Privacy Policy
In plain language: voice commands never leave your phone, and camera images stay on it except the board photos described below, which you can turn off, and Eloqi has no user accounts or chess-history server. If you use Lichess or import games, those requests go to Lichess or chess.com.
Camera and on-device processing
When you use real-board play, Eloqi uses the camera to recognize the board and track moves. Camera images are processed on your device. The full camera frame is never uploaded. Board recognition, chess analysis, and spoken coaching also run on device.
Board photos
To read chess boards better, Eloqi sends a small number of photos of the board after a real-board game: at most 20 a game, only on Wi-Fi, never during a game and never in Low Power Mode. Each photo shows only the board, cut out and straightened from the camera image, so it does not show your room, your face or anything around the board. Each photo carries no location and no file metadata.
With it we store the position on the board, how the app read it, the board's corners in the image, the light level, the app version and the move number. We do not store your name, email, Apple ID, account, location or IP address with it. Photos are grouped by a random ID the app gets for this feature only. They are stored in our private Cloudflare R2 storage, used only to train and test the app's board recognition, and deleted automatically after 365 days.
Sharing is on by default. You can turn it off any time in You › App › Privacy and help › Share board photos, and “Delete my photos” there deletes every photo your phone sent.
Why we may do this (EU and UK users). We rely on our legitimate interest in making board recognition work for every board and light, which needs real photos of real boards. We keep this to photos of the board only, with no identity attached, and you can switch it off or delete your photos at any time.
Voice commands
On the real board only, and only if you allow the microphone and speech recognition, Eloqi listens for a few short commands such as “undo” for a short moment after it speaks. Recognition runs on your iPhone, transcripts are discarded, and audio is never recorded, stored, or sent. You can turn this off in Settings.
Lichess and chess.com
These are optional and only used when you choose them. To play online you can connect your own Lichess account; you sign in on Lichess’s own page, Eloqi keeps the access token on your device, and your moves and games are exchanged with Lichess under your Lichess username. If you send a chat message to a human opponent, the text goes to Lichess under your username; it is not sent to Eloqi, Sentry, or our analytics, and is not stored on your device. You can switch chat off in the game’s Options, report or mute any message, and block players. Lichess governs that data under its own privacy policy and does not allow child accounts.
To import games, Eloqi sends the Lichess or chess.com username you type to that service’s public interface and keeps the games it returns on your device. Watch reads Lichess’s public broadcasts. Eloqi does not receive these requests.
Downloads and updates
After install, Eloqi downloads its on-device models (board recognition, the coach’s voice and the chess engine’s network) from our own Cloudflare storage, and checks our update server for app updates and a small configuration file. These requests reveal your IP address and the app version, like any web request, and carry no game data or identifier.
Saved games and iCloud
Games, settings, and progress are stored on your device. When iCloud is available, saved games and progress may sync through your own iCloud account so they are available on your Apple devices. This sync is provided by Apple and is governed by your iCloud settings and Apple's terms. Eloqi does not operate an account or cloud database for your chess history.
Purchases
Subscriptions are billed through your Apple ID. Apple handles payment processing; we never receive your card or bank details. Eloqi uses RevenueCat to check purchase and entitlement status and restore access.
Crash reports and analytics
Eloqi may send limited, anonymous technical information to Sentry for crash reporting. Pseudonymous usage analytics (PostHog: events are grouped by a random install ID that is not tied to your name, email or any account, a short list of events, no screen views or recordings) may also be used to understand reliability and improve the app; you can turn analytics off any time in Settings > App > Privacy inside Eloqi.
If you choose a photo from your library inside Eloqi, it is used only as a saved board image for recognition or diagnostics, processed on device like the live camera feed, and never uploaded.
When you stop a board video you recorded, Eloqi adds it to your Photos library. This uses add-only access, so Eloqi cannot see your other photos. If you do not allow it, the video stays inside Eloqi on your iPhone and is never uploaded.
