Tree Busters Privacy Policy
This policy explains what information is handled when you play Tree Busters: Crowd Runner (the "Game"), who handles it, why, and the choices you have. The Game is made by Dakoty Studio s. r. o. ("we", "us"), a company registered in the Slovak Republic.
The short version
- You do not create an account, and we never ask for your name, email address or phone number.
- Your progress, coins, gems and settings are stored only on your device. We do not receive them.
- Purchases are handled by Apple or Google. We never see your card or payment details.
- We measure how the Game is played (sessions, levels reached, where players stop) with Google Analytics for Firebase, without your name or contact details, to make the Game better.
- The Game shows ads. Our advertising partners collect some device data to show and measure those ads. Personalised ads are only shown if you allow them, and you can change that at any time.
- We do not sell your personal information for money.
1. Who is responsible for your data
The data controller for the Game is:
Dakoty Studio s. r. o.
Čierny Brod 5, 925 08 Čierny Brod, Slovakia
Company ID (IČO): 56815808
Tax ID (DIČ): 2122461935
VAT ID (IČ DPH): SK2122461935
Email: info@dakotystudio.com
Our advertising partners and the app stores are separate, independent controllers for the data they collect under their own privacy policies, which are linked in section 6.
2. What information is handled
2.1 Information stored on your device only
To remember your game, the Game saves a file on your device containing your level, progress, coins and gems, the upgrades you have bought, cosmetic items you have unlocked and equipped, whether you have bought Remove Ads, and your settings such as sound, music, haptics and language. This file contains no personal details and is not sent to us. It stays on your device and is deleted when you delete the Game.
2.2 Information collected by our advertising partners
When the Game shows an ad, our advertising partners (see section 4) may collect:
- Device identifiers: the advertising identifier of your device (IDFA on iOS, the Google Advertising ID on Android) where you have allowed it, and an identifier for the app on your device (IDFV on iOS, the App Set ID on Android).
- Device and network information: device model, operating system and version, language, time zone, screen size, mobile carrier, connection type, and your IP address, from which an approximate location (country or city, never your precise location) may be derived.
- Ad interaction information: which ads were shown, whether they were watched, completed, skipped or tapped, and the time of those events.
- Diagnostic information: technical information about ad loading errors and performance.
2.3 Information about how you play
We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the Game is played: when a session starts and how long it lasts, which levels are started, cleared or lost and how far into them, which upgrades and items are used, which ads and offers are shown and taken, and basic technical data (device model, operating system, app version, country from the IP address). Firebase assigns a random app instance identifier; it is not your name, email or advertising identifier, and we have told Firebase not to use this data for advertising. We look at it in aggregate, for example "40% of players stop on level 7".
2.4 Information about purchases
When you make a purchase, the App Store or Google Play sends the Game a confirmation that the purchase succeeded, so the item can be delivered. We do not receive your name, payment card or billing details.
2.5 What we do not collect
The Game does not ask for or collect your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos, microphone, camera, or precise location. It has no chat, no user accounts and no way to post content.
3. Why it is used, and the legal basis
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, data protection law requires a legal basis for each use. Ours are:
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Running the Game and keeping your progress on your device | Performance of our agreement with you to provide the Game |
| Delivering items you have bought | Performance of our agreement with you |
| Showing personalised ads | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time |
| Measuring how the Game is played, to fix problems and improve levels and difficulty (Google Analytics for Firebase) | Our legitimate interest in improving the Game, balanced against your rights; no advertising use |
| Showing non-personalised ads, limiting how often an ad is shown, preventing fraud and measuring whether ads were delivered | Our legitimate interest in funding a free game, balanced against your rights |
| Complying with legal obligations, such as tax and accounting rules for purchases | Legal obligation |
4. Advertising
The Game is free to play and is funded partly by ads: optional rewarded videos you choose to watch in exchange for a reward, and occasional full-screen ads between runs. You can remove the full-screen ads with the Remove Ads purchase.
Ads are served by Google AdMob, which runs an auction among the advertisers in Google's network and shows the ad that wins. Google uses the information it receives under its own privacy policy. If we add further advertising partners, we will list them in section 6 before they receive any information.
4.1 Personalised ads and consent
- On iOS, the Game asks for permission through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt before your advertising identifier can be used to track you across other companies' apps and websites. If you choose Ask App Not to Track, it is not used for that purpose. You can change this at any time in Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.
