Combino — Privacy Policy
Effective date: 2026-10-15
This policy explains what information is processed when you play Combino (the "Game"), an iOS logic puzzle game published by 9506-6320 QUÉBEC INC., operating the "WhiskerWorks" games ("we", "us"), Québec, Canada. Contact: [email protected]. WhiskerWorks publishes other games; each game has its own privacy policy. The games do not share game data with each other; the only thing they can share is the optional WhiskerWorks account described in section 3b.
1. Short version
- No chat, and an account is optional. We do not ask for your name, phone number or location. If you choose to sign in with Apple or Google (Settings > Account & cloud save), your progress is also saved in the cloud so you can get it back on another device.
- Your progress is saved on your device; it is sent to our cloud database only if you sign in.
- One WhiskerWorks account: the same sign-in works in the WhiskerWorks games that offer an account (today Combino, Pollen Path and Honey Trails). Each game keeps its own separate cloud save. Deleting your account in Combino deletes the account and the cloud saves of these games.
- Optional Game Center leaderboards: if you are signed in to Apple's Game Center, your total stars, the number of Infinite puzzles you solved and your Daily Hive times can be posted to public leaderboards run by Apple, under your Game Center nickname. The "top X %" is calculated on your device from Apple's leaderboard data. The Game works fully without Game Center.
- The Game is free and shows ads, provided by Unity LevelPlay (Unity Ads and ironSource Ads). These partners receive device and ad-interaction data to show, measure and protect ads.
- The advertising identifier (IDFA) is used only if you allow tracking in Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt.
- Purchases are processed by Apple. We never see your card or payment details.
- We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the Game is played (game events) and Firebase Remote Config to adjust ad frequency and a few settings without an update (section 7).
2. Information stored on your device
The Game stores locally on your device: your progress (stars per level, worlds opened, Infinite progress, coins (in-game currency), hints, hive themes, Rule Album cards, Daily Hive results, times and streak, daily gift, tutorial steps, purchases owned), the puzzle in progress (the board and the dominoes you placed) so you can resume it, your settings (sound, music, vibration, language, night mode, theme), your privacy choices and a random installation identifier (the "Player ID" shown at the bottom of Settings). If you are not signed in, we do not receive this data. It is deleted when you delete the Game (or with Settings > Reset progress). Depending on your iOS settings it may be included in your own iCloud/device backup, which is governed by Apple.
3. Information we process
We do not operate our own game server. We receive personal data in three cases: (a) when you email support (your email address, your message and anything you choose to include, such as your Player ID or a screenshot), used only to answer you and kept no longer than 24 months; (b) when you sign in (section 3b); (c) analytics events (section 7).
3b. Optional WhiskerWorks account and cloud save (Firebase Authentication + Cloud Firestore, provided by Google)
- What: if you choose Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google, Firebase Authentication creates an account identifier (Firebase user ID) linked to your Apple or Google sign-in, and may receive the email address that Apple/Google shares (with Apple you can hide it with "Hide My Email") and your sign-in provider. Your Combino save (progress, stars, coins, purchases owned, Rule Album, themes, Daily Hive results, settings — not the puzzle in progress) is stored in Cloud Firestore in a document that only your account can read or write, with the date of the last update, the app version and a summary (total stars, coins, puzzles completed).
- Shared WhiskerWorks account: the account belongs to the WhiskerWorks Firebase project, which is shared by the WhiskerWorks games that offer an account (today Combino, Pollen Path and Honey Trails). If you sign in with the same Apple or Google account in several of these games, they use the same account identifier; each game stores its save in its own separate place and Combino never reads another game's save.
- Why: to back up your progress and restore it on another device (performance of a contract). Not used for advertising, not shared with ad partners, not used to track you.
- Where / who: Google LLC / Google Ireland (Firebase), cloud save stored in Google Cloud's United States multi-region; https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy.
- How long: until you delete your account. Settings > Account & cloud save > Delete account (you will be asked to sign in once more to confirm) deletes, immediately, your Combino cloud save, your Pollen Path and Honey Trails cloud saves if there are any, and your WhiskerWorks account; Apple sign-in tokens are also revoked. Your progress stays on your device. Signing out stops the sync without deleting anything. You can also ask us to delete your account and cloud saves at [email protected]. Backups held by Google are purged on Google's schedule.
4. Advertising (Unity LevelPlay)
4.1 What is collected and by whom
When an ad is requested or shown, the Unity LevelPlay SDK and the ad networks it mediates collect, directly from your device:
- Device identifiers: the IDFA only if you allowed tracking; the identifier for vendors (IDFV), SDK-generated identifiers and the Game's random Player ID (used as the ad user identifier, for example to deliver rewards).
