Privacy Policy

1. Introduction & Core Principles

This Privacy Policy explains what theBlocks ("we", "us", or "our") collects, why, and what you can do about it. It is written to be read, not to be survived.

theBlocks is a single-player tactile puzzle game for iOS and Android. It has no accounts, no login, no social features, no cloud database, and no way to contact other players. There is nothing to post and nobody to post it to.

2. What Stays on Your Device (Local Only)

Your game progress lives on your phone and nowhere else. The following data is saved strictly to your device's local storage (via MMKV / AsyncStorage):

3. What Leaves Your Device

When connected to the internet, the App interacts with standard, trusted mobile infrastructure for advertising, in-app purchases, anonymous gameplay balancing, and crash reporting:

A. Advertising (Google AdMob)

theBlocks serves ads using Google AdMob. To deliver ads, AdMob may collect:

• An advertising identifier (IDFA on iOS, Google Advertising ID on Android).
• Approximate location derived from your IP address (country or regional level, never a street address or GPS coordinate).
• Device technical details: hardware model, operating system version, and device language.
• Interactions with served advertisements (impressions, clicks).

On iOS: The app presents Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt asking for your permission before any tracking identifier is used. If you decline, ads will still appear, but they will not be personalized.

In the European Economic Area (EEA), UK, and Switzerland: A certified User Messaging Platform (UMP) consent form appears before ads load, as required under GDPR. Your consent choice is stored and can be updated at any time in the game under Settings → Privacy options.

Google's privacy policies and data practices are detailed at: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

B. In-App Purchases (Apple & Google)

In-app purchases (such as Remove Ads, Unlock All, or coin packs) are processed entirely by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play Billing). We never see, collect, or store your credit card number, billing address, or financial credentials. The platform store only confirms whether a transaction was completed successfully so the app can grant the entitlement.

C. Gameplay Balancing Analytics

theBlocks records high-level gameplay telemetry — such as which level was started, completed, or abandoned, how many moves were taken, and whether a hint was used.

These events describe the game, not you. They carry no name, no email address, no advertising identifier, and no device identifier that could single you out. They are used exclusively to rebalance rooms that are unfairly difficult or broken.

D. Crash Diagnostics

If the application encounters an unexpected crash, a diagnostic log may be generated detailing the error stack trace, failing code path, device model, and OS version. No gameplay progress or personal data is included in crash diagnostics.

4. What Is Never Collected

To be explicit, theBlocks does not collect, and has no code or capabilities to collect:

• Your name, email address, phone number, or mailing address
• Your contacts, photo library, camera, or microphone
• Precise GPS location data
• Health, biometric, or personal financial information
• Text typed on your device

The Android build explicitly strips and blocks permissions that common third-party libraries might otherwise request:

• android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO — Blocked
• android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS — Blocked
• android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE — Blocked
• android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE — Blocked

5. Children's Privacy

theBlocks is designed for a general audience (ages 13 and older). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA). If you believe a child has provided personal information to third-party services through the game, please contact us immediately, and we will take appropriate measures to address it.

6. Your Choices & Data Rights

You have complete control over how the app runs and what data is used:

Under GDPR, UK GDPR, and California CCPA/CPRA, you have rights to access, rectify, or erase personal information. Because the game holds no accounts or personal identifiers, requests concerning advertising identifiers can be directly managed through your device's system settings as shown above.

7. Policy Changes

If our privacy practices change in a manner that affects what data is collected or how it is handled, this document will be updated with a new revision date at the top of this page.

8. Contact Information

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to make an inquiry regarding your data, please contact: