Strata — Privacy Policy
The short version. Strata keeps what you do in it on your device. A few kinds of data leave it, each described in section 3:
- How Strata is used: when it is opened, and which screens and features are used. It travels under a random identifier, never your name.
- If you sign in: your account, and what it owns and saves.
- When you buy something: the store's proof of the purchase. We never see your payment details.
- A message you write to us, and only when you send it.
None of it is used for advertising or to follow you across other apps, and nothing is sold to anyone.
1. Who we are
Strata 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 Strata sends is tied to you. Strata 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 Strata, and a reinstall gets new ones. Google Analytics adds its own random app-instance identifier to the statistics it receives.
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
Strata 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 14).
| Kind | What it covers | Why | Your choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| App activity | That Strata 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 and, through Google Analytics for Firebase, to Google. | To count how many people use Strata and come back, to see which parts are used, and to improve it. | The statistics switch in Settings stops it. |
| Identifiers | Random identifiers Strata makes up on your device, and the app-instance identifier of Google Analytics. Never your device's advertising identifier, serial number or phone number. | To tell one install from another without knowing who anyone is. | Uninstalling Strata, or clearing its data, replaces them with new ones. |
| Approximate location | City, region and country, which Google Analytics works out from the IP address. It does not keep the address. | To see where Strata is used. | The statistics switch in Settings stops it. |
| 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: Strata works without an account. |
| Saved progress | A copy of your progress and settings, kept under your account. | So you can carry it to another device. | Only while you are signed in. |
| Purchases | The product, the store, the price shown, the store's transaction number and its signed proof, and the install or account it belongs to. Apple and Google also tell us about refunds. | To check each purchase with the store and deliver it exactly once. | Sent with each purchase. We never see your payment details. |
| Messages you send | What you write in Contact support, the pictures you attach, and what helps us answer: the app version, the device model and an install identifier. | To answer you. | 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 other players see
Strata has three places where something of yours is shown to other players. Each shows only what is described here.
- The boards. When you reach a new deepest floor in the Bottomless pit, or finish the Pit of the day, the game sends our server the depth or score, the name shown on the board and your phone's country code (from its region settings), under the install's random identifier. Other players see the name, the country and the score. The name is the one you type under Your name on the board; until you type one, it is a made-up name built from the random identifier.
- Your museum, if you open it. Only after you switch on Let others visit my museum does the game send the name you chose for the museum, its floor plan and the finds on show. Other players can then visit it and see exactly that. Switching it off removes it from our server. If you give the museum a name of its own, other players can find it by that name, or by your board name, in a search.
- Loans. When you borrow a find from another player's museum, our server records which install borrowed which find, from which museum, and until when. The record holds random identifiers, not names.
- Visits and applause. When you walk through an open museum, or applaud it, our server counts it for the museum's owner, once a day. It keeps a one-way code made from the day, the museum and your install's random identifier, not the identifier itself, and deletes it after eight days. The owner sees only how many players came and how much applause the museum has had.
- Reporting and hiding. Tap another player's name on a board, or the button in a museum you visit, to report it to us or hide that player from your phone. A report sends us the player's public id (a code that is not their install's identifier), the name as you saw it, where you saw it and your own install's random identifier. Hiding stays on your phone.
5. What the game keeps on your phone
The game keeps your progress in its own app storage: your finds and their levels, the museum and its rooms, coins and time dust, upgrades, staff, the sites you opened, the story so far, your settings and the random install identifier. It stays on the device, is included in whatever device backup you have set up with Apple or Google, and reaches our server only as a cloud save, if you sign in.
Which purchases you own is kept here too, so the game works without a connection. The app store's own record is the one that counts, and Restore purchases reads it again.
6. Purchases
Strata sells four things through the app store you installed from, Google Play or the Apple App Store. The Full Game opens dig sites 4 to 10 (each still reached by digging) and the Bottomless pit. Double Tickets doubles the museum's ticket price. The Supporter Pack holds both of those and the night museum decor set. These three are bought once and kept. Gems come in packs of 60, 360 or 1600 and are used up as you spend them. We never see your payment details. The store confirms the purchase to the game on your phone, the game delivers it, and then sends our server the store's proof of the purchase, so we have a record of our sales and can tell a refund when the store reports one.
