Privacy Policy – Griddots: Color Link Puzzle

1.1 Anonymous Device Identifier

When you first open the App, we generate a random, anonymous identifier that is stored on your device and sent to our servers with each request. This identifier is not linked to your name, email, or any other directly identifying information. We use it to save and restore your game progress, hint balance, and purchases. On iOS, it is stored in the device Keychain so that it can survive a reinstall on the same device. On Android, it may be derived from your device's hardware identifier (Android ID) so that your progress can still be recognized if you uninstall and reinstall the App on the same device.

1.2 Gameplay Data

We store data related to your use of the App, including:

• Level and puzzle progress (stars earned, completion time, number of moves)
• Tutorial completion status
• Hint balances and hint usage
• Daily challenge progress and streaks
• Your device's time zone (used to determine your local "day" for daily challenges, streaks, and reminders)
• Your App language setting (used to send notifications in your language)

1.3 Online Mode (Signal Arena)

If you choose to play the online mode, the App uses your Game Center (iOS) or Google Play Games Services (Android) sign-in to identify you. We receive your platform player identifier and player alias, together with a signed proof from Apple or Google that we verify on our servers. We do not receive your Apple ID or Google account email or password. From the platform player identifier, we create an online player identifier and issue a temporary session token. In connection with the online mode, we store:

• Profile: your player alias, platform (Game Center or Play Games), League Points (weekly and lifetime), league tier and weekly league group, matches played, wins, recent match results, a hidden skill rating used for fair matchmaking, active match boosts, and weekly rewards (Signal Cache) earned and opened.
• Match data: the rooms you join, round results, the solutions you submit (so that our server can validate them), solve times, eliminations, leaving a match early, and connection status (for example, when the App goes to the background, heartbeat timestamps, and reconnection time credited to you). When partial progress is enabled, we also store the percentage of your board that is filled.
• Matchmaking and private rooms: your presence in the matchmaking queue, private room invite codes you create or join, room settings, and hint usage in private rooms.

Other players can see your player alias, league tier, your position and League Points within your league group, and your status and progress during a match (for example, solved, solve time, reconnecting, or eliminated). The online mode has no chat. Some opponents in a match may be computer-controlled; they are labeled "SIM" in the App and are not real players. If you do not sign in to Game Center or Play Games, the online mode is unavailable and none of the data in this section is collected. The rest of the App works normally.

1.4 Device Integrity Checks

To protect the online mode and our servers from automated and modified clients, we use Firebase App Check, which relies on Apple App Attest (iOS) or Google Play Integrity (Android) to confirm that requests come from a genuine copy of the App. This produces short-lived attestation tokens and does not give us your personal information.

1.5 Analytics Data

We use Firebase Analytics (Google) to understand how the App is used, such as which screens are viewed and which features are used (for example, starting a level, watching a rewarded ad, searching for an online match, reconnecting to a match, or an online request failing). This may include device information (device model, operating system version, language, approximate location derived from IP address) and app usage events.

1.6 Crash Reports and Diagnostics

We use Firebase Crashlytics (Google) to detect and fix crashes and errors. When the App crashes or encounters certain errors (for example, it cannot reach our online servers), Crashlytics collects technical information such as the stack trace, device model, operating system version, App version and build, store type, available memory and disk space, and a limited technical context (the current screen, the online match room identifier and state, and recent technical events such as matchmaking steps). We do not attach your name, player alias, or Game Center/Play Games identifier to crash reports. Crash reporting is disabled in development builds.

1.7 Server Logs and Service Monitoring

When the App communicates with our servers, we receive technical information such as your IP address, request time, requested feature, App version, and error codes. We use this to operate the service, keep it secure, and detect outages. We also compute aggregated operational statistics (for example, matchmaking wait times, error rates, and server response times) that are not linked to individual players.

1.8 Notifications

If you allow notifications, we store a push notification token for your device, together with your time zone, language, and streak and progress status, so that we can send daily challenge reminders and occasional reminders to return to the game. Notifications are delivered through the Expo push service, Apple Push Notification service, and Firebase Cloud Messaging.

1.9 Advertising and Attribution Data

We use the Facebook SDK to log certain in-app events (such as completing the tutorial, reaching a level, rating the App, and completing a purchase, including the product, price, and currency) for analytics and advertising-attribution purposes. This integration may collect your device's advertising identifier and share event data with Meta Platforms, Inc. We also use Google AdMob to display banner ads, interstitial ads (shown occasionally between levels), and optional rewarded ads (which you can choose to watch in exchange for extra in-game hints). AdMob and its advertising partners may collect your device's advertising identifier, general device information, and approximate location derived from your IP address, in order to serve and measure ads and, where you have consented, to personalize them. Where required by applicable law (such as in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland), we show a consent form before any non-essential ad data is collected, through which you can manage your choices. On iOS, this data collection is subject to Apple's App Tracking Transparency framework, and you will be asked for permission before any cross-app tracking identifiers are used.

1.10 Game Center / Google Play Games Services

If you are signed in to Game Center (iOS) or Google Play Games Services (Android) on your device, the App may submit certain gameplay results (such as levels completed, perfect ("3-star") clears, daily challenge times, and online league progress) to power leaderboards and achievements, and uses your sign-in for the online mode (Section 1.3). This requires you to be authenticated with your Apple ID (Game Center) or Google account (Play Games Services), and that data is then also handled under Apple's or Google's own privacy policies. Your Game Center/Play Games profile (such as your player alias) may be visible to other players on shared leaderboards, as controlled by Apple's or Google's own settings. You can disable Game Center/Play Games Services at the device level at any time; the App will continue to function normally, but it will not sync scores and achievements and the online mode will be unavailable.

1.11 In-App Purchases

Griddots offers an optional one-time "Remove Ads" purchase and optional hint packs. All payment is handled entirely by Apple's App Store (iOS), Google Play (Android), or, for the version distributed through TapTap, by TapTap. We never see or store your payment card details. When you complete a purchase, the store sends us a purchase or order identifier and purchase token, which we use to verify the purchase with the store's servers, record the transaction so it cannot be applied twice, and associate the purchased item with your anonymous device identifier. Remove Ads can be restored via the "Restore Purchases" option if you reinstall the App or use it on another device signed in with the same Apple ID or Google account. In the TapTap version, TapTap may ask you to sign in to your TapTap account; that sign-in is handled by TapTap under its own privacy policy.

1.12 Pricing Experiments

We sometimes test different prices for in-app purchases. Your device is randomly assigned to a test group, and we record that assignment with your anonymous device identifier so that you see consistent prices.

1.13 Information We Do Not Collect

We do not collect your name, email address, phone number, precise location, contacts, photos, or any payment card information. Griddots has no account system of its own and no password; the online mode relies on your existing Game Center or Play Games sign-in.