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Shapequake privacy policy

Last updated:

In a nutshell

  • There’s no account and we never ask for your name or email. Your best score, game in progress, coins, themes and settings stay on your phone.
  • The game is free and shows Google AdMob ads: rewarded videos and full-screen ads between one game and the next. To serve them, Google processes some device data, such as your advertising ID and IP address.
  • There are no in-app purchases: coins are earned only by playing and by watching rewarded videos.
  • We also use Firebase Analytics to understand, in aggregate, how Shapequake is played. In the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland we turn it on only with your consent.
  • We ask for your consent the first time you open the game. You can change it at any time in Settings › About › Manage ad consent.
  • For any question or request, email support@kobaltogames.com.

1. Who is responsible for your data

Kobalto Games is an independent studio, not a company. The data controller is Antonio Ferrara, a private individual who publishes Shapequake from Italy under the name Kobalto Games.

For anything related to your data, you can write to support@kobaltogames.com.

2. What this policy covers

This policy explains how personal data is processed when you use the Android app Shapequake (package com.kobaltogames.shapequake), distributed through Google Play.

The kobaltogames.com website does not use cookies, analytics tools or any other tracking.

3. Data we don’t collect

We designed Shapequake to collect as little as possible:

  • there are no accounts and no sign-up;
  • the game never asks for your name, email, phone number or other contact details;
  • game data is stored only on your device and is never sent to us: your best score, the game in progress, coins, unlocked themes, tutorial progress and settings (sound, vibration, theme, language, “reduce motion”);
  • the game does not access your contacts, photos, microphone, camera or precise (GPS) location.

The game lightly adjusts which pieces it deals based on how long your previous games lasted. This is worked out only on your device, from the game history stored there, and the result is never sent to anyone.

The only data that leaves your device is the data processed by the Google services described below (ads, and usage analytics if you consent).

4. Advertising: Google AdMob

Shapequake is free thanks to ads. We use Google AdMob, provided by Google Ireland Limited (for users in the European Economic Area and Switzerland) and Google LLC (for everyone else), to show ads: rewarded videos and full-screen ads between one game and the next.

Rewarded videos are always optional: they only play when you tap the button for them, to continue a game, double the coins you’ve earned or get bonus coins. Full-screen ads appear only between one game and the next, never while you’re playing a move.

To serve and measure ads, AdMob processes:

  • your Android advertising ID (AAID);
  • your IP address;
  • device data, such as model, operating system, language, app version and an approximate location derived from your IP address;
  • your interactions with ads, such as impressions, clicks and rewarded videos watched.

The kind of ads you see depends on your choice:

  • with your consent, Google may show you personalised ads based on your interests and your activity in other apps and websites;
  • without consent, you’ll see non-personalised or “limited” ads, chosen based on context (for example the app and your approximate location) rather than on a profile of you.

For some activities, such as ad personalisation, measurement and fraud prevention, Google acts as an independent controller under its own policies and the data protection terms that govern AdMob. In those cases Google decides how the data is used, so we encourage you to read its privacy policy (see Third parties).

5. Usage analytics: Firebase Analytics

If you give your consent, we use Google Analytics for Firebase (Firebase Analytics) to understand how the game is played and make it better: for example, how long games last or how hard it is to reach certain scores. We only see aggregated statistics, not who you are.

Firebase Analytics collects:

  • generic game events, for example the start and end of a game, the score reached, chain length, buying a theme with coins and watching a rewarded video (the exact list of events may change as the game is updated);
  • an identifier for your installation of the app (app instance ID);
  • device data, such as model, operating system, language and approximate country or region;
  • usage data, such as session length and the date you first opened the app.

Firebase uses your IP address to estimate your country or region but, according to Google, does not store it. For this service Google generally acts as a processor on our behalf, under the Firebase data processing terms.

Where the law requires it (the EU and European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland), we ask for your consent before turning on Firebase Analytics: without your consent, no analytics data is collected.

8. Third parties

We don’t sell your data and we don’t share it with anyone other than the Google services the game needs to work:

Shapequake is downloaded from Google Play. Google processes data related to downloads, updates and crash reports under its own privacy policy. From time to time the game may also ask you to rate it through Google Play’s in-app review window: the review is handled by Google, and we don’t know whether the window appeared or what you wrote unless you publish it. Through the Google Play Console we receive only aggregated statistics.

If you tap an ad, you may be taken to a third-party website or app, which has its own privacy rules.

9. Transfers outside the European Union

Google may also process data in the United States through Google LLC. Google LLC participates in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, which is covered by an adequacy decision of the European Commission. For transfers not covered by that decision, Google relies on the Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

10. How long data is kept

  • Game data: stays on your device until you uninstall the app or clear its data.
  • Firebase Analytics: event-level and user-level data is kept for up to 14 months and then deleted automatically. Aggregated reports, which cannot identify you, may be kept longer.
  • AdMob: data is kept by Google according to its own retention practices, described in Google’s privacy policy.
  • Emails you send us: kept for as long as we need to reply and handle your request.

11. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to:

  • access your data and get a copy of it;
  • have it corrected or erased;
  • restrict its processing;
  • object to processing based on legitimate interests;
  • receive your data in a portable format;
  • withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting processing that has already taken place.

To exercise them, email support@kobaltogames.com. We’ll reply within one month.

To be upfront: since we don’t know your name or email, analytics data isn’t linked to your identity. To find it we may ask you for a technical identifier, such as your app instance ID; in some cases we may be unable to link a request to your data (Article 11 GDPR), and if so we’ll tell you clearly. For data that Google processes as an independent controller, you can also contact Google directly. In any case, uninstalling the game and resetting your advertising ID breaks the link with previously collected data.

If you believe your data is being processed unlawfully, you can lodge a complaint with the Italian data protection authority, Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, or with the supervisory authority where you live.

12. Automated decisions and profiling

We don’t make decisions based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. The only profiling involved is the one Google uses to show personalised ads, and it happens only with your consent.

The difficulty adjustment described in section 3 happens only on your device, is never shared with us and is not used to build a profile of you.

13. Children

Shapequake is not directed to children under 13. In Italy, anyone under 14 can only give consent with the authorisation of a parent or guardian (Article 8 GDPR and Article 2-quinquies of Legislative Decree 196/2003).

If you’re a parent and believe your child has given us personal data, email support@kobaltogames.com and we’ll help you get it deleted.

14. Security

We collect as little as possible, which is a form of protection in itself. Game data stays on your device, communication with Google services is encrypted, and access to the management consoles is restricted to the controller.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy, for example if the game or the law changes. The latest version will always be published on this page, with a new “Last updated” date. If the changes are significant, we’ll let you know in an appropriate way and, where needed, ask for your consent again.

16. Contact

Antonio Ferrara · Kobalto Games, Italy
Email: support@kobaltogames.com