Privacy Policy for Lines Ahead

Effective date: July 29, 2026
Last updated: August 14, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Lines Ahead (the App) handles information when you use the App on Android or iOS.

Lines Ahead is developed and operated by Siarhei Piatrouski (Siarhei Piatroŭski) (the Developer, we, us, or our).

Developer website: https://piatrouski.com/
Privacy contact: use the contact form at https://piatrouski.com/
Public URL for this policy: https://piatrouski.com/lines-ahead/privacy-policy/

1. Summary

You can play Lines Ahead without creating a separate Lines Ahead account.
Saved games, settings, and lifetime statistics are primarily stored locally on your device.
We use Firebase Analytics to understand App usage and Firebase Crashlytics to diagnose crashes and technical problems.
Optional leaderboards and achievements are provided through Google Play Games Services on Android and Apple Game Center on iOS.
The one-time Full Experience purchase is processed by Google Play on Android or the App Store on iOS. We do not receive your payment-card details.
The free version may display Google AdMob interstitial advertisements at eligible game-over transitions.
The current App version requests non-personalized or limited ads. Where required, Google’s User Messaging Platform asks for consent and provides privacy choices before an ad request is made.
The App does not request device-location permission or collect GPS location. Google services may infer an approximate location from an IP address.
We do not sell personal information for money.

2. Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to the Lines Ahead Android and iOS applications and their advertising, analytics, crash-reporting, leaderboards, achievements, sharing, and in-app purchase features.

This policy does not describe the independent privacy practices of Google, Apple, or websites and services that you choose to open outside the App.

3. Information stored locally on your device

The App may store the following information locally:

saved games and board state;
scores, move counts, cleared-line counts, destroyed-signal counts, and other gameplay statistics;
tutorial and Daily Signal progress;
sound, music, haptic, language, accessibility, theme, and other preferences;
ad frequency-limit state;
a cached Full Experience entitlement state;
pending leaderboard score or achievement operations;
privacy and consent state maintained by Google’s consent SDK; and
diagnostic state needed to recover safely after an interruption.

This information is used to provide the App’s functionality. It normally remains on your device unless a feature described below sends a limited part of it to a service provider.

You can remove local App data by deleting the App or clearing its storage through your device settings. Information already processed by Google, Apple, Firebase, AdMob, Google Play, Google Play Games Services, the App Store, or Game Center is governed by those services’ retention rules.

4. Information processed through third-party services

Depending on your platform, the features you use, and the choices available in your region, the following categories of information may be processed:

Service or feature	Information that may be processed	Purpose
Firebase Analytics	App interactions, gameplay and feature events, session information, app version, device and operating-system information, approximate region, and app-installation or app-instance identifiers	Measure usage, understand feature performance, and improve the App
Firebase Crashlytics	Crash logs, stack traces, timestamps, app version, device model, operating-system version, memory and storage information, installation identifiers, and limited gameplay context such as mode, score, move count, board fill, or configuration version	Diagnose crashes, regressions, and technical failures
Google AdMob and User Messaging Platform	IP address, general device and app information, advertising interactions, consent choices, approximate location inferred from network information, diagnostics, Android advertising ID, app set ID, and other identifiers permitted by the device and selected advertising mode	Deliver and measure ads, apply frequency limits, produce reports, prevent fraud and abuse, and manage privacy choices
Google Play Games Services (Android)	Google Play Games player ID and display name, authentication state, scores, leaderboard entries, achievement progress, and related service diagnostics	Provide optional player authentication, leaderboards, and achievements
Apple Game Center (iOS)	Apple-managed player identity, display name, authentication state, scores, leaderboard entries, achievement progress, and related service diagnostics	Provide optional player authentication, leaderboards, and achievements
Google Play Billing (Android)	Product identifier, localized product and price information, purchase status, purchase token, order or transaction information, entitlement information, and restoration or refund status	Process, confirm, restore, refund, or revoke the Full Experience purchase and prevent fraud
Apple App Store and StoreKit (iOS)	Product identifier, localized product and price information, purchase status, transaction and entitlement information, storefront information, restoration status, and Family Sharing eligibility	Process, confirm, restore, refund, or revoke the Full Experience purchase

Google and Apple may also process account, device, security, and transaction information under their own terms when you use their platform services.

We do not intentionally send Google Play Games or Game Center player identifiers, Google or Apple account information, purchase tokens, order identifiers, store receipts, raw consent strings, or raw advertising-request data to Firebase Analytics.

5. Advertising and privacy choices

Advertising placement

The free version of Lines Ahead may display a full-screen interstitial advertisement only at an eligible transition after a completed Classic game. Ads are not intended to appear during active gameplay, the tutorial, Daily Signal, Settings, or a purchase or restoration flow.

If you purchase Full Experience, the App stops requesting, preloading, and displaying automatic advertisements and makes all installed player themes available while the entitlement is active. The purchase does not disable Firebase Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics, optional gaming-platform services, or essential store transaction processing.

