Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Locution, a word puzzle and language education game developed by Old Technologies. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal information you share with us.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use our mobile application ("Service"), how we use and protect it, and how you can manage or delete your data in accordance with Google Play Store policies and international data protection regulations.

2. Information We Collect

A. Information You Provide to Us

• Account Credentials: When you register via Email and Password, we collect your email address, chosen in-game display name, and unique player handle (@username).

• Social Sign-In Information: When you choose to authenticate using Google Sign-In, we receive your public profile information (such as your name and email address) authorized via Google's OAuth service.

• Passwords: Your passwords are never stored in plain text; they are encrypted and handled exclusively by Google Firebase Authentication.

B. In-Game and Gameplay Data

• Match & Player Statistics: Scores, win/loss records, word completion times, difficulty levels played, and lifeline usage are stored to track your personal progress and sync across your devices.

• Multiplayer Match Data: Temporary room codes, player lobby statuses, and live match scores are processed to facilitate real-time multiplayer gameplay.

C. Guest Mode (Single-Player)

• If you choose to use Locution in Guest Mode without logging in, your single-player progress is stored locally on your device. We do not collect or transmit your personal identity to our cloud servers in Guest Mode.

3. Third-Party Services We Use

We partner with reliable third-party infrastructure providers to run our backend services. We do not sell, rent, or monetize your personal data, and we do not display third-party advertisements:

1. Google Play Services: For core Android application functionality and updates.

• Google Play Services Privacy Policy

1. Firebase Authentication (Google LLC): For secure user registration, password management, and login authentication.

• Firebase Privacy and Security

1. Cloud Firestore (Google LLC): For storing encrypted in-game profiles, player statistics, and multiplayer room lobbies.

2. Google Sign-In: For streamlined one-tap authentication.

Note: Locution does not utilize AdMob, third-party advertising SDKs, Facebook Analytics, or marketing tracking beacons.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the collected information exclusively to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve the gameplay experience.

• Authenticate your account and safeguard against unauthorized access.

• Enable multiplayer matchmaking and live gameplay between players.

• Synchronize your game statistics and high scores across your devices.

• Prevent fraud, abuse, and impersonation on our platform.

5. Account Deletion and Data Retention

We uphold your right to delete your account and personal data at any time:

How to Delete Your Account

1. In-App Deletion: Open Locution > navigate to SETTINGS > select the PROFILE tab > scroll down to the DANGER ZONE card > tap DELETE ACCOUNT and confirm your credentials.

2. Web Deletion Portal: If you do not have the application installed, you can submit a deletion request via our online form at: 👉 https://sites.google.com/view/locution/delete-account or by emailing us directly at oldtechnologies@gmail.com.

What Happens When You Delete Your Account

• Immediate Permanent Erasure: Your active profile, full name, email address, password login, and all individual match statistics and high scores are immediately and permanently removed from active databases.

• Anti-Fraud & Anti-Abuse Retention: In accordance with Google Play Data Safety policies, we retain a cryptographic one-way hash (SHA-256) of your email address and keep your player handle registered as deactivated to prevent account cycling, spam, and bad-actor impersonation. This retained data cannot be reversed to identify you.

6. Security

We value your trust and implement industry-standard security measures to protect your personal information:

• All data transmission between your device and Firebase servers is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS/SSL).

• Access to backend databases is strictly restricted by Firestore Security Rules, ensuring that players can only access their own private data.

7. Children’s Privacy

Locution is intended for a general audience and does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If we discover that a child under 13 has registered without verified parental consent, we will promptly delete their personal information from our servers. Parents or guardians who believe their child has provided personal information may contact us at oldtechnologies@gmail.com.

Information Collection and Use

For a better experience, while using our Service, we may require you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information. The information that we request will be retained by us and used as described in this privacy policy.

The app does use third-party services that may collect information used to identify you.

Link to the privacy policy of third-party service providers used by the app

• Google Play Services

• AdMob

• Google Analytics for Firebase

• Firebase Crashlytics

Log Data

We want to inform you that whenever you use our Service, in a case of an error in the app we collect data and information (through third-party products) on your phone called Log Data. This Log Data may include information such as your device Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, device name, operating system version, the configuration of the app when utilizing our Service, the time and date of your use of the Service, and other statistics.

Cookies

Cookies are files with a small amount of data that are commonly used as anonymous unique identifiers. These are sent to your browser from the websites that you visit and are stored on your device's internal memory.

This Service does not use these “cookies” explicitly. However, the app may use third-party code and libraries that use “cookies” to collect information and improve their services. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies and know when a cookie is being sent to your device. If you choose to refuse our cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of this Service.

Service Providers

We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons:

• To facilitate our Service;

• To provide the Service on our behalf;

• To perform Service-related services; or

• To assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

We want to inform users of this Service that these third parties have access to their Personal Information. The reason is to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf. However, they are obligated not to disclose or use the information for any other purpose.

Security

We value your trust in providing us your Personal Information, thus we are striving to use commercially acceptable means of protecting it. But remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Links to Other Sites

This Service may contain links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that site. Note that these external sites are not operated by us. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of these websites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

Children’s Privacy

These Services do not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 years of age. In the case we discover that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we immediately delete this from our servers. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we will be able to do the necessary actions.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. Thus, you are advised to review this page periodically for any changes. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.