Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Code Red: Gridlock is published by Elite Aura Studios, a studio of Elite Aura Homes Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16749209.

Registered address: Unit 17 Orbital 25 Business Park, Dwight Road, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD18 9DA, United Kingdom.

Elite Aura Homes Ltd ("we", "us", "our") is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. You can contact us about privacy at support@eliteaurahomes.co.uk.

2. Summary

You can play Code Red: Gridlock without creating an account. We don't ask for your name or email address in the game.
The game shows ads through Google AdMob. Depending on your choices and where you live, these may be personalised.
We use Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the game is played, for example which levels players find too hard.
You can choose to sign in with Google Play Games (Android), or Apple Game Center and iCloud (iOS), to save your progress to your account and to appear on the game's leaderboards.
Purchases are handled by Google Play or the Apple App Store. We never see your payment details.
You have rights over your personal data (see section 12).

3. Data stored on your device

The game stores your progress and settings in a save file on your device:

levels completed, stars earned and how many times you have failed a level
coins and boosters
warnings and when the next one expires
settings (sound, ambience, vibration)
Daily Gridlock results and your streak
Rush Week points, the place you last reached and any reward waiting
paint jobs and Rescue Crew vehicles you own or have selected
products you have bought, and their transaction identifiers (so a purchase is never applied twice)
when you last collected free coins (used to limit how often they are offered)

We don't receive this data unless you sign in to an account (section 6). Uninstalling the game deletes it from your device.

4. Advertising (Google AdMob)

We show ads between levels and optional rewarded videos using Google AdMob, a service of Google Ireland Limited and Google LLC ("Google"). The game doesn't show banner ads.

What AdMob may collect:

your device's advertising identifier
your IP address and approximate location derived from it
device and app information
how you interact with ads

Why: to show and measure ads, to prevent fraud and, if you agree, to show ads based on your interests.

Legal basis:

Consent, for personalised ads and for storing or reading information on your device where the law requires it. Where consent is required, we ask for it when you first open the game, using Google's consent tool.
Legitimate interests, for showing non-personalised ads and preventing fraud.

Your choices:

Where the law gives you a consent choice, you can change it at any time with Privacy choices in the game's Settings.
You can reset or delete your advertising identifier in your device settings.
If you buy No Ads, ads between levels stop. Optional rewarded videos remain available.

Google explains how it uses data from apps that use its services at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

5. Analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase)

We use Google Analytics for Firebase, a Google service, to understand how the game is played so we can improve it.

What we record:

level starts and results (won with stars and time left, or failed and why)
when a booster is used, and which one
when you call for backup to continue a level, and whether you used coins or a video
when a rewarded video is completed, and what it was for
finishing the Daily Gridlock and sharing its result
items bought with coins in the Garage and the Shop, and clearing warnings
collecting a Rush Week reward
when the game makes a level easier after several failed attempts

What Firebase also collects:

an app instance identifier
device model, operating system and app version
country derived from your IP address
sessions and engagement time
installs, in-app purchases and ad impressions

We don't use Firebase for advertising: its advertising-related consent settings are always off.

Legal basis: consent where the law requires it. Where the game asks for your consent (for example in the UK and the European Economic Area), analytics stays switched off unless you agree to information being stored on and read from your device. Elsewhere, our legitimate interest in improving the game.

Your choices: where you were asked for consent, you can change your choice at any time with Privacy choices in the game's Settings. You can also object by contacting us.

Retention: analytics data linked to an app instance identifier is kept for 2 months, then deleted. Aggregated reports, which don't identify you, may be kept longer.

6. Accounts, cloud save and leaderboards (optional)

Signing in is optional. It lets your progress (the data in section 3) follow you to other devices and survive a reinstall, and it puts your results on the game's leaderboards.

Google Play Games (Android)

What Google shares with the game: your Play Games player identifier and display name.

Where your progress is saved: in a "saved game" file that Google stores with your Google account.

You can manage or delete Play Games data from your Google account settings.

Apple Game Center and iCloud (iOS)

What Apple shares with the game: your Game Center player identifier and display name.

Where your progress is saved: in your iCloud account, so it can sync between your Apple devices. Apple stores this data under its own privacy policy. We can only access the game's own save data, nothing else in your iCloud account.

You can manage Game Center and iCloud in your device's Settings.

Leaderboards

What is published: when you are signed in, your Daily Gridlock score (stars and time left) and your Rush Week points are sent to Google Play Games or Game Center. Other players can see them with your display name.
What the game reads: the top scores and display names on those leaderboards, and your own place.
Sample players: while a leaderboard has fewer than 10 players, the game fills the empty places with computer-generated sample players and scores. They are not real people, and no data about you is used to make them.

Your leaderboard visibility and display name are controlled in your Google Play Games or Game Center settings.

Legal basis (all of section 6): providing the features you asked for (contract).

7. In-app purchases

Purchases (the Starter Pack, No Ads and coin packs) are processed by Google Play or the Apple App Store under their own terms and privacy policies.

What we receive: a purchase confirmation (the product, a transaction identifier and its status), so that we can deliver your purchase and let you restore it. We don't receive your name, payment card or billing address.

Legal basis: performing our contract with you.

The game uses Unity In-App Purchasing, provided by Unity Technologies, only as the software that communicates with the stores. We don't enable Unity's analytics services.

The share button copies a short, spoiler-free summary of your result (puzzle number, stars, time left and streak) to your device's clipboard. Where you paste it is up to you. We don't receive it.

9. Contacting us

If you email us:

We use your email address and message only to reply to you.
We keep the correspondence for 12 months after the conversation ends, unless the law requires us to keep it longer.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest in answering your enquiry.

Who receives personal data:

the service providers named in this policy (Google for AdMob, Firebase, Google Play Games and Google Play purchases; Apple for Game Center, iCloud and App Store purchases)
other players, for the leaderboard entries described in section 6
authorities, where the law requires it

We don't sell personal data.

International transfers: some of these providers process data outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. Where they do, the transfer is protected by UK adequacy regulations (including the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, where the provider is certified) or by the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.

11. Children

Code Red: Gridlock is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has used the game and provided personal data, contact us and we will delete any data we hold.

12. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

access the personal data we hold about you
have it corrected
have it deleted
restrict or object to our processing, including processing based on legitimate interests
data portability
withdraw consent at any time (this doesn't affect processing that took place before)

Much of the game's data is held on your device or by Google or Apple, so some requests are best made through them. We will help where we can.

To exercise any of these rights, email support@eliteaurahomes.co.uk. We will reply within one month.

You also have the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority.

13. Security

Data stored on your device is protected by your device's own security. Data sent to Google and Apple by their services is encrypted in transit.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy, for example when we add features. The current version is always available from the game's Settings. If the changes are significant, we will tell you in the game.

15. Contact

Elite Aura Homes Ltd (Elite Aura Studios)
Unit 17 Orbital 25 Business Park, Dwight Road, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD18 9DA, United Kingdom
support@eliteaurahomes.co.uk