- Device and connection data: device model, OS version, language, screen size, connection type, IP address (used to infer country / coarse location).
- Ad data: which ads were requested, shown, clicked or rewarded; ad and SDK performance data; impression-level data (ad network, format, placement, country, estimated revenue). The Game may read impression data to manage how often ads appear.
- If you report an ad to a network, the content of your report.
No account information (Firebase user ID, email) and no Game Center information (nickname, player identifiers, scores, rank) is passed to the ad partners. Unity's published disclosures: https://docs.unity.com/en-us/grow/levelplay/platform/legal-resources/apple-privacy-questionnaire and https://docs.unity.com/en-us/ads-ios/4.20.0/privacy/developer-consent/disclosures/apple-privacy-survey
4.2 Why
To display ads (including optional rewarded ads that you choose to watch, for example to get a hint, to double the coins of a solved puzzle or to double your daily gift), to cap how often ads appear (interstitial ads are shown only between two puzzles, never during a puzzle, and never after a Daily Hive puzzle or the tutorial), to measure ad delivery and earnings, to prevent fraud and — only with your consent where the law requires it — to personalise ads.
4.3 Who receives it
These partners act under their own privacy policies and may be located outside your country (e.g. in the United States), relying on safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses as described in their policies.
4.4 Your choices
- Tracking (iOS): if you choose "Ask App Not to Track", the IDFA is not shared. You can change this at any time in iOS Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking. Refusing never blocks any part of the Game.
- EEA / UK / Switzerland: we ask for your consent before personalised ads. Without consent you still see ads, but they are not personalised.
- US state privacy laws (e.g. California): you can opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information for targeted advertising.
- You can change these choices at any time in Settings > Privacy choices in the Game (withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it). You can also tap the privacy/info icon shown in many ads.
- Report an ad: use Settings > Report an ad or email [email protected] with a description or screenshot of the ad.
- Remove Ads: the "Remove Ads" purchase (also included in the Royal Bundle) removes interstitial and banner ads; rewarded ads you choose to watch remain available.
5. In-app purchases
Purchases are made through Apple's App Store; Apple processes the payment under its own privacy policy (https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/). We never receive your name, Apple Account or payment card. The Game receives a transaction record (product, transaction identifier, receipt) to deliver and restore what you bought. The purchase plugin (Unity IAP) may process technical data such as an installation identifier, session identifier, device information and country to operate purchases — see https://docs.unity.com/en-us/iap/privacy-and-consent/overview. Refunds are handled by Apple: https://reportaproblem.apple.com.
6. Game Center leaderboards and "top X %" (optional, provided by Apple)
- What it is: Game Center is Apple's gaming service. If you are signed in to Game Center on your device, the Game can post your total stars, the number of Infinite puzzles you solved and your Daily Hive times (easy, medium, hard — these three leaderboards restart every day at 00:00 UTC) to five leaderboards, and show you these leaderboards. If you are not signed in, the Game works exactly the same; only the leaderboards and the "top X %" are unavailable.
- "Top X %": when it shows your "top X %" (for example after a Daily Hive puzzle), the Game asks Game Center for your rank and the total number of ranked players and calculates the percentage on your device. The percentage, your rank and the number of ranked players are then included in a game event sent to Google Analytics for Firebase (section 7) — without your nickname or any Game Center identifier. Without Game Center data, no percentage is shown (we never display an invented figure).
- What Apple shares with us: according to Apple, developers of the games you play can request your Game Center nickname, avatar and Game Center identifiers (game-scoped / team-scoped player IDs), and, only if you allow it, the list of your friends who also play. See Apple's notice: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/game-center/
- What the Game does with it: it uses this information only on your device, to show the leaderboards, your rank and your own nickname. The Game does not send your nickname, player identifiers or friends list to us or to our advertising partners, and never displays your player ID. We never try to link Game Center information to your account or to any other data.
- What is public: Apple states that for global leaderboards your Game Center nickname, avatar and scores are visible to all Game Center users. You can change your nickname, profile and sharing options in iOS Settings > Game Center, or sign out of Game Center.
- Who is responsible: leaderboard data is stored and processed by Apple under Apple's privacy policy (https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/).
- To stop posting scores: sign out of Game Center in iOS Settings > Game Center (there is no separate switch in the Game).
