Snarelight Privacy Policy

Effective date: 21 September 2026

Snarelight is a one-button arcade game for iPhone made by Vasileios Diamantidis ("I", "me"). The game is free, and ads pay for it. This policy explains what information the app handles, who receives it, and the choices you have.

Summary

• Ads, no purchases. Snarelight shows ads from Google AdMob. It has no in-app purchases of any kind.
• Ads never interrupt play. An optional ad lets you continue a run. A full-screen ad can appear between runs, when you tap RETRY or MENU on the RUN OVER screen.
• Google services. The app uses Google Analytics for Firebase for game statistics, Firebase Crashlytics for crash reports and Firebase Remote Config for game settings.
• No account of mine, no personal details. The app never asks for your name, email address or any other details. It does not use Location Services, your contacts, photos, camera or microphone. Your best score and settings stay on your iPhone.
• Game Center is optional. If your iPhone is signed in to Apple's Game Center, a finished run's score is posted to three Snarelight leaderboards. That is Apple's service, under Apple's privacy policy, and you can turn it off. If you are signed out, nothing is posted, no leaderboard is shown and the game plays exactly the same.
• Your consent. In the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK and Switzerland, you decide whether Google may use your data for personalised ads and analytics. You can change your mind at any time in Settings > Privacy Choices in the game.
• Tracking only with your permission. The app asks through Apple's tracking prompt, only after your first completed run and never at launch. Saying no changes nothing in the game.
• No sale for money. I do not sell your information. Where US state law treats targeted ads as a "sale" or "sharing" of personal information, you can opt out in Privacy Choices.

Who is responsible

I am responsible for the data collected through Snarelight (the "controller" under European data protection law). You can reach me at the address under Contact.

The app's services come from Google. For Google Analytics, Crashlytics and Remote Config, Google generally processes the data on my behalf, under its Firebase and Google Analytics terms. For advertising, Google also makes its own decisions about the data it receives when it serves ads, as described in the Google Privacy Policy.

What the app stores on your device

Snarelight saves a few values in the app's local storage (iOS UserDefaults) on your iPhone:

• your settings: sound on or off, haptics on or off, and Reduce Motion;
• whether you have finished the tutorial;
• your best score;
• how many runs you have completed on this install and the time of the last full-screen ad, which pace the ads (for example, no full-screen ad in your first few runs);
• game tuning values, in developer builds only.

The Google tools in the app also keep data on your device: your consent choices (stored by Google's consent tool in the standard IAB format that ad companies read), the identifiers described under Identifiers, the latest game settings from Remote Config, and statistics or crash reports waiting to be sent.

I cannot see your settings, best score, run count or last ad time. They are not sent to me or to anyone else. Deleting the app deletes all of this data from your iPhone, and Settings > Reset Best Score in the app clears your best score. If you back up your iPhone to iCloud or to a computer, iOS may include this data in that backup, where it is covered by Apple's privacy policy and your own backup settings.

What the app sends, and to whom

The app sends data only to the Google services below and, if you are signed in to Game Center, to Apple — over encrypted connections (HTTPS). When an ad is shown, parts of it may also load from the servers of the advertiser or other ad companies, which then receive your IP address (see Advertising).

The SHARE button on the RUN OVER screen opens the iOS share sheet with a line of text about your run. It goes only where you choose to send it.

Google AdMob (ads)

The Google Mobile Ads SDK requests, shows and measures the ads. According to Google, it may collect:

• your IP address, which may be used to estimate the general location of your device;
• a device identifier: the advertising identifier if you allow tracking, and other identifiers limited to this app or developer (see Identifiers);
• advertising data, such as the ads you have seen and whether you tapped them;
• product interaction, such as app launches, taps and video views;
• performance data, such as app launch time and hang rate;
• crash logs and other diagnostics about the SDK itself.

Google uses this data to show ads and measure how well they work, to protect against fraud and abuse, and to maintain and improve its services. If you have given consent (or where consent is not required), it may also use the data to personalise ads. Google may pass ad requests to other advertising companies that buy ad space through Google. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the consent message lists these companies and lets you choose.

Read How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services and Google's Advertising page.

Google User Messaging Platform (consent)

Google's consent tool checks, at each launch and when you return to the game after 30 minutes or more away, whether your region needs a consent message or a privacy choice. It then shows that message and stores your answers on your device. If a check fails, for example because you are offline, it tries again when you next start a run or return to the game. To do this, Google receives your IP address (to tell which region you are in) and some information about how you interact with the message.

Google Analytics for Firebase (game statistics)

Google Analytics tells me how the game is played, so I can improve it. The app logs a few game events:

• a run starts;
• a run ends, with its score, how long it lasted in seconds, how far into the game it got, whether you used CONTINUE, and whether the run ended in the game or you quit it;
• you finish the tutorial (skipping it does not count);
• you use CONTINUE, with the run's length and score at that moment.

