Your data

Online Bingo Caller works without an account. Here is exactly what is stored and where.

On this device

Your game in progress (the numbers called, the pattern and how balls are called) and your settings (the voice, and whether the board calls numbers when clicked) are saved in this browser’s storage, so a refresh does not lose them. They never leave your device. Clearing your browser’s site data removes them.

To work offline, the site keeps a copy of its pages, and of each voice clip once it has played, in your browser.

The numbers drawn in the number generator and your settings for printable cards are saved in this browser too.

Printable cards are made in your browser: the PDF is never uploaded. Card numbers you type into the card checker are used on your device only, to rebuild the card. They are not sent anywhere.

Playing on phones and other screens

When you use Phones and TV to let players join, use your phone as the remote or show the game on another screen, the game is shared through our server so those devices can follow it: the numbers called, the pattern and how balls are called, the players’ card numbers, and whether a card that called bingo had won. It is linked to random codes (one for your screen, one for your phone remote, one for TV screens and a short code for players to join), not to you; we store only scrambled (hashed) forms of the codes. Everything is deleted when you stop sharing, 12 hours after the game was first shared, or a day after it was last used, whichever comes first.

A player who joins gets a random code in their browser (we keep only its scrambled form), a card number, and the times they joined, last checked in and last pressed BINGO. Players never give a name or anything else about themselves.

A TV asking to show a game gets a six-character code that expires after 15 minutes, or as soon as you type it in.

Each device gets one free game with the phone remote and other screens. To know a device has had it, the server sets a cookie with a random code and keeps a scrambled (hashed) form of the code with the time the free game started, for up to 400 days. It is not linked to you.

Usage counts

To see which features are used, the site adds one to a daily total when someone, for example, starts or finishes a game, turns on automatic calling, checks a card, opens full screen, makes a PDF of cards or uses the number generator. A few coarse labels go with some counts: whether the game was called by hand or automatically, which voice, which of the free patterns (any other pattern counts as “other”), the number of balls called as a range (such as “16–30”), whether a checked card won, how many cards a PDF had as a range (such as “11–20”), cards per page, paper size, and 75 or 90-ball.

Only those totals are kept. They are not linked to your device, a cookie or your IP address, and never include card numbers or anything you type. Totals are deleted after about two years.

To stop abuse, the server limits how often any one connection can send counts. For that it keeps a scrambled (hashed) form of the IP address for up to two hours, separate from the totals.

Visitor statistics

The site runs on Cloudflare, which counts page visits for us with Cloudflare Web Analytics. It does not use cookies or local storage and does not follow you across other sites. It records things like the page address, the referring site, your browser type, your approximate location and page load times. It does not see your game.

We also use Google Analytics to understand how visitors find and use the site. It records the pages you visit, how you arrived (such as a search or a link), your browser and device type, your approximate location, and the same feature events as our usage counts below (for example that a game was started or a PDF of cards was made). It never receives card numbers or anything you type. Outside the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, Google Analytics sets cookies (named _ga) to recognise a returning browser. Inside those regions it sets no analytics cookies and only counts visits without them. Google processes this data under Google’s privacy policy; you can opt out with Google’s opt-out browser add-on.

iPhone and iPad app

Links to our app, Bingo Caller & Cards at Home, go to Apple’s App Store, which Apple’s privacy policy covers.

What we do not do

• We do not sell or share your data.
• We do not show advertising or use advertising cookies, and the only cookies we use are Google Analytics’, as described above.
• We do not take bets or handle money.

Questions: [email protected]. Online Bingo Caller is made by EllisApps Inc.