Kaiten Privacy Policy

Kaiten is published by cloud9.games, a Michigan-based game studio operating as a DBA of The Infogetics Group, LLC. This policy applies to the Android app published under the package name games.cloud9.kaiten, and to the iOS app under the same bundle identifier when it is released.

Summary

We run no analytics and no accounts, and we ourselves track nothing. Your games, statistics and settings are kept on your device and are never sent to us. The app is free because it shows ads, served by Google AdMob; what that involves, and how to limit it, is described under Advertising below. Beyond that, the app's network requests are for fonts and for the app store's billing service — which the app asks at launch whether you own Remove Ads, and which handles the purchase itself — described under Network Requests.

Data Stored on Your Device

The app stores game data locally, in the storage the operating system provides to the app (the web platform's localStorage and IndexedDB, and the app's native preferences). This includes:

• Settings — difficulty is not saved; the color theme, language, board size, hint and last-move display, the accidental-close guard, audio theme and volumes are.
• Game history — one record per finished game (date, duration, board size, difficulty, result, whether the rewarded Take-back was used, the list of moves, and the statistics the app derives from them), kept in the kaiten-stats database and shown on the Stats screen. The app keeps a bounded number of recent games and discards the oldest.
• Your Player ID — a cryptographic key pair (ECDSA P-256) generated on the device when it is first needed (the first time you open Settings → Advanced), kept in the kaiten-identity database. The private key is created as non-exportable, so it cannot be exported by the app. The app shows only a short identifier derived from the public key. The app never sends the key pair anywhere, and it is not linked to any account or personal information.
• Ad-pacing counters — a handful of numbers (how many games you have finished, when an ad was last shown) that space out the post-game ads, kept under kaiten-ads-counters.
• Remove Ads record — if you buy Remove Ads, a yes/no note of the purchase and the date the store last confirmed it, kept in the app's native preferences under kaiten-iap-remove-ads so that you start ad-free before the store answers.
• Your ad consent choice — the Google Mobile Ads software stores the answer you give on the consent screen (where one is shown) on the device.

None of this data is transmitted to us. Your device's operating system may include the app's data in its own backups (for example Android Auto Backup to your Google account, or iCloud backup on iOS); those backups are governed by the platform's own privacy policy and the app has no control over them. See Deleting Your Data below for how to remove the data.

Advertising

The app shows two kinds of ads, both served by Google AdMob through the Google Mobile Ads SDK:

• Take-back — an optional rewarded ad offered during a game from a button in the top bar. You choose whether to watch it; in return the board is rewound to just before your last move and the computer replies afresh. The take-back itself can be earned at most once per game.
• Post-game ads — an occasional full-screen ad when you leave the Game Over screen, after your game has been recorded — never in the middle of a game, and never right after a rewarded ad. They are spaced out by the counters described above and can be removed with the one-time Remove Ads purchase.

Every time the app starts (unless Remove Ads is in force), it asks Google's consent service whether it must ask for your consent, sending the app's identifier and your IP address (from which Google derives an approximate location). Where consent is not required, the ad software then initializes and loads the first ad in the background before you have tapped anything; where it is required, nothing further happens until you have answered.

To serve and measure ads, the Google Mobile Ads SDK collects and sends to Google, and to the advertising partners Google works with:

• Your device's advertising identifier (Android Advertising ID; on iOS the IDFA only if you have allowed tracking in Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt — otherwise none) and, if you have reset or deleted it, other Google-assigned device or app identifiers
• An approximate location derived from your IP address (no location permission is requested)
• Device, network and app information — device model, operating system version, language, time zone, screen size, network type and carrier, app version and package name
• Ad interaction data — which ads were requested, shown, viewed, clicked or completed
• Diagnostic and crash data about the ad software itself, used by Google to keep it working and to detect invalid traffic
• On Android devices where Google's Privacy Sandbox is turned on, the ad software may also use the Topics and Attribution Reporting features, controlled under Settings → Privacy → Ads on the device
• On iOS the ad software takes part in Apple's SKAdNetwork install attribution, which reports ad conversions to Google without identifying you; Apple's Personalized Ads setting controls it

We never receive your advertising identifier, IP address, or any per-user record; AdMob shows us only aggregate reports (impressions, revenue). Google's handling of this data is governed by the Google Privacy Policy and explained in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Your choices. If you live in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the app asks for your consent before requesting personalized ads; in U.S. states with applicable privacy law it shows a notice with the option to opt out of the sale or sharing of your information for advertising. Either way you can review or change that choice at any time under Settings → Advanced → Ad privacy options (the entry is shown only where a choice applies, and not once ads are removed). Everyone can limit ad personalization at the device level — on Android under Settings → Privacy → Ads (or Settings → Google → Ads on older versions; reset or delete the advertising ID), on iOS under Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking and → Apple Advertising — and through Google's Ads Settings or aboutads.info/choices. The Remove Ads purchase stops the app from showing ads — the rewarded Take-back included — and, once the purchase is known on the device, from requesting them at all.

