Crownies

Crownies privacy policy

Effective: October 31, 2026
Address: https://crowbotlabs.com/crownies/privacy

Who we are

Crownies is made by Crowbot Labs LLC. "We" means Crowbot Labs LLC. Write to us at privacy@crowbotlabs.com.

The game has no accounts and no sign-in, and we run no servers. Your progress is saved on your iPhone. The services the game uses, mostly Unity's, collect the data below, and we see it through their dashboards.

What the game collects, and who collects it

There's no privacy screen at first launch. Unity Analytics is on from the first launch, and you can turn it off in the game's Settings, under Privacy. Ads start after the How to play screens. Both switches are described below, and your choices are kept in the game's save on this iPhone.

Ads: Unity LevelPlay

The game shows three kinds of ads:

• a banner at the bottom of the screen while you play a Practice puzzle. It never covers the board or its buttons.
• a full-screen ad now and then when you leave a finished Practice puzzle. Never during a puzzle, never in your first session, and never on or after the Daily.
• a rewarded ad, only when you choose to watch one: for a hint once the day's free hints are used, for a past Daily from the Archive, or to repair a broken streak.

Remove Ads turns off the banner and the full-screen ads; rewarded ads stay available if you want them. Crownies Plus turns off all ads.

Unity LevelPlay (formerly ironSource) runs the ads and picks the ad network. LevelPlay uses only its own network, ironSource Ads.

Unity says LevelPlay collects a device ID (used for tracking, if you allow it; see Apple's tracking prompt below), how you interact with ads, data about the ads you see, and performance data.

• Personalized ads on (the default): ads can be picked using data about you and this iPhone.
• Off: ads still show, but the game tells the ad services you have opted out of the sale or sharing of your data, so they shouldn't be picked using it. The ad services still run and receive device data.

Each time the game starts, it tells the ad services your choice, and it tells them at once when you change it. It always tells them not to treat you as a child.

Apple's tracking prompt

After the How to play screens on your first launch, Apple's tracking prompt appears, before any ad loads. It doesn't appear if you've answered it before or turned off "Allow Apps to Request to Track". If you turn Personalized ads off, the game never shows it.

If you don't allow tracking, apps can't use your iPhone's advertising ID. Apple says it "will be all zeros". Change this any time in your iPhone's Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.

Analytics: Unity Analytics, on unless you turn it off

On (the default): Unity Analytics collects your IP address, an ID made for this installation of the game, and the IDFV (an ID Apple gives our apps on your iPhone). It records device details: model, iOS version, chip, graphics, memory, screen size, language and region, battery level and volume. It logs when sessions start and end, and checks in about once a minute while you play. Unity In-App Purchasing adds each purchase and failed purchase. The game adds its own events, about the game rather than about you. Unity stores them with the installation ID above.

1. a session starting, and how many days since you installed the game;
2. the How to play screens shown and finished;
3. a puzzle started, solved or left unfinished: which puzzle, its mode, difficulty and size, how long it took, and how many hints and mistakes;
4. a hint: the technique it taught and how you got it (free, from a video, or with Plus);
5. a new technique unlocked;
6. a Daily solved: its number, your streak, and whether it came from the Archive;
7. your streak: a freeze used, a streak broken, a streak repaired;
8. a shared result (not what you shared or where);
9. an ad shown or a rewarded ad finished, and what it was for;
10. Plus starting or ending;
11. a setting changed, and its new value.

We use these to make the game better: which puzzles are too hard, where new players stop, and whether the ads and the free hints are set fairly.

Off: the game stops sending its own events at once and tells Unity Analytics to stop. Turn it off in the game's Settings > Privacy > Share usage data.

Crash reports

The game includes no crash-reporting service of its own. If you've turned on Share With App Developers in your iPhone's Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements, Apple shares crash reports and usage statistics for our apps with us. That's Apple's setting, under Apple's privacy policy.

Purchases: Remove Ads and Crownies Plus, through Apple and Unity In-App Purchasing

Apple takes the payment and runs the Plus subscription: its renewals, and its cancellation in your App Store account settings. The game never sees your payment details. Unity In-App Purchasing connects to Apple's store when the game opens, asks it what you own each time the game opens or comes back to the foreground, and passes purchases to the game. Whatever your Analytics choice, it also sends Unity:

• a record at each step of a purchase (started, paid, failed, completed): the product's name and price, Apple's transaction ID, device details (model, iOS version, language and region settings, storage size, last restart), installation, session and Analytics IDs, the IDFV, app and Unity versions, the install date, and your privacy choices. Once paid, it adds Apple's signed record of the purchase and the game's App Store receipt; for a failure, the reason. It adds the advertising ID only if you allowed personalized ads and tracking, and Unity's settings for the game ask for it. Without tracking permission, that ID is all zeros.
• a settings request each time the game starts, with the project and installation IDs, the platform and version details and, like any request, your IP address.

