Privacy policy

1. The short version

You do not make an account, and we never ask for your name, your email address, or your phone number. Our apps send us information about how the game is played and whether it crashed, tied to random identifiers rather than to who you are. Apps that show ads also let an advertising network use your device's advertising identifier, where your device and your choices allow it.

We do not sell your information. If you want the data from your device deleted, write to railyard732@gmail.com, and section 13 explains what to send so that we can find it.

2. Who we are

Railyard Games is an independent, one-person game studio based in India, and the data controller for the apps listed in section 16. You can reach us at any time at railyard732@gmail.com.

This policy covers our apps and this website. It does not cover the App Store or Google Play themselves, or any website you open from an ad; those have their own policies.

3. What the apps collect

Almost all of it is collected through Google Firebase, which processes it on our behalf and may not use it for its own purposes beyond what Google's terms allow. The only other companies that receive data from our apps are the advertising networks in section 4 and the app stores in section 5.

What	Examples	Why
Gameplay events (Firebase Analytics)	A level was started, finished, or abandoned, and which level it was; how it went; which screens were opened; whether a hint, booster, or ad reward was used; when and how long the app was open.	To find out which levels are too hard, too easy, or broken, and where players stop playing.
Answers you give inside the app	If the app asks whether you are enjoying it and you pick a reason, such as "too hard" or "too many ads", that choice is sent as a gameplay event. It is never free text.	So that a complaint can actually change something.
Device and app information	Device model, operating system version, app version, language, screen size, and the country or region your device reports.	To know which devices a bug affects, and which to test on.
IP address	Your device's internet address, which every network request carries. Firebase uses it to work out an approximate region, such as a country or city, and does not give it to us.	Regional reports, and keeping the services working and secure.
Identifiers	A random identifier Firebase creates for your installation of the app. Where your device allows it, Firebase Analytics may also read the device's advertising identifier: on iOS only if you allowed tracking when asked, and on Android unless you have deleted or reset it in your device settings.	So that one player's events are counted as one player rather than many, and so that ad performance can be measured. Reinstalling the app creates a new installation identifier.
Crash diagnostics (Firebase Crashlytics)	Where in the code the app stopped, the device's state at that moment, and a short log of the last few things that happened in the game, such as the level being played.	To fix crashes. A crash we are not told about is a crash we cannot fix.
An anonymous account identifier (Firebase Authentication)	A random identifier, created silently after you first clear a level. There is no password, no email address, and nothing to sign in to.	So that your progress belongs to one installation, and so that saving progress across devices can be added later without resetting anybody.
Settings we send to the app (Firebase Remote Config)	The app asks our settings service for current values, such as difficulty, how often ads appear, and which features are switched on. The request carries the installation identifier and device information above. Different players may be given different values so that we can compare which works better.	So that a bad number can be corrected for everyone without shipping an update.
Emails you send us	Your email address and whatever you choose to write, including any screenshots you attach.	To answer you. We do not add you to any mailing list.

Your puzzle progress itself, meaning the yards you have cleared, your tickets, hints and settings, is stored on your device. Deleting the app deletes it.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on our legitimate interest in making the app work, making it fair, and keeping it running for the gameplay events, crash diagnostics, and settings above. We rely on your consent for personalised advertising and for any use of your advertising identifier that the law makes conditional on consent, and we ask before that begins. Where we answer your emails or handle a purchase, we rely on doing what you asked us to do.

4. Advertising

Our apps can show two kinds of ad: a full-screen ad between levels, and an optional video you choose to watch in exchange for something in the game, such as another try. The ad is chosen and delivered by an advertising network, not by us. To do that, the network receives information from your device. That usually includes your advertising identifier (the IDFA on iOS, the Advertising ID on Android), your approximate location derived from your IP address, your device and app information, and whether you saw, skipped, finished, or tapped an ad.