- In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the Game asks for your consent before showing personalised ads, through Google's consent message, which follows the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework. If you do not consent, you will see non-personalised ads, which are based on context such as the Game itself and your approximate location, rather than on a profile of you.
- You can review or change your ad choices at any time from the Game's Settings > Privacy options.
5. Purchases
All purchases are processed by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play) under their own terms and privacy policies. We only receive confirmation that a purchase succeeded and which item was bought. To restore a purchase on a new device, use Restore Purchases in the Game's Settings.
6. Who we share information with
We do not sell your personal information for money. Information is handled by the following categories of recipients:
| Recipient | What for | Their privacy policy |
|---|---|---|
| Google LLC (AdMob) | Serving and measuring ads, consent management, fraud prevention | How Google uses information from apps |
| Google LLC (Google Analytics for Firebase) | Measuring how the Game is played, on our behalf as a processor | firebase.google.com/support/privacy |
| Apple Inc. (App Store) | Processing purchases, distributing the Game | apple.com/legal/privacy |
| Google LLC (Google Play) | Processing purchases, distributing the Game | policies.google.com/privacy |
We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect our rights or the safety of others, and to a successor if Dakoty Studio or the Game is sold or merged, in which case this policy continues to apply.
7. International transfers
Our advertising partner and the app stores are based in the United States or elsewhere outside the European Economic Area. Where information is transferred outside the EEA, it is protected by the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, or by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the recipient is certified under it.
8. How long information is kept
- Your game data stays on your device until you delete the Game. We never hold a copy.
- Analytics data (section 2.3) is kept for 14 months in Google Analytics and then deleted; aggregated reports without identifiers may be kept longer.
- Advertising data is kept by each advertising partner for the period set out in its own privacy policy.
- Purchase records are kept by Apple and Google, and any records we receive are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires.
9. Your choices and how to delete your data
- Delete your game data: delete the Game from your device. Because your progress is stored only on your device, this removes it completely. There is no account to delete.
- Stop personalised ads: change your choice in Settings > Privacy options in the Game, decline tracking on iOS, or turn off ad personalisation in your device settings (Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking on iOS; Settings > Google > Ads on Android).
- Reset or delete your advertising identifier: on Android, in Settings > Google > Ads. This breaks the link between your device and any profile built on it.
- Remove full-screen ads: buy Remove Ads in the Game's Shop.
- Ask a partner to delete data: you can contact any advertising partner through its privacy policy in section 6, or contact us and we will pass your request on.
10. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access the personal information held about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to its use, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting anything done before you withdrew it.
Because the Game stores your progress only on your device and we do not create accounts, we usually hold no personal information that we can link to you. The advertising data described in section 2.2 is held by our advertising partners; we will help you reach them if you contact us.
To exercise your rights, email info@dakotystudio.com. We will reply within one month. If you are in the EEA, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority. In Slovakia this is the Úrad na ochranu osobných údajov Slovenskej republiky, Hraničná 12, 820 07 Bratislava 27, dataprotection.gov.sk. You may also complain to the authority where you live.
11. Children
The Game is intended for a general audience and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the age of digital consent in their country, which is 16 in some EU countries. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the Game, contact us and we will take steps to delete it and ask our advertising partners to do the same.
12. Additional information for California residents
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA, in the last 12 months the categories of personal information handled through the Game were identifiers (advertising identifier, IP address), internet or other electronic network activity (ad interactions) and inferences (approximate location), as described in section 2. They were disclosed to the advertising partners in section 6 for advertising.
We do not sell personal information for money. Providing advertising identifiers to advertising partners for cross-context behavioural advertising may be treated as "sharing" under California law. You can opt out by declining personalised ads in Settings > Privacy options or by turning on your device's limit on ad tracking. You have the right to know, delete and correct your personal information, and we will not discriminate against you for using these rights.
13. Security
We keep the amount of information we handle to a minimum, which is itself the strongest protection: your game data never leaves your device. The Game's connections to advertising partners and app stores are encrypted in transit. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we choose partners that apply appropriate security measures.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy, for example when we add or change a partner. The effective date at the top shows when it was last changed. If a change is significant, we will let you know in the Game or in its store listing before it takes effect.
15. Contact us
Dakoty Studio s. r. o.
Čierny Brod 5, 925 08 Čierny Brod, Slovakia
Email: info@dakotystudio.com
Website: www.dakotystudio.com