Privacy policy

Last updated October 27, 2026

Down & Across has no account, no ads and no analytics of its own, and it doesn’t track you. Your puzzles, progress and settings stay on your device. The only information that leaves your device is diagnostic data sent to Google by its handwriting recognition on iPad, described below.

This policy covers the Down & Across app for iPhone and iPad and this website. “We” means the developer of Down & Across.

What stays on your device

• The puzzle files you add, and your progress and timer, which are saved inside each file.
• Your settings, such as theme, input mode and clue text size.

We don’t run a server, and nothing above is sent to us. Your puzzles are kept in the app’s folder, which you can see in the Files app. Like other app data, they’re included in your device backups if you use iCloud Backup or back up to a computer, which Apple handles under its own privacy policy.

Adding puzzles

When you add a puzzle, from the Files app or by opening a .puz file from another app such as Messages, Mail or Safari, Down & Across copies the file into its library on your device. It doesn’t contact anyone to do this.

Handwriting recognition on iPad

On iPad, Down & Across recognizes handwriting with Google ML Kit Digital Ink Recognition. The recognition runs on your iPad, and your handwriting is not sent to Google or to us. The first time it’s needed, the app downloads the handwriting model from Google.

Google’s ML Kit sends Google some diagnostic and usage information so it can measure and improve its service. According to Google, this includes:

• device information, such as manufacturer, model and operating system version
• the app’s identifier and version
• a per-installation identifier, which Google says is not used to identify a user or device
• performance information, such as how long recognition takes
• events and error codes, such as when the model is downloaded or used
• the recognition language

We don’t receive this information. Google’s handling of it is covered byGoogle’s ML Kit data disclosureand the Google Privacy Policy.

Information Apple shares with developers

If you’ve chosen to share analytics with app developers in your device’s settings, Apple may share crash reports and app usage statistics with us. Apple provides these in aggregate, without identifying you. You can turn this off in Settings, under Privacy & Security, then Analytics & Improvements.

What we don’t do

• We don’t ask for your name, email address or any other personal information in the app.
• We don’t show ads or use advertising identifiers.
• We don’t sell or share information with data brokers, and we don’t track you across other apps or websites.

This website

This website doesn’t use cookies, analytics or tracking scripts. Like any website, the company that hosts it may keep standard server logs, such as IP addresses and the pages requested, to keep the site running and secure.

Children

Down & Across doesn’t collect personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we’ll update it on this page and change the date at the top.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email [email protected].