Privacy Policy

1. Data controller

Data controller: Ali Buğatekin, Adana, Türkiye.

2. Data we collect

We never ask for your name, email address, contacts or photos, and there is no account system. The data that reaches us is the game statistics described below (with your Game Center nickname if you are signed in) and — if you play the Daily Board — that mode's scores, your Game Center nickname and your country code; and, if you turn on phone notifications, your notification settings and the device token used to deliver them. Advertising software, usage statistics and leaderboards send certain data directly to the companies named in their sections.

3. Information stored on your device

A few small files are kept on your device only, so that the game can work. They are never transmitted anywhere and we cannot read them:

• Your sound settings — sound effects, music, and their levels.
• Your progress — the level you are in, how many levels you have cleared per difficulty, your title, and when a hint or a new board was last taken, and how many hints are in your hint store. A small note recording which version's free-hint gift has already been given is also kept in the device keychain, so that reinstalling does not repeat it; unlike the files above it stays on the device after the app is deleted, and it is never sent anywhere. The counters also decide when the next ad appears; for this the game also keeps the time it was first installed and the latest time confirmed by our server. The random identifier used for game statistics is kept in the keychain too, so that reinstalling the game is recognised. The Daily Board's random player key and which puzzle tutorials you have seen are kept in the keychain too; the key is sent only to our Daily Board server. Your notification choices and the device token Apple provides for notifications, as well as the cosmetic visual files downloaded from our server, are kept on the device too; the token and choices are sent only to our own database, as described below.
• Whether the tutorial has been offered to you once.
• The language you chose.
• Whether the ad-removal purchase is active — a single yes/no value.

These files live in the app's own storage area. Deleting the app removes all of them from your device.

4. Advertising

Margin shows ads through Google AdMob so that the game can stay free. To serve those ads, Google may process certain information from your device — such as device type, approximate location derived from your IP address, operating system version, and your device's advertising identifier.

Google's advertising software also collects crash logs and performance data — how long the game takes to start, how often it stops responding, how much energy it uses. Google uses these to find faults in its own software and to measure how ads perform.

This data does not reach us. It is processed directly by Google as an independent controller and is governed by Google's own privacy policy.

Google is bound, by its own privacy policy and by the publisher terms we accepted, to protect this data to a standard equal to the one described here. No company other than those named in this policy receives any data from the game.

• Google Privacy Policy — policies.google.com/privacy
• How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services — policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

5. Tracking permission (iOS)

On iOS, Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt appears the first time you open the game. It asks for access to your device's advertising identifier so that ads can be personalised.

You do not have to allow it. If you decline, the game works exactly the same and ads are still shown — they are simply not personalised. You can change your choice at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

6. Users in Europe

Users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland are shown Google's consent screen before any ads are served, and can choose whether their data is used for personalised advertising. You can change that choice later from the same screen.

7. Rewarded ads

Besides the ads between rounds, Margin offers rewarded ads: you can choose to watch a short video in exchange for two hints for your hint store or a fresh board. They are never shown on their own — only when you tap the button that asks for one — and the game works fully without ever watching one (a free hint refills every hour).

Rewarded ads are served by Google AdMob under the same terms as the other ads above; no additional data is collected for them. Whether you finished the video is reported back to the game by Google's software so that the reward can be granted — a single yes/no signal that stays on your device.

8. Usage statistics (GameAnalytics)

To see whether the game is working — how many people open it in a day, whether they come back the next day, which difficulty is played, where players get stuck — Margin includes GameAnalytics' measurement software.

It records anonymous play events: the app was opened; a round was started, finished or left unfinished (and in how many moves); an ad was shown or tapped; one of the small choices the game offers was used — depending on the game, a hint, a new board, returning to an unfinished round, or completing the tutorial. The game's own technical error messages go too, so that faults can be found (they contain no personal content). Together with each event go device model, operating system version, app version, country derived from your IP address, and a random identifier that Apple generates for this app on your device (the “vendor identifier”, which resets when you delete the app). Your name, email address or any account is never involved — there is none.

This measurement is tied to the SAME consent as the ads: until the consent chain completes, GameAnalytics is never started and not a single event leaves your device. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, if you do not consent, the measurement is never switched on either.

If you allowed tracking in the iOS prompt, your advertising identifier is included as well; if you declined, it is not. This data is processed by GameAnalytics as an independent controller under its own privacy policy, and it does not identify you to us: we see charts and counts, not people.

• GameAnalytics Privacy Policy — gameanalytics.com/privacy

9. Game statistics (our own)

To keep Margin working well and improve it, the game also sends play events — rounds started, won or lost, hints, ads shown, session length, the outcome of the ad-removal purchase (completed, cancelled or restored) — to a database we run on Supabase (servers in Frankfurt, EU). Each event carries a random identifier kept on your device, the app version, device model, and your language and region setting. If you are signed in to Game Center, your Game Center nickname is added as well. No real name, email address, advertising identifier or IP address is stored.

The game also asks this database for in-game announcements (for example a new version or news), using the same random identifier, and records whether each announcement was seen, read, dismissed or used, so that it is shown only as intended.

When it starts and while you play, the game also asks our server for its current settings — for example how often ads appear, occasional events such as bonus points or gift hints, or a short message on the main menu. With this request it sends the same random identifier, the app version, your country code, your language and whether you have removed ads. The settings are signed, so the game can check that they really come from us. These requests are not stored. Nothing else about you is involved.

These settings can also tell the game to download cosmetic visual files for its look — 3D models and colours for the board and its decorations — from our storage on the same Supabase servers. They contain shapes and colours only, never code; nothing about you is sent to fetch them, and they are kept on your device so that they are not downloaded again.

