Private no-chat chess app for kids, families & focused study: how Brass Pawn works
Data, chat and tracker audit
| Vector | Brass Pawn | Typical Social / Ad-Supported Chess App |
|---|---|---|
| In-game chat & DMs | Impossible — wire protocol carries moves, resignations and draw offers only | Live chat, DMs, forums, profile bios and custom avatars (must remember to mute) |
| Account registration | None — zero email, phone number, age prompt or password database | Email, Google/Apple SSO or phone account required |
| Phone address-book access | Never requested — “Contacts” on the App Store label means in-game Game Center nicknames only | Often prompts to upload device contacts to “find friends” |
| Third-party SDKs | Zero analytics, zero ad networks, zero attribution or crash-reporting SDKs | Commonly embeds ad mediation, behavioral analytics and attribution trackers |
| Offline training storage | Local app container on your device only; deleted when you delete the app | Synced permanently to cloud user profiles |
| Website privacy (brasspawn.com) | Zero cookies, zero analytics, self-hosted fonts, CloudFront/S3 request logs off | Cookie banners, third-party fonts and web tracking pixels |
Every network connection Brass Pawn ever makes
| Feature | Network destination | How to disable or limit |
|---|---|---|
| Tactics, Positional, Endgames, Rush, Guess the Elo, Watch & Engine Play | None — 100% local on device | Always offline by construction |
| Online matches & clock leaderboards | Apple Game Center (device-to-device legal move validation) | Sign out of Game Center or disable Multiplayer in Apple Screen Time |
| “Who is online” presence & in-game friends | Arte Soft EU (Frankfurt) service using one-way hashed Game Center ID (5-min TTL on presence) | Toggle off Settings → Show when I’m online; remove any friend to delete on both sides |
| Today broadcast stories | Static JSON from brasspawn.com/media/feed/v1/ (no cookies, no ID, logging off) | Fetched only when you tap Today; never runs at launch or in background |
| Purchases & restores | Apple App Store (StoreKit 2) | Managed by Apple Screen Time purchase restrictions |
Who benefits most from a zero-chat, zero-account chess app?
| User group | Why Brass Pawn fits | Key control to know |
|---|---|---|
| Parents setting up an iPad or iPhone for a child | Zero stranger text chat, zero third-party ads and zero email registration. | Use iOS Screen Time → Content & Privacy → Game Center to allow or block multiplayer. |
| Adults who mute chat on every chess site to avoid toxic trash talk | You never have to hunt for a mute toggle — opponents can only play chess moves. | Game Center matches run on 3, 5, 10, 15 or 30-minute clocks with zero engine help. |
| Privacy-conscious professionals & open-source users | Every claim in the privacy policy can be verified line-by-line in the AGPLv3 GitHub repo. | Settings → Show when I’m online stops presence pings immediately. |
| Schools or families wanting solo offline chess only | Works signed out of Game Center with full Stockfish 18 coaching and 14,351 puzzles. | No login prompt ever blocks offline modes. |
What the App Store privacy label actually means in Brass Pawn
Apple’s standardized App Store privacy nutrition labels use broad bucket names that can look alarming without context. On Brass Pawn’s Privacy page, each of the three declared items (introduced only for online presence and friends) is explained plainly: Contacts means only the Game Center nicknames of friends you add inside Brass Pawn (never your phone’s address book); User ID is a one-way scrambled hash of your Game Center team ID; and Gameplay Content is simply whether you are currently online or in a game, deleted five minutes after you close the app.
None of it is used for tracking or advertising, nothing is sold or shared, and outside online play Brass Pawn collects nothing at all.
Source code as the primary privacy document
Most apps ask you to trust a legal PDF. Because Brass Pawn is free software under GNU AGPLv3, `OnlineService.swift`, `MatchProtocol.swift` and `TodayFeed.swift` are public on GitHub for anyone to audit.
Honest boundaries
When Chat-Enabled Social Chess Apps is the better fit
- Players who enjoy post-game text banter, club forums or coaching chat inside their chess app will not find social messaging in Brass Pawn.
- Because there is no cloud account, deleting Brass Pawn deletes your local training ratings and puzzle review queue (unless restored from an encrypted Apple device backup).
- Online multiplayer requires Apple Game Center on iPhone, iPad or Mac.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Brass Pawn ever read the contacts on my iPhone or Mac?
- Never. Brass Pawn contains no code to request or read your device’s Contacts address book. The App Store “Contacts” category refers solely to the list of in-game friends you choose to add by Game Center nickname.
- How can a parent make Brass Pawn 100% offline for a child?
- Either keep the device signed out of Game Center or disable Multiplayer under Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → Game Center. All coached engine play, 14,351 puzzles, positional drills, endgames and 900 Watch games work offline.
- Why can’t an opponent send an abusive message during a Brass Pawn online game?
- Because the multiplayer protocol has no text message packet and the UI has no chat box — the only signals exchanged between devices are legal moves, draw offers/responses and resignations.
- Does brasspawn.com use cookies or Google Analytics?
- No. Even the website sets zero cookies, embeds zero analytics scripts and self-hosts its own fonts so reading a page reveals nothing to third parties.
Native on iPhone, iPad & Mac
Practise offline with Stockfish 18 and Reckless 0.10
Play unlimited coached games against the engine or over Game Center for free, with five daily exercises in Tactics, Rush, Positional judgement, Endgames and Guess the Elo — and zero advertising under the GNU AGPLv3.