Pixel In Waiting — Privacy Policy

Effective 2026-11-09

Pixel In Waiting is an app for Mac and iPhone that tracks video games you have played or want to play. It is made by Nate Rowan, one person. This page says what happens to your data.

The short version: your game list belongs to you. The developer has no accounts, no analytics and keeps no copy of your library, notes or ratings. To show covers and game details, the developer runs a small Cloudflare Worker that passes the app’s requests on to IGDB. It keeps no record of them.

What the app stores

Your library: the games you add and what you record about them (status, rating, interest, notes such as Why Play It and My Review, dates, platform played).
Your settings and friends list on your device.
Copies of your friends’ libraries, on your device only, so you can browse them offline. They are replaced when a friend stops sharing and are removed when you remove the friend.
A short log of sharing events (such as an invite sent or accepted, with times, counts and shortened IDs, and friends’ names), on your device only. It is shown in TestFlight builds and never leaves your device unless you send it (see Support info).
Release-day reminders (optional, off until you turn them on). If you switch on Settings ▸ Release reminders, the app asks your Mac or iPhone for permission to show notifications and then schedules a local notification for 9 AM on the day each game on your Upcoming list comes out. They are made and shown on your device; nothing about them is sent to the developer, to Apple’s push service or to anyone else. Turning the switch off, or Delete All My Data, removes them.
A short history of removals, imports and changes, on your device only, for undoing them for three days.
Game facts and pictures from IGDB, on your device only: covers, screenshots, time to beat, game modes and ratings, kept so the app works offline and doesn’t ask twice. They are never synced, exported or shared. Settings ▸ Game data ▸ Clear Cached Game Data removes them.

On your device this is kept in the app’s own storage. When iCloud sync is available, your library is also kept in your own iCloud account (Apple’s CloudKit), so it can appear on your other devices. It is stored in your private iCloud and counts against your iCloud storage. The developer cannot read it; only your devices and the people you choose to share with (see below) can.

Next to your library, your private iCloud also keeps a few facts about each game, taken from IGDB: its three times to beat (main story, main + extras and completionist) and its game modes. That lets your other devices show them without asking again. They are kept apart from the library you share, so friends cannot see them. You can turn this off in Settings ▸ Data saving, and Delete All My Data removes them.

What the app sends over the internet

Game search and details: when you search for a game or open its details, the app asks Wikidata (run by the Wikimedia Foundation). The search text and the game’s ID are sent, and Wikidata, like any website, sees your device’s IP address. The app also tells Wikidata its own name and version, as Wikimedia’s rules require. No name, account or library is sent. See the Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy.
Game details, covers and lists (IGDB): IGDB is a game database owned by Twitch. When the app needs a game’s cover, time to beat, modes or ratings, it asks a small server run by the developer (hosted by Cloudflare), by the game’s ID or web name. This happens for the games in your library when the app opens, for a game you open, and for the games shown in Add a Game’s lists, in search results and in a friend’s library. The server passes the question on to IGDB with the developer’s own access key and sends the answer back. Not sent: the words you search for (searching stays with Wikidata), your name, your account, your notes, ratings or play status. The request also carries a key that is the same in every copy of that kind of build (it says “this is the app”, not who you are). The server’s host, like any website, sees your device’s IP address. The server keeps no log of requests. To stop abuse it keeps a running count of requests per network address for up to an hour, and a once-a-day copy of the popular and upcoming games lists, which belongs to no one. To hide the pictures of adult games, the server also asks Steam’s public store page (store.steampowered.com) whether a game carries adult content labels, by the game’s Steam number only, and keeps a list of game numbers marked adult or not, which also belongs to no one. Nothing about you is sent to Steam; the server’s address is what Steam sees.
Pictures: covers and screenshots are downloaded straight from IGDB’s image servers, which, like any website, see your IP address and which picture you asked for.
Links you open: buttons such as Where to Buy open a store or reference website in your browser. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and the app sends them nothing but the address you opened.
iCloud: syncing and sharing go through Apple’s iCloud under Apple’s own terms and privacy policy.
Notifications from iCloud: so your devices hear about changes without being opened, the app asks Apple to send it a silent notification when your library or a friend’s library changes. It carries no content, shows nothing on screen and goes through Apple’s push service. The developer receives nothing.

