Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this covers

Owl Media and Design, LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”) makes Hootdoku. This Privacy Policy explains how personal information is handled in connection with the Hootdoku app for iPhone and iPad, its online features (such as the Daily Grove and leaderboards), purchases, support, and this website.

We are responsible for the personal information we process for these purposes. Some of the service providers described below also process information for their own purposes, under their own privacy notices.

2. Information we handle

• Your player account: the first time you open Hootdoku, the app quietly creates a guest account. It is identified by a random device identifier and a player ID, and you don’t need an email address or password. The device identifier and your sign-in token are kept in your device’s Keychain, so they can survive deleting and reinstalling the app.
• Display name: you can choose a display name in Settings. It appears on leaderboards that other players can see. Without one, you appear as “Anonymous Owl”.
• Sign in with Apple (optional): if you choose it, Apple gives us an identifier for your account. The app asks Apple only for your name, which becomes your display name, and you can change it afterwards. If Apple’s sign-in response includes an email address anyway, we store it with your account. We also keep an encrypted token from Apple that lets us disconnect Hootdoku from your Apple Account when you delete your account. We never receive your Apple Account password.
• Gameplay information: which levels you have completed, your best times, mistakes, hints used and stars, your Daily Grove results, and what you have unlocked or bought. Our server checks submitted results, for example that a solution is correct, to keep leaderboards fair. Boards in progress, your hint balance, the owls you have found and your settings are stored on your device.
• Purchases: the products you buy, transaction identifiers and dates, and the information needed to confirm a purchase or restore it. Payments are made through Apple’s App Store; we never receive your card or billing details.
• Device, usage and advertising information: IP address, device and operating-system details, app version, identifiers (including the advertising identifier where you have allowed tracking), approximate location inferred from IP address, in-app events, ad views and clicks, and diagnostic information.
• Support messages: your contact details and anything you choose to tell us when you ask for help. Please don’t send passwords or full payment-card details.

This information comes from you, from your device and your use of the game, and from the sign-in, purchase and advertising providers described below.

3. Why we use information

We use information to run the game: to recognise your account, save and sync your progress, run the Daily Grove and leaderboards, confirm and restore purchases, answer support requests, fix problems, prevent cheating and fraud, and meet our legal obligations.

The free version of Hootdoku shows ads, and we use advertising and measurement services to deliver them and to learn how our own advertising on other platforms performs, for example whether someone who saw a Hootdoku ad on Instagram went on to install the game. Personalised ads and cross-app tracking depend on your device permissions and the law where you live.

4. Services we use

Apple also processes purchases made through the App Store under its own terms and privacy notice. If we add another service provider, we will update this policy before it starts processing your information.

5. When information is shared

We share information with the providers above for sign-in, hosting, purchases, advertising and measurement, and support. Your display name, times, mistakes and ranks are shown to other players on leaderboards.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect players and the service, to investigate fraud or cheating, or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to appropriate protections. We do not sell personal information for money. Some privacy laws treat sharing information for advertising as a “sale” or “sharing” even when no money changes hands; where those laws apply, you have the opt-out rights they provide.

6. Ads, tracking and your choices

• Apple’s tracking prompt: shortly after you first open Hootdoku, iOS asks whether the app may track you. AdMob and Meta’s SDK start only after you answer. If you choose not to allow tracking, ads still appear in the free version, but your advertising identifier is not shared with Google or Meta. You can change your answer at any time in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• Avoiding ads: rewarded videos are always optional, and Hootdoku Premium removes ads entirely.
• Display name: you can change your display name in the app’s Settings at any time.
• Deleting your account: in the app, open Settings → Account → Delete Account. This removes your online profile, synced progress and leaderboard times from our server and, if you used Sign in with Apple, disconnects Hootdoku from your Apple Account. Progress saved on your device stays on your device. Hootdoku Premium belongs to your Apple Account, so you can restore it afterwards. Deleting the app alone does not delete your online account. Purchase records held by Apple and RevenueCat, and information held by Google and Meta, are not affected by deleting your account; to ask us to delete anything else we hold, email [email protected].
• Provider controls: Google and Meta offer their own advertising settings, which may not cover every use of information by our app or other providers.

Accepting our Terms of Use is not consent to personalised advertising or cross-app tracking.

7. This website

This website shows information about the game, screenshots, a playable sample puzzle, and these policies. It does not use cookies, analytics, advertising or tracking pixels, and it loads no fonts or scripts from other companies. The sample puzzle runs entirely in your browser and sends nothing to us.

Our hosting and delivery providers receive the connection information needed to serve pages, such as your IP address and browser details.

8. Retention, security and international processing

We keep information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here, considering account activity, purchase and tax obligations, support, fraud prevention and legal claims. Deletion may be subject to limited legal or security exceptions, and backup copies may remain until they are removed in the normal backup cycle.

We use reasonable safeguards appropriate to the information and the risks. No system or transmission can be guaranteed completely secure.

Our providers may process information in countries other than yours. Where the law requires safeguards for international transfers, appropriate protections apply. You can ask us about them using the contact details below.

9. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access or get a copy of your information, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to its use, withdraw consent, and receive it in a portable form. You may also have rights to opt out of targeted advertising, “sale” or “sharing”, to appeal a decision about your request, and to complain to a privacy regulator.

Where European or UK data-protection law applies, our legal bases include providing the game under our contract with you, legitimate interests such as security and improving the game, compliance with legal obligations, and consent where consent is required.

Where US state privacy laws apply, you may exercise your rights without unlawful discrimination, and an authorised agent may act for you where permitted. We may need proportionate information to verify a request and will respond within the time the law requires.

10. Children’s privacy

Hootdoku is a general-audience game. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child under 13 has given us personal information, email [email protected] and we will delete it. You can also delete the account yourself from Settings → Account in the app. We may need to confirm that a request comes from the child’s parent or guardian. Please don’t send a child’s identity documents in a first email.

Where the law sets a higher age for consenting to data processing or advertising, such as 16 in parts of Europe, a parent or guardian should decide about the tracking prompt for younger players.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the game, our providers or the law change. The date at the top shows the latest revision. For material changes, we will give additional notice or ask for consent where required.

12. Contact and privacy requests

Owl Media and Design, LLC
Maker of Hootdoku

Privacy requests: [email protected]
Help with the game: [email protected] or the Support page
Business location: Texas, United States

For a privacy request, tell us what you’d like us to do and include enough to identify your account, such as your display name or a purchase date. Please don’t send passwords or full card details.