Gaffer privacy policy
Gaffer: Football Card Battle is a free game for iPhone and Android made by one developer. This is the whole policy, in plain words: the developer collects nothing and runs no server, and the game plays entirely on your phone. Three things are kept online, only by Apple or Google and only under your own account: your longest Daily streak, on a leaderboard; the honours you have won, as achievements; and a copy of your progress. None of them is ever sent to the developer.
What is collected
Nothing, by the developer. Gaffer sends the developer no personal information, no usage data, no device identifiers, no crash reports and no advertising identifiers, from anyone, ever. The developer has no server to receive them.
What is sent
The game itself needs no connection. The Daily Fixture is the same for everyone because it is worked out from the date, not fetched from anywhere, and every match and mode works in Airplane Mode; only the leaderboard, achievements and the cloud copy wait for a connection.
Three things go online, all through your phone's own services and only to Apple or Google:
- The leaderboard. If your phone is signed in to Game Center (iPhone) or Google Play Games (Android), Gaffer uses that sign-in when it opens and sends your longest Daily Fixture streak, a whole number of days, to the "Longest Daily Streak" leaderboard: when it signs in, after each Daily Fixture, after it restores a cloud copy, and when you open the leaderboard. Other players see it next to your Game Center or Play Games name, as those services' own settings decide.
- Achievements. While your phone is signed in to Game Center or Google Play Games, Gaffer tells it which of the 25 Trophy Cabinet honours you have won, and how far you are towards the ones that count up, such as how many of the 35 players you have signed: after each match, when it signs in, after it restores a cloud copy, and when you open the achievements from the Trophy Cabinet. Other players may see them next to your Game Center or Play Games name, as those services' own settings decide.
- Cloud save. So your progress survives a new phone or reinstalling the app, a copy of it is kept with your account. On iPhone it goes to iCloud on its own, once you have played a match, whenever the iPhone is signed in to iCloud with your Apple Account; the app has no switch for it. On Android it goes to Google Play Games while you are signed in there. The copy holds your progress and your club (as listed in "What is stored on the phone" below), a short summary of them (your level, matches and longest streak), the time it was saved, and the random codes of the installations that saved it, so each phone can tell whether the copy already includes its own progress. It does not hold your settings, the tips you have seen or a match in progress. On Android it also carries a picture of your club's crest and a line such as "Level 7 · 96 matches", which Google Play Games shows in its list of saved games.
On an iPhone signed in to neither Game Center nor iCloud, nothing is sent at all. On Android, Gaffer sends nothing of yours until Google Play Games has signed you in, but Google's Play Games software starts with the app, checks with Google whether you are signed in, and sends Google its own analytics and diagnostics (see below). Either way, every match works exactly the same.
Accounts
There is no Gaffer account: no email address to give, no password and no profile held by the developer. Gaffer uses the Game Center or Google Play Games account your phone already has. If the phone is signed in, Gaffer uses that sign-in as soon as it opens, without asking, and Game Center or Google Play Games may show its own welcome message; Gaffer itself shows a sign-in screen only when you tap Leaderboard, the Trophy Cabinet's achievements button or "Sign in" in Settings. Settings shows your Game Center or Play Games name; the app does not store it. The club and squad names you type are part of your progress, so they are in the cloud copy too; they are never put on the leaderboard. To keep your streak and honours off Game Center or Google Play Games, sign out of Game Center in the iPhone's Settings app, or out of Google Play Games on Android.
Analytics, advertising and third parties
Gaffer has no analytics, trackers or advertising of its own. The leaderboard, achievements and cloud save are provided by Apple (Game Center and iCloud, under the Apple Privacy Policy) and by Google (Google Play Games Services, under the Google Privacy Policy). On Android, Google's Play Games software in the app also collects analytics and diagnostics for Google itself; Google lists what it collects at developer.android.com/games/pgs/data-collection. Neither Apple nor Google sends the developer anything about you. The leaderboard is public, so the developer can see it like any other player.
