Privacy Notice

Last updated: October 28, 2026 (children and contest update)

This notice explains what Chess Rocket collects when you use chessrocket.com or the Chess Rocket iPhone app, why, who processes it, how long it is kept, and how to delete it. Chess Rocket is free: there are no paid features, subscriptions, in-app purchases or ads.

Who We Are

Chess Rocket is a chess training service at chessrocket.com (formerly chessrocket.io) and in the Chess Rocket iPhone app. Contact: support@chessrocket.io.

What We Collect

When You Create an Account

• Email address and username (and a securely hashed password if you sign up with email). We send a verification code to your email.
• Sign in with Google or Apple: we receive the email address the provider shares and a provider account identifier. With Sign in with Apple you can choose Hide My Email; we then receive an Apple relay address. We do not receive your Google or Apple password.
• Your birthday, asked once when you sign up (or the next time you sign in, for older accounts). We use it only to know whether you are under 13 (see Children below) and whether you can win contest prizes (13 and older). It is never shown to anyone, including other players, and it can only be changed by contacting us.
• Optional profile details you choose to add: display name, country, location, website, X/Twitter handle and a profile picture (not available on accounts for children under 13).

When You Use Chess Rocket

• Training and game data: the levels, lessons, boss battles, puzzles, openings and workouts you play, your moves and results, ratings, skill profile, favorites and achievements. This is what makes your progress and difficulty work.
• Chess.com or Lichess usernames you choose to link, and the public games we import from those sites to find tactics and update your skill profile (only after you opt in). If you connect Lichess to play live games, we keep the Lichess play authorization encrypted and use it only to relay those games.
• Things you post in communities, comments, messages and reports (on the website; not available to children under 13).
• Usage analytics (first-party): which pages or screens are opened and a few key buttons, the app version and platform, linked to your account when you are signed in or to a random identifier when you are not. No third-party analytics, advertising or tracking tools are used. See "How we measure use of Chess Rocket" at the end of this page.
• Technical data: our hosting provider keeps standard request and error logs (which can include IP address and device/browser details) for security and reliability. We do not use them to build profiles.

iPhone App Launch Email List

If you leave your email on our website to hear when the iPhone app launches, we store that email address, the consent wording you agreed to and the time. We use it only to send one announcement when the app launches, never for anything else, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

How We Use It

• To create and secure your account, sign you in and verify your email.
• To run the training: save your progress, unlock levels after boss wins, pick puzzles at your level and show your skill profile.
• To show your public profile, posts and community activity to other members (website communities; never for children under 13).
• To run the weekly Puzzle Rocket contest on the website: every finished Puzzle Rocket run counts toward the rankings, and prize winners must be 13 or older by their saved birthday (see the Terms of Use).
• To answer support requests and keep the service safe (abuse prevention, rate limiting, fraud and security).
• To understand which features are used so we can improve Chess Rocket.

We do not sell your personal data, show ads, or use your data for tracking across other companies' apps or websites.

Who Processes It for Us

• Microsoft Azure (United States): hosting, database, file storage, email delivery for verification and password-reset messages, and error monitoring.
• Google Workspace: our support mailbox (support@chessrocket.io), for messages you send us.
• Google and Apple: for sign-in, only if you choose to sign in with them.
• Chess.com and Lichess: only if you link an account (we read your public games; for Lichess play we use the authorization you grant).
• Stockfish (open-source chess engine) runs on our own servers to power computer play, analysis and boss battles; no data is shared with anyone through it.

These providers process data only to provide their service to us and under their own security and privacy commitments, which provide protection equal to this notice.

How Long We Keep It

• Account and training data: while your account exists. When you delete your account it is removed right away (see below).
• Usage analytics: individual records are deleted after 13 months; after that we keep only daily totals that identify no one.
• Launch email list: until the iPhone app launch announcement is sent, or until you unsubscribe, whichever is first.
• Backups: our database provider keeps automatic point-in-time backups for 7 days. We also keep occasional encrypted full backups for disaster recovery; they are restored only to recover the service, never to bring back a deleted account, and they are replaced over time.

Deleting Your Account and Your Choices

• Parents of children under 13: use the private link from our emails, or request a new one on the Parents page, to review your child's account, set a new password, take back your permission or delete the account. See Children below.
• In the iPhone app: Profile, then Delete account. This permanently deletes your account and the data linked to it (sign-in, profile, progress, ratings, skill profile, favorites, linked accounts and imported games, uploads, and the posts, comments, messages and communities you created) immediately. If you used Sign in with Apple, we also ask Apple to revoke Chess Rocket's access.
• By email: write to support@chessrocket.io from the address on your account and we will delete it for you.
• Deactivate instead: on the website you can deactivate your account (signing in again reactivates it); this is not deletion.
• Questions about your data, or a request for a copy of it: email support@chessrocket.io. You can edit your profile details on chessrocket.com at any time.
• Unsubscribe from the launch list with the link in the announcement email or by emailing us.

Children

Chess Rocket can be used by children under 13 only with a parent's or guardian's permission. We follow the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for these accounts.

How It Works

• Everyone is asked for a birthday when they sign up. If you are under 13, you sign up with a username and password only: we do not ask for the child's email address or real name, and Google or Apple sign-in is not used for children (those accounts carry the child's own email).
• We ask a parent first. The child gives a parent's email address, and we email that parent a notice of what we collect and why, with a link to approve the account or say no. Until a parent approves, the account can't be used beyond a "waiting for your parent" screen. After approval we send the parent a second email confirming it, with a private link to manage the account.
• If the parent says no, or doesn't answer within 14 days, the account and everything in it are deleted.
• An older account that turns out to belong to a child under 13 is limited at once: its email address, name, country, photo, community posts and messages are removed, and a parent is asked for permission in the same way.

What We Collect From a Child Account, and Why

• Username and password (the password is stored only as a secure one-way hash), to sign in.
• Birthday, to know that the account needs a parent's permission and to keep the features below turned off. It is never shown to anyone.
• Training progress: lessons, puzzles, boss battles, games against the computer and online games the child plays, with their results and ratings. This is what makes the levels and difficulty work.
• Chess.com or Lichess usernames, only if the child chooses to link one (to import their public games or play online through Lichess).
• The parent's email address, only to ask for and confirm permission and to send the parent their private links. We store it encrypted, and we never use it for marketing.

What Is Turned Off for Children Under 13

• No community, posts, comments, messages, member lists or public profile. Nobody can find or message a child on Chess Rocket, and a child can't message anyone.
• No profile photo, real name, bio, location or links, and no chat with our Rocket Bot assistant.
• No ads, no third-party trackers and no usage analytics on a child's account. We never sell or share a child's information.
• No contests, prizes or money. A child can see their own Puzzle Rocket scores and rankings, where they appear by username only, but can't win prizes.

Parents' Rights

As a parent or guardian you can, at any time:

• Review what we store about your child's account and what your child has done on Chess Rocket;
• Set a new password for the account;
• Take back your permission, which deletes the account and its data right away; and
• Ask us to stop collecting or using your child's information, or anything else about your child's data.

Use the private link in our emails, or request a new link on the Parents page. You can also email support@chessrocket.io from the parent email address we have on file. We delete a child's account within one business day of a verified request, and the automatic backups described above are replaced within 7 days.

If you believe a child under 13 is using Chess Rocket without a parent's permission, contact us and we will delete the account.

Changes

If we change this notice we will update the date above, and for material changes we will tell signed-in users in the app or by email.

Contact

Questions or requests: support@chessrocket.io.