# Protecting the player’s privacy using scoped identifiers Use the scoped identifiers that GameKit provides you as player IDs when transmitting or saving player data. ## Discussion If you store player data outside of Game Center, use the scoped player identifiers that GameKit provides for you to identify the local player’s data — not their name and avatar, which may change, or other personal information that’s private. The identifiers that Game Center provides are persistent and scoped to your game instances. GameKit scopes the identifiers of other players in the game instance to each leaderboard object or to each multiplayer match object, not your game instances (except for friend identifiers as described below). Therefore, in a multiplayer game, save the game data for the local player only, not the data for the other players in the match. For design guidance on protecting the player’s privacy, see [Human Interface Guidelines > Privacy](https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/privacy). ### Initialize the local player Before you can get a scoped identifier, initialize the local player who is running your game on the device. During the initialization process, the player signs in to their Game Center account if they haven’t already done so. Identifiers for a player are persistent; that is, the values are the same across all instances of your game. For more information, see [Authenticating a player](/documentation/GameKit/authenticating-a-player). ### Get the local player’s scoped identifier After initialization, you can get a unique identifier for the local player from the [`GKLocalPlayer`](/documentation/GameKit/GKLocalPlayer) shared object using the [`gamePlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/gamePlayerID) property: ```swift // Get the scoped local player identifier. let identifier = GKLocalPlayer.local.gamePlayerID ``` If you need to track a player across multiple games belonging to your developer team, you can use the [`teamPlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/teamPlayerID) property instead. Game Center scopes this property to instances of all games that use the same Team ID. But if you transfer your game to another team, the value of the [`teamPlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/teamPlayerID) property changes. If you use either the [`teamPlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/teamPlayerID) or the deprecated, non-scoped [`playerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/playerID) property, you need to provide details on your game’s privacy practices in App Store Connect. To learn more, see [App privacy details on the App Store](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/app-privacy-details/#data-type). If initialization fails, the [`gamePlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/gamePlayerID) and [`teamPlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/teamPlayerID) properties return a temporary identifier that’s not persistent. If you need unique and persistent identifiers, use the [`scopedIDsArePersistent()`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/scopedIDsArePersistent()) method before accessing the properties. Don’t rely on the format of the identifiers to determine whether they’re persistent. Later, you can use either the [`gamePlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/gamePlayerID) or the [`teamPlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/teamPlayerID) values in GameKit calls to identify the player. ### Get scoped identifiers for friends of the local player If you have permission from the local player to access their friends list, you can also get scoped identifiers for their friends. The friend identifiers are persistent and scoped to game instances the local player and their friends run. You get the scoped identifiers for the friends from the [`GKPlayer`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer) objects that the [`loadFriends(_:)`](/documentation/GameKit/GKLocalPlayer/loadFriends(_:)) method returns using the [`gamePlayerID`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer/gamePlayerID) property. In the game instances that mutual friends run, the identifiers for the [`GKPlayer`](/documentation/GameKit/GKPlayer) objects that the [`loadFriends(_:)`](/documentation/GameKit/GKLocalPlayer/loadFriends(_:)) method returns are the same: ```swift // Load the local player's friends. let players = try await GKLocalPlayer.local.loadFriends() // Get scoped identifiers for the mutual friends. for player in players { let let identifier = player.gamePlayerID // Save or use the scoped identifiers. } ``` For details on loading the local player’s friends, see [Providing a reason to access the friends list](/documentation/GameKit/connecting-players-with-their-friends-in-your-game#Providing-a-reason-to-access-the-friends-list) and [Accessing the player’s friends](/documentation/GameKit/connecting-players-with-their-friends-in-your-game#Accessing-the-players-friends). --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. 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