Privacy Policy — Doodlebound

Maivika ("we", "us") publishes the drawing puzzle game Doodlebound (Android and iOS, app ID com.maivika.doodlebound) and is the controller of the data described below. This policy explains what data is collected when you play Doodlebound, why, who receives it, how long it is kept and what rights you have.

In short: the game has no accounts and never asks for your name, e-mail, phone number, photos, voice or precise location. Most data stays on your device. What leaves the device is: anonymous gameplay statistics, data needed to serve ads (according to your consent choices), purchase verification data, and aggregate statistics for the daily puzzle.

The following is stored LOCALLY in the app’s private storage and is never sent to us:

• Game progress: completed levels, stars, stickers, your Today’s Page streak, and the lines you drew (used to render share cards).
• The hat you drew for Nib and the items, outfits, pens and inks you own; your Ink Stars, hint and skip balances; the in-game item ledger.
• The birth year you enter in the age question and the age group derived from it; your ad consent status and (iOS) App Tracking Transparency status.
• Settings (sound, vibration), ad frequency counters, session statistics used to decide when ads or offers may appear, and a cached copy of remote configuration.
• A random installation identifier ("install ID") generated by the app, not linked to your identity.

You can erase all of this at any time with Settings → Delete game data, or by uninstalling the app.

The first time you open the game you are asked for your birth year on a neutral screen (no pre-filled answer). The birth year is stored on your device only; we only record your age group (under 13, 13–15, 16 or older) in statistics. Your age group determines how ads and purchases work (see sections 7 and 9).

To balance difficulty, fix bugs and improve the game, the app sends gameplay events to Google Analytics for Firebase, for example: first open, tutorial steps, level started/failed/completed (with number of strokes, ink used, type of solution, whether a hint was used, how close a miss was), eraser/tear use, daily puzzle opened and completed, share card created and shared (only the channel, never the content), shop opened, offers shown, purchase results (product ID, price), ad events (format, placement, ad network, estimated revenue of the impression), your age group, consent status and A/B test group.

Firebase automatically adds an app instance ID, device model, operating system and version, app version, language, country/region derived from your IP address, and session information.

Events do NOT contain your name, e-mail, birth year, precise location, an IP address sent by us, payment tokens or raw touch data; the app actively strips such fields before sending.

The app downloads settings (such as ad frequency, offer prices and the daily puzzle calendar) from Firebase Remote Config so we can tune the game without an update. Your A/B test group is derived from the random install ID. Firebase processes the app instance ID and basic device information to deliver the configuration.

Payments are processed by Google Play Billing (Android) or Apple StoreKit (iOS). We never receive or store your card number, payment details, or your store account name or e-mail.

To prevent fraud and deliver the right items, the app sends our verification server (Cloud Functions for Firebase): the product ID, transaction ID, the purchase proof (Google Play purchase token or Apple signed transaction), the random install ID, the app ID and platform. The server checks it with the Google Play Developer API / App Store Server API and stores an entitlement record in Cloud Firestore. On Android, the app also passes a hash of the install ID to Google Play as an obfuscated account ID to help prevent fraud.

We also receive refund/revocation notifications from Google and Apple to update entitlements accordingly. Purchases can be restored with Settings → Restore purchases.

The free version shows ads served by Google AdMob: rewarded ads (you choose to watch one for a hint, a level skip, a reward multiplier, etc.), rewarded interstitials (a "surprise gift" you can decline), full-screen interstitial ads at natural breaks (such as moving on to the next level) and — only when enabled — banners on some screens outside gameplay and app-open ads. Full-screen ads never appear while you are playing a level.

Google and its ad partners may collect: your device’s advertising identifier (Android Advertising ID / IDFA on iOS, when permitted), IP address and approximate location derived from it, device and app information, ad interaction and diagnostic data, in order to deliver, measure and frequency-cap ads, prevent fraud and (if you consent) personalise ads.

For rewarded ads, the random install ID and a reward ID are attached so Google can confirm the reward with our server (server-side verification), ensuring each reward is granted only once.

Ads are only loaded after you answer the age question. Personalised ads are only for players aged 16 or older who consent (and, on iOS, allow tracking). Players aged 13–15 only receive non-personalised ads. For players under 13, see section 9.

Buying "Remove Ads" (or a bundle that includes it) turns off interstitial, banner and app-open ads. Rewarded ads remain optional.

In the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK, Switzerland and wherever the law requires it, the game shows Google’s User Messaging Platform (UMP) consent form, certified under the IAB TCF, before data is used for personalised ads. If you do not consent, only limited/non-personalised ads may be shown, or no ads at all. You can review and change your choice in the privacy section of the Settings screen (where applicable).

On iOS, the game only asks for tracking permission through App Tracking Transparency (ATT) for players aged 16 or older, after the age question. If you decline, the IDFA is not accessed and ads are not personalised using your identifier. You can change this in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

On Android, you can reset or delete your Advertising ID in Settings → Privacy → Ads (the exact name varies by device).

Doodlebound is designed for a general audience aged 13 and up and is not directed to children under 13. Because younger children may still download it, we use a neutral age screen and apply a safe mode when a player indicates they are under 13:

• Ad requests are tagged as child-directed (COPPA) and under the age of consent (GDPR), served only through Google AdMob (no mediation partners), limited to G-rated ad content, never personalised, with no cross-app tracking or measurement.
• Only rewarded ads the player chooses to watch; no interstitial, banner or app-open ads.
• Purchases require a parental check; no subscriptions and no offers after losing a level.
• No chat, no real names, no location.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 beyond the technical identifiers needed to operate the game (such as the random install ID and anonymous usage statistics). If you are a parent and believe your child has provided personal data, contact [email protected] and we will delete it.

