Privacy Policy

Effective 21 October 2026

Critter Patch (“the game”) is made by Gladlight (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what information the game collects, why, and the choices you have.

In short

There is no sign-up. We never ask for your name, email address or contacts.
Your progress is saved on your phone.
Daily puzzle results appear on a public leaderboard under a random player name such as “Sunny Acorn 482”.
We use Google’s Firebase to run the leaderboard, to see how the game is played and to adjust a few game settings.
Ads come from Google AdMob. Some you choose to watch: for more hints, to refill your hearts, to open another past puzzle after the day’s free one, or to save a daily streak that has just broken. Others play between puzzles, after you solve one; never while you play.
Sharing a result happens only when you tap Share. It goes through your phone’s share sheet to the app you choose; we don’t receive the picture or the text, or learn where it goes or to whom. We only see that a share happened and which kind it was.
Now and then the game may ask the App Store or Google Play to show its rating prompt. A rating or review goes to the store, not to us.
Apart from Google, as described below, we share your information with no one.

Information stored on your phone

Your levels, stars, settings, daily results and player name are stored on your phone so you can pick up where you left off. Your ad privacy choices are stored there too, as are the number of days you have played, when the game last asked for a rating and when you last saved a broken streak. Deleting the game deletes them from your phone.

If backup is turned on for your phone (Google backup on Android; iCloud or a computer backup on iPhone), your phone may keep a copy of this saved data in that backup. It can bring the data back when you set up a phone from the backup or, on Android, when you install the game again. That backup is kept under your Google or Apple account, or on your own computer: we can’t see it, and you manage it in your phone’s backup settings.

Online leaderboard and game profile

When your phone is online, the game signs in anonymously with Firebase Authentication. This gives your copy of the game a random identifier; no email address or phone number is involved. Linked to that identifier, we store:

Daily puzzle results: your time, mistakes, hints and heart refills used, the resulting score and when you sent it. They are shown on that day’s leaderboard next to your player name.
Weekly results (where the weekly board is turned on): how many daily puzzles you solved in the week, their combined score, the last day counted and when this was last updated. They are shown on that week’s board next to your player name.
Game profile: your player name, number of stars, levels completed, the furthest level unlocked, the stars earned on each level, and when this was last updated. We use it to keep the leaderboard and your progress consistent.

Your player name is picked at random from a list of words. You can’t type your own, so it doesn’t identify you.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the game is played, for example which levels and daily puzzles (today’s or an earlier one) are started, finished or failed, how long they take, when hints are used, roughly how long your daily streak is (as a range, such as 3 to 6 days), when it reaches a milestone (such as 7 days), when a streak freeze is earned or used, when a broken streak is saved with an ad (and how long it was), whether reminders are turned on, whether you open the game by tapping one, when you share something from the game (and which kind: a daily result, a new friend or a golden friend), when the game asks the store for its rating prompt (and after which moment), how far you get in the first guided level, which kind of puzzle you play (a level, a daily puzzle or a Picnic board, and its size and difficulty), which badges and month trophies you earn, when you open the calendar, and when you turn sounds, music or automatic dots on or off. Firebase also collects standard technical information: an app-instance identifier, device model, operating system and app version, language, and your approximate location (country or region) derived from your IP address. On Android it may also collect your device’s advertising ID, which you can reset or delete in your phone’s settings.

We use this information only to fix problems and make the game better.

Game settings

When it starts, the game asks Firebase Remote Config for the current values of a few game settings, such as the number of hearts and free hints or the time of day of the reminders. This lets us adjust the game without an update. To do so, Firebase uses an installation identifier (a random identifier for this copy of the game, which doesn’t identify you) together with standard technical information such as the app version, language and country or region. The game sends no personal information with this request, and through analytics we see only whether the settings arrived.

When you run out of hints or hearts, the game offers a short ad from Google AdMob in exchange for 3 more hints or a heart refill. The first past daily puzzle you open each day is free; to open another one that day, the game offers an ad as well. If your daily streak breaks, the game may offer an ad to save it shortly afterwards. These ads play only if you choose to watch them. Between puzzles, after you solve one, the game also shows short ads you don’t choose; never while you play. Ads are limited to content suitable for all ages.

