Privacy Policy

01 / Controller

Who is responsible

Alsvarel, a company registered in the Netherlands, develops Choices & Hidden Stories. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Alsvarel. We are the controller of personal information we process for the purposes described here.

For privacy questions or requests, email alsvarel.developer@gmail.com. Please include “Privacy — Choices & Hidden Stories” in the subject so we can route your request.

02 / Scope

What this policy covers

This policy covers the current installed Android application Choices & Hidden Stories (package com.alsvarel.choiceshiddenstories), this privacy-policy website, and related support or privacy correspondence.

The offline-game statements below apply to the installed Android app. The app does not require an account or an internet connection to play. App stores, your operating system, your email provider and websites you choose to visit also have their own privacy practices.

03 / On your device

The installed game

The app stores story progress, choices, found objects, unlocked endings, reading position, difficulty and genre filters, and sound or accessibility preferences in local app storage. It uses these records to resume your stories and apply your settings. Restarting a story may keep a previous local save; clearing all app storage removes these local records.

The app reads screen dimensions, orientation, reduced-motion preferences and whether it is in the foreground to display scenes and manage animation and audio. These functions run on your device.

• We do not receive your local story choices, saves or gameplay history through the app.
• The app has no advertising, third-party analytics or automatic crash-reporting SDK.
• It does not request access to your precise location, contacts, camera, microphone, photos or other personal files. It does not access advertising identifiers or build a cross-app profile.
• It has no in-app purchases, subscriptions, account registration or cloud-save service.
• Story content is included in the app. Your choices are not sent to ChatGPT or another AI service for processing.

The Android internet permission supports opening online resources when needed; it does not mean gameplay is uploaded. Opening the online policy or contacting support creates the separate data flows described below.

04 / When you reach out

Support and app-store information

Messages you send. If you email us, we receive your email address, any name you provide, the message, ordinary email metadata and attachments you choose to send. A screenshot or diagnostic file may contain personal information; please remove unrelated information and do not send passwords, payment-card details or identity documents unless a lawful, necessary verification method has been agreed.

Google Play. Google may make installation statistics, ratings, public reviews and technical diagnostics available to developers through Play Console. Diagnostics may include a device model, Android version, app version and crash or performance details, depending on Google's services and user settings. We may use information made available to us to address feedback and app reliability. This is separate from an analytics or crash-reporting SDK inside our app.

Google processes store, account, download and platform information under its own terms and Privacy Policy. We do not receive your Google password or payment-card details. Public reviews can be visible to other people.

05 / Reading this page

This website and Cloudflare

This page is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. When you open it online, Cloudflare processes the network request needed to serve and protect the page. This can include your IP address, requested URL, request time, browser or device headers, traffic-routing information and security-related information.

Our policy page contains no advertising, analytics scripts, tracking pixels, contact forms, externally loaded fonts or social-media embeds. We do not add browser storage for tracking or run our own visitor-level logging code. Cloudflare may process service metrics and security data, and may use necessary security mechanisms or cookies depending on its protection of a request.

These hosting activities do not transmit your saved stories to us. Cloudflare describes its own handling of network and end-user information in its Privacy Policy. A copy of this policy included in the installed app can be read without contacting Cloudflare.

06 / Why information is used

Purposes and legal grounds

Where European, UK or similar data-protection rules apply, our grounds for processing depend on the activity:

• Providing requested functions and help: running the game and responding to support associated with it, where necessary to provide the service you request.
• Legitimate interests: delivering and securing this website, understanding store-provided reliability information, handling ordinary correspondence, preventing abuse and establishing or defending legal claims. We consider the impact on your rights and use only information needed for those purposes.
• Legal obligations: responding to applicable legal requirements and data-protection requests.
• Consent: if an optional activity requires consent, we will ask separately before it begins. Reading this policy or continuing to play is not blanket consent for new data uses.

You do not need to provide contact information to play offline. If you contact us without enough information to understand or verify a request, we may be unable to complete that request. We do not make decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects about you through automated profiling.

