Privacy Policy

Puzzella (“we”, “us”, or “our”) operates https://www.puzzella.com. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights.

Puzzella, based in the Netherlands, operates Puzzella and is responsible for the personal information it processes for this website and the Puzzella app. Contact us at support@puzzella.com for privacy questions.

Purchases and enquiries through our Etsy shop have a separate shop privacy policy. Etsy operates its platform as a separate data controller under Etsy's Privacy Policy. Visiting this website or using the app involves the processing described here; buying an Etsy PDF does not automatically create an account or subscribe you to a newsletter.

1. Information We Collect

We collect a small amount of information to operate and improve our website:

Information you provide

• Email address (if you subscribe to newsletters or contact us)
• Name and message contents when you contact us, plus any optional newsletter details you provide.
• Etsy order and download information if you use optional website purchase verification or save a purchase to your library, including the order number, qualifying products, verification records and associated account identity. We do not receive your full payment-card details.

Puzzella account and puzzle data

If you create a Puzzella account, we process your email address, authentication identity, and the puzzle data you choose to sync, such as saved games, progress, streaks, statistics, settings, preferences, and progression data.

Information collected automatically

• IP address
• Browser and device details
• Pages visited and interactions
• General location (country-level)

We do not collect sensitive personal data.

2. Cookies, Analytics, and Consent

We use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies to operate the website, remember settings, understand how visitors use our content, and support advertising.

We distinguish between essential functionality, analytics, advertising, and personalization. Essential functionality does not require advertising consent. Where required, Google’s consent management platform provides controls for analytics and advertising choices before optional storage or personalized advertising is used.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to measure website usage and manage website tags. Consent Mode communicates applicable privacy choices to Google services. When analytics storage is not permitted, Google may receive limited, cookieless measurement signals instead of setting analytics cookies.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Improve our website and content
• Send newsletters (only if you subscribe)
• Respond to enquiries
• Maintain website security and performance
• Display and measure advertising
• Prevent fraud and abuse

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties.

Legal bases

• Providing a service or taking steps at your request: creating and operating your account, syncing the puzzle data you choose to save, responding to service-related enquiries, and verifying purchases or providing downloads you request.
• Consent: optional newsletters and analytics, advertising or personalization where consent is required. You can withdraw newsletter consent through the unsubscribe link and change applicable analytics or advertising choices through the privacy controls.
• Legitimate interests: necessary website and account security, preventing abuse, investigating problems and handling legal claims, balanced against your privacy rights.
• Legal obligations: retaining records required for tax or accounting and responding to lawful requests.

Providing account information is necessary to create and operate an account; without it, account features are unavailable. You do not need to subscribe to a newsletter to use those features or receive an Etsy purchase. We do not add Etsy buyers to marketing lists merely because they buy from us.

4. Advertising on Our Websites

We use third-party advertising services, including Google AdSense, to display advertisements on our websites.

Advertising providers may process cookies, local storage, device identifiers, IP addresses, browser and device information, approximate location derived from an IP address, and ad interactions to:

• Deliver advertisements
• Measure ad performance
• Prevent fraud and abuse
• Limit how often advertisements are shown
• Provide personalized advertising where permitted and consented to
• Provide non-personalized, contextual, or limited advertising where appropriate

Where required by law, advertising cookies and related technologies will not be activated until the required consent has been provided. Visitors can use the privacy and cookie settings supplied on the website to review or change their choices.

Google processes information according to its own policies. For more information, review Google's Privacy Policy and How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

5. Sharing Your Information

We may share information with:

• Service providers who help operate our website, including analytics, hosting, authentication, and email providers
• Advertising providers, including Google, as described above
• Authorities or professional advisers when required by law or needed to protect our rights and users

These providers process information under their own terms or agreements with us, as applicable.

We do not sell or rent personal data.