We use this data only for statistics about the game; it is never sold or shared. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in keeping the game working and improving it. If your device is offline, nothing is sent. To have this data deleted, write to alibugatekin@gmail.com.

10. Phone notifications (optional)

Margin can send you notifications on your phone — for example when your hint store has refilled, or when there is a new in-game announcement. Nothing is sent until you allow it: the game first asks in its own words, and only if you agree does iOS show its permission prompt. If you decline, the game works exactly the same.

Hint-store reminders are scheduled on your device itself; our server is not involved. To deliver announcements, Apple gives the game a device token — an address for Apple's push notification service (APNs) — and the game sends it to our database on Supabase (Frankfurt, EU) together with the random identifier from the game statistics, whether notifications are allowed on your phone, which kinds you have turned on or off in Settings (hints, announcements), your language, your time-zone offset (so that nothing arrives at night) and the app version. Notifications travel through Apple's push service; the token does not reveal who you are and is used for nothing else.

When you open the game by tapping a notification, which notification it was is recorded as a game-statistics event, so that we can see whether notifications are useful. Announcements are never sent between 22:00 and 09:00 your local time, and at most one a day.

You can turn each kind off in the game's Settings, or switch notifications off entirely in iOS Settings → Notifications. If you withdraw the permission, or turn off every kind that comes from our server, the game releases its registration with Apple and the device token is deleted from our database the next time you open the game while online; a token that Apple reports as no longer valid is deleted too. The rest of the record (permission state and choices, without the token) is kept with the game statistics. The legal basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time in these ways. This data is used only to deliver notifications; it is never sold, and it is shared with no one other than Apple, which delivers them. To have it deleted completely, write to alibugatekin@gmail.com.

11. Ad measurement (Meta)

We advertise Margin on Instagram and Facebook. So that we can tell how many installs an ad actually produced, the game includes Meta's measurement software.

When you first open the game, and on later launches, that software sends a record to Meta: your device's advertising identifier, device and operating system details, and the fact that the app was opened. What you do inside the game — which level you play, where you tap, how far you get — is not sent.

This data does not reach us either. It is processed directly by Meta as an independent controller and is governed by Meta's own privacy policy.

If you decline the tracking prompt on iOS, your advertising identifier is not sent. Measurement then happens only through Apple's SKAdNetwork, as aggregate counts that cannot be traced back to any individual.

• Meta Privacy Policy — facebook.com/privacy/policy

12. Leaderboards (Apple Game Center)

Margin has leaderboards that run through Apple's Game Center. Taking part is optional: if you are not signed in to Game Center, or decline to sign in, the game works exactly the same and simply shows no leaderboard.

If you are signed in, the game sends Apple two numbers per difficulty — how many points you have earned in total and this week — along with your Game Center player identity and the two-letter country code from your device's region setting (for example TR or DE). Apple shows your Game Center nickname next to that score to other players, and the game shows that country's flag beside it, so your country code is visible to other players on the leaderboard. Nothing else about your play is sent, and none of it reaches us. The Daily Board has its own ranking on our server, described in the next section.

This data is processed by Apple as an independent controller and is governed by Apple's privacy policy. To leave the leaderboards, sign out of Game Center in iOS Settings; to have your scores removed, use Apple's Game Center privacy controls.

• Apple Game Center & Privacy — apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/game-center

13. Daily Board (our own server)

In Margin's Daily Board mode everyone solves the same board each day, and a daily ranking is kept. This mode runs on our own server (hosted with the cloud provider Railway). The first time you open the Daily Board, the game creates a random player key for you on the server and keeps it in your device keychain, so you stay the same player even if you delete and reinstall the app.

What is sent: that random key and the random device identifier from the game statistics; your Game Center nickname if you are signed in; the two-letter country code from your device's region setting (e.g. US); and, for each attempt, your moves, the attempt number and the time taken. The server replays your moves to verify the solution and calculates your points itself.

What other players see: in the daily ranking, your nickname (or a number such as “Player 1234” if you are not signed in to Game Center), your country flag and your rank. Your moves, attempts and time are not shown to other players.

We use this data only to run the Daily Board, keep its ranking and prevent cheating; it is never sold or shared. The legal basis is providing the mode you chose to play. Attempt records are deleted after 30 days; daily scores are kept for the ranking history. If you never open the Daily Board, none of this is sent. To have it deleted, write to alibugatekin@gmail.com.

14. In-app purchase

Margin offers one optional purchase: removing ads permanently. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription, and nothing else in the game is kept behind it.

The payment is handled entirely by Apple. We never see your card details, your name, your Apple Account or your billing address, and Apple does not pass them to us. No payment information reaches us at all.

The only thing kept on your device is whether the purchase is active — a single yes/no value that is never sent anywhere.

If you reinstall the game or move to a new device, “Restore purchases” in Settings brings it back at no extra cost. Refunds are handled by Apple, at reportaproblem.apple.com.

15. Children

Margin is not directed at children and is not listed in the App Store Kids Category. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13; the only data we receive ourselves is the game statistics, Daily Board scores and notification settings described above.

16. Your rights

Under KVKK and the GDPR you have the right to access, rectify or erase your data and to object to processing. The game statistics, Daily Board and notification records we hold are not linked to an account, only to random keys and, where present, your Game Center nickname; to exercise your rights over them, write to alibugatekin@gmail.com. For data processed by the companies named above, requests go to them.

17. Deleting your data

To remove the game data on your device, delete the app. To have the game statistics, Daily Board and notification records we hold deleted, write to alibugatekin@gmail.com.

To reset your advertising identifier or turn tracking off, use iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

18. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the effective date above is updated. Significant changes will also be announced inside the game.

19. Contact

If you have a question or a request, you can reach us at: alibugatekin@gmail.com