The short version
Trace has no accounts. Your progress stays on your device and, if you use cloud save, in your Google account. The game can send us anonymous play data, which you can turn off and delete in Settings. Google handles the ads and the one purchase.
Who we are
Haysopht Games, an independent game studio, makes Trace. This policy covers the game; the website has its own policy. Questions go to developer@haysopht.com.
What Trace stores on your device
Your progress (scores, unlocks, puzzle and Dungeon progress, play counters), your settings, a random save ID, and whether you bought No Ads. Your save is not sent to us; the game sends only the anonymous play data described under Gameplay analytics. Trace has no crash reporting of its own.
Trace only uses network access and vibration. It never asks for your location, contacts, camera, microphone, photos or files. Sharing a result opens your device's share sheet; nothing is sent until you pick where.
Cloud save
If you have a Google Play Games profile, Trace signs in with it and keeps a copy of your progress in your Google account, so it comes back on a new phone or reinstall. Google also gets a short description of the save and your time played. Trace keeps your Play Games player ID on your device to match saves to your account.
No profile, no upload. Your progress is also part of Android's device backup if you have that turned on.
Ads
Trace shows ads between runs through Google AdMob. To serve and measure ads and prevent fraud, Google collects your IP address (which can show rough location), your advertising ID and app set ID, how you interact with the game and ads, and basic diagnostics. See how Google uses this data.
Where the law requires it, Trace asks for your consent before any ad loads. You can change your answer, or opt out of the sale or sharing of your data for ads where US state law allows, under Privacy choices in Settings. You can also reset your advertising ID in your device settings. Buying No Ads removes the ads.
Purchases
No Ads is a one-time purchase through Google Play. We never see your payment details. Trace checks with Google Play whether you own it each time it starts.
Gameplay analytics
To learn where Trace is too hard, too easy or confusing, the game can send anonymous play data to a server we run on Cloudflare. It records runs, scores and how far they got; which lessons and puzzle levels were played and how they ended; Dungeon results; unlocks and what is worn; which screens were opened; whether an ad was shown and the outcome of the No Ads purchase; whether you shared the game or a result; whether the game asked for a rating; and your settings (theme, sound, haptics, and the analytics switch). Each event carries a random ID made on your device, a random session ID, the time, the app version and the platform.
It never includes your name, email, Google account, advertising ID, location, contacts or anything you type. The random ID isn't tied to your Play Games account and doesn't follow your cloud save to another device. Your IP address is used only to limit how often one device can send, and is not stored.
Your choice. In the EEA, the UK, and anywhere the game can't tell where you are, analytics is off until you turn it on; elsewhere it's on by default. Turn it on or off any time in Settings → Privacy → Help improve Trace. Turning it off discards anything not yet sent.
Deleting it. Settings → Privacy → Delete sent data erases everything this device sent and starts a new random ID. If you're offline, it's erased the next time the game reaches our server. Settings → Start over also starts a new ID.
We keep it for up to one year, then delete it automatically. We don't sell or share it.
Who gets your data
Google, through AdMob, Google Play, Play Games and Android backup, under the Google privacy policy. Google decides how it uses that data and may process it in the US and other countries. Cloudflare hosts our analytics server and processes that data on our behalf; we don't sell or share it. If you email us, we receive your address and message.
Legal grounds, where the law asks: saves and purchases are needed to provide the game; personalized ads rest on your consent; non-personalized ads, measurement and fraud prevention rest on our legitimate interest in funding a free game; gameplay analytics rests on your consent where the game asks for it, and on our legitimate interest in improving the game elsewhere.
Keeping and deleting your data
Your save sits in the game's private storage, and data sent to Google travels encrypted. It stays until you remove it:
- Start over in Settings clears your progress on the device and, if signed in, in your Google account. One copy of the cleared save stays on that device (and its backup) until you start over again or clear the game's data.
- Play Games app: delete Trace's saved game there.
- Uninstall removes everything Trace stored on your device.
Analytics is kept for up to one year (see Gameplay analytics to delete it sooner). Google keeps ad and purchase records as its policy says. We keep support emails while they're useful, then delete them.
Children
Trace is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has sent us personal data, write to us and we'll delete it.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you can ask to see, correct or delete your data, and complain to your local data protection authority. For data Google holds, use your Google account's privacy controls. We hold only email you've sent us and the anonymous analytics, which Settings → Privacy → Delete sent data erases. For anything else, write to developer@haysopht.com and we'll reply within 30 days.
Trace is currently on Android only. If this policy changes, for a new platform or anything else, the date at the top changes too.