To show ads, measure them and prevent fraud, Google’s ad software in the game collects your IP address (from which an approximate location is estimated), device identifiers, information about the ads you see and how you interact with them, and performance and diagnostic information. On Android the identifiers include your device’s advertising ID, which you can reset or delete in your phone’s settings. On iOS the game doesn’t ask to track you, so your device’s advertising identifier isn’t used.

Where the law requires it (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland), the game shows Google’s consent form when you first open it, and you can change your choices at any time in Settings → Ad privacy choices. Without your consent to personalised ads you may still see ads that aren’t based on your activity.

Google uses this information as described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Reminders

If you turn on daily reminders, your phone schedules and shows them by itself: they are not sent from a server, and what they say stays on your phone. Through analytics, as described above, we do see whether reminders are turned on, whether setting them up worked, and when the game is opened by tapping a reminder, along with which one it was (the morning or the evening reminder).

Sharing

You can share a daily result, a new animal friend or a friend that turned golden. Nothing is shared until you tap Share: the game then makes a picture and a short text on your phone and hands them to your phone’s share sheet, where you choose the app and the people. We don’t receive what you share, where you share it or who you share it with. Through analytics, as described above, we see only that a share happened or that it failed (with a short technical error message), and which kind it was.

The shared text contains a link to a page on this website with links to the App Store and Google Play. Those store links carry a campaign tag (“share” and the kind of share), so the stores can tell us how many installs came from shared links. They don’t tell us who shared or who installed.

On iOS, if you choose Save Image in the share sheet, the picture is saved to your photo library. For this the system gives the game add-only access, which it asks you for at that moment. The game can’t see your photos.

Ratings

After a happy moment in the game (an animal friend turns golden, you finish a world, or your daily streak reaches 7 days), the game may ask the App Store or Google Play to show its rating prompt. It asks at most once every 30 days, and the store decides whether the prompt really appears. The prompt belongs to the store: a rating or review you give there goes to Apple or Google under the account you use with them, and is handled under their privacy policies. The game isn’t told whether the prompt was shown, whether you rated, or what you wrote; we see ratings and reviews only as the store publishes them.

Through analytics, as described above, we see only that the game asked for the prompt and after which moment, or that asking failed (with a short technical error message). To space the requests out, the game keeps the number of days you have played and the time it last asked on your phone.

Who processes your information

Firebase and AdMob are provided by Google. For the leaderboard, analytics and game settings, Google processes information for us under Firebase’s data processing terms; see Privacy and Security in Firebase. For ads, Google also uses information under its own privacy policy, as described above. Information may be stored on servers outside your country.

Apart from Google, we share your information with no one unless the law requires it.

Why we use it

We process this information to provide the leaderboard you ask for when you play the daily puzzle, and because we have a legitimate interest in keeping the game working and improving it. Ads pay for the game; where the law requires consent for personalised ads or for storing information on your device, we ask for it through Google’s consent form.

How long we keep it

Leaderboard results and game profiles are kept while the online leaderboard runs, unless you ask us to delete them. Analytics data is kept for up to 14 months. Google keeps the information it collects for ads according to its own policies.

Your choices and rights

The game works offline. Nothing is sent while your phone is offline; results are sent once it reconnects.
Ads that give a reward play only when you choose to watch one; short ads between puzzles play without asking. Where the law requires it, you can change your ad privacy choices at any time in Settings → Ad privacy choices.
Sharing is up to you: nothing leaves the game through the share sheet unless you tap Share and pick where it goes.
Rating the game is up to you: you can close the store’s prompt without rating. On an iPhone you can turn such prompts off for every app in the App Store settings.
Deleting the game removes everything it stored on your phone. A copy in your phone’s own backup, if that is turned on, is managed in your phone’s backup settings.
To have your leaderboard results and game profile deleted, email us your player name (shown on the Daily tab). We’ll delete them within 30 days.
Depending on where you live (for example the EU, the UK or Turkey), you may have the right to access, correct or delete your information and to object to its use. Contact us and we’ll help.

Children

The game is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, for example because the game gains new features, we’ll update this page and the date at the top.

Contact

Gladlight · gladlightgames@gmail.com