Privacy Policy

01Who we are

Blinkhouse is made and provided by Yağmur Günaydın Öney, an independent developer based in Türkiye ("we", "us"). We are the data controller for the personal data described here.

This policy covers the Blinkhouse app for iPhone, iPad and Android, the web version of the game and this website. Questions? Write to cagatayoney0@gmail.com.

02What stays on your device

Your game is saved on your device, inside the app: the nights you've cleared and their stars, your pearls and lifebuoys, the skies and ships you own, your Signal Book and Keeper's Logbook, your best streaks, and your settings, such as sound, vibration, language and captions.

This save isn't sent to our servers and we can't see it. That also means we can't restore it for you: if you delete the app, the save is deleted with it. Purchases, except pearl packs, can be restored with your Apple ID or Google account (see Purchases).

Reminders such as "your lifebuoys are full" are scheduled on your device as local notifications and don't pass through our servers.

03Your anonymous sign-in

The first time the game goes online, it signs in to Firebase Authentication (Google) as an anonymous user. This creates a random user ID, which we call your sign-in ID. You don't give us a name, email address, phone number or password.

The sign-in ID is what ties your data together:

• it's the key for your Top Keepers row and your private profile;
• RevenueCat uses it as your customer ID for purchases;
• Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics attach it to game events and crash reports, so we can tell a problem that affects one player from one that affects many.

Because the sign-in is anonymous, a new ID is created if you delete and reinstall the app or play on another device. The old ID's data stays on our servers until you ask us to delete it.

04The Top Keepers board

Top Keepers is the game's public leaderboard for Night Watch. Each player has one row in our database (Google Cloud Firestore), stored under their sign-in ID, with:

• Keeper nameThe name you pick or roll in the game (letters, numbers and spaces, up to 16 characters).
• EmblemThe badge next to your name, such as the lighthouse or the anchor.
• Ship nameYour ship's call sign, for example "MV" followed by the name you choose.
• ScoresYour best Night Watch streak, this week's best and the week it belongs to.
• Türkiye boardWhether you play in Turkish, which puts you on the TÜRKİYE board as well as the global one.
• TimestampsWhen your row was created and last updated.

Anyone who plays Blinkhouse can see these rows. Please don't use your real name or anything else that identifies you as your keeper or ship name. We may rename or remove names that are offensive or break the Terms of Use.

05Your private profile

Alongside the board, the game keeps a private profile under your sign-in ID. Only your own sign-in can read it; it's never shown to other players and it isn't public. It contains:

• DevicePlatform (iOS, Android or web), operating system version, device brand and model identifier (for example "iPhone17,1" or "SM-S918B", never the name you gave your device), whether it's a phone or a tablet, and whether it's a real device or a simulator.
• AppApp version and build number, the version of the game's content, and the language you play in.
• Region and timeYour device's language and region setting (for example "en-GB"), the country from your device's region setting, your App Store or Google Play country when the store tells the app, and your time zone and its UTC offset.
• PermissionsWhether you've allowed notifications and, if you have, the notification token that lets us reach your device (Firebase Cloud Messaging); and on iPhone and iPad, whether you've allowed tracking (your App Tracking Transparency answer, not the advertising identifier itself).
• PurchasesWhat you own (the Golden Lantern and when it renews or ends, Remove Ads, premium skies and ships), the latest purchase event, and simple totals: number of purchases, total spent in US dollars, and the dates of your first and last purchase. Only our server writes these, from RevenueCat's data (see Purchases).
• TimestampsWhen the profile was created, last updated and last seen, and when the notification token last changed.

We use the profile to run the game (for example to send notifications at sensible local times and in your language), to see which devices and versions we need to support, to investigate problems, and to understand how purchases are doing overall.

The profile never contains your precise location, contacts, photos, advertising identifiers, your device's vendor identifier (IDFV) or your device's name. "Country" comes from your device's settings, not from GPS.

On the web version of the game, the profile is smaller: platform "web", plus the language, region and time zone your browser reports.

06Notifications

Blinkhouse never asks for notification permission when you first open it. The game first asks you itself, for example when your lifebuoys run out, and only if you agree does your device show its permission prompt.

On Android 12 and earlier, the system doesn't show a permission prompt: notifications are on unless you turn them off in your phone's settings.

If you allow notifications:

• the game schedules reminders on your device, such as when your lifebuoys are full again. These are local notifications; our servers aren't involved;
• your device gets a notification token from Firebase Cloud Messaging, which is saved in your private profile. We may use it to send occasional messages about the game, such as new nights or updates. On iPhone and iPad, Apple's push notification service delivers them; on Android, Firebase Cloud Messaging delivers them directly.

You can turn notifications off at any time in the game's Settings or in your device's settings. Once notifications are off, the token is removed from your profile the next time you open the game.

07Purchases

Blinkhouse offers the Golden Lantern subscription and one-time purchases: Remove Ads, premium skies and ships, and pearl packs. Depending on where you got the game, Apple processes every payment in the App Store, or Google processes it in Google Play (Google Play Billing), so we never see your card or bank details.

