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Privacy and safety in brief

This page is a summary. The authoritative statement of what the site collects is the privacy page on the main site. If this summary and that page ever differ, the privacy page is the one that counts.

How games are kept apart​

Games are separate programs, so each one runs inside limits that the browser enforces.

  • Its own address. Each game is served from its own subdomain of the site. Browsers treat that as a different website from the site itself and from every other game, with its own separate storage.
  • A sandboxed frame. On the game page, the game runs in a frame with a short list of allowed abilities. It cannot read or change the page around it, and it cannot send you to another page.
  • No sensitive device features. Camera, microphone, location, motion sensors, USB and similar connections, screen capture and payment requests are switched off for every game. A game cannot ask for them.
  • No outside connections by default. A game can load its own files. It cannot contact other servers unless specific addresses have been approved for that particular game.
  • Dialogs and new windows are off by default. A game cannot show browser pop-up dialogs or open new tabs unless that has been allowed for that game.

In practice this means a game cannot see your favourites, your play history, another game's saves, or anything else you do on the site.

The protection comes from these limits, which apply to every game, and not from trusting what any one game's code does.

How play is measured​

The site measures enough to rank games fairly and to see how it is being used. The approach has four parts.

  • The site's own measurement is first-party. Play is measured by the site itself, not by an analytics company.
  • No accounts, and no cookies of the site's own. There is nothing to sign in to, and the site itself sets no cookies for visitors.
  • Counting, not profiling. The site counts that a game page was opened, that a game was started, and how long it was actively played, plus coarse site-wide totals.
  • No lasting identifier. To count unique players per day, the site derives a short code using a random key that is replaced every day and then deleted. Your IP address and your browser's identifying string are not stored.

The privacy page lists exactly what is measured and what is never stored. How Most played and Trending are calculated explains what the measurements are used for.

Google's tag​

One Game a Day advertises on Google. To see whether those ads bring people to the site, its pages can load a tag from Google. This is the only code from another company the site loads.

  • The tag sets cookies only if you choose "Allow" when the site asks.
  • If you choose "No thanks", it is not loaded on the pages you visit afterwards.
  • It is never loaded if you have switched measurement off, or if your browser sends a privacy signal the site honours.
  • Games never contain it. They run in their own frames, apart from the site's pages.

The privacy page says whether the tag is in use and exactly how it behaves, and lets you change your answer.

Switching measurement off​

You can play without being measured. The privacy page has a switch that turns measurement off for the browser you are using, and it explains which browser privacy signals the site honours automatically.

With measurement off, the site sends nothing about your visits or plays, and your plays do not count toward "Most played" or "Trending". Games work exactly as before. The choice is remembered in that browser only.

What stays on your device​

  • Your favourites and recently played list.
  • Any progress a game saves.
  • The date of your last visit, which your browser uses to tell the site only roughly how long ago you were last here. It is removed if you switch measurement off.

You can clear your favourites and recently played list on the My games page. My games: favourites and recently played explains how each of these is stored and cleared.

Raising a concern​

If a game misbehaves, or you have a question about privacy, the About page says how to contact the team.