Beach rules

Squawkle is a drawing game for everyone. Crabs of all ages play on the beach, so we keep it friendly. By playing online you agree to these rules.

The rules

  1. Draw, don't write. No letters, numbers or words in the sand. It's cheating, and it's how people sneak in rude words.
  2. Keep it clean. No private parts, nothing sexual, no rude gestures, no hate symbols.
  3. Be kind. No drawings meant to hurt, bully, scare or target someone.
  4. Play fair. Don't try to fool the lifeguard, don't use a modified app, and don't try to get around a block or a ban.
  5. Your name counts too. Your Game Center nickname shows up on the beach, so keep it clean.

The lifeguard

Our lifeguard checks every stroke on your device, and again on the other players' devices, before anyone sees it. It runs on the device itself: your drawings are never sent to an AI service.

What happensWhy
Your stroke is swept awayYou wrote letters or numbers
Your stroke is swept away, and you get a warningThe lifeguard thinks your drawing breaks rule 2
You're removed from the match and can't play online for 10 minutesA second warning, or a drawing that clearly breaks the rules, or most players voted to remove you
You can't play online for 24 hoursYou were removed 3 times in 7 days
You're banned from playing onlineWe reviewed a report or a stopped drawing and found a serious or repeated breach

When we ban someone, we tell them why.

Reporting and blocking

  • Report: tap a player at the top of the screen (or press and hold their drawing) and choose Report. We receive the drawing, the reason and the player's Game Center ID. The player isn't told who reported them. We look at every report within 24 hours.
  • Block: you won't see that player again. If they're in your match, the app finds you another one. You can unblock them in Settings → Blocked players.
  • Remove player: asks the other players. If most agree, the player is out of that match.

Illegal content

Sexual images of children, drawn or not, are illegal. We delete them right away, ban the player and report it to the police or Child Focus. We never keep such content.

Think you were removed or banned unfairly?

Write to support@squawkle.com. Tell us your Game Center nickname and roughly when it happened. The report contains the drawing, so we can check what happened.