Non-personalized and limited ads

The current App version requests only non-personalized or limited ads when an ad request is permitted. It also disables AdMob’s publisher first-party identifier personalization and sharing.

Non-personalized ads are contextual rather than based on your past activity across other companies’ apps or websites. They may still use an IP address, device or app identifiers, advertising interactions, diagnostics, and other limited information for ad delivery, frequency capping, aggregated reporting, security, and fraud prevention. Limited ads further restrict identifier-dependent features.

Platform-specific identifier handling is different:

iOS: the App does not request App Tracking Transparency permission and does not access the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA).
Android: the Google Mobile Ads SDK may access the Android advertising ID, app set ID, Android Privacy Sandbox advertising APIs, and other permitted device or account identifiers. You can reset or delete the advertising ID through Android settings. Requesting a non-personalized ad does not by itself prevent all identifier processing needed for delivery, measurement, security, or fraud prevention.

Consent management

We use Google’s User Messaging Platform (UMP) to:

check whether a consent message is required;
collect choices required by applicable privacy law;
determine whether an ad request may be made;
offer a Privacy Choices control in the App when required; and
select a permitted non-personalized or limited advertising mode.

If the consent state does not permit an ad request, or if consent information cannot be obtained and no valid earlier choice permits a request, the App does not show an ad. Refusing advertising consent does not prevent you from playing the game or purchasing or restoring Full Experience.

You can revisit available advertising choices through Main Menu → Settings → Privacy Choices when that control is required for your region.

6. Analytics and crash reporting

Firebase Analytics helps us understand patterns such as which screens or features are used, whether a tutorial is completed, and how the App performs. Firebase Crashlytics helps us investigate crashes and technical failures.

We do not intentionally include names, email addresses, Google or Apple account credentials, payment details, gaming-platform player identifiers, advertising identifiers, purchase tokens, store receipts, or free-form user content in analytics events or crash-report custom fields.

Firebase may process technical identifiers and device information as described in Google’s documentation and privacy terms. For more information, see:

7. Leaderboards, achievements, and platform identity

Leaderboards and achievements are optional and are operated by:

Google Play Games Services on Android; and
Apple Game Center on iOS.

When you use these features, the applicable platform may authenticate your gaming profile and process your player ID, display name, scores, leaderboard entries, achievement progress, and authentication state. The App may read this information to display leaderboards and progress and may submit eligible scores and completed achievements.

Lines Ahead does not require you to create a separate App account. Gaming-platform player identifiers are not intentionally sent to Firebase Analytics.

You can manage these services through your Google Play Games or Apple device settings. For more information, see the Google Privacy Policy and Apple Privacy Policy.

8. In-app purchases

The Full Experience product is a one-time, non-consumable purchase processed by Google Play on Android or by Apple through StoreKit and the App Store on iOS. Its permanent product identifier retains the legacy remove_ads suffix. Google or Apple, not the Developer, processes your payment credentials.

The App receives limited product, transaction, purchase-status, and entitlement information from the applicable store. It uses that information only to determine whether automatic ads must be removed and themes made available, complete or acknowledge the transaction, restore the purchase, handle refunds or revocations, and resolve purchase problems. The App keeps a local entitlement cache so that a purchaser can retain these benefits while the store is temporarily unavailable.

The current App does not send purchase tokens, transaction identifiers, or receipts to a Developer-operated backend. Google Play or Apple may retain transaction and entitlement records under their own policies and legal obligations.

On iOS, the product supports Family Sharing where Apple’s purchase-sharing conditions are met. Apple controls Family Sharing eligibility and purchase-sharing settings. No equivalent sharing promise is made for the Android purchase.

For more information, see the Google Privacy Policy and Apple Privacy Policy.

9. Sharing from the App

If you choose to share a result or other content, the App opens the platform share interface. You choose the destination service and what to send. The Developer does not operate a server that receives the shared content. The selected destination service processes it under its own privacy policy.

10. Location and other information we do not intentionally collect

The App does not request Android or iOS device-location permission and does not access GPS location. Google services used by the App may process an IP address and infer an approximate location, such as a country or general region, for advertising, analytics, security, fraud prevention, consent, or service operation.

The App does not ask you to provide:

your name, email address, postal address, or phone number;
precise location;
contacts, photos, microphone recordings, or health information;
payment-card or bank-account details; or
Google Account, Apple Account, or other passwords.

If you use Google Play Games Services or Game Center, the applicable platform provides the App with your gaming display name and player identifier as described above. The App does not upload raw saved boards or replay payloads to Firebase Analytics.

11. Purposes and legal bases

Where the General Data Protection Regulation, UK GDPR, or similar law applies, information may be processed on the following bases:

Performance of a service: to save and restore gameplay, provide requested leaderboard and achievement features, and deliver or restore the Full Experience entitlement.
Consent: where UMP or another legally required choice asks for permission before advertising-related processing.
Legitimate interests: to maintain security, prevent fraud, diagnose crashes, understand App usage, and improve reliability, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.
Legal obligations: to comply with accounting, consumer-protection, platform, tax, regulatory, or lawful-request requirements.

