Privacy Policy
Short version. Puppy Sudoku creates an anonymous game account so your progress, collection and purchases work. We do not ask for your name, email, phone number, contacts, photos or precise location. Ads are provided by Google AdMob; with your permission they may be personalized. You can delete your account in the app at any time.
1. Who we are
Puppy Sudoku is published by Peiliang An (安培良), an individual developer ("we", "us"). Contact: brandonliang.sz@gmail.com.
2. What we collect
2.1 Data our servers store
- Game account identifiers: a randomly generated player ID, a level-service identifier, a friend code, and a hashed recovery code if you create one.
- Profile: the nickname, avatar and frame you choose. Your nickname is visible to other players.
- Gameplay data: levels played and cleared, puzzle choices, mistakes and tool use (used to choose suitable puzzles), coins and items, dog cards and photos, daily challenge and event scores, mailbox rewards, and cloud backups you create.
- Social data: friends, friend requests, daily gifts, card gifts, wish cards, card swap offers, Trade Plaza listings, invitations, players you block, and reports you submit (reason and an optional note of up to 200 characters).
- Purchase records: for App Store purchases we store the transaction ID, product, purchase and expiry dates and the store environment, so we can deliver and restore items. Apple processes the payment; we never see your card or bank details.
- Feedback you choose to send (rating, topic, message and level), if the feedback form is available in your version.
2.2 Data stored only on your device
Settings, the current board, reminder preferences and a local copy of your progress are stored on your device.
2.3 Data collected by Google AdMob
The app uses Google AdMob to show rewarded videos, interstitial ads and banner ads. Google may collect: device identifiers (the advertising identifier, IDFA, only if you allow tracking; and the identifier for vendors), IP address (used to estimate your general location), ad interactions and app usage, and crash and performance diagnostics. Google's use of this data is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.
2.4 What we do not collect
We do not collect your name, email address, phone number, postal address, contacts, photos, microphone or camera data, health data, or precise location. The app has no free-text chat.
2.5 Hosting
Our servers run on Cloudflare. Like any web service, Cloudflare processes your IP address to deliver requests and protect against abuse; our game code does not store IP addresses.
3. How we use data
| Purpose | Data | Legal basis (EEA/UK) |
|---|---|---|
| Run the game: save progress, choose puzzles, deliver rewards and purchases, restore purchases | Account, gameplay, purchase records | Performance of our contract with you |
| Social features: friends, gifts, swaps, Trade Plaza, leaderboards | Profile, social data, scores | Contract |
| Safety: nickname filtering, handling reports, blocking, preventing cheating and fraud | Profile, reports, ledger | Legitimate interests |
| Ads that keep the game free | AdMob data | Consent for personalized ads; legitimate interests for non-personalized ads where permitted |
| Customer support | Feedback, player ID you give us | Legitimate interests / contract |
We do not sell your personal information for money. Some computer-controlled profiles appear in the Trade Plaza, friend suggestions and event boards; they do not collect any data from you.
4. Advertising, tracking and your choices
- App Tracking Transparency (iOS): the app asks before accessing your advertising identifier. If you decline, you will only see non-personalized ads. You can change this anytime in iOS Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.
- Consent (EEA, UK, Switzerland): we use Google's User Messaging Platform to ask for consent before ads are personalized. You can review or withdraw consent in the app under Settings > Data & Privacy.
- US state privacy laws: personalized advertising may count as "sharing" or "targeted advertising" under laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA). To opt out, decline tracking in iOS, use the ad privacy option in Settings > Data & Privacy, or email us. We honor Global Privacy Control signals on our website.
- Members: Monthly Membership and the Lifetime No-Ads Pass remove interstitial and banner ads.
5. Who we share data with
- Other players see your nickname, avatar, frame, level, and the cards you offer or request.
- Service providers: Cloudflare (hosting and database), Google AdMob (ads), Apple (purchases and subscription notifications).
- Authorities when required by law, or to protect players and our service.
- If the business is transferred, data may move to the new owner under this policy.
Data may be processed outside your country, including in the United States. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
6. How long we keep data
- Account, gameplay, social and purchase data: until you delete your account.
- Pending card swap offers expire after 24 hours; event rewards can be claimed for 7 days.
- Reports other players filed about you are kept for moderation; reports you filed stay without your identity after deletion.
- Database backups may hold deleted data for up to 30 days before being overwritten.
- Apple keeps its own purchase records under Apple's privacy policy.
7. Deleting your account
In the app: Settings > Data & Privacy > Delete this device's identity and game data. This permanently deletes your account and the data listed in section 2.1 from our servers and clears local game data. It cannot be undone. Cards other players already received from you stay with them. Deleting your account does not cancel an App Store subscription: cancel it in your Apple Account settings. If you cannot access the app, email us with your player ID.
8. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or export your data, object to or restrict processing, withdraw consent, and opt out of targeted advertising. Contact us at brandonliang.sz@gmail.com with your player ID (Settings > Account & Progress). We reply within 30 days (45 days where US state law allows). You may also complain to your local data protection authority. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.
9. Children
Puppy Sudoku is a general-audience game and is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
10. Security
All connections use HTTPS. Access tokens are stored as hashes on our servers. No system is perfectly secure; keep your recovery code private because anyone with it can restore your progress.
11. Changes
We will post updates on this page and change the effective date. For significant changes we will notify you in the app.