RevenueCat, Inc. manages purchases for us. When you buy or restore, RevenueCat receives the purchase details from Apple or Google (product, price and currency, dates, transaction IDs, and whether it's a trial or a renewal), your App Store or Google Play country, basic device and app details, and your sign-in ID, which it uses as your customer ID. It checks the purchase, tells the game what you own and lets you restore your purchases.

RevenueCat also notifies our server (Google Cloud Functions) of purchase events, such as a new purchase, a renewal, a cancellation or a refund. Our server saves what you own and simple purchase totals in your private profile, and keeps a short record of each event so it's processed only once.

08Ads

Blinkhouse is free to play and shows ads from Google AdMob: a banner on the Home, Shop and Ranks screens, an occasional full-screen ad between runs (never during your first five runs, and never in the middle of one), and rewarded videos that you choose to watch for a reward. Remove Ads and the Golden Lantern turn off the banner and the ads between runs.

To show and measure ads and to prevent fraud, Google's Mobile Ads SDK collects information from your device, such as your IP address (from which Google estimates your approximate location), device and app information, and how you interact with ads. It can also use your device's advertising identifier: on iPhone and iPad only if you allow tracking, and on Android unless you've deleted your advertising ID (see below).

Your choices

• iPhone and iPad: the app asks whether it may track you, using Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt. If you allow it, Google can use your advertising identifier (IDFA) to show more relevant ads. If you don't, Google can't access the IDFA and your ads aren't based on your activity in other companies' apps and websites. You can change this at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking on your iPhone or iPad.
• EEA, UK and Switzerland: before ads are shown, Google's consent form (the User Messaging Platform) asks how your data may be used for ads. You can change your choice at any time in the game's Settings › Ad privacy options. If you don't consent, Google shows non-personalized or limited ads.
• Android: there is no tracking prompt. Google can use your Android advertising ID to show more relevant ads, subject to your choice in Google's consent form where it's shown. You can reset or delete your advertising ID at any time in your phone's settings (on most phones, Settings › Privacy › Ads or Settings › Google › Ads). Once it's deleted, Google can't use it for ads.

Google handles this data under the data protection terms that come with AdMob (see Who we share data with). To learn more, see how Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

09Analytics and crash reports

We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how Blinkhouse is played, for example which nights are hard, where players stop, and whether purchases and ads work as intended. It records game events (such as starting or finishing a night, opening the shop, starting a purchase or watching a rewarded ad) together with your sign-in ID, an app instance ID, your device model, operating system, app version, language and approximate location (country or region, worked out from your IP address).

We use Firebase Crashlytics to find and fix crashes. When the app crashes, it sends a report with the technical details of the crash, your device model, operating system, app version and your sign-in ID.

On iPhone and iPad, Analytics can only see your advertising identifier if you've allowed tracking. On Android, it can see your advertising ID unless you've deleted it in your phone's settings. We don't use Analytics data to target ads.

10How the game loads

The game itself runs inside the app as web content, loaded from our servers on Firebase Hosting (Google). Like any website, Firebase Hosting processes your IP address and basic browser details to deliver the game and keep it secure. Before the game loads, the app also reads a few settings from our database, such as the latest game version.

The web version of the game works the same way in your browser. It shows no ads and asks for no permissions; it signs in anonymously and keeps the smaller profile described in Your private profile.

11Why we're allowed to use data

Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Türkiye's Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK), every use of personal data needs a legal basis. Ours are:

• Providing the game you asked forYour anonymous sign-in, the Top Keepers board, your private profile, purchases and restoring them, and the reminders you turn on. (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b); KVKK Art. 5(2)(c))
• Our legitimate interestsUnderstanding how the game is played, fixing crashes and problems, keeping our systems secure, preventing cheating and abuse, and showing non-personalized ads so the game can stay free. You can object to this processing (see Your rights). (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f); KVKK Art. 5(2)(f))
• Your consentPersonalized ads (the tracking prompt on iPhone and iPad, and Google's consent form in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland) and push notifications. You can withdraw your consent at any time as described above; this doesn't affect what happened before. (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a); KVKK Art. 5(1))
• Legal obligationsMeeting legal duties, such as keeping records of purchases or answering a lawful request from the authorities. (GDPR Art. 6(1)(c); KVKK Art. 5(2)(ç))

12Who we share data with

We share data only with the service providers that run Blinkhouse for us, and only what each one needs. Each of them must give your data the same or equal protection as this policy describes and the App Store's and Google Play's rules require: the data protection terms that come with its service (for Google, the Firebase, Google Cloud and Google Ads data protection terms; for RevenueCat, its data processing addendum) bind it to keep your data secure and confidential and to use it only as those terms allow.

• Google (Firebase, Google Cloud, AdMob, Google Play)Anonymous sign-in, database, server functions, hosting for the game and this website, Cloud Messaging, Analytics, Crashlytics, ads, and payments in Google Play. United States and other countries. Google's privacy policy
• RevenueCat, Inc.Manages in-app purchases. United States. RevenueCat's privacy policy
• AppleProcesses payments in the App Store, delivers push notifications on iPhone and iPad and shows the tracking prompt. Apple's privacy policy
• Other playersSee your keeper name, emblem, ship name and scores on Top Keepers.