This information can include app and version information, device and operating-system details, error diagnostics, and events such as which features are opened or completed. If you choose Send Feedback inside Eloqi, the text you enter and limited app diagnostics are sent to Sentry so we can investigate the issue. Choosing Email Us opens your mail app instead. Apart from board photos (below), we do not send camera images, board positions, saved games, names, profile email addresses, other UI text, or session recordings through these services.
No accounts
Eloqi has no user accounts of its own and does not ask for your name, password, or profile email. A Lichess account is used only if you choose to connect one.
Your choices
- Control camera access in iPhone Settings.
- Turn board photos off in Eloqi, You › App › Privacy and help › Share board photos. “Delete my photos” there deletes every photo your phone sent.
- Control iCloud through your Apple ID and iCloud settings.
- Manage purchases in Settings › [your name] › Subscriptions.
- Delete local Eloqi data by deleting the app. Data already synced to iCloud is managed through Apple's iCloud controls.
Children
Eloqi is not designed to collect personal information from children. Because there are no Eloqi accounts and camera images stay on device, apart from board photos, which show only the board, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Online chat is only available through a Lichess account, and Lichess does not allow child accounts.
This website
eloqi.app uses no cookies and stores nothing on your device for analytics. To see how the site is used, it counts page views and a few actions, such as taps on buttons and links, which parts of the page came into view, plays of a coach’s voice, plays of the board animation and turning on its sound, steps in the game review and the steps of a waitlist form (never the email). Each count records the page, the page language, your browser language, the site you came from (its domain only), campaign tags in the link, your country (from our hosting provider, Cloudflare), the type of device, its operating system family, the minute of the visit, the hour and day of the week on your device’s clock, how far you scrolled, time on the page in ranges, page-speed measurements, and short script error messages with links removed, with the file name and line when the error is in our own code. We do not record your IP address, your full browser string or any identifier that lasts. Each page load makes a random number that links the counts from that one page view, so we can see, for example, that a page view reached the game review and then tapped the App Store button. The number stays in the page’s memory only. It is never stored on your device, and a reload or another page makes a new one, so we cannot tell visitors apart or follow you across pages or sites. Raw counts are deleted after 35 days. Daily totals are kept for up to 25 months. The data stays in our Cloudflare account and is not shared or sold. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control, the site sends nothing. The site has no advertising and no third-party embeds.
The site has two waitlists: one for the Eloqi Board and one for the Android app. You can join either or both. If you join one, we store your email address, which list you joined, the page language, the day you joined, your country (a two-letter code from our hosting provider, Cloudflare, not your IP address) and the site or campaign tag of the link that brought you, in our Cloudflare account. So that the tag is not lost when you move between pages, your browser keeps it for the current tab only (session storage), and it is sent only if you join. We store your address because you asked to join, and you can leave at any time. We use it only to send one email for that list when it is ready (when the Eloqi Board files are ready, or when Eloqi is on Android), then we delete that list. We never share or sell it. To stop bots, the form checks how fast it was filled and limits how often one visitor can send it in a day. For that limit we keep a scrambled code made from your IP address, the date and a secret key, never the IP address itself. The code cannot be turned back into your IP address, and we delete it about a week after the day it was made. To be removed, email [email protected] and we will delete your address.
If you choose a theme or a language on this site, or close the language suggestion, your browser remembers that choice on your device. It is never sent to us.
Cloudflare serves this site and processes requests to deliver it, under its own privacy policy. We also use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts visits without cookies and without storing anything on your device.
Support messages
If you write to us with the form on the support page, we store your email address, the topic you picked, your message, the iPhone model and iOS version if you typed them (the form never reads your device itself), the page language, the day and time, and your country (a two-letter code from Cloudflare, not your IP address), in our Cloudflare account. We store them so we can read your message and reply by email, and we use them for nothing else. We never share or sell them. The form limits how often one visitor can send it in a day, with the same scrambled code as the waitlist, deleted about a week after the day it was made. Messages are deleted 12 months after they arrive. To have yours deleted sooner, email [email protected] from the same address.
Changes
We may update this policy when the app or legal requirements change. The effective date above will show the latest revision.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email [email protected].