Nothing is sold at random: no loot boxes, no subscriptions, and no purchase gives a find. If the store refunds a purchase, the game takes it back and says so; everything you dug stays. A refunded gem pack takes its gems back, below zero if they were spent. Purchases come back on a new phone with Restore purchases in the Shop. Gems are part of your save, so they move with a cloud save, not with Restore purchases.
7. 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 (Analytics, Authentication), operated by Google.
- Google Play and the Apple App Store, which take your payment and tell us what was bought or refunded.
- Discord, where a copy of a message you send us reaches the team's private channel.
Google Analytics keeps statistics for two months. Our server keeps statistics sent without an account under random identifiers, which name no one.
8. 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.
Run statistics carry no name or account; we keep them as balance figures. Because they name no one, we cannot find one person's. The switch in Settings → Send anonymous statistics stops them at the source and deletes the ones still waiting on your phone.
Board entries and an open museum are kept under the install's random identifier for as long as those features run. Switching off Let others visit my museum removes your museum at once. To have a board entry removed, write to brotheraicompany@gmail.com with the name it shows.
Purchase records are kept as the record of our sales, for as long as tax and accounting law requires. To have the record of one of your purchases deleted where the law allows it, write to brotheraicompany@gmail.com with the order number from the store's receipt email.
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 my cloud data clears your progress from the phone, signs you out, and deletes your cloud save, with any replaced copies, after 7 days; sign in again within those 7 days to cancel. The sign-in account itself is shared with other BrotherAI games, so the game does not delete it: write to brotheraicompany@gmail.com from the email address you signed in with — subject Strata — delete my data, and say which provider you signed in with — and we delete the account from Firebase Authentication, with everything linked to it, within 30 days and confirm by reply.
Anonymous usage events are kept by Google Analytics for 2 months and then deleted. They carry no name or account, so they cannot be looked up by person. The switch in Settings → Send anonymous statistics stops them at the source.
Messages you send from Settings → Send feedback are kept to answer them and to improve the app, and deleted when you ask; write to the address in this policy.
9. Permissions the app asks for
Strata asks for one permission while you play, notifications, and only when you first send an expedition team or first come back to tickets the museum took while you were away. The others below are declared for the store, the sound and the network, and never show a prompt.
The notices are local: one when a team you sent is back, one when the museum's till is full. Your phone's own operating system shows them; nothing about them passes through us or a push service.
- Notifications (Android
POST_NOTIFICATIONS, iOS notifications): asked for when you first send an expedition team, or first come back to tickets taken while you were away. - Run after restart (Android
RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED): no prompt; it only puts back a notice already booked after the phone restarts. - 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 statistics, the boards, an open museum, loans, the seasonal exhibits, the sign-in and the cloud save described in section 3 and section 4. It also carries a message you send us (section 13). - Audio settings (Android
MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS): lets the game play its sounds on recent Android versions. It moves no data. - Keep awake (
android.permission.WAKE_LOCK): declared by Google Analytics so a batch of events already queued can finish sending. It never keeps the screen on. - Install referrer (
com.google.android.finsky.permission.BIND_GET_INSTALL_REFERRER_SERVICE): declared by Google Analytics to read from Google Play which campaign, if any, led to the installation. - Vibration (
android.permission.VIBRATE): declared by the component that shows the notices, so they can vibrate like any other. 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.
10. Permissions the app never asks for
The game requests no access to your camera, microphone, contacts, location, photos, files, health data or physical activity, and it does not use your device's advertising identifier. A photo of your museum is drawn by the game itself and handed to your phone's share sheet only when you choose to share it; where it goes from there is up to you.
11. Children
Strata 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. The statistics it sends identify an install of the game, not a person. 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.
12. 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. The statistics are what you can object to, and the switch in Settings → Send anonymous statistics does it at once. Your museum leaves the visits when you switch off Let others visit my museum. If you signed in, your account and cloud save are the rest: for them, or for 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. Messages you send from Send feedback are held too, and deleted when you ask.
13. Messages you send us
In Settings → Send feedback you can write to us from inside the app. Nothing is sent until you tap Send. Then this goes over an encrypted connection to our server:
- What you wrote and the kind you picked (something broken, an idea or other).
- The app's version, whether the device runs Android or iOS, the language the app is showing, and the app's random install identifier.
A copy reaches the team's private channel on Discord, so a person reads it (section 7). We use it to answer you and to fix or improve the game.
14. Changes to this policy
We update this page before releasing a version of Strata 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.