Ripple — Privacy Policy
The short version. Ripple keeps what you do in it on your device. A few kinds of data leave it, each described in section 3:
- How Ripple is used: when it is opened, and which screens and features are used. It travels under a random identifier, never your name.
- The daily goal: Ripple asks our server what day it is. The request carries no identifier and nothing about you.
- When you buy something, the store takes the payment and we never see your payment details. The game sends our server the store’s proof of each purchase, with this install’s random identifier, so our server can check it with the store; if you are signed in, a receipt also travels in your cloud save.
- If you sign in: your account, and what it owns and saves.
- A message you write to us from the game, with any pictures you attach, and only when you tap Send.
None of it is used for advertising or to follow you across other apps, and nothing is sold to anyone.
1. Who we are
Ripple is published by BrotherAI. If you have a question about this policy, write to brotheraicompany@gmail.com.
2. How you are identified
Without an account, nothing Ripple sends is tied to you. Ripple makes up random identifiers on your device to tell one install from another. They name no one, they are not your device's advertising identifier or anything else that exists outside Ripple, and a reinstall gets new ones.
With an account, what our server keeps for it is filed under the user id Firebase Authentication issues, together with the email address your provider shares, if it shares one.
3. What we collect
Ripple collects the kinds of data below, over an encrypted connection, for the reasons given. They are described by kind, as the app stores ask, rather than field by field: a new detail within one of these kinds does not change this page, a new kind of data does (section 12).
| Kind | What it covers | Why | Your choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| App activity | That Ripple was opened, and when; which screens and features are used and what happens in them; the app version, platform and language. It goes to our server. | To count how many people use Ripple and come back, to see which parts are used, and to improve it. | The statistics switch in Settings stops it. |
| Identifiers | Random identifiers Ripple makes up on your device. Never your device's advertising identifier, serial number or phone number. | To tell one install from another without knowing who anyone is. | Uninstalling Ripple, or clearing its data, replaces them with new ones. |
| Account | If you sign in: the user id Firebase Authentication issues, which provider you used, and the email address it shares. | So what you buy and save belongs to you, on any device. | Optional: Ripple works without an account. |
| Saved progress | A copy of your progress, kept under your account. | So you can carry it to another device. | Only while you are signed in. |
| Purchases | Each purchase: the product, the store, the store’s transaction number and its proof of purchase (Google Play’s purchase token or Apple’s signed transaction), with this install’s random identifier, and your account if you are signed in. If you sign in, your cloud save also holds the receipt: when it was credited, the seals it gave, and whether it was refunded. | To check each purchase with Google Play or Apple, keep a record of our sales, and take back one that was refunded or is not valid. | Sent with each purchase. We never see your payment details. |
| Messages you send | What you write in Settings → Send feedback, the kind you pick (bug, idea or other) and up to three pictures you attach, with the game’s version, Android or iOS, the language and this install’s random identifier. A copy reaches the team’s private channel on Discord. Your network address only limits how many messages can be sent in a short time and is not kept. | To answer you and to improve the game. | Only when you tap Send. |
Google (Firebase) and the app stores process parts of this data for us. None of them is an advertiser or a data broker. We do not sell, rent or share your data, and we do not use it for advertising.
4. What the game keeps on your phone
The game keeps the following in its own app storage. It stays on the device and may be included in the device backup you have set up with Apple or Google. If you sign in, most of it is also kept in your cloud save (section 3).
Three things never go up with the cloud save: what the store says this phone owns (each phone asks its own store), the phone's own device identifier, and when the game was last saved on this phone.
| What | Why it exists |
|---|---|
| What you have gathered, your currencies (seals earned in play and seals bought are counted apart), and the level of every tile in every picture | So what you gather carries on from one session to the next. |
| Chapters reached and cleared, stars, the looks you own and wear, goals done, your biggest loop and rare finds, and which lesson steps and tips you have seen | So the game picks up where you left off. |
| Today's goal: the day it is for, how far you are, and whether it was paid out | So each day's goal pays once. |
| When the game was last saved on this phone | So gathering can go on while you are away. |
| Whether this phone owns the Full Game and Double Gathering, as the store last said | So chapters and pictures 4–6 stay open when the store cannot be reached. |
| A receipt for each purchase, and which purchases have already been credited | So a purchase is credited exactly once, can be taken back if it is refunded, and can be checked with the store. |
| A random install identifier, and your phone's own device identifier next to it | So the game notices when its save was restored onto another phone, which then gets a new install identifier. The phone's device identifier never leaves the phone. |
| If you sign in: which account and provider the save is linked to, and when it last synced | So the cloud save knows where to sync. |
5. Purchases
Ripple sells six things through the app store you installed from, Google Play or the Apple App Store: the Full Game (chapters and pictures 4 to 6), Double Gathering (everything you gather counts twice, for good), the Supporter Pack (the Full Game, Double Gathering and 60 seals), and three packs of 15, 80 and 180 seals, used up when bought. We never see your payment details. The store confirms the purchase to the game on your phone, and the game delivers it at once and writes a receipt of it into your save. It also sends our server the store’s proof of the purchase (Google Play’s purchase token or Apple’s signed transaction), with this install’s random identifier and your account if you are signed in, and our server checks it with Google Play or Apple; if you are signed in, the receipt also travels in your cloud save and is checked again each time the save is synced. A purchase the store reports as refunded or not real is taken back.
