NOVAFALL — PRIVACY POLICY
Novafall is an idle space-strategy game. It comes in three forms: the iOS app from the App Store, the Android app (coming to Google Play), and the free web edition you can play in a browser. This policy explains what information each one handles, why, and what never leaves your control.
- Novafall has no accounts — we never ask for your name, email, or contacts.
- Your game save belongs to you: on iOS it lives on your device and in your own private iCloud storage; on Android it lives on your phone; on the web it lives in your browser. We cannot see it or access it in any case.
- The web edition has no ads, no crash reporting and no purchasing. It does record the same anonymous gameplay analytics as the iOS app, so we can see where new players get stuck.
- The iOS app collects anonymous gameplay analytics and crash reports to fix bugs and improve the game.
- The Android app has no ads and no purchasing. It collects the same anonymous gameplay analytics and crash reports as the iOS app.
- Purchases are processed by Apple — we never see your payment details.
- We do not sell your data, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.
The web edition
The browser version is hosted at itch.io and contains no advertising, no crash reporting and no purchasing. Those parts of the next section apply to the iOS app only.
It does record anonymous gameplay analytics, the same small set of events as the iOS app — reaching a milestone, moving through the opening tutorial, opening the shop. These are tied to a randomly generated identifier held in your browser, never to your identity, and include basic device information (operating system, device type, browser) and an approximate location derived from your IP address. We use them to find where new players get stuck. Analytics are processed by PostHog — PostHog's privacy policy.
You are asked first, and nothing is recorded until you answer. The first time you open the web edition you get a choice between Allow and No thanks, weighted equally — declining is not the harder button. Until you choose, and if you decline, the analytics software is never started at all: no identifier is created and nothing is sent. Analytics is not required to play, and the game behaves identically either way.
You can change your mind at any time in the game's Settings → Anonymous analytics. Switching it off stops all further events. Clearing your browser data for this site also erases the stored choice and the identifier, and you will simply be asked again.
Correction, August 18, 2026: an earlier version of this page said the web edition sent nothing at all. That was wrong — the analytics described above were active. The page has been corrected rather than quietly amended.
Your progress is saved in that browser's own local storage on your own device. Two consequences worth knowing: it does not follow you to another browser or another device, and clearing your browsing data for this site will erase it. If you want your empire backed up and synced automatically, that is what the iOS app's iCloud save is for.
You can also back it up yourself with a transfer code (Settings → Save Data). The code is your save, encoded as text, and it is produced entirely inside your browser — it is never sent to us or to anyone else, and we could not read it if it were. Where it goes after that is up to you: anyone you give the code to can load that empire, so treat it the way you would treat a password.
GitHub serves the page and, like any web host, processes standard request data (such as your IP address) to deliver it. See GitHub's privacy statement.
The Android app
The Android app (coming to Google Play) contains no advertising and no purchasing: the advertising and purchase software is not in the Android app at all, and it does not use your device's advertising ID. It never asks for location permission.
It does collect the same anonymous gameplay analytics (PostHog) and crash reports (Sentry) as the iOS app, described in the next section, including the approximate location PostHog may estimate from your IP address. Analytics are tied to a randomly generated identifier, never to your identity.
Your progress is saved on your phone. The Android app has no iCloud or other cloud save of its own; if your phone's Google backup is turned on, Android may include the save in that backup, which is between your phone and your Google account. You can also back it up yourself with a transfer code (Settings → Save Data), exactly as described for the web edition above.
What the iOS app collects, and why
Gameplay analytics (PostHog)
To understand how the game is played and where it can improve, we record anonymous gameplay events — for example, reaching a milestone, opening the shop, completing a challenge, moving through the opening tutorial, or watching an optional rewarded ad. These events are tied to a randomly generated identifier, not to your identity, and include basic device information (device model, OS version, app version) and an approximate location derived from your IP address. PostHog's privacy policy
Crash reports (Sentry)
If the game crashes, a report containing the technical state of the app (stack trace, device model, OS version) is sent to Sentry so we can fix the bug. Crash reports do not include your game save or personal information. Sentry's privacy policy
Purchases (Apple and RevenueCat)
All purchases are processed by Apple through the App Store — we never see your payment card or billing details. We use RevenueCat to validate purchase receipts and deliver what you bought (and to restore your purchases on a new device). This involves an anonymous user identifier and transaction metadata (product, price, date), not your identity. RevenueCat's privacy policy
Advertising (Google AdMob) — optional, rewarded ads only
Novafall shows advertising only when you choose to watch a rewarded ad for an in-game bonus. There are no forced or banner ads. Google's privacy policy
Ads are always non-personalized, and Novafall does not use the advertising identifier. Every ad request the game makes is marked non-personalized — there is no setting, in the game or on your device, that changes that. Because of this, Novafall does not ask for App Tracking Transparency permission: there is nothing it would enable. Earlier versions requested that permission; it never affected the reward, and it has been removed rather than kept for the extra ad revenue it would have earned.
One consent still governs ads:
- EEA, UK and Switzerland. Where the GDPR applies, a consent form from Google's certified consent platform appears before any ad loads, and your choice is recorded there. To change it, email us and we will tell you how for your device — or reinstall the app, which clears the stored choice and asks again.
Approximate location
Novafall never asks for location permission and has no access to your device's location. But any internet connection reveals your IP address to the services it talks to, and both Google and PostHog may use it to estimate an approximate location — roughly country or region, not a street or a neighbourhood. We declare this on the App Store as Coarse Location, because Apple asks us to describe IP address by what it is used for rather than leave it out.
We do not store it, look at it, or use it to target anything, and it is not linked to your identity or used to track you. It is disclosed because it is collected, not because it is useful to us.
Your game save (iCloud)
Your progress is saved on your device and backed up to your personal iCloud storage in a private app container. This backup is between your device and your Apple account: we have no access to it, and no copy of it. You can disable it by turning off iCloud Drive for Novafall in iOS Settings. (The web edition has no iCloud backup — see above.)
What we don't do
- We don't sell or rent any data.
- We don't collect names, emails, contacts, photos, precise location, or health data. We never ask for location permission and the app cannot see where you are; see Approximate location above for the one thing that is derived from your IP address.
- We don't track you across other companies' apps or websites.
- We don't knowingly collect any information from children under 13. Novafall is not directed at children, and the analytics described above are anonymous for all players.
Data retention
Anonymous analytics and crash reports are retained by the services above per their standard retention policies and are used only in aggregate. Your game save is retained wherever you keep it (your device, your iCloud) and is deleted when you delete it.
Your choices
- Analytics/crash data: these are anonymous; if you have a concern, contact us and we will help.
- Ads: rewarded ads are always opt-in per watch, and always non-personalized — there is nothing to turn off, because the advertising identifier is never used.
- iCloud backup: iOS Settings → your Apple ID → iCloud → Novafall.
- Delete everything: delete your iCloud data via iOS Settings and delete the app; in-game, Settings → Reset erases your save.
Changes
If this policy changes materially, we will update this page and the effective date above.
Contact
Questions? Email rvg2151@gmail.com.