Privacy Policy

Who is responsible for your data (controller)

The data controller for Ghant is IYBMSB LLC, c/o its registered agent at 5900 Balcones Drive, Suite 165, Austin, TX 78731, USA, contact IYBMSB LLC. We have not appointed a representative under Article 27 of the EU GDPR or UK GDPR: our processing of EEA/UK personal data is occasional, does not include large-scale processing of special categories of data, and is unlikely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms — so we rely on the exemption in Article 27(2). You can reach us on any data-protection matter at the contact above.

What we collect and why

Account data — if you create an account: your email address and a password (stored by our backend provider as a salted hash; we never see it). If you sign in with Apple or Google instead, we receive the account identifier and whichever email address that provider releases to us — which may be a private relay address if you chose to hide yours — and we store a token that lets us keep the sign-in working. Playing without an account keeps everything on your device only.

Game profile — display name, avatar and flag you choose, plus gameplay numbers the game produces: XP, level, tix, crowns, match statistics, league standing, cosmetics you own, and a ledger of in-game tix movements. Tix and crowns are play currency with no cash value.

Social data — friend connections, friend requests, room invitations you send or receive, and any team you create or join. If you report or block another player we store that, including the display name shown at the time, so we can act on abuse and keep the block working.

Purchase data — if you buy tix: the store transaction identifier, which store you bought through (Apple or Google), what was bought, the amount, the currency and the date. Payment itself is handled by Apple or Google under their own terms; we never see your card details. Tix were called "chips" before version 1.1.17, so older store receipts may say chips.

Technical data — your device's IP address reaches our servers and our hosting provider's network with every request, as it must for any internet service, and appears in their operational logs. We use it to keep the game running and to shed floods and abuse — not to build a profile of you — and we do not store it alongside your gameplay records.

Anti-abuse signals — we analyse patterns of play, such as accounts that only ever meet each other or an implausible run of wins, to find collusion, bots and currency dumping. These signals are derived from gameplay you already generate, and a person reviews any finding before action is taken (see Automated decision-making).

Device data — if you allow notifications: a push token identifying your device to the notification service, used only to deliver game invitations. The app also stores your session token on your device (in the secure keychain where available).

Crash data — if crash reporting is enabled in a given build: crash stack traces and basic device model/OS information go to Sentry to help fix bugs. No gameplay or account data rides along.

What we do NOT collect

No advertising identifiers, no location, no contacts, no analytics profiles, no tracking across other apps or websites. There are no ads and no data sales.

We do not collect your date of birth. At first launch we ask for your birth year once, only to confirm you meet the minimum age. It is used on your device to check eligibility and is never stored or transmitted — we keep only a yes/no flag that the check passed.

Legal basis for processing (GDPR / UK-GDPR)

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your rights; you can object at any time (see Your rights).

Who processes it for us (sub-processors)

We use a small number of providers strictly to run the game. They process data on our instructions under data-processing terms:

• Supabase — account storage, database, multiplayer refereeing, realtime.
• Sentry — crash diagnostics (only if enabled in the build).
• Expo (push service) — delivering notification invitations.
• RevenueCat — validating in-app purchases and tracking your purchase entitlements. It receives a per-app anonymous purchase identifier and the store transaction details, not your name or email.
• Resend — delivering transactional email (for example sign-in and account emails). It processes the recipient email address and message content.
• Apple / Google — app distribution, sign-in where you choose it, and their own payment and refund rules for purchases; they act as independent controllers for those.
• Cloudflare — if and when edge protection is enabled in front of our API, it processes request metadata including IP addresses to filter abuse.

Where it lives and international transfers

Account and game data are stored with Supabase in the United States (AWS us-east-1) and processed only to run the game: matchmaking, multiplayer refereeing, leaderboards, and invitations. Match play is server-refereed, which means game moves pass through our servers to keep play fair. Where data is transferred outside the EEA/UK (including to our US-hosted database and other US-based processors), the transfer is covered by the appropriate safeguards — Standard Contractual Clauses (EU) and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

Who can see what

Other players can see your display name, avatar, flag, level and public game statistics (leaderboards, seats at a table, the daily challenge board). Your email address is never visible to other players.

Retention

We keep your data while your account exists. When you delete your account, account and gameplay data are removed immediately (see Deletion). Some limited items may persist:

• Reports about you — if another player reported you, the report and the display name shown at the time may be retained (without a link to your account) so we can act on abuse and detect repeat behaviour.
• Purchase records — if you ever buy tix, a minimized record (transaction id, store, item, amount, currency, date) is retained for as long as accounting, tax, and payment-dispute rules require, then deleted automatically. Payments are processed by Apple or Google, who keep their own records.
• Backups — our current hosting plan does not include routine automated backups or point-in-time recovery that we retain, so deleted data is not held in a provider backup we could restore it from.
• Crash diagnostics — retained only briefly by Sentry and contain no gameplay or account data.
• Aggregated, non-identifying data — overall counts that no longer identify you.
• Records we must keep by law — only for as long as required.

Deletion

Profile → Delete account removes your account and everything attached to it — profile, statistics, currencies, ledger, friendships, push tokens — permanently and immediately. Device-local data is wiped at the same time. There is no grace period and no backup restore of a deleted account. If you have ever bought tix, a minimized purchase record is not deleted immediately — it is retained, stripped of anything that identifies you, for as long as accounting, tax and payment-dispute rules require, then deleted automatically (see Retention). If you can't reach the app, request deletion by email — see the Data Deletion Policy.

Your rights

If you are in the EEA or UK, you have the right to access your data, rectify it, erase it, restrict or object to processing, request portability, and withdraw consent (for notifications) at any time. Most of these you can exercise directly in the app; for anything else, email IYBMSB LLC. You can download a copy of your account data yourself in the app (Profile → Download my data); it includes your purchase history alongside your other account and gameplay data. For anything the download doesn't cover, such as safety records that involve other players, email us. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority (in the EEA, your national DPA; in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office, ico.org.uk). Residents of California and other US states with privacy laws have equivalent rights to know, delete, and correct; because we sell no personal data and run no ads, there is nothing to opt out of.

Children

Ghant is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

Automated decision-making

We do not make decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects about you by automated means. Abuse-detection signals are reviewed before any account action is taken.

Changes

If this policy changes materially, the app will show the updated version and date.

Contact

Questions or requests: IYBMSB LLC.