Shifty Squares is a single-player arcade game with optional online leaderboards. This policy explains exactly what the app collects, why, and who else receives it.
The short version: you can play the entire game without giving us anything. Guest mode keeps everything on your device. Data only leaves your phone if you choose to sign in, because a leaderboard needs a name to put next to a score.
What the app collects
Data | Why | Where it goes | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
Name, email address, profile photo | To identify your account and label your leaderboard entry | Google Firebase Authentication | SIGNED IN |
Your scores | To rank you against other players | Google Cloud Firestore | SIGNED IN |
Approximate location — country, region and city | To offer country and city leaderboards alongside the global one | Derived by ipapi.co, then stored in Firestore | SIGNED IN |
Advertising ID and ad interactions | To show ads and measure them | Google AdMob | EVERYONE |
Best score, sound preference, guest profile | To remember your progress and settings | Stays on your device | EVERYONE |
What the app does not collect
- No GPS or precise location. The app requests no location permission. Country and city are estimated from your IP address, which is accurate to roughly a city and often wrong behind a VPN.
- No contacts, photos, camera, microphone or files. The only Android permission the app requests is internet access.
- No analytics or crash reporting. There is no third-party analytics SDK in the app.
- No payments. Nothing is sold in the app.
Playing as a guest
Choosing Play as guest creates an identifier on your device and nothing more. No account, no name, no email, and no score ever leaves your phone. Your best score is stored locally and disappears if you uninstall the app.
Guests still see ads, and ads still involve Google — see below. Everything else stays with you.
Who else receives your data
Google (Firebase and AdMob)
Accounts, scores and ads are handled by Google LLC. Their handling is governed by the Firebase privacy documentation and the Google advertising policies.
ipapi.co
To work out which country and city leaderboard you belong on, the app asks ipapi.co to look up your approximate location. That request necessarily reveals your IP address to them. It happens at most once a day, and the result is cached on your device.
Nobody else
Your data is not sold, rented, or shared with anyone beyond the services above.
Ads and your choices
The app shows banner ads and occasional full-screen ads through Google AdMob. No ad is ever shown during a game.
If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK, the app asks for your consent before any personalised advertising, using Google's consent form. You can change that choice at any time in your device's Google settings, and you can reset or delete your advertising ID under Settings → Google → Ads.
How long data is kept
- Leaderboard entries are kept while your account exists, so your ranking persists between sessions.
- On-device data lasts until you clear the app's storage or uninstall it.
- Account data is deleted when you ask us to delete your account.
Your rights
You can ask us to show you what we hold about you, correct it, or delete it entirely, including your leaderboard entries. Depending on where you live you may also have the right to object to processing or to receive a copy of your data.
Email [SUPPORT EMAIL] and we will respond within [30] days. To verify it is your account, write from the email address you signed in with.
You can also sign out at any time from the app, which stops anything further being associated with your account.
Children
Shifty Squares is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them. Ads are limited to general audiences. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Security
Accounts and scores are stored on Google's infrastructure and travel over encrypted connections. No system is perfectly secure, but the app holds no passwords of its own — sign-in is handled entirely by Google.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes materially, the new version will be posted here with an updated effective date. Continuing to use the app after that means the new version applies.
Contact us
Questions about this policy, a request about your data, or a problem with the game — the same address reaches us for all of it.
Publisher
Hello World Technologies
Address
HW Building, Canal Road, RYK, Pakistan
App
Shifty Squares
Response time
Within [30] days
Two things Google Play will check
- This page must be reachable at a public URL that does not require signing in, and the same URL goes in the Play Console listing and in your app's Data safety form.
- The Data safety form must match this page. Declare: name, email address, photo, approximate location, app activity (scores), and advertising ID — collected, linked to the user, and not used for tracking beyond advertising.
Written from the Shifty Squares source code, describing the app as built. If the app changes what it collects, this page has to change with it.