Google Analytics also records some events by itself, such as the first time the app is opened, the start of each session, app and iOS updates, and ads shown, tapped or rewarded. With each event it receives basic device information (such as model, iOS version and language), the app version, a general location derived from your IP address, and the identifiers described under Identifiers.

The app does not send your name, a user ID, anything you type or the screens you look at. It turns off automatic screen reporting and does not use Google Ads on-device conversion measurement.

In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, what Google Analytics may do depends on your consent choices. It uses its identifiers on your device only if you consent to "Store and/or access information on a device". Ad-related uses of analytics data also need your consent for Google and for the matching purposes (measuring ad performance, personalised ads). Until you answer, all of these are off. Elsewhere, they are on once the app has checked which rules apply to you, except that opting out under US state privacy rights turns off the ad-related uses. See Google Analytics and privacy.

Firebase Crashlytics (crash reports)

If the app crashes, Crashlytics sends a crash report to Google the next time you open the app. The report contains technical details: what the app's code was doing, the time of the crash, the app version, the device model, iOS version, memory and disk space, screen orientation, whether the app was in the background, and whether the device appears to be jailbroken. It also contains a random Crashlytics installation ID and the Firebase installation ID, and it can include the app's most recent Google Analytics events described above. Crash reports are not linked to you and are not used for ads. I use them only to find and fix bugs.

Firebase Remote Config (game settings)

The app fetches a few settings from Google, so I can adjust ads without an app update. For example, I can change how often full-screen ads may appear or switch ads off completely. The app checks for new settings when it starts (at most about once an hour) and listens for changes while it is open. Google receives the Firebase installation ID, basic app and device information (such as the app version and language) and your IP address.

More details: Privacy and Security in Firebase.

Apple Game Center (leaderboards)

Game Center is Apple's own gaming service, built into iOS. Snarelight uses it for three leaderboards: all time, weekly and every 30 days.

If your iPhone is signed in to Game Center, the score of a finished run is sent to Apple and placed on those leaderboards next to the Game Center nickname and avatar you chose with Apple. Runs you abandon from the pause menu are not sent, and a score of zero is never sent. Nothing else about you or your device is sent.

I do not receive your identity from Game Center. The app does not read, store or log your Game Center player ID, nickname or friends, and it never sends anything about Game Center to Google or any other company. Leaderboard entries are handled by Apple under Apple's Privacy Policy, and Apple's Game Center screens are drawn by iOS, not by Snarelight.

You are in control: sign out of Game Center in Settings > Game Center on your iPhone, and the app posts nothing and shows no leaderboard. Turning it off later does not remove scores already posted — Apple provides no way for a game to withdraw a score, so ask Apple if you need one removed. Resetting your best score inside Snarelight clears only the number kept on your iPhone.

Identifiers

None of these identifiers contains your name or contact details. If you do not allow tracking, iOS gives the app only zeros in place of the advertising identifier. Deleting the app removes the random IDs from your device; the next install gets new ones.

The App Store lists some of Snarelight's data as "Data Used to Track You". This is because, if you allow tracking, Google may use your advertising identifier and data from this app together with data from other companies' apps and websites to personalise and measure ads. If you do not allow it, the advertising identifier is not available to the app or to Google's code in it, and Apple's rules forbid the app from tracking you in other ways.

Advertising

Snarelight has no banner ads, no ads when the app opens and no in-app purchases. It has two kinds of ad, both full-screen, and neither ever appears during a run, the tutorial, the pause menu or Settings:

• CONTINUE (optional). When a long enough run ends, the RUN OVER screen may offer CONTINUE, once per run. If you tap it and watch the ad, your comet comes back and the run carries on. If you close the ad early, the run stays over. The reward is the same whatever you answered to the tracking request.
• Between runs. When you tap RETRY or MENU on the RUN OVER screen, a full-screen ad may appear before the next screen. Not in your first few runs, and only a few times per session, spaced by several runs and minutes.

The game pauses, and its sound and haptics stop, while an ad is on screen.

Personalised and non-personalised ads. Personalised ads are chosen using data about you, such as your advertising identifier or activity. Non-personalised ads are chosen from context only, such as the app you are using and your general location. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Google shows personalised ads only if you consent. If you do not consent to storing and reading information on your device, Google can only show "limited" ads, which do not use such identifiers.

Suitable ads. The app asks Google for ads suitable for a general audience with parental guidance (Google's "PG" rating). Ads about topics such as dating, sexual topics, gambling, alcohol, drugs and supplements, weight loss, cosmetic procedures, get-rich-quick schemes, astrology, politics and religion are blocked.

Reporting an ad. Google's ads carry an AdChoices icon. Tap it to learn why you are seeing the ad or to choose "Report this ad". You can also report an inappropriate ad to me (see Contact).

Other ad companies. When ads are served, Google and other ad companies may place and read cookies or similar identifiers in the ad's web content, use web beacons, and receive your IP address. Tapping an ad may open a website or the App Store, where that website's or Apple's privacy policy applies. The app also lists Google's SKAdNetwork IDs: Apple's system for measuring app installs that result from ads, which does not identify you.

