Short version: no account, no analytics, no ads. Online games with a room code go through our relay server, which forgets them once the room is closed. Game Center and Google Play Games are optional, and run by Apple and Google.
Last updated: November 2026
Nothing that we keep about you. There is no account of ours, no analytics SDK, no advertising network, no crash reporter, and no telemetry of any kind. The only server we run is the relay for online games with a room code: it passes each game between its players and forgets it once the room is closed, as described below. The other data that leaves your device goes to Apple Game Center or Google Play Games: it is handled by Apple and Google, not by us.
Every game you play in Yalta Chess — solo against the bots, hot-seat with friends, or local Wi-Fi multiplayer — runs entirely on your device. Move generation, search, evaluation, history, captures, and notation all happen locally, as does your achievement progress. Only online games, achievements, and scores leave your device: games with a room code through our relay, Game Center matches, achievements, and scores through Apple or Google.
You can revoke Local Network access at any time in your device's Settings.
When you play a multiplayer game over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, your chosen player name and the moves you play are exchanged directly with the other devices in the session. They are not transmitted to any server. The session ends when the game ends or when you leave; nothing is persisted on either side beyond the regular move history of the active game.
When you host or join an online game with a room code, from the app or from the web version, the game goes through a relay server run by Lunabee Studio (yaltachess-server.lunabee.studio), hosted in France by Scaleway. The relay receives the player name you choose, the room code, the moves, the chat messages, and the current position, and passes them on to the other players in the room: we use them for nothing else. It writes none of them to its log. They stay only in its memory and are deleted with the room: when the host has been gone for 10 minutes, after 2 hours without activity, and in any case after 24 hours. When the relay restarts for maintenance, the open rooms are saved on its disk for a few seconds and deleted as soon as it is back. Your IP address is used in memory to limit abuse (rooms opened per address, wrong codes); the relay's log only keeps a truncated form of it, when it refuses a connection. The web server in front of the relay, which also serves the web version, does not record your IP address: its technical logs only note the date, the requested page (for an invitation link, it contains the room code), and the browser or app type, and are deleted after 14 days. On your device, the app keeps the room code, your name, and a seat token for 2 hours, so that you can resume the game if you close the app.
If you are signed in to Game Center on your device, Yalta Chess uses it for online matches with friends, achievements, and leaderboards. In an online match, your Game Center name and the moves of the game go through Apple's servers to the other players. Your unlocked achievements and scores are sent to Game Center. This data is handled by Apple under its own privacy policy; we have no access to it beyond what Game Center shows in the game, such as the other players' names. You can sign out of Game Center at any time in your device's Settings.
On Android, achievements and leaderboards use Google Play Games, only if you sign in from the Achievements & Leaderboards button. Until then, Google Play Games is not started and nothing is sent. Once you are signed in, your unlocked achievements and scores are sent to Google and linked to your Play Games profile (gamer name and avatar), and Google's Play Games library collects diagnostics data to improve its stability. This data is handled by Google under its own privacy policy; we do not receive it.
Yalta Chess keeps your games and your achievement progress only on your device, and uninstalling the app or clearing its data deletes them. The relay deletes an online game with its room, within 24 hours at most, and the web server's technical logs, which hold no IP address, after 14 days. To access or delete data about you, or to object to its use, email us at the address below; you can also lodge a complaint with the CNIL (cnil.fr). Google Play Games: to delete the achievements and scores of Yalta Chess, open the Play Games app, then Settings → Delete Play Games account & data, and under Delete individual game data, tap Delete next to Yalta Chess (or, from a browser, go to play.google.com/games/profile → Your Data). Clear the app's data first: otherwise Yalta Chess sends your progress again the next time you sign in. Google deletes this data under its own policy. Game Center: data held by Apple is managed from your Apple Account, at privacy.apple.com.
Yalta Chess contacts no analytics, advertising, or tracking service. Its only outbound traffic goes over the local network during multiplayer sessions you start, to our relay (yaltachess-server.lunabee.studio) during online games with a room code, to Apple Game Center if you are signed in to it, and to Google Play Games once you have signed in from the Achievements & Leaderboards button.
Yalta Chess is intended for general audiences; on Google Play, it is aimed at players aged 13 and over. We build no profile of children, or of anyone else, and an online game only reaches the people you give the room code to. Game Center and Google Play Games apply their own age rules.
If we change how Yalta Chess handles data, we'll update this page before the change reaches the app.
Questions? Email yaltachess@lunabee.com.