Privacy policy
Effective 5 October 2026
The short version. Alembic has no accounts and never asks for your name, email or contacts. Your progress stays on your device. The game sends gameplay statistics, tied to a random ID rather than to you, which you can switch off in Settings. The free videos you can choose to watch come from Google's ad network, AdMob, which collects device information to show and measure those videos. It only personalises ads if you allow tracking when iOS asks.
This policy covers the iOS and iPadOS game Alembic: Potion Sort Puzzle ("Alembic", "the game"), made by Vlad Berila, an independent developer ("I", "me"). Questions go to vladutz_b_05@yahoo.com.
1. What stays on your device
Your levels, stars, coins, potions, streaks and settings are saved in a file on your device, inside the game's own storage. They are not uploaded anywhere and are not synced between devices. Deleting the game deletes them, as does Settings → Reset all progress.
Daily reminders, if you allow notifications, are scheduled on your device by iOS. No notification server is involved and no notification token is sent to me.
2. Gameplay statistics
To learn where players get stuck and whether the game is worth continuing, Alembic sends gameplay events to Google Analytics for Firebase. These are things like "level 12 started", "level 12 finished in 48 moves", "a hint was used", "the shop was opened", and how many days it has been since the game was installed.
Along with those events, Firebase records a random identifier for this installation of the game, your device model and iOS version, your approximate region (derived from your IP address, which Google does not store for this purpose), and the game's language. It does not receive your name, email, contacts, precise location or the advertising identifier.
You can switch this off at any time in Settings → Share gameplay statistics. From that moment nothing more is sent.
Google processes this data as described in Firebase's privacy information. Individual event records are deleted after at most 14 months.
Crash reports
If the game crashes, Firebase Crashlytics sends a crash report: which part of the game's code was running, the device model, iOS version, free memory and storage, and the same kind of random installation identifier. It contains nothing you typed and nothing about you. It is used only to find and fix the crash, and it is switched off together with the gameplay statistics in Settings → Share gameplay statistics.
3. Optional videos (advertising)
Alembic shows no banner ads and no ads between levels. You can choose to watch a short video in exchange for a free hint or extra coins. Those videos are supplied by Google AdMob, Google's mobile advertising network, which may in turn fill them from other advertisers that bid through it.
To choose, show and measure a video, and to prevent fraud, AdMob collects information from your device, which may include:
- the device model, iOS version, language, time zone and network type;
- your IP address and the approximate location derived from it;
- Apple's identifier for vendors (IDFV), and whether and how you interacted with a video;
- Apple's advertising identifier (IDFA) — only if you tap "Allow" when iOS asks whether Alembic may track you.
The game asks that question once, after you have finished your first level, and only while videos are available. If you choose Ask App Not to Track, videos still work, but they are not personalised using the advertising identifier. You can change your answer at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
Google handles this data under its own policies: How Google uses information from apps that use its services · Google privacy policy.
Not watching a video means no video data is generated, though the AdMob SDK does contact Google's servers in the background to have a video ready.
4. Purchases
Coin packs are bought through Apple's App Store. Apple handles the payment; I never see your card, Apple ID or billing address. The game receives only a confirmation that a purchase completed, which it uses to add the coins and to stop the same purchase being credited twice.
5. Summary
| Data | Who receives it | Why | Can you stop it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Progress, coins, settings | Nobody — stays on your device | To save your game | Delete the game, or Reset all progress |
| Gameplay events, installation ID, device model, region | Google (Firebase) | Improving the game | Yes — Settings → Share gameplay statistics |
| Crash reports, installation ID, device model | Google (Firebase Crashlytics) | Fixing crashes | Yes — the same switch |
| Device information, IP address, IDFV, video interactions | Google AdMob | Showing and measuring optional videos, fraud prevention | Don't watch videos; the SDK still prepares one in the background |
| Advertising identifier (IDFA) | Google AdMob | Personalised videos | Yes — only shared if you choose Allow |
| Purchase confirmation | Apple, the game | Delivering coins | Don't buy coins |
6. Children
Alembic is a general-audience puzzle game and is not directed at children under 13. I do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has used the game and you want their analytics data removed, write to the address above.
7. Your rights
Depending on where you live — including under New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020, Australia's Privacy Act 1988, Canada's PIPEDA, the EU and UK GDPR, and California's CCPA — you may have the right to ask what data is held about you, to have it corrected or deleted, and to object to its use. Because the game has no accounts, I hold nothing that identifies you by name; the gameplay statistics are tied only to a random installation identifier. To request deletion, write to the address above with the date you installed the game, or simply switch statistics off and delete the game, which ends collection and leaves the old data to expire. For data held by Google, use the controls described in its policies linked above.
Alembic does not sell your personal information, in the sense of exchanging it for money. The ad network's use of device data to show you videos can count as "sharing" for cross-context advertising under California law; you can stop it by choosing Ask App Not to Track and not watching videos.
8. Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date. A change that adds a new kind of data collection will also be mentioned in the game's App Store update notes.
9. Contact
Vlad Berila · vladutz_b_05@yahoo.com