Network	Used in	Its privacy policy
Google AdMob (Google LLC), including the ad partners Google selects on our behalf	Railyard	Google Privacy Policy · How Google uses information from apps that use its services

If we add another network, for example to let several networks compete to fill the same ad space, we will name it in the table above before any app sends it data.

• On iOS, the app asks your permission before your advertising identifier is used to track you across other companies' apps and websites. If you decline, ads still appear, but they are not based on that tracking.
• In the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland, a consent message appears before personalised advertising begins. You can decline, and change your mind later from Settings › Privacy in the app. Declining means you see ads that are not personalised to you.
• Optional video ads are always your choice. Declining one never costs you anything you already have.
• Where an app sells “Remove ads”, buying it stops the ads between levels for good on that store account. Optional reward videos stay available, and nobody is ever made to watch one.

5. Purchases

Some apps sell things inside the game. That can be a one-off unlock such as “Remove ads”, items that are used up such as hints or boosters, or, if we ever offer one, a subscription. Every purchase is processed by Apple or Google under their terms. We never see your card number, your billing address, or your store account login.

What we receive from the store is a record of the purchase: which product, when, the price and currency, the store's transaction identifier, and whether it succeeded, was refunded, or, for a subscription, has renewed or lapsed. The app uses this to unlock what you paid for and to restore it on a new device. We may check a purchase record with Apple or Google, directly or through a server we operate, to confirm it is genuine. A purchase event, without payment details, may also be logged to Firebase Analytics so that we can see which items people value.

Refunds are handled by the store, as described in our terms of use.

6. Notifications

An app may offer two kinds of notification, and asks your permission before sending either.

• Reminders scheduled on your device, such as "a new daily puzzle is ready". These are set up by the app itself and send nothing to us.
• Messages we send, such as news about an update. If you allow these, Firebase Cloud Messaging issues your device a notification token, which we use only to deliver them. We may choose who receives a message based on the gameplay information in section 3, for example players who have reached a certain level.

Declining has no other effect on the app, and you can turn notifications off at any time in your device's settings.

7. Features you switch on yourself

Some apps may later offer features that only work if you choose to use them. None is switched on without your action, and an app's listing in section 16 says which are present.

• Saving progress across devices. Your progress (levels, tickets, items and settings) is stored on Google Firebase against the anonymous account identifier, so that it can be restored on another device.
• Game Center or Google Play Games. If you sign in, Apple or Google tells the app your player identifier and display name for that service, and the app may send your scores or achievements to it. Your use of those services is governed by Apple's or Google's own policies.
• Leaderboards or events. If an app shows scores to other players, it shows only a display name you chose or the one from the service above, never your email address.

8. What we never collect

• Your name, email address, phone number, or postal address, unless you email us yourself.
• Your contacts, photos, microphone, camera, or files.
• Your precise GPS location.
• Your payment card or bank details.
• Health, biometric, or other sensitive personal data.

We do not sell personal information for money, and we do not combine what our apps collect with data bought from anybody else.

9. Children

Our apps are made for a general audience and are not directed to children under 13, or under the older age that applies in your country (for example 16 in parts of Europe). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If an app learns a player is below that age, it shows only ads that are not personalised and does not knowingly send their data for advertising purposes. If you believe a child has given us personal information, write to railyard732@gmail.com and we will delete it.

10. How long we keep it

Data	Kept for
Gameplay events	Event-level records expire automatically after 14 months. Totals with no identifier attached, such as "how many players finished level 12", may be kept longer.
Crash diagnostics	Up to 90 days.
Anonymous account identifier, and any progress saved against it	Until you ask us to delete it, or after 24 months with no activity.
Purchase records	As long as tax and accounting law requires, usually up to 8 years. The store keeps its own records separately.
Notification token	Until you turn notifications off or delete the app, after which it stops working and expires.
Support emails	Up to 24 months, so that we can recognise a recurring problem.
Data held by advertising networks	Set by each network; see its policy in section 4.

