Using PlayKovo Games Inside an App: What the Terms Cover

The Partner Terms open with a sentence that surprises some readers: they apply to anyone who embeds PlayKovo games "on a website or app". The definition of "Your Site" is likewise "each website or app" where you place embeds or feed data. So a mobile or desktop app that shows PlayKovo games in a web view is, in principle, covered. This post explains what that means in practice and where you should ask questions before you build.

Three points from the Partner Terms apply directly:

• The terms apply to everyone who embeds games on a website or app, or uses the catalog, feeds or partner dashboard.
• The ownership rules forbid presenting or labelling any game as your own in "app store listings" and other places, and forbid listing a game under your own name in another portal, marketplace, app store, contest, portfolio or catalog.
• The branding rule forbids using the PlayKovo name or logo as part of your own app name or logo, or in a way that suggests endorsement.

In short, an app can show the games, but it must not claim them, and it must not trade on the PlayKovo name.

A game is a web page at https://playkovo.com/embed/<slug>. An app can show it in a web view, the app's embedded browser component. That is similar to an iframe in a page, but several things differ and are not covered by the documentation, so test them yourself:

• The referrer. PlayKovo identifies your website from the referrer of the page that contains the embed. A web view that opens the game address directly may send no referrer at all, and then the dashboard cannot attribute launches to you. The documentation describes this mechanism for pages, not for apps, so do not assume it works the same way.
• The permissions. The snippet's allow attribute lets the game use fullscreen, sound, gamepads and pointer lock. A web view has its own settings for these. A game with no sound or no fullscreen may be missing a permission on the app side.
• Orientation and size. The device field says whether a game is for desktop, mobile or both, and the orientation field says portrait or landscape. A phone app should respect both.
• Back and lifecycle. Decide what the back button does inside a game and what happens when the app goes to the background.

App stores have their own policies on apps that wrap web content, on games and on ads. They are not PlayKovo's rules and they change. Read the current rules of each store you plan to use, and think about whether an app that only repackages a catalog of other people's games will meet them. That is a business and policy decision for you, and this post cannot answer it.

The terms allow you to describe the games truthfully as "games from PlayKovo", "powered by PlayKovo" or "playable free in our app through PlayKovo", and to name a developer where the catalog shows one. They do not allow you to state or suggest an exclusive or special relationship that you do not have, or to present the games as your creation in the listing text, screenshots, metadata or press material. A listing that shows the games must say whose they are.

The same duties as for sites apply: a privacy policy, consent where the law requires it, and no personal data passed to PlayKovo. If the app is directed at children, you are responsible for meeting the laws that apply. Apps also run into platform rules about data collection and children. See children and partners.

1. Write to [email protected] and describe the app: platform, how the games are shown, how they are listed in the store. See what to include in a message.
2. Ask specifically how launches from an app are identified, since the referrer method is described for websites.
3. Build a small test that shows one game, and check sound, controls, orientation and pause.
4. Prepare the listing text and have it checked against section 5 before you submit.

The terms do not forbid apps. They put the same requirements on apps as on sites: do not claim the games, do not hide credits, do not alter the embed, do not pretend to be PlayKovo. Almost everything else about apps is untested territory in the public documentation, which is why you should ask first and keep any answer in writing.