We may also disclose data when the law requires it (for example a valid court order), to protect our rights or someone's safety, or as part of a merger or sale of the business, in which case this policy keeps applying to your data.

We don't sell your personal data.

13International transfers

Our database is stored in Google Cloud's United States multi-region (nam5), our server functions run in the us-central1 region in the United States, and RevenueCat is a US company. Google may also process ad and analytics data in other countries. So your data is processed outside Türkiye and outside the EU.

Google and RevenueCat protect these transfers with the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, which are part of their data protection terms. Transfers from Türkiye are also subject to Article 9 of the KVKK, which sets its own safeguards, such as standard contracts approved by the Personal Data Protection Board. To find out which safeguard applies to a given provider, write to us.

14How long we keep data

• Game save on your deviceUntil you delete the app.
• Sign-in ID, Top Keepers row and private profileUntil you ask us to delete your data, or until we close Blinkhouse. Deleting the app doesn't delete them.
• Notification tokenUntil notifications are turned off, the token stops working, or your data is deleted.
• Purchase status, totals and event recordsUntil your data is deleted, except where we must keep a record of a transaction to meet a legal obligation or handle a dispute. Apple and Google keep their own records of App Store and Google Play purchases, and RevenueCat keeps purchase records as its data protection terms allow.
• Analytics dataUp to 14 months.
• Crash reportsUp to 90 days.
• Server logsUp to 30 days. They contain technical details such as the time, your sign-in ID and errors.
• Support emailsUntil your request is resolved, then up to 2 years in case you follow up.
• Ad dataKept by Google for the periods set in its data protection terms and privacy policy.

When a retention period ends, we delete or anonymize the data.

15Your rights

Depending on where you live, the KVKK (Article 11), the GDPR and similar laws give you the right to:

• find out whether we process your data, why, and who we've shared it with (in your country or abroad), and get a copy;
• have wrong or incomplete data corrected;
• have your data deleted;
• ask us to tell the parties we shared your data with about a correction or deletion;
• restrict or object to processing, including processing based on our legitimate interests;
• object to a result that goes against you and comes only from automated analysis;
• get your data in a portable format;
• withdraw your consent at any time;
• ask for compensation if you're harmed by unlawful processing;
• complain to a data protection authority: in Türkiye the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK), in the EU/EEA your local authority, in the UK the ICO.

How to use them

• Ads: change tracking in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking on your iPhone or iPad, reset or delete your advertising ID in your Android phone's settings, and, in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, your ad consent in the game's Settings › Ad privacy options.
• Notifications: turn them off in the game's Settings or in your device's settings.
• Keeper and ship name: change them in the game at any time.
• Delete everything, or anything else: email cagatayoney0@gmail.com.

How we check it's you

Sign-in is anonymous, so we can't find your data from your email address. Your keeper name, ship name and scores are public, so they can't show that the data is yours either. Before we send you a copy of your data, delete it or change it, we check that your request comes from the device that plays under that name:

1. Tell us your keeper name and ship name exactly as they appear in the game, and whether you play on iPhone or iPad, Android or the web.
2. We reply with a short one-time code. In the game, open your keeper profile from the Home screen, change your keeper name to the code and tap Save. Only your own anonymous sign-in can change your name, so this shows the request is yours.
3. When the code shows up in your Top Keepers row, we do what you asked. You can change your name back afterwards.

We reply free of charge within 30 days. If you no longer have the game, nothing links its data to you, so we can't safely tell which data is yours. Tell us what you can, and we'll do what we can without revealing or deleting another player's data.

Deleting your data doesn't cancel a Golden Lantern subscription. Cancel it in your App Store or Google Play account settings (see Support).

16Children

Blinkhouse is a game for a general audience. It isn't directed at children under 13, or under the minimum age for digital consent where you live, and we don't knowingly collect personal data from them.

If you believe a child has given us personal data, for example a real name on the Top Keepers board, write to us and we'll delete it.

17Security

Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and stored encrypted by Google. Our database rules let anyone read the public board, but only your own anonymous sign-in can write your row or read and write your private profile, and only our server can record purchases. Only people who need it can access our systems.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach ever affects you, we'll tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

18This website

This website (blinkhouse.web.app) has no cookies, no analytics and no JavaScript, and it loads nothing from other websites. It's hosted on Firebase Hosting (Google), which processes your IP address to deliver the pages and keep them secure. The App Store and Google Play links take you to Apple and Google, whose privacy policies apply there.

19Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change matters, for example a new kind of data or a new purpose, we'll tell you in the game before it takes effect.

20Contact

Email is the quickest way to reach us. You can also make a request in writing: by email, signed with a secure electronic or mobile signature, or by post. Email us and we'll send you our postal address. If your message is about your data, include the details in How we check it's you so we can find it.