Privacy
Impress · last updated 26 July 2026
Impress is a word game made by one person. It has no ads, no accounts, and no
third-party trackers of any kind — nothing in the page contacts anyone but
impress.ink. You can confirm that by viewing the source.
It does measure itself. It records how rounds are played, how long they take, and keeps a random number on your device so it can tell a returning player from a new one. That is what lets me see whether people come back, which boards are too hard, and which words the dictionary is missing. This page lists every single thing it sends.
The short version
- No name, no email, no account. I could not identify you if I wanted to.
- No IP address, no location, no device fingerprint, no user agent.
- A random ID for your browser, stored on your device. Clearing your browser data destroys it for good.
- Nothing is sold, shared, or sent to any other company. There is nobody else involved.
- One switch in Settings turns all of it off.
What it never collects
- Your name, email address, or any account — there are no accounts.
- Your location, IP address, or anything derived from them.
- Your device fingerprint, screen size, or user agent.
- The letters on your board, the hidden headline, or any word you spelled successfully.
- Anything you typed anywhere, except a refused word made only of that day's board letters.
- Any third party. Nothing in the page contacts anyone but impress.ink.
Everything it does send
This list is generated from the same file the server validates against, and a test fails the build if the two ever disagree. It is complete, not a summary.
Who you are
There is no name or account anywhere in this. These are the fields that let one browser's rounds be recognised as the same browser's.
daysThe day numbers this browser had already played before it started reporting, taken from the record already on your device, so long-time players are not counted as brand new. Sent once, everdidRandom id for this browser, stored on your device. Not derived from anything about you; clearing site data destroys it permanentlyfdThe day number this browser first played, so returning players are not counted as newprevWhen you install the app on iOS, the browser id you were playing under before, sent once so that installing is not counted as leaving. iOS gives an installed app separate storage, so the app cannot keep the id itselfsidRandom session id, held in memory only, destroyed when the tab closesvnHow many separate days this browser has opened the gamexbA number from 0 to 99 derived from the browser id, used to split A/B comparisons. Shared with thousands of other devices
How you played
The shape of a round: what you did, on which board, and how it ended.
bcWhy a double-or-nothing was lostbeatWhether the round beat the score on a challenge linkbestThe best streak ever reachedbsHow many letters were deletedcThe board's special rule, if it had onecallHow many tiles were still hidden at the finishing wordcodeWhy a word was refuseddWhich daily number, when it is a daily or an archive rounddudHow many taps were refused for lack of inkedThe result of the double-or-nothing, if it was takenentryWhere it was opened fromfkindWhich kind of feedback was sent. Never the message itselfgcWhich line the step-by-step guide was showing when the round was leftgdWhether this round was walked through step by step, which happens once per browsergemHow many gems were foundhowWhat was sharediWhich attempt within the roundkindWhether the word was a special onelDifficultylenHow many letters it hadmDaily, free play, archive or tutorialmodesHow many of those rounds were daily, free or archiveokWhether the word was acceptedphHow far in the round waspotpHow full the pot was, as a percentageptsPoints the word scoredrdWhich round of this session this isrejHow many were refusedrkFinal rankroundsHow many rounds were in that local recordrsnHow the round endedrunThe combo run after this wordrunmaxThe best combo run reachedscFinal scoresettingWhich setting was changedshHow many times the letters were shuffledsrcWhat started the roundstageHow far the add-to-home-screen offer gotstakeHow many points were on the table at the bank-or-push cardstepWhich step of the guidestepidThe name of that stepstreakThe daily streak at that momenttilesHow many hidden tiles it revealedtookWhether the bonus was banked or riskedtutHow far the guide through your first Daily gotvalWhat it was changed toviaWhich route it took out of the appviewWhich screen was openedwiFor an ACCEPTED word: its position in this board's own word list — a number, not the word. The build id above identifies which word list that position refers towordsHow many words were acceptedxWhich board from the pool, so a board's difficulty can be measured
Words
See the section below — this is the one field that carries letters you typed.
