Effective date: 20 May 2026
Last updated: 20 May 2026
This privacy policy describes how ACKPlus Solutions ("we", "us") handles information when you use the Link Dots mobile game on Android and iOS. We've kept it short and in plain English. If anything is unclear, email contact@ackplus.com and we'll fix the wording.
- The game plays fully offline. You never have to sign in.
- If you do sign in (with Google or Apple), we store your display name, profile photo URL, and the score / level data needed to show you on the global leaderboard.
- We don't collect your contacts, photos, microphone, camera, precise location, browsing history, or phone number.
- We don't sell your data. Ever.
- Crash reports and basic analytics are sent to Google (Firebase) so we can fix bugs and understand which levels are too hard. These don't include your name or email.
- You can ask us to delete everything tied to you at any time — see §7.
1. What we collect
1a. Account info (only if you sign in)
When you tap Sign in with Google or Sign in with Apple inside Link Dots, your operating system shares a small amount of information with us. Specifically:
- Your display name, so we can show it next to your score on the leaderboard.
- Your profile photo URL (if you signed in with Google), so we can show your avatar next to your name.
- A hashed form of your email address — the opaque token Apple or Google gives us; never your real email if you used Apple's "Hide my email" feature. We use this only as a stable account identifier so you can sign in from a new device and keep your progress.
- A Firebase user ID (UID) — an internal identifier that's meaningless outside our database.
If you skip sign-in, none of the above is collected. You play as an anonymous device with a random UID that lives only on your phone and on our server, with no real-world identifier attached.
1b. Game data
Your progress is stored on our server (Google Firestore) so it can sync between your phone and tablet:
- The level number you've reached and the levels you've completed.
- Your best time on each level.
- Daily-challenge streaks.
- Your in-game coin balance.
- Settings you've changed (sound on/off, vibration on/off, etc.).
For anonymous players, this data is keyed only to the random per-install UID — we have no way to link it back to you as a person.
1c. Diagnostic data (Firebase Crashlytics)
When the app crashes we receive a small diagnostic payload:
- The model and OS version of your phone (e.g. "OnePlus CPH2581, Android 14").
- The Link Dots app version.
- A stack trace of where the crash happened.
- A random per-install Crashlytics identifier (which rotates if you reinstall).
No name, email, or game-content data is included in crash reports.
1d. Analytics (Firebase Analytics + Google Mobile Ads SDK)
We collect coarse, aggregate events such as "Game session started", "Level 42 completed", "Daily challenge attempted", "Ad shown / clicked". Alongside each event we receive your locale and country code (inferred from your device, not GPS) and a coarse device class (phone vs tablet).
This data is used only in aggregate to decide which levels to tune, which features to improve, and to understand what proportion of players are on iOS vs Android. It is not combined with the account info in §1a to build a personal profile.
1e. Advertising (Google AdMob)
When the app shows an ad, Google's AdMob SDK may read your Advertising Identifier (AAID on Android, IDFA on iOS) so it can show non-personalised ads and so the advertiser knows the ad ran. You can:
- Reset the identifier at any time (Settings → Google → Ads on Android, Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising on iOS).
- Opt out of personalised ads entirely with the same OS setting.
On iOS 14.5+ we ask for permission via Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt the first time the app launches. If you say "Ask App Not to Track," ads still appear but are not personalised.
2. What we don't collect
For clarity, we never ask for or receive any of the following:
- Your phone number, real name, postal address, or date of birth.
- Photos, videos, contacts, microphone audio, or camera frames.
- Precise GPS location (only a coarse country / region inferred from your IP address).
- Your browsing history outside the app.
- Health, financial, or any "sensitive" data category defined by GDPR or CCPA.
3. Who we share it with
We share data only with the service providers needed to run the app, all of whom process it on our behalf under their own contracts:
- Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Crashlytics, Analytics) — backend, sign-in, crash reports, and analytics. Their policy: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy.
- Google AdMob — serves the ads. Their policy: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads.
- Apple Sign in with Apple — sign-in via Apple ID. Their policy: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210318.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your data to any third party for their independent use. We do not integrate any "data broker" SDK.
4. Where it's stored
All server-side data lives in Google Cloud (Firebase) data centres in the United States. By using Link Dots you consent to this transfer. We rely on the standard contractual clauses Google offers for cross-border transfers under GDPR / UK GDPR.
5. How long we keep it
- Signed-in account info (display name, photo URL, hashed email): until you delete the account, or 24 months of inactivity, whichever comes first.
- Game data (scores, levels, streaks): kept for the same duration as the account it belongs to.
- Anonymous device data: 24 months from the last time the app opened.
- Crash reports: 90 days (Firebase Crashlytics default).
- Analytics events: 14 months (Firebase Analytics default).
6. Children's privacy
Link Dots is rated Everyone (Google Play) / 4+ (App Store), but our backend processing is intended for users aged 13 and over (16 in the EU and UK). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children below those ages.
If you believe a child has signed in, email contact@ackplus.com and we'll delete the associated record within 7 days.
7. Your rights
Regardless of where you live, you can ask us to:
- Show you everything we have about you.
- Correct anything that's wrong (e.g. a display name typo).
- Delete your account and every linked record.
- Export your data as a JSON file.
- Opt out of personalised ads (use your OS setting — see §1e).
To exercise any of these, email chetan@ackplus.com from the address linked to your Google or Apple sign-in, or include the Firebase UID shown under Settings → About → Account ID inside the app. We'll respond within 30 days.
EU / UK residents: You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection supervisory authority if you think we've mishandled your data. We are not required to designate an EU representative because we don't market to EU residents specifically; if that changes we'll update this notice.
California residents: Under CCPA, you can ask for the categories of personal information we collected, the purpose, and the third parties it was shared with. The answer is "everything in §1 above, used only for the purposes stated, shared only with the providers in §3." You can also request deletion — same email as above. We do not sell personal information; the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal is honoured by our analytics provider.
8. Security
- All network traffic between the app and our servers is encrypted with TLS 1.2 or higher.
- Sign-in tokens are stored in the OS-provided secure storage — Keychain on iOS, EncryptedSharedPreferences on Android.
- We follow Firebase's recommended Firestore security rules — anonymous players can read public leaderboard rows but can only write under their own UID.
- No security system is perfect. If we ever discover a breach affecting your data, we will notify you and the relevant authorities within 72 hours per GDPR Art. 33.
9. Changes to this policy
If we change anything material, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top and, if the change affects what we collect or share, we'll show an in-app notice the next time you open the game. Continued use after a change means you accept the new version.
10. Contact
ACKPlus Solutions
Email: contact@ackplus.com
Postal address available on request via email.