Privacy and safety
The Mac and iPad apps keep everything on the device. The browser version works the same way until a grown-up chooses to make an account. No analytics, no adverts, no chat. Here is exactly what is stored and where.
What the apps do not do
| Accounts | The apps have none. Nothing to sign up for, no email address, no password. |
|---|---|
| Internet | The apps do not connect to anything. They work the same with Wi-Fi off. |
| Uploads | Nothing a child makes leaves the Mac unless they choose to share a file themselves. |
| Analytics and ads | None. NutHouse does not count launches, crashes or clicks, and shows no advertising. |
| Chat and community | There is no in-app messaging, gallery or comments. Nobody can contact a child through NutHouse. |
| Personal data | NutHouse asks for nothing. The optional Made by field in About the game is free text the child types, and it only appears in games they share. |
What is stored, and where
| Games | .nuthouse files, wherever the child saves them. Plain JSON text you can open in any editor. |
|---|---|
| Autosave | A copy of the open game every 30 seconds, in NutHouse’s data folder on the Mac. Offered back as Get back unsaved work on the Welcome screen. |
| My library | Saved sprites, in the same data folder. |
| In-game saves and high scores | Stored on that computer under the game’s name, when a game uses those rules. Shared web-page games keep them in the browser that played them. |
| Browser version, signed out | The same things in the browser’s own storage (localStorage and IndexedDB), on that device only. Nothing is sent to us. |
The browser version with an account
A grown-up can make a free account at app.playnuthouse.com so games are saved online and can be shared. Then we keep: the grown-up’s email, a scrambled password, the child’s nickname, the games saved online, their pictures, and the high scores players post (a nickname and a number). A game is private until someone chooses to share it; sharing with everyone goes through a check by a person. There are no profiles, comments or messages. The account page deletes everything at once. The plain-words version is at app.playnuthouse.com/privacy, and the details are in Accounts: made by a grown-up.
Sharing
In the apps, the only way anything leaves the Mac is Share…, which writes one HTML file. The child then decides what to do with it: AirDrop, email, a USB stick. That file contains the game and nothing else. See Sharing games safely.
Imported pictures and sounds
A child can import a photo or a sound file into a game. It is copied into the .nuthouse file and into any shared page made from it. If a photo of a person goes in, it travels with the game. Worth a conversation before the first share.