Rating prompt
After some wins, such as a Daily Fixture or a Sunday Cup final, the app may ask the phone to show the App Store's or Google Play's own "rate this app" prompt. The prompt belongs to Apple or Google, who decide whether it appears, and anything you write in it goes to them under their own terms. Gaffer sends nothing with it and never learns whether or how you rated. On Android this uses Google's in-app review library, which talks only to the Google Play app on your phone. Settings also has a "Rate Gaffer" row, which only opens Gaffer's page in the App Store or Google Play; what you do there is between you and Apple or Google.
Notifications
Settings has a "Daily reminder" switch. It starts switched on. After your first Daily Fixture the app offers the reminder on a card ("Remind me" or "Not now"); only if you tap "Remind me", or turn the switch on, does the phone ask whether Gaffer may send notifications, and nothing is booked until you agree. If you agree, the app books one reminder at 6 pm on each of the next seven days, and drops today's once you have played the Daily Fixture. These reminders are scheduled on the phone itself; no server is involved and nothing is sent anywhere. On Android the app also asks the system to put the booked reminders back after a restart, which is the only reason it listens for the phone starting up. Turn the switch off, or refuse the permission, and none are booked.
The share card
After a Daily Fixture, the Full Time screen and the home screen offer a Share button. Tapping it draws a square image on the phone, with your club's crest and colours, your scoreline and the three lane results, and hands it with three lines of text to your phone's own share sheet. Nothing is created until you tap Share, and it goes only where you choose to send it. The app never posts the card anywhere on its own.
What is stored on the phone
- Your progress: the cards you have signed, your Scouting Points and Reputation level, each Cup's round, losses and stars, your Daily Fixture streak, Rest Days and recent results, your Unbeaten Run, your saved squads, your honours, your match record (overall, against each manager and with each card, and the match conditions you have seen) and whether you have finished the tutorial.
- A match in progress, so it can be resumed if the phone closes the app: the match's setup and the moves you made. It is deleted when the match ends.
- Your club: its name, its home and away kit colours and patterns, and the stadium you chose.
- Your settings: the sound, music, haptics, fast reveals, colourblind lane markers and daily reminder switches, whether the app has already offered the reminder, which tips you have already seen, and the Quick Match difficulty you last picked.
- Cloud save's notes: a random code made for this installation, not taken from the phone's hardware, which goes into each cloud copy so the app can tell its own saves from another phone's; a note of the cloud copy this phone last matched (its number, the codes of the installations it includes, and when it was saved); and a small marker file kept out of backups, so that when the app is restored onto another phone it notices and gives that phone a new code. On Android the note also holds a one-way code made from your Google Play Games player id, not the id itself, so the app notices if a different account signs in.
All of it lives in the app's own storage on the phone and, apart from the marker file, is included in your phone's normal backup if you have one. None of cloud save's notes names you, and none is sent to the developer. A copy of your progress and club, not your settings, is also kept in iCloud or in Google Play Games, as described above.
Deleting everything
Open Settings inside the app and tap "Reset progress". It asks you to confirm, then puts your collection, squads, Cup stars, daily streak and club back to the start; the switches in Settings stay as you set them. The reset progress then replaces your cloud copy: in iCloud on iPhone, and in Google Play Games on Android while you are signed in. Deleting the app removes everything on the phone; the cloud copy stays with your Apple Account or Google account until a reset replaces it, and Google Play Games lets you delete a game's data from its own settings. Leaderboard scores and achievements are managed by Game Center and Google Play Games; a reset does not take back an achievement already won.
Children
Gaffer has nothing in it that needs an age gate, and it is not part of the App Store's Kids category or Google Play's Teacher Approved programme. The developer collects no data from anyone, of any age. Game Center and Google Play Games apply their own rules and parental controls to children's accounts.
Your rights
Laws such as the GDPR and the CCPA give you rights over personal data a company holds about you. The developer holds none and never receives any, so there is nothing to request from the developer. Your leaderboard score, achievements and cloud copy are held by Apple or Google, who handle requests about them under their own policies.
Changes
If this policy ever changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date, and any change that affects what the app does will arrive with an app update you can read about first.
Contact
Questions about this policy or about the app: slotileapp@gmail.com