You may withdraw consent through Privacy Choices where available. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before the change.

12. Disclosure of information

Limited information may be disclosed or made available:

to Google for Firebase, AdMob, UMP, Google Play Games Services, Google Play Billing, and related platform services;
to Apple for the App Store, StoreKit, Family Sharing, Game Center, and related platform services;
to a destination service that you explicitly choose through the platform share interface;
when required by law, regulation, legal process, or an enforceable governmental request;
when reasonably necessary to protect users, the Developer, or the public from fraud, abuse, security threats, or harm; or
as part of a business transfer, subject to appropriate notice and safeguards.

Google and Apple may act as service providers, independent controllers, or platform operators depending on the feature and applicable law. Some privacy laws or Google Play disclosures may classify advertising-related transfers as “sharing” even when no money is exchanged.

We do not receive money in exchange for personal information. Lines Ahead requests non-personalized or limited ads, and applicable opt-out or consent choices are provided through UMP.

We do not intentionally enable third-party ad-network mediation in the current release. Adding another advertising provider would require this policy and the App’s store disclosures to be reviewed and updated before release.

13. Retention and deletion

Local gameplay, settings, statistics, entitlement cache, and frequency-limit data remain until the App clears them, you reset the relevant feature, clear the App’s storage, or delete the App.
UMP consent choices remain until they expire, are reset, or are changed through available privacy controls.
Firebase Analytics data is retained according to the retention configuration in the Developer’s Firebase and Google Analytics account. Aggregated reports may remain after event-level data expires.
Firebase Crashlytics retains crash reports and associated installation identifiers according to Firebase’s documented retention practices.
AdMob retains advertising, reporting, security, and consent-related information according to Google’s policies and the applicable advertising mode.
Google retains Google Play Games and Google Play Billing information according to its policies and legal obligations.
Apple retains App Store transaction, Family Sharing, and Game Center information according to its policies and legal obligations.

Lines Ahead does not provide or maintain App accounts, so there is no separate Lines Ahead account to delete. You can delete local information by clearing the App’s storage or deleting the App. You can manage or delete information controlled by Google or Apple through the relevant account and platform controls.

Because the App does not maintain user accounts and does not ask for your contact details, we may be unable to associate a particular Firebase or advertising record with you. You may still contact us with a privacy or deletion request, and we will respond as required by applicable law.

14. International processing

Google and Apple may process information in countries other than the country where you live. Where required, they use contractual and legal safeguards for international transfers. Their privacy policies provide more information about processing locations and transfer mechanisms.

15. Children’s privacy

Lines Ahead is a general-audience puzzle game. It is not designed to ask children for names, contact details, precise location, payment information, or other direct personal information.

Advertising content and age-treatment settings must be configured consistently with the Google Play and App Store age ratings and applicable law. Where a user is treated as a child or as under the applicable age of consent, the App and its service providers must apply the advertising restrictions required by Google, Apple, and local law, or make no ad request.

If you believe a child has provided personal information directly to us, contact us so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.

16. Your rights and controls

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to:

request access to personal information;
request correction or deletion;
object to or restrict certain processing;
withdraw consent;
opt out of certain advertising disclosures;
receive portable information where applicable; and
complain to a data-protection authority.

Available controls include:

Privacy Choices in the App, when required;
the Full Experience purchase, which stops automatic advertising requests while the entitlement is active;
Google Play Games or Game Center controls;
Google Play, App Store, Android advertising ID, and Apple privacy controls;
clearing the App’s storage or deleting the App to remove local App data; and
contacting us through https://piatrouski.com/.

We may need enough information to understand and verify a request. We cannot directly delete information controlled solely by Google, Apple, or another destination service, but we can explain how to use the controls of the relevant provider.

17. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures intended to protect the information handled by the App. Local information is stored within the App’s platform-protected storage. Data sent to Google and Apple services is transmitted using the security mechanisms provided by their SDKs, including encryption in transit where supported and documented by the provider.

No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. The App does not store payment-card details, Google or Apple account passwords, raw store receipts, purchase tokens, or signed transactions in ordinary local preferences.

18. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this policy when the App, its service providers, or legal requirements change. The revised policy will show a new “Last updated” date and will be published at the policy URL.

Material changes to advertising personalization, tracking, data sharing, account creation, or service providers will require an updated policy and updated store privacy disclosures before the changed App version is released.

19. Contact

For privacy questions or requests, contact:

Siarhei Piatrouski (Siarhei Piatroŭski)

https://piatrouski.com/

Please include “Lines Ahead privacy request” in your message and describe the request and the country or region whose privacy law applies.

Lines Ahead - Privacy Policy