Chess: Royal Gambit ("the app") is developed by Gafat Software ("we", "us").
Your game in progress, your record and your settings are stored only on your device. We do not collect, transmit, or have access to your personal data or your games.
Android may include the app's settings and your record in your Google Account backup, and carry them to a new phone. The ad bookkeeping (the record of ad taps, any pause in ads, the ad setting received from our server and any report waiting to be sent) is kept in a separate file that is left out of the backup on purpose. That copy is held by Google under your account, not by us, and we cannot see it. You can turn it off in your phone's Settings under Google > Backup.
The app shows ads served by Google AdMob to support free access. AdMob may collect device identifiers (such as the advertising ID) to show and measure ads. Where you have consented (EEA/UK), these may be personalized. You can manage your choices in the app settings. The app also uses Google Analytics for Firebase to collect pseudonymous usage data, such as games started and finished, the computer level and hints used. It never records your name, your moves or your games, and it follows the same consent choice as ads.
Once the Google consent step allows ads to be requested, the app asks a Gafat Software server whether ads are switched on for this release: when the app is opened, and again whenever it returns to the foreground (at most once every 15 seconds). The request carries the app's package name and a hashed identifier of your device: a one-way SHA-256 hash of your device's Android ID. We use it only to prevent ad fraud, never for advertising and never to identify you, and it carries none of your game data.
To protect advertisers and keep the app free, the app stops showing ads for a while after an ad is tapped, and for longer if ads are tapped unusually often. When that happens, the app sends that hashed identifier, the reason and the length of the pause to our server, so the pause still applies if the app's data is cleared or the app is reinstalled. If the report cannot be sent, for example because the phone is offline, the app keeps it on the phone and sends it later. A pause record is deleted automatically within an hour after its pause ends, and a pause lasts at most one year. To count taps, our server also keeps a short log of reported ad taps, holding the hashed identifier and the time, for 30 days. The game works exactly the same while ads are paused.
The app requests Internet access (for ads and the ad configuration request above) and the advertising ID permission used by AdMob. It does not request access to your contacts, location, camera, microphone or files.
Clearing the app's data in Android Settings, or uninstalling the app, deletes everything stored on your device and resets the analytics identifier straight away.
To ask us to delete the analytics data held for your install, email developer.gafatsoftware@gmail.com with the subject "Chess: Royal Gambit data deletion". Tell us roughly when you last played and which phone you used, so we can find the analytics data for your install. It is filed under a random identifier and holds nothing that names you. We will delete it within 30 days and confirm by reply. Ad-pause records and the tap log are filed only under the hashed identifier, so we cannot find them from a description of your phone; they are deleted automatically as described above.
The app is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has used the app, contact us and we will delete any related data.
Questions? Contact us at developer.gafatsoftware@gmail.com.