The short version
Capture is an offline, single-user chess companion. It uses the camera, with your permission, for real-board capture. Board recognition and chess engine work happen on your device. There are no accounts, no analytics, no cloud sync, and no third-party tracking. Your games live in a local library on your device.
Who runs this
This app and this site are operated by Eat Chess Games ("we", "us"). If you have any privacy questions, email [email protected].
Camera use
Capture asks for camera permission only when you start real-board capture. On-screen play does not use the camera at all. When the camera is active:
- The video stream is processed locally by on-device board-state recognition.
- The app does not transmit, upload, or share the camera feed or any frames from it.
- The app does not save photos to your camera roll automatically. You may export a final PGN or screenshot of a captured game from the in-app share sheet, which only sends content if you choose a destination.
- You can revoke camera permission at any time in your device settings. Modes that need the camera will prompt you again the next time you start them.
Data the app keeps locally
- Your local game library: real-board sessions and on-screen games, all stored as standard chess data on your device.
- Board review state and correction history for captured games.
- Settings and preferences: opponent profile selections, custom Nib slider position, haptics, etc.
Data the app does not require
- No account sign-in.
- No analytics, advertising SDKs, or remote profile tracking.
- No cloud library, online play, or background account sync.
- No location, contacts, microphone, or photo library access.
- No external chess engines or remote computation. The built-in computer opponents run locally on your device.
Purchases
The planned first release is free, with no ads, subscriptions, or paid unlock path exposed in the launch UI.
App stores and the operating system
When Capture launches, it will be distributed through the usual platform stores. Apple, Google, and the operating system may collect information about installs, crashes, and aggregate usage independently of us as part of operating their stores and platforms. That data is governed by their own privacy policies, not this one. If you opt in to share crash or diagnostic reports with developers, the store platform may forward those reports to us. We use those only to fix bugs.
Children
Capture is appropriate for chess players of any age. Because the app does not collect personal information from anyone (child or adult), we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. As the app uses the camera, parents should supervise younger users to ensure they understand when and why the camera is active.
Removing local data
Because the app stores your library on your device only, removing the app removes that local data: real-board sessions, on-screen games, and settings. The in-app library also lets you delete individual games.
This website
This site is a small, mostly-static page hosted by Cloudflare. Cloudflare may log standard request information (such as IP address, request time, and user-agent string) for security and abuse-prevention purposes; that logging is governed by Cloudflare's own privacy policy. The site itself does not set advertising cookies, run third-party analytics scripts, or share information with marketers. The Google Fonts CSS is loaded from Google's CDN to render typography.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to how the app or site handles data, we will update this page and the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the app or site after a change means you accept the updated policy.
Contact
Questions, comments, or privacy requests: [email protected].