Unity says it handles this data for us, and also uses transaction and billing data for its own purposes, such as financial reporting, legal obligations and fraud prevention. Unity In-App Purchasing has no opt-out, and the game doesn't add one.

Your streak in iCloud

If you're signed in to iCloud, the game keeps a copy of your streak (its length, your best, your freezes, and the days it covers) in your own iCloud account, so a new iPhone keeps it. It's stored by Apple under Apple's privacy policy, and we can't see it.

Daily reminders

If you ask for reminders, the game schedules them on your iPhone through iOS. They're made and kept on the phone and send nothing to us or anyone else. Turn them off in the game's Settings, under Reminders, or in your iPhone's Settings > Notifications.

Sharing a result

When you share a Daily, the game opens your iPhone's share sheet with a line like "Crownies #142 · 1:48 · 🔥 23", a row of colored squares (the order you solved the regions in, not where the queens went) and a link to the game. Where you send it is up to you; we don't see it.

TestFlight

If you test the game through Apple's TestFlight, Apple collects crash logs and usage information, and you can't opt out. Apple shares with us your name and email (if we invited you by email); install, session and crash counts; your device model and identifier, iOS version and language; crash logs; and any feedback or screenshot you send, with details such as carrier, time zone, battery level and free storage.

We use this to find and fix bugs and improve the game. In TestFlight, purchases run in Apple's sandbox, which Apple says takes no real payment.

Your choices

• In the game's Settings, under Privacy:
  • Personalized ads. Off: the ad services are told at once, and again each time the game starts. Turning it off doesn't change Apple's tracking setting; change that in your iPhone's Settings. Turning it back on can bring up Apple's tracking prompt the next time the game opens, if you've never answered it.
  • Share usage data. Off: the game's own events stop at once, and the game tells Unity Analytics to stop. It doesn't stop the purchase records above.
  • Privacy Policy opens this page.
• Your choices belong to this iPhone. They're kept in the game's save, not in iCloud, so another device starts with the defaults. Deleting the game deletes them. Restoring your iPhone from a backup may bring them back.

Children

Crownies is not made for children. It doesn't ask your age. If you believe a child has played it and want their data deleted, write to us and we'll ask the services to delete it.

How long data is kept

As each provider states it:

• Unity Analytics: 13 months by default.
• Unity In-App Purchasing: service logs for 90 days; order records until we or you ask for them to be deleted.
• Unity LevelPlay: Unity gives no set period. It keeps personal data "for as long as is necessary or as permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained".
• Apple TestFlight: feedback for one year; crash logs and usage data may be kept until the bugs are resolved.
• iCloud: your streak's copy stays in your iCloud account until it's removed from there.
• On your iPhone: until you delete the game.

Your rights, and how to reach us

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to see, correct or delete data about you, or to object to its use.

• Write to us: privacy@crowbotlabs.com. We keep little ourselves: testers' names and emails, copies of tester feedback and crash details in our development notes, and emails you send us. For data the services hold for us, we'll ask them on your behalf. For data a service holds for its own purposes, write to it directly (below). The game has no account or player ID to show you, so a service may not be able to find your data. We'll tell you what we could do.
• Unity: DPO@unity3d.com. For purchase records Unity uses for its own purposes: unity-iap-contact@unity3d.com.
• Apple: privacy.apple.com, for data Apple holds, iCloud included. For your TestFlight data, write to us.

Changes to this policy

We'll post any change here, with a new effective date. Before the game adds an ad network or another data service, we'll update this policy.

The services' own privacy pages

• Unity, Game Player and App User Privacy Policy: https://unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-policy
• Unity, Game Player and App User Privacy FAQ: https://unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-faq
• Unity Analytics privacy overview: https://docs.unity.com/en-us/analytics/privacy-and-consent/privacy-overview
• Unity In-App Purchasing privacy overview: https://docs.unity.com/en-us/iap/privacy-and-consent/overview
• Apple, If an app asks to track your activity: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102420
• Apple, TestFlight & Privacy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/test-flight/