ConnectionsHelper ("the Application") is a native Android utility tool built to assist players of the NYT Connections puzzle game.
We are deeply committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy details how the Application handles information, emphasizing our core philosophy: what happens on your device, stays on your device.
1. No Personal Data Collection
ConnectionsHelper does not require any user accounts, email registrations, login credentials, or profile setups. We do not collect, harvest, store, transmit, or share any personally identifiable information (PII) whatsoever.
2. Information Processing & Storage
To provide its offline helper functionality and screenshot-import features, the Application processes and stores data locally on your device:
📸 Local On-Device Image Processing
When importing a puzzle from a screenshot, all computer vision operations occur 100% client-side:
- On-Device OCR: We use Google's ML Kit Text Recognition SDK, which runs locally on the device.
- Tile Crops: For tiles containing graphics/emojis that cannot be recognized by text engine, the app crops and segments the image directly from the screenshot.
- Zero Cloud Uploads: Your screenshot, cropped tile bitmaps, and extracted text words are never uploaded to external servers, cloud networks, or shared with third parties.
💾 Local Database & Caching
Your settings, completed puzzle indexes, custom game states, recent scanning coordinates, and imported card sequences are stored securely inside your device's private sandbox database (Room SQL) and Preferences (DataStore). This data is cleared only if you manually clear the app's storage in Android Settings or uninstall the app.
🌐 Network Communications
The Application requires active network access purely to query daily public NYT Connections puzzle layouts (retrieved directly from public nytimes.com JSON endpoints). These requests are strictly informational; no device UUIDs, personal tags, IP mapping accounts, or telemetry data are passed.
🔔 Alarm & Reminder System
If you choose to enable daily reminders or notifications for future puzzle availability:
- All triggers are generated locally by scheduling OS system alarms (
AlarmManager). - No external cloud-based push notification messaging services are utilized.
3. Requested Android Permissions
The Application requests standard Android permissions solely to deliver its essential functions:
- INTERNET: Required to connect to public servers and fetch today's daily puzzle data.
- POST_NOTIFICATIONS: Required on Android 13+ to post local reminder alarms for daily streak tasks.
- RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED: Required to automatically register and reschedule your custom local alarm alarms after your phone is restarted.
4. Third-Party Services
We integrate Google's ML Kit client library locally to enable text recognition. No data processed through Google ML Kit on-device is shared back to Google or sent over network channels for training.
5. Data Retention & User Deletion
Since your data resides 100% within your device, you hold total sovereignty over your records. You can clear all recent scans, reset active board progresses, or delete complete history directly in the app's Settings panel. Uninstalling the app permanently purges all related local data.
6. Updates
We may refine this policy as app integrations evolve. Any updates will be posted directly on this page. Your continued use of the app is subject to the latest version of this local policy.
7. Contact
If you have any inquiries regarding this Privacy Policy or your offline data sovereignty, please open an issue or contact us.