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Privacy Policy — Ballistic Civilization

Last updated: 17 July 2026

Ballistic Civilization ("the Game", "we", "us") is developed and published by Aqueduct Medya (the "data controller" for the purposes of data-protection law). Contact: aqueductmedya@gmail.com.

This policy explains what data the Game handles and why. We keep it deliberately small: the Game is designed to be fully playable with no account and no personal information. See also the Terms of Service for Ballistic Civilization — this page is about data only.

What the Game stores on your device

All of your progress is saved locally on your device using standard app storage:

• Your chosen Commander name and full game save (development score, resources, technology, cities and battle damage, win/loss record, daily streak, settings).
• A friend code and any friends you have added (each stored as a code and the name that player chose).
• An anonymous session token used to talk to our online leaderboard and duel service (see below). This token is a random identifier — it is not tied to your Apple ID or any personal identity.

You can erase all of this at any time from Settings → Reset Progress, or by deleting the app.

What the Game sends to our online service (optional)

The Game has optional online features — a global leaderboard, asynchronous and live player-vs-player duels, and friend codes. These run on Google Firebase (Realtime Database) using anonymous authentication (a random ID with no personal information). When these features are used, the Game may send:

• The Commander name you chose (up to 14 characters) and your development score, for the leaderboard and matchmaking.
• A city "snapshot" — a numeric seed, size and timestamp — so other players can battle a copy of your city. This contains no personal information.
• Friend codes and duel messages (aim/shot data) when you play with friends.
• A brief "online" heartbeat so the Game can show how many commanders are online.
• Anonymous gameplay input patterns — when you play the shape-tracing minigame, the Game may upload the traced stroke (a short sequence of screen-relative coordinates and timings, with the shape's name and your accuracy score) under the same anonymous random ID. We use these anonymous strokes to improve the Game and to train machine-learning models that power Game features (for example shape-difficulty tuning, human-vs-script detection, and tracing recognition). They are never used to identify anyone and are never sold. A stroke contains no personal information, no text, no free-form drawing — only your finger's path over one of the Game's own predefined shapes. Uploads are capped per device per day, you can turn them off at any time in Settings → CONTRIBUTE TRACES, and you can play entirely offline to send nothing.

If the network is unavailable, or you never use the online features, the Game plays entirely offline against AI opponents and sends nothing.

We use this data only to operate the leaderboard, matchmaking and friend duels (our legitimate interest in providing the multiplayer features you invoke, and — where local law treats online play by a minor as requiring consent — the consent described under "Children and minors" below). We do not sell it, use it for advertising, profiling or marketing, or share it with third parties for their own purposes. It is processed by Google Firebase acting strictly as our service provider / processor (see Google's privacy policy). Firebase infrastructure may store data on servers outside your country; such transfers are protected by Google's standard contractual safeguards.

Apple Game Center (optional, iOS)

On iOS the Game can connect to Apple Game Center for global leaderboards (civilization score and wars won). Game Center sign-in, your Game Center nickname, and your player identity are handled entirely by Apple on your device under Apple's own privacy policy — the Game only tells GameKit your score. We never read, store, or transmit your Game Center identity to our servers, and it is never linked to the anonymous data described above: the shape-tracing uploads remain keyed only to a random anonymous ID and contain only the shape's name, the stroke, and the result (accuracy grade) — categorized by shape and outcome, never by person. Declining Game Center changes nothing about the Game.

Advertising (Google AdMob, non-personalized)

The Game shows ads in three places: an optional rewarded video you choose to watch to arm the ×5 boost, an optional rewarded video you choose to watch to restore your city after a lost war, and an interstitial before every second battle. Ads are served by Google AdMob, configured for non-personalized ads only: we request no App Tracking Transparency permission, the device advertising identifier (IDFA) is not used, and ads are selected from context (app, coarse region, device type), not from a profile of you. To serve and measure these ads and prevent fraud, Google receives standard request data such as your IP address (which implies an approximate, city-level region), device model and OS version. Google acts as an advertising provider; its handling of this data is described at policies.google.com/technologies/ads. We do not send Google your Commander name, your friend code, or any game data.