Your choices

Consent in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland

Google's consent message appears when you leave the RUN OVER screen (with RETRY or MENU), normally the first time you do, or at a later run if the message has not finished loading. It never appears at launch or during the tutorial. You can accept, refuse, or choose purpose by purpose and company by company. Until you answer, the app requests no ads and Google Analytics runs with every consent signal off. Crash reports and game settings work either way (see Legal bases).

You can change or withdraw your consent at any time: open Settings (the gear on the title screen, or SETTINGS in the pause menu) and tap Privacy Choices. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that took place before. Google's tool may occasionally ask again, for example when its list of ad companies changes.

The iOS tracking request

Snarelight asks for permission to track through Google's short explanation screen followed by Apple's prompt. This happens when you leave the RUN OVER screen, normally after your first completed run, never at launch. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Google's consent message comes first. iOS shows Apple's prompt only once.

You can change your answer at any time in the iPhone's Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking, for Snarelight alone or for all apps. If you do not allow tracking, you still see ads, but they cannot use your advertising identifier. The game and CONTINUE work exactly the same.

US state privacy rights

In US states with privacy laws that give you this right, the app shows Privacy Choices in Settings. There you can opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of your personal information for targeted advertising, as those laws define the terms. Google then serves ads in a restricted mode that is not based on your past activity. The app also turns off the Google Analytics settings that let its data be used for ads ("ad user data" and "ad personalisation" in Google's Consent Mode), so your game statistics are not used for advertising or to personalise ads. Game statistics are still collected.

Other controls

• Privacy Choices appears in Settings only where Google's consent tool says a choice applies in your region.
• Google's ad settings. My Ad Center lets you see and control how Google personalises ads, including in apps that use Google ads.
• Delete the app. This removes everything the app and its Google tools stored on your iPhone, including the random IDs and your consent choices. Data already sent is deleted as described under How long data is kept.

The app has no separate switch for crash reports, and outside the EEA, the UK and Switzerland none for game statistics either.

Legal bases (EEA, UK and Switzerland)

European data protection law requires a legal basis for each use of personal data:

• Consent: storing and reading information on your device for ads and analytics, personalised ads, measuring ad performance with your data, and Google Analytics statistics. You can withdraw consent at any time in Privacy Choices.
• Legitimate interests: crash reports (keeping the game working; the reports are technical, not linked to you and not used for ads), Remote Config (delivering the game's settings, including switching ads off quickly if something goes wrong), and keeping the app and its ads secure and free of fraud. You can object to these uses by contacting me.
• Ads without consent: where you have not consented, Google can still show non-personalised or limited ads. Google explains the legal grounds it relies on for this in the consent message and in its Privacy Policy.
• Legal obligation: keeping a record of your consent choices.

Selling and sharing

I do not sell your personal information for money, and I do not share it except with Google as described above. Some US state laws count letting an ad network use data for targeted ads as "selling" or "sharing" personal information. Google's ads in Snarelight may count as that, and you can opt out as described under US state privacy rights.

International transfers

Google processes data in the United States and in other countries where it or its providers operate. Data protection laws there may differ from those where you live. Google is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, its UK Extension and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and its data processing terms add further safeguards.

How long data is kept

Security

The app sends as little as it can: no name, no contact details, no user ID and nothing you type. Data travels to Google and Apple over encrypted connections, and the app has no accounts or passwords of its own to steal. Google stores the data under its own security measures. No system is perfectly secure, so the best protection is that the app collects so little.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct or delete your personal data, to restrict or object to its use, to receive a copy of it, to withdraw consent and to opt out of targeted advertising. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland you can also complain to your data protection authority. Using these rights never affects how the game works for you.

Because Snarelight has no account of its own, I usually cannot tell which data belongs to you (and I never receive your Game Center identity). The quickest controls are Privacy Choices, the iOS tracking setting, My Ad Center and deleting the app. For anything else, contact me and I will help as far as I can.

Information Apple may share with developers

If you have chosen in iOS settings to share analytics with app developers, Apple may give me crash reports and aggregated, anonymous usage statistics (for example, how many devices installed the app). Apple controls this data under its own privacy policy, and it does not identify you to me. You can turn this off at any time in Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements.

Game Center is separate from this, and is covered above under Apple Game Center (leaderboards).

Children

Snarelight is rated 4+ on the App Store in most regions because the game has no objectionable content, but it is not directed at children and is not part of the App Store's Kids category. I do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under the age of digital consent where you live. If you believe a child's data has been collected through the app, contact me and I will help remove what I can.

Changes to this policy

If a future version of Snarelight changes how it handles information, I will update this policy and change the effective date above before that version is released. If a change needs your consent, the app will ask again.

Contact

Questions about this policy or the app, requests about your data, and reports of inappropriate ads: vdiamant.apps@gmail.com