Can’t disable Game Center prompts on iPhone 14

msmsc wrote:

Lots of good info here about how this works, how developers use it, etc. Thank you to all who have shared this.

The bottom line is that I do not ever want to use Game Center and I do not ever want to see it exists--i.e., an app asking me to log in. Disabling GC and turning off GC notifications should, by what most people expect of the norms of turning off an app and disabling notifications, mean that one should never see this kind of attempt to log in.

As has been suggested, I can and will ignore the request to log in when I open NYT games.

Also, I would like it to stop.

I want Apple or NYT or whoever is responsible for this to fix it and not override a user's individual choice not to use a particular app and to turn off all its notifications.

There is nothing here wrong, nothing to fix, and nothing will change.

You want developers of an app to abandon a useful and directly relevant framework.

The developers of the NYT are exceedingly unlikely to abandon that framework at your behest.

If you don’t want Game Center, find an app that doesn’t use it.

If you can even find such an app of course, as it’s a useful framework for this.

The Google Android equivalent to Game Center is Google Play Game Services (PGS), so switching to Android here won't evade an equivalent framework.

iMariaCam wrote:

Reply from NYT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I understand your concerns and frustration regarding the Games Center pop up in the Games app. This is an automatically generated pop up through the Apple Game Center. I can assure you that no one else is playing the games but the name you’re seeing is just made up.

Only for Apps that use the Game Center frameworks. That is a decision made by the Developer if they use it. Apple is letting you know that the app is using Game Center.

Fortunately, you can control and alter this through the Apple Settings app under the Game Center settings.

Not sure what they are referring to. You do have Settings for Game Center for privacy, but you cannot stop using Game Center if that is the Framework that the developer has chose to use. Apple is letting you know that with the pop up.

This is an Apple issue and we cannot stop this from appearing in your app at this time. 

Apple showing you that the game you are playing is using Game Center is not an issue. They can stop Apple from letting you know by not using Game Center. They can save your game data on their servers or on your device and not use Game Center at all if they wish.

I hope this helps you manage your Game Center settings to your preference. Please let us know if you should have any additional questions and I would be happy to further assist.

You can change Game Center settings so your gameplay is not shared with others, but NYT is using it as a way to save your game play.

Any app that uses Game Center is identified in the App Store as having support for Game Center. It is not a secret and if you do not want an app that uses Game Center, you would not download it. When you launch an app that supports Game Center, you see the pop up on your screen. I find it odd that the NYT says that is an Apple "issue", because it is letting the user know that the app they are launching is using Game Center. I would only consider it an issue if it did not notify you. Here is the label in the App Store that identifies an App as supporting Game Center, including on the NYT Games page.

Developers will use Game Center for many reasons:

• Increase engagement with users by saving scores on Leaderboards.
• Increase engagement with users by offering Achievement awards
• Allow multiplayer games if a user wants to challenge another person.
• Potential for increased downloads if a player has a friend that they want to play against where they would need to download the app also and play against their friend using Game Center
• Save game play progress so the developer does not have to maintain users accounts to save their content on their own servers.
• Game progress is available on each of the users devices so they can continue a game on another device and still view all the game stats.

Game Center functionality:

• If you are not currently signed into Game Center, any app that uses Game Center will ask you to sign in.
• You can certainly Cancel sign in or Sign Out of Game Center, the app that you are using will have limited functionality such as not saving your game or progress data, or no multiplayer support. The exact effects will depend on the game, for example with a game that has multiple levels, each time you played the game you would be starting on level 1. Not exactly what a user would expect when playing a game, so you are asked to sign in on every launch. Personally I have not played a game that will not run at all without Game Center.
• You can turn off Game Center Notifications like any other notification by going to Settings > Notifications > Game Center. This has nothing to do with the sign in prompt you will see on supported games.
• Instead of using Game Center to save game progress, the developer can choose to save the data on the users device instead, but the developer chooses what options to use for saving. You may have also seen where some games allow saving game data using your Facebook Account or the Developers server where you would have to create an account.
• You are free to delete any game you want for any reason or contact the developer if you have an issue with their implementation of Game Center.