Providers and international processing

Our services use Google Firebase for authentication and synced puzzle data, MailerLite for newsletter subscriptions, Resend to deliver contact-form emails, and Cloudflare services for website security and digital-download storage and delivery. We share only the information needed for the relevant service. Analytics and advertising processing by Google is described above and in the mobile-app section below.

Providers may process information outside the European Economic Area. Where our processing requires such a transfer, it must be covered by a valid transfer mechanism, such as an applicable adequacy decision or approved standard contractual clauses, and any additional safeguards required. Contact support@puzzella.com for information about the safeguards applicable to your information. Providers may also act independently for their own processing under their privacy policies.

6. Children’s Privacy

Puzzella is a general-audience website and is not directed specifically to children.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children in a manner that requires parental consent. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, contact us so we can review and, where appropriate, delete it.

7. Data Security

We use standard security measures such as HTTPS encryption and restricted access to protect your information. However, no online service is 100% secure.

Retention

We keep account information and synced puzzle data while your account exists. The account-deletion process is described below. We keep security and verification records only while needed to protect our services, validate download access and address misuse or disputes. We keep enquiry and support records for as long as needed to respond, resolve the issue and handle related disputes or legal claims; information no longer needed is deleted or anonymised.

Newsletter subscription information is used while you remain subscribed. After you unsubscribe, minimal suppression or consent records may be retained where needed to respect your choice or demonstrate compliance; they are not used to continue marketing to you.

Records forming part of our Dutch tax and accounting administration are retained for the legally required period, generally seven years, with longer periods where particular VAT rules or other legal obligations apply. We retain only the personal information necessary for those records. Etsy determines retention for the information it holds independently.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Request access to your personal data
• Correct or delete your data
• Withdraw newsletter consent
• Object to analytics
• Withdraw or change advertising consent where applicable
• Opt out of the sale, sharing, or use of personal data for targeted advertising where applicable

To exercise these rights, contact us at: 📧 support@puzzella.com

Where applicable, you may also request restriction of processing or a portable copy of your data, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of earlier processing. Rights are subject to applicable conditions and exceptions, including retention required by law.

We may request proportionate information to verify your identity. We normally respond within one month; if a lawful extension is necessary, we explain it. You may complain to the Dutch Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens or another competent data-protection authority. Requests about information independently controlled by Etsy should be directed to Etsy.

9. Puzzella Account Deletion and Retention

You can permanently delete your Puzzella account from the mobile app or through our account deletion page. Deletion removes your Puzzella authentication account, associated synced puzzle data, and membership in the Puzzella MailerLite group.

After deletion, we retain a minimal security record containing the former Puzzella user identifier, deletion state, and timestamps. This record prevents an old authenticated device from recreating the deleted account. It is not used to restore the account or for marketing. We keep this record only while needed to prevent account recreation and protect the deletion request.

Deleting your Puzzella account does not delete Etsy purchases, Etsy messages, or records we must retain for accounting, tax obligations or legal claims. Etsy controls its own platform records; contact us separately about information we control for our shop.

10. Advertising in the Puzzella Mobile App

The Puzzella mobile app uses Google Mobile Ads (AdMob). The Google Mobile Ads SDK may process device or advertising identifiers, IP address, device and app information, ad interactions, and approximate location inferred from IP address to deliver and measure ads, limit repeated ads, and prevent abuse or fraud. Advertising behavior can depend on your region, consent choices, and device settings.

Puzzella does not store your device advertising identifier in your Puzzella account records or link it to your Firebase user identifier in our databases. Deleting your Puzzella account removes data controlled as part of that account, but it does not delete provider-managed advertising data or the advertising identifier controlled by your device. On Android, you can reset or delete the advertising ID under Settings → Privacy → Ads. On iOS, use the device's tracking and privacy settings.

For more information about Google's data practices, review Google's Privacy Policy.

11. Third-Party Links

Our website may link to external sites such as Amazon. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page.

13. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, you can reach us at:

📧 support@puzzella.com