Your privacy
deserves clarity.
Last reviewed: 1 November 2026. This policy describes information processed by the Chessmate Android app and this information website.
Who operates Chessmate?
Chessmate is operated under the Skynetix name. For privacy questions or requests, email contact@skynetix.in.
Information processed by the mobile app
- Account and sign-in details: username, email address, a bcrypt password hash for email/password accounts, authentication provider, and Google account identifier. Google sign-in may also provide your name and profile-photo URL. Guest sign-in creates a guest username and guest email identifier.
- Profile information: display name and profile image. If you upload a JPEG or PNG profile image, the app server accepts the file and stores it in its uploads area.
- Friends and presence: friend requests and accepted friend relationships, user IDs, online status and last-seen status.
- Chat: messages sent to accepted friends, sender/recipient identifiers, timestamps and read status. The backend writes chat messages to its PostgreSQL database. The reviewed code does not show an automatic 24-hour deletion job; the app's display filter must not be interpreted as server-side deletion.
- Game and connection data: online game state, invitations, spectator activity, move/game metadata and connection identifiers needed to run multiplayer features. Some live state is held in server memory; Redis game snapshots are written with a one-hour expiry.
- Notifications: an Expo push token associated with your account so the app can send game-invitation and message notifications. The token is sent to Expo's push service.
- Purchases and virtual currency: Google Play product identifiers, purchase tokens and related transaction references may be sent to the server to verify purchases and credit Mate Coins. Payment card details are handled by Google Play, not entered into Chessmate's own database.
- Microphone: the app requests Android microphone permission for optional voice chat during supported online games. Voice chat is a live communication feature; this policy does not claim that voice traffic is end-to-end encrypted.
Why we use this information
We use it to create and authenticate accounts, provide offline and online chess, connect users with accepted friends, deliver chat and invitations, operate profiles and notifications, verify purchases, prevent abuse, maintain service reliability and respond to support requests.
Service providers and recipients
The app integrates with Google Sign-In, Google Play Billing and Google Mobile Ads (AdMob). Email addresses are also sent to Mailboxlayer for email validation during account flows. Expo is used to deliver push notifications. The backend uses PostgreSQL and Redis; the hosting, database and cache vendors are determined by deployment configuration. These providers may process technical identifiers, network information or transaction data as required to provide their services and under their own terms and privacy notices.
Ads may involve device or advertising identifiers and ad-interaction data. The exact personalisation, consent and regional advertising settings depend on the live AdMob configuration and must be kept aligned with the Google Play Data safety form.
Retention
Account, friend, profile and uploaded-image records are kept while needed to operate the account and service. Chat messages are stored in the database; the reviewed backend does not show an automatic message-retention or purge schedule, so messages may remain until removed through database operations or a verified deletion request. Live Redis game snapshots expire after one hour. Push tokens may be retained while associated with an account or until invalidated. Hosting, database and security logs may have separate provider-defined retention periods.
We are not promising that every backup or third-party copy is erased immediately when a request is received. We will review and respond to valid deletion requests, subject to legal, security and operational retention requirements.
Your choices and requests
You can decline microphone or notification permissions in Android settings, although related features may stop working. To request access, correction or deletion of account information, email contact@skynetix.in from your registered address where possible. Include your username and describe the request; do not send your password or authentication token.
Children and family use
The Google Play listing currently displays an “All ages” content rating, but Chessmate also includes user accounts, friend discovery, text chat, voice chat, advertising and in-app purchases. A store rating is not a guarantee that every social interaction is suitable for every child. The code reviewed does not establish a verified age-assurance or parental-consent flow, nor does it let us confirm comprehensive reporting, blocking or chat-moderation controls. Parents and guardians should supervise use of social and purchase features. If you believe a child has provided personal information inappropriately, contact us so we can review the request.
Security
Email/password credentials are hashed with bcrypt and authenticated requests use access tokens. We apply technical safeguards appropriate to operating the service, but no online service can guarantee absolute security. Security also depends on the live hosting, HTTPS/TLS, database and provider configuration.
This website and browser demo
This information website does not provide Chessmate account login, friend features, chat, online multiplayer, purchases or inventory. The browser chess demo runs locally in your browser and does not send your moves to the mobile-app backend. The website serves app screenshots from its own site and uses Google-hosted web fonts; font requests may expose your IP address and browser information to Google. The website host may also keep ordinary server/security logs.
Changes
We may update this policy when the app, website, providers or applicable requirements change. The review date above will be updated when the policy is revised.