deletion request, processing status, and removed-file identifiers to verify cleanup, recover from failures, and protect future uploads from delayed cleanup attempts. Safety reports and copies of reported content may be retained to review abuse. Service-provider records and backups may persist under their applicable retention practices; deletion does not mean every such record is erased immediately.

Your choices

You can update your profile, manage mobile notifications, or delete your account from your profile in The Hot Potato. Once your deletion request is accepted, you are signed out and cleanup continues automatically, even if you close the app. There is no cancellation period. Cleanup deletes groups you created and removes your captions, photos, and voice notes from other people’s groups, including groups you already left. Those groups keep the turns, comments, and reactions, with your name shown as Deleted player. See our account deletion instructions, including how to request deletion if you cannot sign in. To request access or correction of other personal information, contact support@thehotpotato.app.

Changes and contact

We may update this policy as the service evolves. Material changes will be communicated as appropriate. Questions may be sent to support@thehotpotato.app.