There are no ads, no loot boxes and no subscriptions. The Full Game, Double Gathering and the Supporter Pack come back with Restore purchases in the shop, on any device signed in to the same store account; the Supporter Pack's 60 seals are credited only the first time. A seal pack is used up when it is bought and the store cannot restore it; the seals you bought travel with your cloud save if you sign in.
Refunds are decided by the store. When a purchase is refunded, the game takes back exactly what that purchase gave: refunding the Supporter Pack does not close a Full Game bought on its own. If seals from a refunded purchase were already spent, your bought seals can go below zero, and seals you earn afterwards pay that back first.
Your purchase is governed by that store's own privacy policy and terms: Google Privacy Policy · Apple Privacy Policy.
6. Who processes it, and for how long
These services process data for us, each only for the purposes in section 3. None of them is an advertiser or a data broker, and we do not sell, rent or share your data with anyone else.
- Google Firebase (Authentication), operated by Google.
- Google Play and the Apple App Store, which take your payment and tell us what was bought or refunded.
- Discord, the chat service the team works in, where a copy of a message you send us reaches the team’s private channel.
Our server keeps statistics sent without an account under random identifiers, which name no one.
7. How long we keep it, and how to erase it
On your phone: uninstalling the game, or clearing its data in your device settings, erases everything stored there.
With your cloud save, our server keeps the email address your sign-in shares, the random install identifier of the phone that saved last, the app version, and when the save was made. The receipts of your purchases are part of the save: they are kept and deleted with it. The stores keep their own records of your purchases under their own policies.
Your cloud save and account are kept for as long as you keep the account, so you can come back to them. When a save on our server is replaced by another one you chose, the replaced copy may be kept for up to 30 days and is then deleted. In the game, Settings → Cloud save → Delete account clears your progress from the phone, signs you out, and deletes your account, with its cloud save and any replaced copies, from our server after 7 days; sign in again within those 7 days to cancel. Your Google or Apple sign-in record, held by Firebase Authentication, is removed on request: write to brotheraicompany@gmail.com from the email address you signed in with — subject Ripple — delete my data, and say which provider you signed in with — and we delete it from Firebase Authentication, with everything linked to it, within 30 days and confirm by reply.
The daily goal's request carries no identifier, no account and nothing from your save.
Messages you send us are deleted from our server 90 days after the last message in the conversation, and their pictures 90 days after they were sent. Write to us and we delete yours sooner, the copy on Discord included.
8. Permissions the app asks for
Ripple never shows a permission prompt. The permissions below are declared for the store, sound, vibration and the network.
- Billing (
com.android.vending.BILLING): lets the game ask Google Play about a purchase. - Internet and network state (
INTERNET,ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE): what carries the daily goal's request, the sign-in and the cloud save described in section 3. - Audio settings (Android
MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS): lets the game play its sounds on recent Android versions. It moves no data. - Vibration (
android.permission.VIBRATE): lets the game give the light taps you feel while you play. It reads nothing and sends nothing. - Google services configuration (
com.google.android.providers.gsf.permission.READ_GSERVICES): declared by Google's reCAPTCHA library, which Firebase Authentication includes to protect sign-in from abuse. It reads Google Play services settings, not your data, and matters only if you sign in to cloud save.
9. Permissions the app never asks for
The game requests no access to your camera, microphone, contacts, location, photos, files, notifications, health data or physical activity, and it does not use your device's advertising identifier. It contains no advertising and no third-party analytics: its play statistics go only to our server (section 3). A picture you attach to a message is chosen in the system’s own photo picker, which hands the game only that picture and needs no permission.
10. Children
Ripple is not directed to children under 13. Playing it needs no name, email address or account; signing in, which is optional, needs a Google or Apple account under those providers' own age rules. If you believe a child has signed in, write to us and we will delete the account. Refunds for a purchase made without permission are handled by the app store.
11. Your rights
Depending on where you live you may have the right to access, correct, export or erase the personal data we hold about you, and to object to or restrict its use. Without an account, nothing we hold can be tied to you. If you signed in, what we hold is your account and your cloud save: Settings → Cloud save → Delete account deletes your account and its save, and for the sign-in record or anything else, write to brotheraicompany@gmail.com from the address you signed in with. Data stored only on your phone is already in your hands.
12. Changes to this policy
We update this page before releasing a version of Ripple that collects a new kind of data, or uses data for a new purpose. A change within the kinds in section 3, such as one more figure in the statistics, does not change it. The "Last updated" date above always reflects the current text.