PRIVACY POLICY
The Outer Darkness has no account and no server of its own. Your ship, your gear and your runs are saved on your phone. Three services receive data from the game: Google's Firebase, which collects crash reports and statistics on how the game is played; Appodeal, which serves the optional rewarded video ads; and Singular, which measures where installs come from and how much the ads earn.
Who we are
The Outer Darkness is made by Hidden Project, the publishing name of Danila Rassokhin (hiddenproject.tech). Questions about this policy go to [email protected].
What stays on your phone
- Your game: your credits, the gear you own and wear, your ship's upgrades, the derelicts on your scanner, and a run in progress. It is kept in one save file in the app's private storage, where other apps cannot read it.
- Your settings: whether sound is on, and whether you have seen the intro.
The save itself is never sent anywhere. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its storage in your phone's settings, deletes it.
Crash reports
If the game crashes or hits an error, it sends a report to Firebase Crashlytics, a service run by Google for us. A report contains the error and where in the game's code it happened; your phone's model, operating system version and state at the time, such as free memory; the game's version; and a random identifier for this installation, so that repeat crashes on one phone count as one. That identifier is not linked to you or your Google account, and it changes if you reinstall the game. Crashlytics also notes when the game is opened, so it can tell what share of sessions end in a crash.
We use crash reports only to find and fix bugs. Google keeps them for 90 days and processes them under the Firebase privacy terms.
Gameplay statistics
The game uses Google Analytics for Firebase to learn how it is played, so it can be balanced and improved. It records events such as a boarding started or ended, a fight won or lost, an event choice, an item used or bought, an upgrade, the intro finished or skipped, and a rewarded ad watched. Each event carries game details only, such as which kind of derelict, how many turns, or which ad offer. Analytics also receives, from your phone:
- an app instance ID, a random identifier for this installation;
- your device's advertising ID, where your phone allows it;
- technical details: your phone's model, operating system, language, screen and the app's version;
- a rough location, such as your country, worked out from your IP address;
- when and for how long the game is used;
- for each ad shown, the revenue it earned and the ad network that served it.
We see these as statistics across all players, not as a record of you. We do not sell them or use them to advertise to you. They are processed by Google under the Firebase privacy terms and Google's privacy policy.
Ads
The game is free and has nothing to buy. It is paid for by rewarded video ads, and only those: no banners, and no ads that interrupt play. An ad is shown only when you tap a button that offers one, such as recovering an item after a death or opening the daily supply crate. The game gives you the reward only if you watch the ad to its end. Ignoring every ad costs you nothing you already have.
The ads come from Appodeal, which picks an ad from the ad networks it works with. To fetch and show one, Appodeal and those networks receive from your phone:
- your device's advertising ID, which you can reset or delete in your phone's settings (Settings → Google → Ads on most Android phones);
- your IP address, from which a rough location, such as your country, can be worked out;
- technical details: your phone's make and model, operating system, language, screen, network type and the app's version;
- how you interact with the ad: whether it was shown, watched to the end or tapped.
They use this to choose and measure ads, to prevent fraud and, where you allow it, to show ads based on your interests. The game does not give them anything about your game or your progress. This is handled under Appodeal's privacy policy, which also lists the networks it works with and links to their policies.
Measuring installs and ad revenue
The game uses Singular, a measurement service, for two things: to learn which ad campaign, if any, led you to install the game, and to count how much the game's ads earn. Singular receives from your phone:
- device identifiers: your advertising ID and the app set ID Google Play gives this developer's apps;
- your IP address;
- technical details: your phone's make and model, operating system, language and the app's version;
- the Google Play install referrer, which says where the install came from;
- when the game is opened, so installs and sessions can be counted;
- for each ad you watch, the revenue it earned, the ad network and the ad unit that served it, and where in the game it was shown.
The game sends Singular nothing about your game or your progress. Singular processes this data for us under the Singular privacy policy. We use it only to measure our marketing and the game's income. We do not sell it.
Your choices
- Consent: where the law requires consent before personalised ads, such as in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, the game asks you first, through a consent form from Appodeal.
- Your advertising ID: deleting or resetting it in your phone's settings stops it from being used to link your activity, in this game and in every other app.
- Not watching ads: this is always a choice. No ad is ever shown that you did not ask for.
- Your rights: depending on where you live, you may have the right to access or delete data about you, or to object to its use. We hold no data about you ourselves. Write to [email protected] and we will pass your request on to Google, Singular and Appodeal. Include your advertising ID if you can, since that is how they can find your data.
Backups by your phone
Android may include the save in your device's own backup, such as Google's backup to your Google Account, and may carry it to a new phone during setup. That is a feature of your phone, not of the game. It follows your device's backup settings and Google's privacy policy, and you can turn it off in your phone's settings. We never receive these backups.
If you email us
If you write to support, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to include. We use it only to answer you, we do not share it, and we delete it once it is no longer needed for that.
Children
The Outer Darkness is not directed at children under 13, and it does not knowingly collect personal information from them. The game itself asks no one, of any age, for personal information.
Changes to this policy
If a future version of the game handles data differently, for example by adding a new ad network or another service, this policy will be updated before that version is released, and the date at the top will change with it.