The short version
We do not ask you who you are. There is no account, no login, no sign-up and no password. You can play the entire game without telling us anything about yourself, and we have no way to identify you.
We do count what happens in the game — which levels you play, which ones you get stuck on — so we can fix the ones that are not fair. That counting is tied to a random number, not to you, and you can switch it off.
What is stored, and where
Your progress is stored in a single file on your own device: which levels you have finished, how many stars you earned, your coins and boosters, your daily streak, your Boarding Pass collection, and your settings.
That file never leaves your device unless you choose to back it up yourself through your phone's own backup service. We cannot read it and we do not receive a copy of it.
Deleting the app deletes the file. You can also erase it at any time from Settings → Delete My Data.
Play data
The game reports how it is being played. That means things like: a level was started, finished or given up on; how many moves it took; which character a player bumped into and on which move; an advert was shown; a purchase was made. It is the bump data in particular that tells us a level is unclear rather than merely hard, which is the difference between a puzzle worth keeping and one worth rebuilding.
Alongside each event we record the app version, the device model and operating system version, the screen size, the device language and time zone, and how many days you have had the game installed.
None of it is attached to your name, your email, your phone number, or any identifier that follows you between apps. It is attached to a random number generated on your device the first time you open the game. That number means nothing anywhere else, and it is not derived from your device.
This data is processed for us by PostHog, on servers in the United States. If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK, that means it leaves your country: the transfer is covered by the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission, which are part of our written agreement with PostHog. We do not sell this data, and we do not share it with advertisers.
You can turn this off at any time: Settings → “Share anonymous play data”. Turning it off stops the reporting and deletes anything still waiting to be sent. Using Delete My Data goes further and throws away the random number itself, so nothing recorded before it can ever be connected to anything you do afterwards.
If you are in the EEA or the UK, we ask before any of this starts, and the game works exactly the same whichever answer you give.
Error reports
If the game hits an error it did not expect, we record what went wrong and where in the code — the message and a short stack trace. It travels with the same random number as the play data above, through the same switch, and it is stripped of anything that identifies your device before it is sent.
We do not use a separate crash-reporting company. Errors that stop the app entirely, rather than being caught, are not visible to us at all; those are reported to us anonymously by Apple and Google through their own store consoles, which is outside our control and not linked to you.
Advertising
The game shows adverts. Some are shown between levels; others you choose to watch in exchange for a reward, such as extra moves. You are never required to watch an advert to finish a level.
Adverts are delivered through Unity LevelPlay (ironSource) mediation, with demand from ironSource and Unity Ads. Advert providers may collect limited technical information about your device in order to select and measure adverts, and to detect fraud. This is governed by their own privacy policies rather than ours:
- Unity (LevelPlay, ironSource and Unity Ads) — unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-policy
On iOS you will be asked, after your first completed level, whether the game may track you across other companies' apps and websites. If you say no, you will still see adverts and the game will work exactly the same; the adverts will simply be less relevant. You can change that answer at any time in your device's Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
If you are in the EEA or the UK, and you decline the request described under Play data, we tell the advert providers not to use your data for personalised advertising. If you are in a US state with an opt-out right, the same choice is passed on as a “do not sell or share” signal.
If you buy the ad-removal product, interstitial and banner adverts stop entirely.
Purchases
Purchases are handled entirely by the App Store or Google Play. Payment details are given to them, never to us. We are told only that a purchase completed, so that we can unlock what you bought. We record that a purchase happened, its price and its currency, against the same random number.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, the game may remind you about your daily streak or a departure that is ready. Those reminders are scheduled by your own device — nothing is sent from our servers, and we do not hold a push token or any other way to reach your phone. You can turn them off in the game's Settings or in your device's Settings at any time.
Children
Excuse Me! is suitable for all ages, but it is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, children included. There is no chat, no user-generated content, and no way for players to contact each other.
Your rights
We hold no personal data about you: no name, no email, no account, no device identifier. What we hold is a stream of events attached to a random number that exists only on your device.
That means there is nothing for us to look up or hand over on request — we could not find “your” data if you asked us to, because nothing connects that number to you. It also means you can end it yourself, completely, without asking us: Delete My Data throws the number away and generates a new one, and nothing recorded under the old one can be connected to you or to anything you do next.
If you would rather we simply stopped, “Share anonymous play data” in Settings does that, immediately.
Summary of data collected
| Data type | Collected | Linked to you | Used to track you | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product interaction (levels, moves, sessions) | Yes | No | No | App functionality, analytics |
| Crash and error data | Yes | No | No | App functionality |
| Advertising data | Yes, by our advert providers | No | Yes, if you allow it | Third-party advertising |
| Purchase history | Yes | No | No | App functionality, analytics |
| Contact info, contacts, location, photos, health, browsing history, user content, identifiers linked to you | No | — | — | — |
Languages
This policy is published in English. Where the game is translated, the translation is provided for convenience and this English version is the one that applies.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will appear here, in the game, with a new date at the top.
Contact
contact@virtualverse.studio
Virtual Verse Studio