Privacy Policy

Who we are

This Privacy Policy is published by Velcairn Studios LLC, a single‑member limited liability company organized in Illinois, USA, with its place of business in Chicago, Illinois ("Velcairn," "we," "us," "our"). Velcairn designs and publishes iOS games and operates the website velcairn.com.

For any question about this policy, email help@velcairn.com.

What this policy covers

This policy applies to:

• Every iOS application published under the Velcairn Studios name on the Apple App Store (the "Apps"); and
• The Velcairn website at velcairn.com and any subdomain we operate (the "Site").

It does not cover the Apple App Store, Apple's payment systems, your device's operating system, your network provider, or any third‑party website you may reach through a link. Those are governed by their own privacy practices.

We collect almost nothing ourselves

Velcairn was built around a simple commitment: the games should work without knowing who you are. We run no analytics, no attribution, and no servers that build a profile of you. To make that commitment concrete:

• Our Apps do not require an account, sign‑in, email address, name, phone number, or any other identifier you give us.
• Velcairn does not operate its own analytics, attribution, social, crash‑reporting, or fingerprinting collection. Your gameplay is not sent to us.
• Game state — settings, sound preferences, saved puzzles, streaks — is stored on your device using Apple's standard UserDefaults facility. It lives in your control and is removed when you delete the App.
• The one exception is advertising in our free Apps. Some Apps are free and supported by third‑party ads, which involve a limited amount of advertising data handled by our ad partner. That is described in full in § 6, Advertising & cross‑promotion, and you can remove it entirely with a one‑time purchase.
• Each App's App Store privacy nutrition label is the authoritative, per‑App statement of what that specific App collects. An App with no ads declares "Data Not Collected"; an ad‑supported App discloses the advertising data on its label. Always trust the label on the App you installed.

Information handled by Apple, not by us

Although we do not collect personal data, you are using software distributed through Apple's App Store, which means Apple handles certain information about your installation and any purchase you make. We see only the de‑identified, aggregate reports Apple chooses to share with developers.

4.1   App Store transactions

If you buy one of our Apps, an in‑app purchase, or a subscription, your payment is processed entirely by Apple. Velcairn never sees your credit card number, billing address, or Apple ID. We receive only aggregated sales reports (units sold, country, product) from App Store Connect.

4.2   Crash and performance diagnostics

If you have opted in to Apple's "Share with App Developers" setting on your device (Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements), Apple may send Velcairn anonymized crash logs and performance metrics for our Apps. These reports do not contain your name, your account, or persistent identifiers tied to you. We use them only to fix bugs and improve stability, and you can turn the setting off at any time.

4.3   App Analytics

Apple provides Velcairn with aggregate, anonymized App Analytics (installs, sessions, retention by country). These are Apple's measurements, not ours; we cannot identify any individual user from them.

The Velcairn website

The Site is a static page served by our hosting provider (currently Cloudflare Pages). It does not set advertising or analytics cookies and does not require you to log in.

5.1   Server logs

Our hosting provider produces standard server logs (IP address, request time, requested URL, user‑agent string) for the brief period needed to operate the Site, defend against abuse, and prevent fraud. We do not use these logs to build a profile of you. Cloudflare's handling of those logs is governed by Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.

5.2   Fonts

The Site loads typefaces from Google Fonts. When your browser fetches a font file, Google receives the same routine request information any web server would (IP, user‑agent, referring page). Google's handling of that data is governed by the Google Privacy Policy. We chose Google Fonts for typography only — no Google account, tracking, or analytics is loaded.

5.3   Cookies

We do not set tracking cookies. The Site may use small functional storage (for example, to remember that you closed a banner) — never linked to your identity.

5.4   Email

If you write to help@velcairn.com, we receive your email address and whatever you put in the message. We keep correspondence only as long as we need it to respond to you and to keep a basic record of support history.

Advertising & cross‑promotion

Some Velcairn Apps are free and supported by advertising. Where an App shows ads, it does so through AppLovin MAX, a mediation service that fills ad space from third‑party ad networks. How we run ads is deliberately narrow:

• Placement. Ads appear only as full‑screen interstitials at natural breaks between gameplay — for example, when you return to a menu. Never during an active puzzle, never on a win or result screen, and capped in frequency.
• No rewarded ads. We never make you watch an ad to earn a hint, an extra try, or any in‑game advantage. Every gameplay aid stays free.
• Advertising data. To serve ads, the ad SDK and the networks it mediates may access device‑level information — including the Advertising Identifier (IDFA) and general device and usage signals — to measure and, if you allow it, personalize ads.
• Your choice — App Tracking Transparency. Ad‑supported Apps present Apple's ATT prompt. If you decline, ads are shown in a non‑personalized (contextual) mode and the IDFA is not used to track you across other apps and websites. You can change your choice anytime in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• Removing ads. Every ad‑supported App offers a one‑time in‑app purchase that permanently removes all third‑party ads. Restore re‑grants it on a new device at no additional cost.

