Last updated 2 September 2026 · applies to the web app, the iOS app and the Android app
Who or What is it? is made by one independent developer who values and protects your privacy.
The game keeps its things in your browser's storage, or in the app's own on iOS and Android: a made-up identity (a random id, a name you can change, an emoji), your game history and leaderboard, your sound setting, your unlock token if you bought or redeemed one, and cached questions and pictures so rounds work offline. None of it leaves the device except as described below.
The Data & backup screen in the game's menu shows what is stored, exports it as a single file, and deletes it. Deleting the app — or clearing this site's data — removes everything at once.
The game is served from a server run on Cloudflare's infrastructure. Like any web server it handles your requests: your IP address and standard request metadata pass through, and appear in short-lived operational logs used for debugging and abuse prevention. They are not joined into any profile — there is no profile to join them to. On the web, the unlock token is carried as a cookie on this origin; it proves a purchase, it does not identify a person, and there are no other cookies.
A multiplayer room is addressed by its random code and holds what the round needs: each player's chosen name, emoji, answers and scores. The people in your room see those — that is the game — and nobody else does. The name is whatever you type; nothing checks or verifies it. Rounds you keep are saved on your device, not on the server.
When you look for a game nearby, the server groups devices that appear to be behind the same router: it derives a scrambled fingerprint of the network address (an HMAC that changes every day) and matches those. The address itself is never stored, and yesterday's fingerprint is useless today.
Off unless you switch it on, and only there for players who unlocked the full bank. When it is on, a game the server referees posts your records under the name and emoji you chose: your longest streaks per category and difficulty, your wins, your correct answers, and your running streak. Those numbers and that name are public — anyone with the app can read the board. They are filed under a key the server derives from your purchase with a secret, so a record set on one phone is still yours after a restore onto the next; the key cannot be turned back into the purchase, and nobody reading the board ever sees it. Rounds played offline, and rounds played while the switch is off, are not posted.
The switch under Menu is the whole of the control: off, nothing more is posted and everything already filed under you is hidden from everyone at once; on, it is back. To have the records erased outright, write to me.
Tapping Report question stores the question's id, the day, and a daily-rotating pseudonymous key derived from your network address — the key exists so one person cannot file a thousand reports, it cannot be turned back into the address, and the address itself is never stored.
On iOS the purchase runs entirely through Apple: Apple takes the payment and knows whatever Apple knows, and none of it reaches me — no name, no email, no payment details. The app sends Apple's signed proof of purchase to the game's server once, and gets back the unlock token for this device. If Apple later reports the purchase refunded, the unlock is withdrawn; the list that makes that work holds Apple's anonymous transaction identifier and nothing else.
On Android it is Google Play, and the same story: Google takes the payment, the app sends Google's signed receipt to the game's server once, and the server keeps Google's anonymous purchase token only if Google later reports the purchase refunded, so that the unlock can be withdrawn. Unlock codes redeemed on the web work the same way: code in, token out, nothing kept about you.
The game is a picture quiz suitable for general audiences, and it collects no personal data from anyone — children included. The global leaderboard is off by default, and shows only the name and emoji a player chose.
Everything the game keeps about your play sits on your device, where you can read, export and delete it yourself. On the server there is nothing filed under you to hand over or erase — the daily fingerprints above cannot be traced back to anyone — unless you switched the global leaderboard on, in which case the records described above are what there is: the switch hides them, and a line to me erases them. If you think this page has something wrong, or you want anything checked or removed anyway, write to me and I will help: support@whoorwhatisit.com. If you are in the EU/EEA, you also have the right to complain to your data-protection authority.
If anything ever changes you will find it right here, on this page, with an updated date.