Privacy Policy for Settle Blocks
Preview: this policy takes full effect when ads and analytics arrive in a future release. Today the game does not collect or send any personal information.
Version 2.0 (preview) · Last updated: 20 October 2026
1. The short version
- You don't need an account to play, and we don't ask for your name, email address or phone number.
- Your scores, streaks and settings are saved on your phone. Some gameplay events, including scores, are also sent to Google so we can see how the game is used.
- Adverts pay for the game. You choose whether they are personalised, and you can change your choice at any time.
- You can pay once to remove full-screen adverts. Optional "watch an ad for a reward" adverts stay.
- We don't sell your personal information to data brokers.
- Your information is never used to decide which pieces you are dealt. Everyone playing a given deck gets the same pieces in the same order.
2. Who we are
Settle Blocks is made by Neil W, an individual based in the United Kingdom ("we", "us"). We decide how and why your information is used in the game, which makes us the "controller" under data protection law. Where Google or an advertising company decides for itself how to use information it collects through its tools, it is responsible for that use under its own privacy policy.
Contact for anything in this policy, including requests and complaints: hello@settleblocks.app
3. What stays on your phone
Your best scores, Daily Deck results, streaks, settings (sound, language, reminders) and tutorial progress are saved on your device. If you delete the app this is normally deleted with it, but your phone's own backup or cloud features may keep a copy, and we can't control that.
Reminders. If you turn on the daily reminder, your phone schedules the notification itself. The reminder is not sent to us. Turn it off in the game's Settings or in your phone's notification settings.
Sharing. When you tap Share, the game gives your phone's share sheet some text (your result and a link to settleblocks.app). You choose where it goes. We don't see who you share with.
4. Information collected when you play
Usage information (Google Firebase Analytics)
We use Google Firebase Analytics to understand how the game is played and to improve it. It collects:
- Identifiers: a random installation identifier for the app on your device. This is not your name, but it can be used to link events from the same device together, so we treat it as personal information.
- Gameplay events: for example starting or finishing a run, the game mode, your score, whether a Daily Deck was completed, whether you watched an ad or opened the deck panel, and whether you shared.
- Device and app details: phone model, operating system version, app version, language.
- Approximate location, worked out by Google from your internet address (country, region or city). We do not collect precise location (GPS).
Game settings (Google Firebase Remote Config)
The game asks Google's servers for small settings, such as how often an advert may appear. To do this, Google uses your app's installation identifier and receives your internet address and basic device details. We use these settings to run and tune the service.
5. Adverts and your choices
The game shows two kinds of advert, supplied through Google AdMob:
- Rewarded adverts, which you choose to watch in return for a reward, such as a Settle Bomb.
- Full-screen adverts between games, which you can remove with a one-off purchase.
To deliver, limit the frequency of, measure and secure adverts, Google AdMob and the advertising companies it works with may use your internet address, approximate location, device details, information about adverts you saw or tapped, and, if you allow it, your advertising identifier (IDFA on iPhone, advertising ID on Android).
- Personalised adverts use your advertising identifier and activity to choose adverts for you.
- Non-personalised adverts are chosen without that. This does not mean no information is used: device and network information can still be used for delivering adverts, limiting how often you see them, measuring them and preventing fraud.
Promoting the game. We don't currently run paid adverts for Settle Blocks. If we do in future, Google Analytics information about how people use the game may be used by Google to build groups of players for those adverts, but only for people who have agreed to personalised advertising, and only in the way their choices allow.
Your choices
- UK, EU and EEA (and Switzerland). Before any advert is requested, the game shows a consent form (Google's User Messaging Platform). You can accept, refuse or manage your choices. Refusing does not stop you playing. To change your choice at any time, open Settings → Privacy choices in the game.
- iPhone and iPad. The game asks, with Apple's "Allow tracking" prompt, whether it may use your advertising identifier. You can say no, and you can change it later in your iPhone's Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. Saying no does not stop adverts, only tracking-based personalisation.
- Android. Your phone's settings let you reset your advertising ID or limit ad personalisation. The menu names vary between Android versions and phone makers, so search your phone's Settings for "ads".
- Remove ads. A one-off purchase removes full-screen adverts. Rewarded adverts stay and are always optional.
6. Purchases
If you buy "Remove ads", Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play) handles the payment. We never see your card details. We receive confirmation that the purchase was made, which may include a purchase receipt or token, so the game can unlock the feature and restore it if you reinstall or change phone.
7. How and why we use information
| What we do | Why | Our legal basis (UK and EU law) |
|---|---|---|
| Run the game and unlock what you've bought | To provide the game you asked for | Contract |
| Keep the game working and secure, and prevent fraud | To protect the game and players | Legitimate interests |
| Usage analytics | To understand and improve the game | Consent where the law requires it, otherwise legitimate interests |
| Personalised adverts | To fund the game with adverts that suit you | Consent |
| Non-personalised adverts, frequency limits, ad measurement | To fund the game | Legitimate interests, or consent where the law requires it |
| Purchase records | To confirm and restore purchases; keep legal records | Contract; legal obligation |
| Replying to your emails and complaints | To help you | Legitimate interests |
| Meeting our legal duties | To comply with the law | Legal obligation |
You can withdraw consent at any time (see section 5). Withdrawing stops future use that depends on the consent. It does not undo what happened before.
8. Who we share information with
- Google (Firebase Analytics, Firebase Remote Config, AdMob), and the advertising companies that take part in AdMob adverts. See policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites and firebase.google.com/support/privacy.
- Apple and Google Play, for the app stores and purchases.
- Our email service, if you write to hello@settleblocks.app.
- Authorities or advisers, where the law requires or to protect our legal rights.
We don't sell your personal information to data brokers. We work with advertising partners that may process information to deliver, measure and, where permitted, personalise adverts.
9. Where information is processed
Google and other providers process information in the United States and other countries outside the UK and EEA. Where this happens, it relies on a legal transfer mechanism such as an adequacy decision or approved standard contract terms.
10. How long we keep information
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Scores, streaks and settings on your phone | Until you reset the game or delete the app (backups as described in section 3) |
| Firebase Analytics events | 14 months, then deleted automatically |
| Firebase installation identifiers | Under Google's own schedule; deletion can take further time to pass through Google's systems |
| Advertising information held by Google and its partners | Under their own policies and your choices |
| Purchase records | As needed to confirm and restore purchases and meet legal duties |
| Emails and complaints to us | 12 months after the matter closes |
| Records of your consent choices | As long as needed to show we followed them |
11. Children
Settle Blocks is a general puzzle game intended for adults and older teenagers. It is not designed for children, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has used the game and want their information deleted, email hello@settleblocks.app.
12. Your rights and complaints
Under UK and EU data protection law you may have the right to: be told what information we hold about you and get a copy; have it corrected or deleted; restrict or object to some uses; withdraw consent; and receive your information in a portable form. Some rights apply only in certain situations.
Because we have no accounts, we can only find information linked to your device if you give us your app's installation identifier or other detail that lets us match it. We'll tell you what we need.
To make a request or a complaint, email hello@settleblocks.app. We'll acknowledge a complaint within 30 days, look into it, and tell you the outcome.
You can also complain to the regulator. In the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). In the EU or EEA, it is the data protection authority in your country.
13. Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, and we choose service providers with established security practices. No online service can promise to be completely secure.
14. Changes to this policy
If we change what the game does with your information, we'll update this page and the date and version above. For a significant change, such as a new kind of data or a new purpose, we'll tell you in the game before the change applies.