That is everything. There are no ads, no analytics, no tracking and no third-party software that collects data about you.

When friend sharing is turned on, you choose who can see your library. A friend you share with can see your whole library, including your notes and reviews, and can add a game to it. The app does not let them change or delete anything. (iCloud gives an invited friend write access to your shared library, so this limit is kept by the app, not by iCloud.) You can stop at any time: removing a friend removes the link between you on both sides and deletes each person’s copy of the other’s library. Your own library is not touched. Only share with people you are happy to show your list to.

To invite someone, the app asks Apple’s iCloud for a private invite link and hands it to Apple’s share panel (Messages, Mail or Copy Link). The link only works for the person you invited. The name you choose for yourself (your profile name) is stored in your iCloud and shown to people you share with. Until someone accepts, you see them as “Invited friend” or the name Apple gives. When a friend adds a game to your library, their profile name is saved on that game (“Added by”) and shown to you.

Your choices

Export: you can export your library (CSV or JSON) whenever you like, so your data can always leave.
Delete: you can remove games one by one, or delete all your data in the app: on iPhone in Home ▸ Settings (the gear) ▸ Delete All My Data, and on Mac in Settings ▸ Delete All My Data or File ▸ Delete All My Data. That removes your library, history, friends and settings from this device, and, once iCloud sync is on, your games and your profile name from your iCloud copy. It also ends your sharing, so the friends you shared with can no longer see your games. It can’t be undone.
Stop sharing with a friend whenever you want.
Support info: if something goes wrong, Settings ▸ Support Info shows a short report you can read, copy or share to get help. It is made on your device and goes nowhere unless you send it. It holds the app and system versions, the iCloud status, counts and a log of sharing events with their times. Names are replaced with “Me” and “Friend 1”, “Friend 2”, links and email addresses are removed, and long numbers and iCloud IDs are cut short.
You can also delete the app’s iCloud data in your device’s iCloud settings.

TestFlight and the App Store

If you install through TestFlight or the App Store, Apple may collect crash reports, usage and feedback you choose to send, under Apple’s terms. The developer receives only what Apple provides, such as crash logs and any feedback you send through TestFlight.

TestFlight builds also have iCloud Diagnostics in Settings, a troubleshooting screen with more detail than Support Info, including friends’ names and the invite link. You can copy it to send to the developer; it goes nowhere unless you do. The App Store version does not have it. The app asks Apple whether it was installed through TestFlight or the App Store to decide this, and sends nothing else.

Children

The app is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect anything from them.

Changes

If the app starts to collect or share something new, this page will change first, and the effective date above will move. Anything that changes where your data lives or who can see it will also be announced in the app, with a link here, before it applies to you.

Date	What changed
2026-10-24	First version.
2026-10-25	Described how invites work: a private iCloud link, and the name friends see.
2026-11-03	Said plainly that the limit on a friend’s access (add a game, nothing more) is kept by the app, because iCloud gives invited friends write access.
2026-11-05	Brought the page up to date with the app: what is kept on your device (copies of friends’ libraries, a sharing log, an undo history), the silent notifications from iCloud, that a friend’s profile name is saved on a game they add, that Delete All My Data does not end sharing by itself, TestFlight’s iCloud Diagnostics, and Support Info, a report you can read and send yourself with names and links removed. Nothing is sent by the app.
2026-11-05	Delete All My Data now also ends your sharing and deletes your profile name from iCloud (it no longer says it does not end sharing).
2026-11-09	Game details, covers and lists now come from IGDB through a small server run by the developer, which replaces “the developer has no server”. Said what is sent to it and what is not, that a few facts per game (its three times to beat and its game modes) are also kept in your private iCloud, and that IGDB’s image servers see your IP address when pictures download. Also described the optional release-day reminders, which are local notifications that collect and send nothing. The server also checks Steam’s public store page for adult content labels, so the app can hide adult games’ pictures.

Contact

Questions or requests: naterowandev@gmail.com