Privacy Policy

This policy explains what Neon Merge 2048 ("the game", "we") collects and why. The short version: you can play the whole game without an account, and your saved progress then stays on your device. The mobile apps do send us some data even when you don't sign in — ads, app analytics and crash reports — and each of those is described below. Signing in adds cloud save and the leaderboards.

Playing as a guest (no sign-in)

If you don't sign in, all of your progress — score, coins, gems, boosters, settings — is stored only on your device. It is not uploaded to us or to anyone else, and clearing the app's storage erases it permanently.

Guest play is not, however, completely offline in the mobile apps. Even without an account, those apps show ads, send app analytics events, and report crashes, exactly as described in the next three sections. Nothing in those three ties back to a name or an email address unless you sign in.

Analytics

The game uses Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the game is played and where it goes wrong. It records in-game events, not the content of anything you type. The events we send are:

• Which screen you moved to.
• Runs started and finished, the score, and your coin and gem balances afterwards.
• Coins and gems earned or spent, and the in-game source (a prize, a booster, the shop, and so on).
• Shop and offer activity: the store being opened, an offer being shown or dismissed, and moments when you wanted something you couldn't afford.
• Purchases started, completed and failed, including the item and the error text when one fails.
• Ad events: a rewarded ad being requested, and whether it completed, was skipped, or was unavailable.
• Notification-permission events: whether our prompt was shown, accepted or declined, what the system prompt then answered, and how many reminders were scheduled.
• Rating-prompt events: whether the review prompt was requested or suppressed, and whether the store listing was opened from Settings.

Google's SDK also records the information Google Analytics collects automatically for any app, such as app version, device and operating-system details, and an app-instance identifier; see Firebase Privacy. If you are signed in, your Firebase user ID is attached to these events so a funnel can be followed across your devices. In the mobile apps, no analytics event is sent until the consent step described under Advertising has finished.

Crash reporting

The mobile apps use Firebase Crashlytics to report crashes and errors. It collects crash logs and diagnostics: stack traces, device and app state at the time, and errors thrown inside the game that would otherwise leave you looking at a frozen board with no report reaching us. If you are signed in, your Firebase user ID is attached to the report so we can match a crash to the save it happened on. Crash reporting is not included in the web version of the game.

Advertising

The mobile apps show ads served by Google AdMob — rewarded videos you choose to watch for in-game bonuses, and occasional full-screen ads between games. To serve, cap and measure those ads, AdMob uses your device's advertising identifier (the Android Advertising ID / Apple IDFA) along with ad-interaction data.

That identifier and the associated ad data are shared with Google as an advertising partner, and may be used for personalised advertising, subject to your consent choices below. This is declared as shared data on our Google Play data safety form. What Google does with it is covered by the Google advertising policy.

Buying Remove Ads, or having an active VIP pass, removes every ad in the game, rewarded videos included — rewarded buttons then simply give you the reward with no ad to watch.

The web version of the game at this site does not show ads.

Your ad-privacy choices

In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the app shows Google's UMP consent form when it starts, before the ad SDK is initialised, before any ad is requested and before any analytics event is sent. Your answer there decides whether ads are personalised. On iOS, Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt follows the consent form.

You can change or withdraw that choice at any time. Open Settings → AD PRIVACY → MANAGE AD PRIVACY CHOICES; it reopens Google's privacy options form, where you can change or withdraw consent for personalised ads and, in US states that provide it, opt out of your data being sold or shared. That control appears where Google tells the app it is required — EEA/UK/Switzerland consent withdrawal and covered US states. Elsewhere Google provides no form behind it, so the app does not show a button that would do nothing.

Signing in (optional cloud save)

The game offers optional sign-in with Google, Apple, or Facebook so your progress can sync across devices. This is handled by Google Firebase (Authentication and Cloud Firestore). If — and only if — you sign in, we process:

• An account identifier (Firebase user ID) from your chosen provider.
• Your email address and display name, and profile photo URL if your provider supplies them.
• Your game progress (score, currencies, boosters, unlocked skins, settings), stored under your account.

We use this to authenticate you and to save and restore your game across devices. Your cloud save document is readable and writable only by you, enforced by Firebase security rules. The game in progress on a device is never uploaded — only your profile is.

Leaderboards

Signed-in players' scores are submitted to the weekly and daily leaderboards. An entry holds your in-game player name (the one you set in the game, up to 20 characters, not your email address), your score, and your Firebase user ID. Leaderboard entries are readable by other players — that is the point of a leaderboard. Guests are never submitted to a board.

In-app purchases

Purchases in the mobile apps are processed by Google Play or the Apple App Store, and on the web by Stripe (which requires you to be signed in). We never see or store your card number, bank details, or any payment credentials — those go directly to the payment processor.

The mobile apps use RevenueCat to verify receipts, record what you purchased, and restore it on your other devices or after a reinstall. For this, RevenueCat holds an app-user identifier and your purchase history (which items, when, and whether a subscription is active). That identifier is your Firebase user ID when you are signed in; when you are not, RevenueCat generates an anonymous one, so every install has one. RevenueCat does not receive your name, email, or payment details from us. See the RevenueCat privacy policy.

Notifications

The mobile apps can send reminders — a streak about to reset, a free spin recharged, a nudge after a few days away. These are local notifications scheduled on your device: there is no push server and no push token, so nothing about them is sent to us. They only run if you allow notifications, and you can turn them off in the game's Settings or in your device settings. The counts of reminders scheduled, deferred or dropped are reported as analytics events (listed above); the reminders themselves are not.

What we do not do

• No collection of location, contacts, calendar, photos, messages, phone number, or device sensors.
• No access to your card or bank details — payments never pass through us.
• No selling of personal data for money. Advertising data shared with Google, as described above, may count as "sharing" or a "sale" under some US state laws — which is why the opt-out control in Settings exists.

Service providers

We rely on Google Firebase for authentication, cloud storage, analytics and crash reporting; Google AdMob for advertising; and RevenueCat for purchase and subscription records. Payments themselves are handled by Google Play, the Apple App Store, or Stripe. Each processes data under its own terms. See Firebase Privacy, the Google Privacy Policy, the Google advertising policy, the RevenueCat privacy policy, and the Stripe Privacy Policy.

Security & retention

Data in transit is encrypted with TLS/HTTPS. Your cloud save is kept while your account exists, so your progress persists, and is deleted when you delete your account. Analytics events and crash reports are held by Google as part of our Firebase project.

Deleting your data

In the mobile apps you can delete your account yourself: Settings → DELETE ACCOUNT. That removes your sign-in account and your cloud save profile, and cannot be undone. Your progress on that device is kept, and purchases stay tied to your store account (use Restore Purchases).

Two things that button does not reach: leaderboard entries you have already submitted, and analytics or crash records held in our Firebase project. Email jeanjacquesboileau@gmail.com and we will remove those on request. You can also email us to have the whole account deleted instead of using the button — write from the address you signed in with.

Guest (device-only) data can be removed at any time by clearing the app's storage or uninstalling the app.

Children

The game is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your region), and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has provided personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes

We may update this policy; material changes will be reflected by the "Last updated" date above.

Contact

Questions or requests: jeanjacquesboileau@gmail.com.