Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 2026
Who we are
Bitochi Games is an independent hobby project developing games for Garmin smartwatches. The global leaderboard is operated at bitochi.com.
What data we collect and why
Game scores — when you submit a score from a Bitochi game on your watch, we store the score value, the game name, the difficulty variant, and the timestamp. This is the core purpose of the leaderboard.
Username — you type a short name (up to 8 characters) directly on your watch. This name appears next to your score on the public leaderboard. We never ask for your real name, email address, or any account credentials.
Country — we derive an approximate country from your IP address at submission time to display a flag next to your score. We store the two-letter country code (e.g. "PL"), not the IP address itself.
Hashed IP address — we compute a one-way hash of your IP address for bot-detection and to avoid counting the same device multiple times in aggregate statistics. The hash cannot be reversed to obtain your IP address. It is stored alongside your score records and is deleted when a season is reset.
Legal basis (GDPR Article 6)
Processing is based on legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): operating a fair, spam-free global leaderboard for Garmin watch games is a proportionate purpose, and the data collected is the minimum necessary for that purpose. No special-category data is processed.
Data retention
- Scores — kept until the current season is reset (typically every few months). After a reset, scores are deleted.
- Hall of Fame entries — kept indefinitely as all-time records. These contain only your chosen username and score.
- Hashed IP — deleted together with scores at season reset.
- Country code — deleted together with scores at season reset.
Who can see your data
Your username and score are publicly visible on the leaderboard — that is the purpose of submitting them. The hashed IP and country are used internally and are not exposed through the public API beyond the flag emoji.
Third-party processors
- Cloudflare Workers & D1 — the leaderboard backend runs on Cloudflare's infrastructure. Cloudflare processes IP addresses as part of routing but does not receive our hashed IP values. Cloudflare is a data processor under our legitimate interest basis. (Cloudflare Privacy Policy)
- GitHub Pages — the leaderboard website is hosted on GitHub Pages. GitHub may log IP addresses for infrastructure purposes. (GitHub Privacy Statement)
- Garmin Connect IQ — games are distributed through Garmin's app store. Garmin's own privacy policy applies to downloads and usage data collected by their platform.
Your rights (GDPR)
If you are in the European Economic Area you have the right to:
- Request access to the data we hold about you
- Request deletion of your scores (provide your chosen username)
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority
To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@bitochi.com. Because scores are stored under a username you chose (not your real identity), we may ask you to verify ownership by providing the exact username and a recent score.
Children
Bitochi games are general-audience games. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has submitted data, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes we will update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the leaderboard after changes constitutes acceptance.