When you complete the daily puzzle without a hint, the app may send our server: the date, level ID, the type of solution (e.g. "drew a bridge"), number of strokes, ink used and a hash of the install ID to avoid double counting. This is only used to compute aggregate percentages such as "60% of players drew a bridge" and is not linked to your identity.

Result cards (including your lines and the hat you drew) are created on your device. A card only leaves your device when you choose to share it through your operating system’s share sheet (the app you pick handles it under its own policy) or save it to your photo library. We never receive the card itself; statistics only record that a share happened and through which channel.

• Internet and network state: loading ads and configuration, verifying purchases, sending statistics.
• Advertising ID (Android 13+) / App Tracking Transparency (iOS): as described in sections 7–8.
• Add to photo library: only when you tap "Save image" on a result card.
• Vibration: haptic feedback while playing.

The game does not access your contacts, camera, microphone or GPS location.

• Providing the game, saving progress, delivering and restoring purchased items: performance of our contract (the Terms of Use) with you.
• Personalised ads, and analytics where the law requires consent: your consent (which you can withdraw at any time).
• Non-personalised ads, analytics to improve the game, remote configuration, fraud prevention and security: our legitimate interest in running a free, stable and fair game.
• Keeping transaction records, handling refunds, accounting and tax: legal obligations.

We only share data with service providers needed to run the game. Each processes data under its own policy:

• Google AdMob, Google User Messaging Platform, Google Analytics for Firebase, Firebase Remote Config, Cloud Functions for Firebase and Cloud Firestore (Google LLC / Google Ireland Ltd.): https://policies.google.com/privacy · https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy · How Google uses information from apps that use its services: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
• Google Play (Google LLC) and the Apple App Store (Apple Inc.), for payments and app distribution: https://policies.google.com/privacy · https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/
• Ad mediation partners that may compete to fill an ad request through AdMob (only for players who are 13 or older; never for players under 13): AppLovin https://www.applovin.com/privacy/ · Unity Ads and ironSource (Unity Technologies) https://unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-policy · Liftoff (Vungle) https://liftoff.io/privacy-policy/ · Mintegral https://www.mintegral.com/en/privacy · Pangle https://www.pangleglobal.com/privacy · DT Exchange (Digital Turbine) https://www.digitalturbine.com/privacy-policy · InMobi https://www.inmobi.com/privacy-policy · Moloco https://www.moloco.com/privacy-policy

We currently do NOT use a measurement/attribution partner (such as AppsFlyer or Adjust), push notifications, sign-in, or cloud saves for game progress. If we add any of these, we will update this policy before enabling them; attribution would then only run for players aged 16+ who consent and (on iOS) allow tracking.

We do not sell your personal data for money. Note: under some US state laws, letting ad partners use identifiers to personalise ads may count as "sharing" or "targeted advertising"; you can opt out as described in sections 8 and 17.

Google and our partners may process data in the United States and other countries outside the one you live in. For transfers from the EEA/UK, these providers rely on lawful safeguards such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

• On-device data: until you use Settings → Delete game data or uninstall the app (deleted immediately).
• Firebase statistics: according to the retention period we configure in Google Analytics, at most 14 months, after which they are deleted or kept only in aggregate.
• Purchase verification / entitlement records: as long as needed to deliver and restore items, handle refunds and meet legal accounting and tax obligations.
• Daily puzzle submissions: only as long as needed to compute statistics, then kept only in aggregate, non-identifying form.
• Data collected by Google and ad partners: according to each provider’s retention policy (see the links in section 14).

How to request deletion: (1) in the game, use Settings → Delete game data to erase on-device data; (2) to delete related data held on our servers or in Firebase, e-mail [email protected] with the subject "Doodlebound - Data deletion request", stating your platform (Android/iOS) and, if any, the order ID of a purchase. Because the game has no accounts, we may need this information to find the right data. We respond within 30 days. Deleting purchase records may prevent restoring items through our server (you can still restore through your store account).

Depending on where you live, you have the following rights over your personal data:

• EEA/UK (GDPR/UK GDPR): access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection to processing based on legitimate interests, data portability, withdrawing consent at any time, and lodging a complaint with your local data protection authority.
• California and other US states with similar laws (CCPA/CPRA, etc.): to know what data is collected, to delete, to correct, to opt out of the "sale/sharing" of data for targeted advertising, and not to be discriminated against for exercising your rights. We do not collect sensitive personal information.
• Vietnam (Decree 13/2023/ND-CP on personal data protection): to be informed, to consent, to access, to withdraw consent, to delete, to restrict and object to processing, and to complain.

To exercise your rights, e-mail [email protected]. We respond within 30 days (or sooner where the law requires) and may need to verify the request. You can also control part of your data yourself through the in-game and device privacy settings (section 8).

Data in transit is encrypted with HTTPS. Purchase proofs are never written to logs or sent to analytics. The on-device save file is integrity-checked. No system is perfectly secure, though; if you find a security issue, please let us know.

We may update this policy as the game changes (for example when adding features or SDKs). The latest version is always posted on this page with its effective date; for material changes we will also notify you in the game or on the store listing.

For any privacy question or request, contact Maivika at [email protected] (subject starting with "Doodlebound").