Ads mediated by AppLovin are governed by AppLovin's Privacy Policy in addition to this one. The exact advertising data an ad‑supported App handles is listed on that App's App Store privacy label.

6.1   Studio Shelf — our own cross‑promotion

Separate from third‑party ads, some Apps include a "Studio Shelf" or end‑of‑run promo card that recommends other Velcairn games only. The catalog is fetched from velcairn.com as a static JSON file. The Shelf does not track which game you came from, does not send any identifier, advertising ID, or telemetry to us, and contains no third‑party ads or trackers. When the catalog is fetched, our hosting provider receives the routine server log described in § 5.1. A Remove‑Ads purchase also hides the Studio Shelf.

Children

Our Apps are general‑audience titles rated 4+ on the App Store. They are not submitted to Apple's Kids Category and are not directed to children. We ourselves collect no personal data from any user, including children. Where an App is ad‑supported, our ad partner is configured to honor Apple's App Tracking Transparency choice and applicable protections for younger users, and a one‑time purchase removes ads entirely. Velcairn complies with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA").

If you believe a child has somehow provided us with personal information — for example, by writing to us from a parent's email — please contact help@velcairn.com and we will delete it.

How we use what little we have

The limited information described above is used only to:

• operate and secure the Site;
• fulfill App Store purchases (through Apple);
• fix crashes and improve stability of the Apps;
• understand which countries our Apps are reaching, in aggregate;
• show and measure ads in our free Apps, through AppLovin MAX (see § 6); and
• reply to email you send us.

We do not sell your personal information for money, and we have no interest in doing so. Some of our Apps are free and ad‑supported (see § 6); depending on your App Tracking Transparency choice, serving those ads may involve "sharing" personal information for cross‑context behavioral advertising as some U.S. state laws define that term. You can opt out at any time — decline the ATT prompt, or buy Remove‑Ads to end advertising in that App entirely.

Your rights

Because the Apps do not collect personal data, most data‑subject rights (access, deletion, correction, portability) have nothing to act on at our end. Where they do apply — for example, to email correspondence you sent us — you may exercise them by writing to help@velcairn.com.

9.1   California (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident: Velcairn does not "sell" personal information for monetary consideration. Personalized advertising in our free Apps may, however, constitute "sharing" for cross‑context behavioral advertising as the California Consumer Privacy Act defines it. You can opt out of that sharing directly on your device — decline Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt, or buy Remove‑Ads to end advertising in that App — and you may also request confirmation, access, correction, or deletion of any information tied to email you have sent us by writing to the address above. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any right.

9.2   EU / UK (GDPR)

To the extent the GDPR or UK GDPR applies to limited processing such as email or server logs, Velcairn is the data controller, and the lawful basis is our legitimate interest in operating the Site and responding to you. Where an ad‑supported App is used in the EU or UK, any personalized advertising relies on your consent, which the App requests and which you can decline or later withdraw — declining means you still see ads, shown in a non‑personalized (contextual) mode, or you can remove ads entirely with a one‑time purchase. You have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, and portability, and you may lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. There is no automated decision‑making.

9.3   International transfers

Velcairn is based in the United States. Our hosting provider operates a global content delivery network and may process the routine request information described in §5.1 outside your country.

Security

The strongest form of data security is not collecting data in the first place, which is the approach we have taken. For the limited information we do touch (email correspondence, server logs at our hosting provider), we use industry‑standard transport encryption (HTTPS) and reasonable administrative controls. No system is perfectly secure; we will let affected users know in the event of any incident that legally requires notification.

Retention

Server logs are retained for the short operational window our hosting provider defines. Email correspondence is retained only as long as needed to support you, and is periodically purged. Anonymized App Analytics and crash reports are retained per Apple's policies.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the "Effective" date above and publish the revised version at this URL. If the change materially expands the data we handle — particularly inside an App — we will provide additional in‑app notice before the change takes effect.

Contact

Privacy questions, requests, and complaints:

Velcairn Studios LLC
Attn: Privacy
Chicago, Illinois, USA
help@velcairn.com