Privacy policy

Recently Deleted: Cold Case. Effective September 25, 2026.

The phone in the game is fictional

The phone you investigate is made up, and so is everyone on it. Recently Deleted never reads your own messages, photos, contacts, calendar, location, microphone, camera or files, and it doesn't ask for permission to.

What stays with you

Your progress in each case (what you've read, the clue words you've found, your pins, the answers you've filled in, the hints you've taken, the codes you've cracked and how long you've played) is saved on your iPhone. It's also copied to your own iCloud key-value storage so a case follows you to your other devices signed in to the same Apple Account. It lives in your iCloud account, not on any server of ours, and the developer can't see it.

Your settings (haptics, the usage statistics switch), the first-case tour and a little screen memory (like which tips you've already seen) are stored only on your iPhone. So are a few numbers the app keeps to give its statistics context, such as the day you first opened it and which “firsts” in a case it has already reported.

To erase a case everywhere, open Settings, find it under Saved cases and tap Reset. Deleting the app removes what's stored on that iPhone.

Anonymous usage statistics

To learn what's working (for example, how many players finish Case 1, which chapter makes people stop, whether a lock is too hard, or whether the store loads), the app sends anonymous usage signals to TelemetryDeck, a privacy-focused analytics service based in the EU. A signal says something like “chapter 3 of Case 1 was solved in 9 minutes with 2 hints.” Here is everything a signal can contain:

What happened

The event, such as a case opened, a chapter solved, a hint used, a lock opened, a step of the tour finished, a sitting ended, a screen or paywall shown, or a setting changed. Parameters are only ids, counts and ranges: which case and chapter, which in-game app or lock, minutes of active play, how many hints, checks and wrong codes, which product was tapped and whether the purchase went through.

Your progress

Sent with every signal: how many cases you've bought one by one, whether you have the Season Pass, how many cases you've closed, whether haptics are on, roughly how long ago you installed the game (a range like “4-7 days”) and which case and chapter you're on.

Your device

Added by TelemetryDeck: the app version, the iOS version, the device model, screen size, time zone, your region and language settings (your region setting, not your location), display and accessibility settings such as text size, dark mode and Reduce Motion, the day and hour, and simple usage counts such as how many days you've used the app and how long a session usually lasts.

Purchases

When you buy something in the app: the product, the store's country and currency, and the price converted to US dollars. The developer uses this to see whether the game pays for itself. Apple's own sales reports remain the record.

Signals never include your name, email address, Apple Account, advertising identifier, contacts or location, and never anything you type into the game or the text of a case. To count players without knowing who they are, TelemetryDeck uses the random identifier iOS gives this developer's apps on your device (it isn't the advertising identifier). It's hashed (scrambled one way) on your iPhone before it's sent, and TelemetryDeck hashes it again with a salt, so it can't be traced back to you or your device. TelemetryDeck doesn't store IP addresses.

The statistics are used only to improve Recently Deleted. They are not linked to your identity, not used to track you across apps or websites, not used for advertising, not combined with other data and never sold.

You can turn this off any time in Settings, under Privacy: Share anonymous usage. When you turn it off, the app sends one last signal saying so (so the developer can count how many people opt out), and then nothing more is sent, including TelemetryDeck's own session signals. Turning it back on sends one signal saying so, and statistics resume.

Purchases

Cases and the Season Pass are bought through Apple's App Store. Apple handles the payment; the app never sees your payment details or Apple Account. The app asks Apple which cases you own, including ones shared with you through Family Sharing, and Restore purchases simply asks Apple again. There's no account to create.

Sharing your result

When you close a case you can share a spoiler-free card with your time and hints. The card is made on your iPhone and goes only where you choose to send it through the share sheet.

What the app doesn't do

• No ads and no advertising identifier.
• No tracking across other companies' apps or websites, and no data brokers.
• No account or login.
• No access to your location, contacts, photos, camera, microphone or files.
• No other analytics or third-party services besides TelemetryDeck and Apple.

This website

These pages are hosted by GitHub Pages and load their typefaces from Google Fonts. Like any web server, those services receive your IP address when they deliver a page or a font. This site sets no cookies and runs no analytics or scripts.

Children

Recently Deleted is written for teens and adults and isn't directed at children. It doesn't knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children.

Your choices

Because the statistics aren't linked to you, the developer has no way to look up or tell apart any one person's data. You stay in control on your device: turn off Share anonymous usage in Settings, reset a case to erase your progress, or delete the app.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. If the app ever starts collecting a new kind of data, this page will say so before it does.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email idanr391@gmail.com. Recently Deleted is made by Idan Rokach.