Astro Merge Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 17, 2026

Astro Merge ("the game") is developed by Christian Partenio. This policy describes what information the game handles on the web at astro-merge.com and in the Astro Merge iOS app, and how it is used.

Playing as a guest

You can play without an account. In that case your game progress — best score, star balance, powerups, themes, daily check-in, settings, and an autosave of your current round — is stored only on your device (browser or app local storage). It is not saved to an Astro Merge account. The iOS app may still process the analytics and advertising information described below.

Signing in

You may optionally sign in with Google or Apple. Sign-in is handled by Google Firebase Authentication. When you sign in we receive and store:

• A unique account identifier (Firebase user ID)
• Your display name, as provided by Google or Apple
• Your email address, as provided by the sign-in provider (Apple lets you hide your real address)

Your game progress (including star balance, best score, daily check-in, banked powerups, owned and active themes, and purchase-entitlement mirrors) is then saved to Cloud Firestore, associated with your account, so it can sync across your devices. This data is readable and writable only by your own account.

In-app purchases

The iOS app offers optional purchases through Apple’s App Store. No account, registration, name, or email address is required to buy or receive any product. Apple processes payment information; Astro Merge does not receive your payment-card details.

The app receives product, transaction, purchase-state, and entitlement information needed to deliver purchases, prevent duplicate grants, and restore eligible purchases. For guest purchases, Astro Merge creates a random pseudonymous purchase-owner identifier and stores it on your device. This identifier is sent with the StoreKit transaction so an interrupted or pending purchase can be matched to the correct guest game; it does not contain your name or email address. Purchase grants and entitlement status are stored on your device. If you later choose to sign in, eligible remaining purchased content and progress may be linked to your account and mirrored in your Cloud Firestore profile for supported-device sync.

Advertising and tracking choices

The iOS app uses Google AdMob to provide occasional interstitial ads and optional rewarded ads. The web game does not show these ads. The Google Mobile Ads SDK may process device identifiers, advertising data, coarse location derived from network information, ad interactions, and diagnostic information to deliver, measure, secure, and improve ads.

On iOS, Astro Merge asks for permission through Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt before allowing the advertising identifier (IDFA) to be used for personalized advertising or cross-app tracking. If you decline, the game remains fully playable and ads may still be served without the IDFA. Where required, Google’s consent form is shown and Settings provides an Ad Privacy Options control when Google makes it available. You can also manage tracking permission in iOS Settings.

Analytics

The game uses Google Analytics for Firebase to understand aggregate gameplay — for example how often rounds are played, which powerups are used, and where players stop during the tutorial. Analytics data includes event counts, a pseudonymous app-instance identifier, approximate device and region information, purchase and ad-flow events, and diagnostic information. Astro Merge does not attach your Firebase account ID, name, email address, or any free-form personal content to gameplay analytics.

What we do not do

• We do not sell or rent your data to anyone.
• We do not request precise location, contacts, photos, or messages.
• We do not knowingly collect personal information from children; playing as a guest requires no personal information at all.

Service providers

The game uses Google Firebase (Hosting, Authentication, Cloud Firestore, and Analytics) and Google AdMob. Google processes the relevant data described above; see the Firebase privacy documentation and Google advertising information. Sign in with Apple and in-app purchases are provided by Apple; see Apple’s privacy policy.

Data retention and deletion

Cloud-synced progress is kept while your account exists. You can delete your account directly in the app: open Settings, tap Delete Account, confirm, and verify with your sign-in provider. This permanently deletes the Firebase Authentication account and its Cloud Firestore profile, revokes Sign in with Apple authorization when applicable, clears any account association from analytics, resets the native iOS analytics app-instance identifier, and removes local game progress associated with the account.

Account deletion does not cancel or refund App Store purchases, and Apple may retain purchase records under its own policies. Eligible purchases remain restorable through Apple. To prevent duplicate delivery or avoid stranding a purchase that Apple approves after deletion, a random device-local purchase route and transaction deduplication record may remain on that installation; the deleted Firebase user ID, name, and email are not retained in that route. Local guest data can also be removed by deleting the iOS app or clearing site data in the browser.

Previously collected pseudonymous analytics and advertising records may remain for the retention periods applied by Google and Apple, but they are not used to recreate a deleted Astro Merge account.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at astro-merge.com/policy.html with a new "last updated" date.

Contact

Questions? Email cpartenio@gmail.com.