When data is no longer needed, it is deleted or reduced to totals that cannot be traced back to an installation.

11. Keeping it safe

Data travels between our apps and our processors over encrypted connections, and is stored by Google on infrastructure encrypted at rest. Only we can open the dashboards that hold it. No system is perfectly secure, so we collect as little as possible in the first place. If a breach ever affects your information, we will tell the affected people and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

12. Where it is processed

Our processors, Google and any advertising network named in section 4, operate servers in the United States and elsewhere, so your data may be processed outside your country. Where data leaves the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, those transfers rely on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or an equivalent safeguard, as set out in our processors' own terms.

If Railyard Games or one of its apps is ever sold or transferred to another company, the data described here would go with it, still under this policy, and we would say so in the app before that happened.

13. Your rights, and deleting your data

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to know what we hold about you, get a copy of it, correct it, have it deleted, object to or limit how we use it, and withdraw consent you gave earlier. You can do any of this at no cost by writing to railyard732@gmail.com. We never treat you differently in the game for asking.

To delete your data:

1. Delete the app. That removes everything stored on your device and stops all further collection.
2. To have what Firebase holds deleted as well, email us with the subject “Delete my data”. Tell us which app you use, your device model, roughly when you installed it, and, if you can, the player code shown in the app's settings when there is one. We hold no name or email address, so your email alone does not identify your records to us.

If we cannot find your records from what you send, we will tell you so plainly rather than claim to have deleted something we could not find. We answer within 30 days, or sooner where your law requires. If you are in the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland and are unhappy with our answer, you can complain to your national data protection authority.

Data that an advertising network holds about your advertising identifier can be cleared from your device: reset or delete the identifier as described in section 15.

14. Extra notes for US residents

Some US states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and others, give their residents specific privacy rights. In those laws' terms:

• In the last 12 months we have collected identifiers (the installation, account, and advertising identifiers), internet or other electronic network activity (gameplay events and ad interactions), approximate geolocation derived from IP address, and, if you bought something, commercial information (purchase records). The sources, purposes, recipients, and retention periods are described in sections 3 to 10.
• We do not sell personal information for money. Letting an advertising network use your advertising identifier for personalised ads may count as “sharing” for cross-context behavioural advertising, or as “targeted advertising”.
• To opt out, use Settings › Privacy in the app (shown where your state's law provides this choice), turn off tracking or delete your advertising identifier as in section 15, or email us with the subject “US privacy request”.
• We do not use sensitive personal information, and do not use your information to make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you.
• You may use an authorised agent to make a request. We may need to confirm the request is genuine. We answer within 45 days. If we decline, you may appeal by replying to our answer, and we will respond to the appeal within 60 days.

15. Controls on your own device

• iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking lets you refuse tracking for any app, or for all apps. Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising turns off personalised ads from Apple.
• Android: Settings → Privacy → Ads (on some devices Settings → Google → Ads) lets you reset or delete your Advertising ID.
• Inside the app: Settings › Privacy, where it appears, reopens your advertising choices. Notifications can be turned off in your device's settings at any time.
• Industry tools: the AppChoices app from the Digital Advertising Alliance (youradchoices.com/appchoices) lets you opt out of interest-based ads from participating companies.
• Everywhere: deleting the app stops all collection and removes everything stored on the device.

16. Apps covered by this policy

App	Stores	Shows ads	In-app purchases	Optional features
Railyard com.railyard.game	App Store, Google Play	Yes: Google AdMob	None yet. “Remove ads” is planned for an update.	Notifications (when added)

17. Changes, and how to contact us

When this policy changes, the date at the top changes too. If a change affects how your information is used, for example a new kind of data or a new advertising network, we will update this page before the app update that brings it, and for a significant change we will also tell you inside the app. Where the law requires your consent to a change, we will ask for it rather than assume it.

Questions, requests, or complaints: railyard732@gmail.com. A person reads every message.