wordFor a REFUSED word that is not in the dictionary: the letters you typed, so the word can be added. Sent only when every letter is one of that day's board letters
How long it took
Durations only. No timestamps of when you played are ever sent.
actMilliseconds actually spent playing, excluding time the page was hiddenawayRoughly how long before you came back, in broad bandsbgHow many times the page was backgrounded during the rounddecmsMilliseconds spent deciding, excluding time the page was hiddenmidWhether the round crossed local midnightqageFor a batch that could not be sent at the time and was held on your device: how long it waited before it was finally sentsactActive milliseconds in this session so fartwHow many milliseconds into this session the batch was sent, so each event can be placed at the moment it happened rather than the moment it arrivedwallMilliseconds from start to finish, including any time away
How you arrived
Recorded once, on your first ever visit, and never updated after that.
campA short source tag from the link your first visit arrived on — either a code on a link I posted myself, or the utm_source another site tagged its link to me withdlWhether your first visit came in on a shared puzzle link or a challenge linkrefThe site you arrived from, host only, never the full address. Recorded once, on your first ever visit
Technical
What the game needs to know that it is working.
buildWhich build of the game is runningdsrcThat the duration was measured before the tab closed rather than calculated afterwardsflushWhy this batch was sentfoutWhether it reached memsgThe error message, trimmed, with any web addresses removedplatWhich install mechanism the browser offeredrvWhich version of the game's scoring rules this build was running, so rounds priced under different rules are never counted togetherseqBatch counter within a session, so duplicates can be discardedsmpSampling rate in force, so counts can be weighted correctlysokWhether local storage is available (it is not, in private browsing)stdWhether the game is running as an installed app rather than a browser tabswWhether the offline cache served this loadvPayload format versionwhWhere the error surfaced
The words you spell
Every board has a fixed list of words it accepts, identical for everyone playing that day. When a word is accepted, the game sends its position in that list — a number — along with which version of the dictionary the number refers to. It does not send the letters.
There is one exception. When you try a word that the dictionary does not have, the game sends what you typed, so I can add it. That list of refused words is the main way the dictionary gets better. It is only sent when every letter is one of that day's board letters, which means it cannot carry an address, a name, or a sentence.
How long it is kept
- Raw submissions: 35 days, then deleted.
- Individual play records: 400 days, then deleted. 400 covers the full year of boards, so one year can be compared with the next.
- Counts and totals derived from them (how many people played on a given day, how long a board takes) are kept indefinitely. They are aggregates and cannot be traced back to a browser.
Turning it off
Open Settings and switch off Send usage data. The game then sends nothing at all — not a round, not a counter, not a marker saying you opted out. Anything still waiting to be sent is discarded.
Your streaks, records and achievements are unaffected. They live on your device and always have.
Deleting what has been collected
Because the only identifier is the random number held by your browser, the quickest way to disconnect yourself from everything already sent is to clear this site's data — the ID is destroyed and nothing new can be linked to the old one.
If you would like the records already collected removed, send that ID to me
and I will delete them. You can find it in your browser's developer tools
under Local Storage, at the key impress:id. Ask through the
Feedback form in the game, or the address below.
Feedback you send
The Feedback form is separate, and it only ever sends when you press Send. It carries your message, which puzzle you were on, and an email address if — and only if — you fill one in so I can reply. Messages are kept for 12 months. The server keeps a one-way hash of the sender's address to limit how many messages one person can send per day; the address itself is never stored.
Children
Impress is suitable for all ages, and it does not knowingly collect anything from anyone that would identify them, at any age. There is no account to create, no profile, and no way to contact another player.
Where you are
The game and its data are hosted in the United States. Under the UK and EU GDPR, the browser ID counts as personal data, and I rely on legitimate interest to collect it — understanding whether a free game people asked for is working. It is not used for advertising, profiling, or any automated decision about you, and it is never shared. You can object at any time with the switch in Settings, which is the same thing as withdrawing consent.