Privacy Policy
Effective date: 2026-10-19
This Privacy Policy explains how Ali Buğatekin, the developer of Margin (“GOA: Margin”), handles your data when you play on iPhone, iPad or Android. It follows Türkiye's Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (“KVKK”) and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
In short: you never type in an email address or a password, and a player name is only needed if you use friends and challenges. The game keeps a game account for you so that your points, rankings and purchase are safe and can follow you to a new phone. We never sell your data, and you can delete your account at any time from inside the game.
1. Data controller
Ali Buğatekin, Adana, Türkiye. Contact: alibugatekin@gmail.com.
2. What we collect and why
The game sends the following to our own server. We use it only to run and improve the game:
- Game account: a random account number, the app version, your platform (iOS or Android), language, region setting, time zone, device model, operating-system version and the country your connection comes from. To run the game and keep your progress.
- Player name: your Game Center (iOS) or Google Play Games (Android) name and player ID, if you are signed in. To show you in the rankings and give your account back on a new phone. Signing in is optional.
- Play: the levels you finish, your points and your Daily Board attempts. To calculate points and rankings and keep them fair.
- Purchase: which product you bought, when, and the store's order number. To tie the ad-removal purchase to your account. Payment is handled by Apple or Google; we never see your card or billing details.
- Notifications: your notification choices and a device token, only if you allow notifications. To send them.
- Game statistics: play events (for example, a level was won or a hint was used) and technical errors. To find faults and improve the game.
- Write to us: the message you send from the Write to us page in the game, its type (problem, request, complaint), your app version and language, and our reply if we answer. Only to get back to you, fix problems and improve the game; please do not put personal information in your message.
We do not collect your real name, email address, contacts, photos or precise location, and we do not store your IP address (it is used only in a rate-limit counter that lasts at most two minutes). If your phone is offline, nothing is sent.
3. What other players see
In the rankings and the Daily Board: your player name (or “Player” and a number if you are not signed in), your country's flag and your points. Offensive or misleading names are not shown. Nothing else about you is visible to others.
4. Friends and challenges
If you use the friends and challenge features, the game also stores the following on our server:
- The player name you choose and the version of the terms of use you accepted.
- Your friend requests, your friends, the players you block and your social settings (appear online, receive invites).
- The results of your challenge matches: your opponent, when the match was played, its difficulty, the number of boards, how many you finished and who won; and your head-to-head record with that friend. We do not store the moves of a match.
- Reports you send: whom you reported, why, and their name at that moment. The player you report does not see this.
- If you allowed notifications, the device token above, so a challenge invite or a friend request can reach you while the app is closed.
Players who search for your number or name see your name and number. Your friends also see whether you are online and when you were last active (you can turn both off in Settings) and your head-to-head record. A player you block cannot send you requests or invites. Rules: https://goa.alibugatekin.com/en/margin/terms
5. Fair play
To keep the rankings fair, the game uses Apple's and Google's app integrity services to confirm that it is the original, unmodified app; points from a modified game are not accepted. Accounts that cheat can be restricted.
6. Legal basis
- Providing the game you chose to play: account, points, rankings, purchase.
- Our legitimate interest: game statistics, security and fair play.
- Your consent: notifications, and personalised ads and tracking where the law requires consent. You can withdraw it at any time.
7. Other companies
Our server and database are run by hosting providers in the European Union (Railway for the servers, Supabase for the database, Redis Cloud for the servers' temporary cache), on our behalf and only on our instructions. Every cache entry expires on its own within minutes; no permanent data is kept there. In addition, these companies process some data as independent controllers, under their own privacy policies:
- Apple (iOS): Game Center, in-app purchase, notifications, app integrity check. On iOS your points also appear on Apple's Game Center leaderboards. — apple.com/legal/privacy
- Google (Android): Google Play Games, Google Play purchases, notifications, app integrity check, and a backup of your account key (Block Store) so that a reinstall recognises your account. — policies.google.com/privacy
- Google AdMob (both): shows the ads that keep the game free, including optional rewarded ads. It may use your device's advertising identifier, approximate location derived from your IP address and device information. — policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
- GameAnalytics (only versions 1.9 and earlier): anonymous usage statistics, started after the ad consent step. From 2.0 the game contains no third-party analytics: game statistics go only to our own server. — gameanalytics.com/privacy
- Meta (both): measures how many installs our Instagram and Facebook ads bring, using the advertising identifier and the fact that the app was opened. — facebook.com/privacy/policy
Each of these companies and our hosting providers is bound, by its own terms and the terms we have agreed to, to protect this data at least as well as described in this policy.
8. Your choices about ads
- In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google's consent screen is shown before any ad; you can choose whether ads are personalised and change it later.
- iOS: you can allow or refuse tracking in Apple's prompt, and change it in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
- Android: you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's Settings → Privacy → Ads.
- Refusing changes nothing in the game; ads are simply not personalised.
9. On your phone
Your settings, progress, hint store, purchase status, account key and downloaded visual themes are kept in the app's storage on your phone so that the game also works offline. Deleting the app removes them; so that reinstalling recognises your account, the account key may remain in the keychain on iOS and in Google's Block Store on Android.
10. How long we keep data
Account data, points and the purchase record are kept while your account exists. Daily Board attempts are deleted after 30 days. The notification token is deleted when you turn notifications off. Game statistics are kept to compare over time; after your account is deleted they are no longer linked to any name or personal detail.
Friendships, blocks, social settings, match results and records are kept as long as your account exists. Feedback messages are kept as long as your account exists and deleted when you delete it. Unseen social events (such as an incoming request) are deleted after 14 days. Reports are kept as a record so misuse can be reviewed.
11. Transfers abroad
Our providers are in the EU. The companies listed above may also process data outside Türkiye or the EU, with the safeguards their own terms provide, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
12. Children
Margin is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.
13. Your rights
Under KVKK and the GDPR you can ask to access, correct or delete your data, object to processing, and complain to a data protection authority. Write to alibugatekin@gmail.com with your player name and platform. For data processed by the companies listed above, you can also contact them directly.
14. Deleting your account
In the game: Settings → “Delete my account”. Your points, name, friends and account data are deleted at once and the game data on your phone is reset; your ad-removal purchase stays with your Apple or Google account and can be restored. Without the game, write to alibugatekin@gmail.com. Details: https://goa.alibugatekin.com/en/margin/delete-account
15. Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the date above is updated. Significant changes will also be announced in the game.
16. Contact
alibugatekin@gmail.com