As for privacy concerns:

• The Developer does not have any Apple Account information or your email address. You are simply assigned a unique identifier with the Nickname you created.
• You control whether you want to play against another person or receive request to have others play against you.
• You can choose to add friends or not.
• You can choose to allow friends find you or not.
• You can choose to share your friend list or not.
• You can choose if you want to use WiFi/Bluetooth to play against a person sitting next to you.
• From a privacy standpoint on saving game data externally, I would prefer Game Center over saving my data using a Facebook account or saving my data on the developers servers.

Reply from NYT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello there,

Thank you so much for writing in to The New York Times Care team!

I understand your concerns and frustration regarding the Games Center pop up in the Games app. This is an automatically generated pop up through the Apple Game Center. I can assure you that no one else is playing the games but the name you’re seeing is just made up.

Fortunately, you can control and alter this through the Apple Settings app under the Game Center settings. For further guidance, I recommend visiting the Apple Support page: Game Center on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac - Apple Support.

This is an Apple issue and we cannot stop this from appearing in your app at this time. 

I hope this helps you manage your Game Center settings to your preference. Please let us know if you should have any additional questions and I would be happy to further assist.

Thanks,

Victoria

Customer Support Specialist

The New York Times

Yes, so annoying. Apparently it is because the NYT is now interfacing with GC. Great if you use GC. I have reported it as a bug issue and requested that we can toggle GC off.

Also Game Centre (or NYT) signed me into GC, which is against GDPR rules. I have signed myself out again!

Even when signed in to Game Center, NYT Games app still shows a popover notice that Game Center is ‘activating’ when you open the app.

In iOS/iPadOS 18.5 (current version), there is currently no setting in NYT Games app settings to turn off - nor a list of apps in Settings for Game Center.

So - this is poor rollout of a new ‘feature’ w/o asking permission. And/or a bug.

msmsc wrote:

.. Over to you Apple. How/why can NYT essentially override our individual settings (GC off and no notifications) and attempt to log us in. Yes, it goes away after a few seconds but the point is that it shouldn’t be able to do that when GC is turned off. Otherwise why have an off switch? Please fix that.

Apple may or may not read replies here, and seldom posts replies.

This is not an Apple issue.

The fix is to

• stop using the app, or …
• convince the app developer to remove the GC tie-in, or …
• use GC.

GC is how the app can store game status across devices.

I’m routinely using GC-based apps with no GC sharing enabled.

It is possible you may have been signed into Game Center previously and not aware of it without having any apps that use Game Center. At some time it would had to have been set up where you chose your nickname. I honestly don't remember if this is an option when installing iOS or not where you may have been able to skip that step like you can when setting up Face ID or Siri.

The app will check if you are signed in and if you are, then the pop up you see is to let you know that the app is using Game Center. If you are not signed in, the app will prompt you to sign in and there is also a "Cancel" button to not sign in, although as described previously app functionality will likely be limited. I think it might have been the first case for you where you were already signed in and did not know it, so when you saw the pop up, you thought it was NYT that signed you in.

That doesn’t mean it hasn’t started to use it. You’ll just have to ignore the notice. Or, sign into Game Center.

I think we have to keep reporting it as a bug on the NYT app.

I looked at my settings on another games app I use and that has the option to toggle GC off (which I selected at time of installation).

Agree. But I find it interesting that NYT through lack of ownership or knowledge are laying the blame on Apple.

One would hope that Apple would clarify the issue and direct the problem back at the feet of NYT

iMariaCam wrote:

Agree. But I find it interesting that NYT through lack of ownership or knowledge are laying the blame on Apple.

One would hope that Apple would clarify the issue and direct the problem back at the feet of NYT

I don’t subscribe to the Times.

If you wish to pursue this matter, check with the Times’ ombudsman. If they have one.

Thank you. I was definitely not signed in. Apple had previously signed me in during installation of a new phone and updates. But at the moment in time that GC appeared on the NYT app, I was not signed in (I now routinely check). Thank you.