07 / Access and safeguards

Recipients and international transfers

Information may be accessible to people authorised to handle support and administration, providers delivering those services, and professional advisers where necessary. Current providers include Cloudflare for this website and Google for the support email service and Google Play. Their role depends on the service: a provider can act on our behalf for some processing and independently for its own platform or security activities.

We may disclose information when legally required, to handle fraud or security incidents, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, only as permitted by law. If ownership of the app changes, any necessary transfer of information must remain subject to applicable privacy protections and notice requirements.

We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We do not rent mailing lists or use support correspondence for unsolicited marketing.

Cloudflare and Google operate internationally, including in the United States. Information involved in online requests or correspondence may therefore be processed outside your country. Where data-protection law restricts a transfer we arrange, applicable safeguards are required, such as an adequacy decision or approved contractual protections. You may contact us for information about the safeguards relevant to your request. Cloudflare also publishes its Data Processing Addendum and Google describes its transfer frameworks.

08 / Keeping and removing data

Retention and deletion

Local game data: stays in app storage until it is overwritten or removed. To remove all local saves and settings, use Android Settings → Apps → Choices & Hidden Stories → Storage → Clear storage / Clear data, or uninstall the app. Menu names vary by device. We cannot restore local progress or remotely erase data on your phone. Any operating-system backup or device-transfer copies must be managed through the relevant device or account settings.

Support and privacy correspondence: retained only for as long as needed to resolve the request and any necessary follow-up, demonstrate how a rights request was handled, or meet a legal obligation or claim. The retention period depends on the nature and sensitivity of the information, whether the matter remains open, and applicable legal retention or limitation periods. When those purposes end, information is deleted or anonymised; access is restricted where records must be retained.

Hosting and store records: Cloudflare and Google apply retention rules to data they control. We do not set a universal deletion deadline for their independent records. For records within our control, the purpose-based criteria above apply. You can contact us about information processed on our behalf, and contact the provider for data it controls independently.

There is no in-app user account to delete. A request to remove support correspondence is separate from clearing local game data.

09 / Your choices

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live and the law that applies, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or obtain a copy of personal information, restrict processing, object to processing based on legitimate interests, and withdraw consent for future consent-based processing. Some rights have legal exceptions. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.

Email alsvarel.developer@gmail.com to make a request. We may ask for proportionate information to verify it, for example a reply from the address used for correspondence. We do not need your gameplay history or an identity document as a routine requirement. We will respond within the period required by applicable law and explain any permitted extension or refusal.

If you are in the EEA, you can complain to your local supervisory authority; our home authority is the Dutch Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens. UK residents can contact the Information Commissioner's Office. You do not have to contact us first.

For residents of California and other US states, applicable rights may also include an authorised-agent request and an appeal of a refusal. Send a request or appeal to the same email; we will explain applicable next steps. We do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you, sell information, or share it for targeted advertising. The site does not change its behaviour in response to Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control because it does not perform that sale, sharing or advertising tracking.

10 / Younger users

Children

The app is a general-audience story game and is not directed to children under 13. Individual stories may contain romance, horror or other mature themes; follow the app-store age rating and appropriate parental guidance. We do not use an account or age-verification system to identify a player's age.

We do not knowingly collect children's personal information through support or other channels in a way that requires parental authorisation without that authorisation. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us so we can review and delete it where required. A statement in this policy does not replace protections required by child-privacy law.

11 / Protecting information

Security

Our design minimises information leaving the installed game. The policy website uses HTTPS, and the app keeps local saves within its app-storage environment. For information we handle, we use reasonable safeguards appropriate to its nature and limit access to those who need it.

No device, email service or transmission method can guarantee absolute security. Keep your device protected and share only what is needed when requesting help. If a personal-data breach occurs, we will take the action and provide notices required by applicable law. Nothing in this policy excludes obligations or rights that cannot legally be excluded.

12 / Keeping you informed

Changes and contact

We will update this policy when relevant practices change and show the new effective date. Material changes will be communicated as required by law, including through the app where appropriate. If a future version introduces accounts, ads, analytics, purchases, remote content or other new processing, the relevant notice, app-store disclosures and any required consent must be provided before that processing begins. An update does not authorise an incompatible use of information already collected.