7. Analytics, attribution and remote settings
- Google Analytics for Firebase (Google): the Game sends game events (for example puzzle started, completed or abandoned with world, level, time, stars, hints, checks and cells filled; Daily Hive results and streak; Rule Album and theme events; tutorial steps; "top X %" shown with rank and number of players; ad and purchase events; settings and screens used), device and app information (model, OS, language, country derived from IP, app version) and the Firebase app-instance ID. It does not receive your name, your email, your Player ID or the IDFA through the Game. Purpose: understand and improve the Game (legitimate interest / consent where required). Your ads choice is passed to Firebase consent mode (ad storage / ad user data / ad personalisation denied if you declined personalised ads). Event data is kept for up to 14 months (Google Analytics data-retention setting). https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy
- Firebase Remote Config (Google): at launch the Game downloads ad-frequency and a few game settings (for example when the tracking prompt may appear, leaderboard settings); this uses the Firebase installation ID and basic device data. No game data is sent. Puzzles themselves are never changed remotely.
- No crash-reporting or attribution (MMP) service is enabled in the current version. Apple's privacy-preserving SKAdNetwork may tell an advertiser that an install came from an ad, without identifying you.
Analytics and Remote Config requests go to Google's Firebase servers; Google keeps its server logs according to its own retention rules (https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy and https://policies.google.com/privacy).
8. Notifications
If you allow notifications (the Game asks only after you have completed a few puzzles, never at first launch), it schedules local notifications on your device (for example "Three fresh puzzles are waiting in the daily hive"). They are created on the device; no notification token is sent to us. You can turn them off in iOS Settings at any time.
9. Children
The Game is a logic puzzle for teens and adults. It is not directed to children under 13 and is not in the App Store Kids category. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under the age of digital consent in your country — 14 in Québec for consent to the processing of personal information, 15 in France, 13–16 elsewhere in the EU). Because the Game may also appeal to younger players:
- we never ask for names, contact details, photos or location to play, the account is optional, and there is no chat or user-generated content;
- Game Center features follow the restrictions that parents set with Apple's Screen Time;
- ads are requested with content restrictions intended to keep them suitable for the Game's age rating, and you can report any unsuitable ad;
- if you are a parent and believe your child's personal data has been processed, contact [email protected] and we will help have it deleted.
10. Legal bases (EEA/UK)
- Performance of a contract: running the Game, delivering and restoring purchases, showing the optional leaderboards you choose to use, the optional account and cloud save.
- Consent: personalised ads, tracking (ATT), access to device information for advertising where required, notifications.
- Legitimate interests: non-personalised ads to fund a free game, ad frequency control, game analytics and remote settings (Firebase), fraud prevention and security, answering support requests.
11. Your rights
Depending on where you live — for example the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector as amended by Law 25 in Québec, PIPEDA in the rest of Canada, the GDPR in the EEA/UK, the CCPA/CPRA in California — you may have the right to be informed, to access, correct, delete or port your personal data, to object to or restrict processing, to withdraw consent at any time, to opt out of sale/sharing, and not to be discriminated against for using these rights. Game data on your device is deleted with the Game (or with Settings > Reset progress). Your account and cloud saves are deleted in the Game (Settings > Account & cloud save > Delete account) or on request to [email protected]. Game Center data is held by Apple: manage it in iOS Settings > Game Center or at https://privacy.apple.com. For data held by ad partners, use the in-game privacy choices, the ad's privacy icon, or the partners' policies above; we will also help if you write to [email protected]. We answer within 30 days. You may complain to your data-protection authority (in Québec: Commission d'accès à l'information, https://www.cai.gouv.qc.ca; in Canada: Office of the Privacy Commissioner, https://www.priv.gc.ca; in France: CNIL, https://www.cnil.fr). Requests are handled by our person in charge of the protection of personal information (section 14).
12. Security, retention and transfers
Data stored by the Game stays on your device, except the cloud save of signed-in players (kept until account deletion, access restricted to the account owner by database security rules, encrypted in transit and at rest by Google). Analytics data is kept as stated in section 7. Support emails are kept as stated in section 3. Data held by ad partners and by Apple (Game Center) is retained according to their policies. Google and our other partners may process data outside Québec and Canada (mainly in the United States); before such transfers we assess that the information receives adequate protection, as Law 25 requires.
13. Changes
We will update this page when the Game's data practices change and change the effective date above. Significant changes will also be announced in the Game.
14. Contact and person in charge
9506-6320 QUÉBEC INC. (WhiskerWorks) — Québec, Canada — [email protected]
Person in charge of the protection of personal information (Québec, Law 25): Mohamed Touihri, [email protected].
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