Your data, in plain words

Who we are

Plumb is made by Shravan Goswami, with Claude Opus 5.5 (an AI model by Anthropic) as co-developer, and published on Google Play by Shravan Goswami. Questions about this policy go to hello@chaosmos.studio.

What the game collects

Nothing of its own. Plumb has no accounts, no analytics and no crash reporting of its own, and it never asks for your name or email. Your progress and settings stay on your device, and the game sends nothing to us or to anyone else. The only data that leaves the Android app is what Google's ads and Google Play collect, described below. We do not receive that data ourselves: AdMob shows us only totals, such as how many ads were shown.

What the app stores on your device

To remember your progress, the app keeps a small settings file in its private storage on your phone. It holds:

• the stars you have earned on each level, which is also how levels unlock;
• whether you have seen or skipped the first level's tutorial;
• your theme choice: Auto, Light or Dark;
• your sound, music and vibration settings;
• whether you own the Supporter pack, as Google Play last reported it, so the pack keeps working offline;
• how many of the day's free hints you have used, so they can start again at midnight.

That file never leaves your device. You can erase it at any time with Settings, Reset progress in the game, or by clearing the app's storage or uninstalling it.

Ads in the Android app

The Android app shows ads through Google AdMob, using the Google Mobile Ads SDK. They are kept off the puzzle itself: once you have solved a few levels, a banner at the bottom of the level list and below the board while you play, never over it; now and then a full-screen ad between levels once you have solved the first dozen; and a short video you can choose to watch for an extra hint. No full-screen ad ever interrupts a level. Ads are limited to content rated PG, suitable for most audiences with parental guidance.

To show ads, measure how they perform and prevent fraud, the SDK collects the following and sends it to Google:

• device identifiers, including your device's advertising ID;
• your approximate location, worked out from your IP address;
• how you interact with ads, such as which ads are shown to you and whether you tap them;
• diagnostics, such as how the app and the ads perform, and crash data from the SDK.

Google uses this data under its own policies: how Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services, and Google's privacy policy. Ads need a connection, so while you play offline, none are requested and nothing is sent.

Your choices about ads

When the app starts, it checks with Google's consent tool, the User Messaging Platform, before it asks for any ads. Where the law requires a choice, such as in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, and in some US states, it shows Google's consent form first. Whether ads are personalised depends on that choice, where the law requires one, and on your phone's ads settings. Ads that are not personalised still use some data, for example to limit how often you see the same ad, to measure it and to prevent fraud.

• Where a choice is required, Privacy choices in the game's Settings opens the form again, so you can change your answer at any time.
• You can reset or delete your advertising ID, or turn off personalised ads, in your phone's Settings, under Privacy and then Ads, or Google and then Ads, depending on the phone.
• The consent tool keeps your answer on your device, so the form does not ask again every time.

The Supporter pack

The Android app offers one optional purchase, the Supporter pack. It is bought once, turns off the banner and the ads between levels, and makes every hint free, so no video is ever needed. Google Play Billing handles the purchase from start to finish: your payment details go to Google, under Google's privacy policy and Google Play's terms, and never reach us. The game learns only whether the pack was bought: it asks Google Play when it starts, and remembers the answer on your device so the pack works offline.

The web version

When you play in a browser, the game never shows ads and sells nothing, and it loads no ad or billing code. Your progress and settings are saved in your browser's own storage for this site, on your computer or phone. They are not sent to us. Clearing the site's data in your browser erases them.

Permissions

The Android app asks for vibration, so a tap can buzz lightly when vibration is switched on. It also has network access, which the ads and the Supporter pack need: Google's ads SDK adds the internet, network state, advertising ID and basic phone state permissions, and the wake lock and foreground service permissions its background tasks use, and Google Play Billing adds its billing permission. It asks for no location, camera, microphone, contacts or files, and the game plays fully offline.

Google Play

The app is downloaded through Google Play. Google may collect data about installs, devices and app crashes as part of running the store, under Google's privacy policy. That happens outside the app, and we only see anonymous totals such as install counts in the Play Console.

This website

This site is a set of static pages hosted on GitHub Pages. GitHub may log standard technical data, such as IP addresses, to keep the service secure and working, as described in GitHub's privacy statement. The site sets no cookies of its own and uses no analytics or trackers. Search runs entirely in your browser from a file on this site, and your light or dark theme choice is kept in your browser's local storage.

Comments and feedback

The blog and the support page have an optional comment box powered by Giscus, which stores comments as GitHub Discussions in a public repository. It loads only on those pages, commenting requires you to sign in with GitHub, and anything you post is public and covered by GitHub's terms and privacy statement. If you email us, we use your message and address only to reply.

Children

Plumb is a gentle game that anyone can enjoy, but it is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. The ads in the Android app are limited to content rated PG. If you believe a child under 13 has used the app and have a question about their data, email us.

Changes

If a future version changes what the app does with data, this page will be updated before that version is released, and the date at the top will change.

Contact

Email hello@chaosmos.studio with any question about privacy.