Legal basis and roles (EEA, UK, Switzerland). For the data described above, Google acts as an independent data controller under the Google Ads Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms; we are a controller only for the collection of that data in the app and for the aggregate reports we receive. We rely on your consent (given through the ad privacy screen) for personalized ads and for reading or storing identifiers on your device, and on legitimate interests — running a free, ad-funded game and preventing fraud — for non-personalized ("limited") ads and aggregate measurement. If you decline, Google may still show ads that are not personalized, using only the information needed to deliver them and prevent fraud (such as approximate location and device type); you can object to that processing on the same Ad privacy options screen. Personalised ads involve profiling by Google based on your advertising identifier. Google may process this data on servers outside your country, including in the United States, under the EU-U.S., UK and Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Frameworks and standard contractual clauses. We keep nothing per user; Google's retention periods are described at policies.google.com/technologies/retention. You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your personal data, to data portability, to withdraw consent at any time (which does not affect processing before withdrawal), and to complain to your data-protection authority. For data held by Google, use the device and Google controls linked above; for anything else, or if you want help, email privacy@cloud9.games.

U.S. state privacy rights. If you live in California or another U.S. state with a comprehensive privacy law, the personalized advertising described above may count as "sharing" personal information or "targeted advertising" under that law. We do not sell personal information for money. You can opt out of sharing and targeted advertising at any time — Settings → Advanced → Ad privacy options sends your choice to Google (Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information), and the device-level controls above work as well. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

Network Requests

Apart from what the operating system and app store do on their own, the app makes three kinds of network request. Apart from the Google Mobile Ads traffic described above, and the store account the billing request is naturally tied to, none of them attach a user identifier and none of them build a profile.

• Google Mobile Ads — the consent check at launch, ad requests, ad creatives, and measurement calls to Google's advertising endpoints, as described under Advertising.
• Google Fonts — the app loads its typography (Shippori Mincho, Zen Kaku Gothic New, and for Arabic: Amiri and Noto Sans Arabic) from Google's font service at fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. Google sees your IP address and browser identification as part of the request, and no user identifier is attached. This is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.
• App store billing — at launch the app asks Google Play or the App Store whether Remove Ads has been bought on your store account and what it costs; the purchase and its restore are handled entirely by the store under its own privacy policy. The app keeps only the yes/no record described above. We receive no payment details — the store gives us order records (order number, date, amount, country; no name or card details) so refunds can be handled, and aggregate sales reports.

The engine that analyzes your games runs entirely on the device.

No User Accounts

The app does not require sign-in or user accounts, and we do not link any data to your name, email address, or any other identity.

Deleting Your Data

Reset all data in the app (under Settings → Advanced) erases your game history, settings and the ad-pacing counters. It deliberately keeps your language choice, your Player ID and the Remove Ads record; all three are removed when you clear the app's storage in the device settings or uninstall the app (unless your device restores them from one of its own backups — and a Remove Ads purchase can always be restored from the store). Your ad consent choice is changed under Settings → Advanced → Ad privacy options (where shown), not by the reset. Advertising data held by Google is tied to your advertising identifier: resetting or deleting that identifier on the device (see Your choices) breaks the link. If you want help with any of this, or want a request forwarded to Google, email privacy@cloud9.games.

Children's Privacy

Kaiten is not directed to children under 13, and the store listings declare a target audience of 13 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children, and the ad software is not configured for child-directed treatment. The app contains no chat or social features. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under 13 has used the app: first reset or delete the advertising identifier on the device (Android: Settings → Privacy → Ads; iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking), which breaks the link between that device and any advertising data Google holds; then email privacy@cloud9.games — we hold no data about the child ourselves, but we will forward your request to Google and confirm when we have done so.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects when changes were made. Adding advertising and the Remove Ads purchase was the reason for the September 2026 update.

Contact

For privacy-related questions, contact us at privacy@cloud9.games, or by post at The Infogetics Group, LLC, 4635 E. River Rd, Buchanan, MI 49107, United States.