Our lawful basis for showing these ads is our legitimate interest in funding a free game, and — where your local law requires it (for example in the EEA and UK) — your consent, collected through Google's certified consent form the first time the Game starts in those regions. You can decline there and still play; ads remain non-personalized either way.

Children and minors

We take the protection of minors seriously, and the Game is engineered so that a child cannot hand over personal information even by trying: there is no account, no chat, no free-text messaging, no photo or file sharing, no precise location, no purchases, and no tracking — for players of any age. Advertising is non-personalized for everyone, which means no behavioral ad targeting of anyone, minors included.

• Age rating and audience. The Game is rated 13+ on the App Store (infrequent/mild cartoon violence) and is not directed to children under 13. It is not a "child-directed" service within the meaning of COPPA.
• No knowing collection from children under 13. The only text a player ever enters is a 14-character Commander name. We instruct all players — and parents — that this name must never be a real full name or any personal information. If we learn that a child under 13 has nonetheless submitted personal information (for example, used their real full name as a Commander name on the leaderboard), we will delete it promptly — see "Parents and guardians" below.
• Age of digital consent (GDPR Article 8 / KVKK and similar laws). If you are below the age at which your country permits you to consent to online data processing yourself (between 13 and 16 in most of the EU/EEA, 13 in the UK, and as defined by local law elsewhere, including Türkiye's KVKK), you may use the online features (leaderboard, duels, friend codes) only with the permission and supervision of a parent or legal guardian. Offline play sends no data and requires no consent.
• No behavioral advertising to minors — ads are non-personalized for all players; no one, of any age, is profiled for ad targeting.
• No purchase pressure aimed at minors: there is nothing to buy. Rewarded ads are strictly optional and clearly labeled — nothing in the Game nags a player to watch one.
• Interaction surface is minimal by design. Other players can only ever see a chosen Commander name, a score, and an abstract city skyline. There is no way to send a message, image, or link to another player.

Parents and guardians

• You can review exactly what the Game can transmit in the section above — it is limited to a chosen nickname, a score, and abstract game data.
• To have any online data associated with your child's device deleted, email aqueductmedya@gmail.com with the Commander name and the friend code shown in the Game's FRIENDS screen. We will remove the leaderboard entry, city snapshot and friend-code record and confirm to you, normally within 30 days and usually much faster.
• To disable online features entirely, simply don't use the ATTACK/FRIENDS online modes, or turn off the device's network access for the app — the Game is fully playable offline.

Data retention

Locally stored data remains until you reset progress or delete the app. Leaderboard and city-snapshot data associated with your anonymous ID is retained while it remains active and may be periodically cleared. Because the online data is keyed only to an anonymous, random ID with no contact information, we cannot identify you from it — which also means we cannot proactively find "your" data without the Commander name + friend code you supply.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (including under the EU/UK GDPR, Türkiye's KVKK, and the California CCPA/CPRA), you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict processing of personal data, to object to processing, to data portability, and to complain to a supervisory authority. Because we hold no identity data, the practical way to exercise these rights is to email us with your Commander name and friend code; we will locate and delete or export the associated online records. On request we will also delete the anonymous trace strokes stored under your device's anonymous ID, including from our exported research archive. We will never discriminate against you for exercising any right. We do not sell or "share" (as CCPA defines it) personal information, of adults or minors, and we have no advertising partners to opt out of.

Security

Online data lives in a Firebase Realtime Database protected by validated, auth-gated security rules: players can only write their own records, and no record is publicly writable. Transport is encrypted (HTTPS). The anonymous token on your device is the only key to your online records.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the Game evolves (for example, if a future version introduces purchases or any new data use, this policy will be updated to describe them — including any additional protections for minors — before that version ships). The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the current version. Material changes will be announced in the App Store release notes.

Contact

Questions about this policy, your data, or a child's data:

Aqueduct Medya — aqueductmedya@gmail.com