Privacy policy

The short version

No accounts, no chat, no analytics, and we never ask players for their name, email, age or location. No ads are shown yet. When they're switched on, they'll come from Google AdSense and be marked child-directed. Payments (if you choose to remove ads) happen on Stripe's page, and only the grown-up paying gives any details.

Who runs this site

Pixelripper is run by Stephen Pedrana (sole trader, ABN 48 673 668 714, not registered for GST), Nowra NSW, Australia. Contact is by email only: support@pixelripper.com.

What's saved on your device

Each game saves a few small items in this browser's storage on your device (localStorage). Each item's name starts with the game's id, so you can tell which game saved it. None of them contains your child's name or any other personal information.

Riptide

• riptide-high-score: best score
• riptide-muted: sound on or off
• riptide-remove-ads: set if ads were removed with the free device-only option (only counts while paid options aren't offered)
• riptide-unlock: set if ads were removed in Riptide by paying. A signed code that contains no personal information
• riptide-unlock-pending: a short-lived marker that only Riptide sets, and only if a grown-up comes back from Stripe's payment page but the game can't reach our server to confirm the payment. It holds Stripe's checkout reference (no name, email or card details). The game tries again on the next visit and deletes it as soon as our server answers

Rock Pool (a daily puzzle) stores these on your device. All of them are device-only:

• rockpool-dailies: which Daily puzzles were solved, with the best stars and fewest moves for each
• rockpool-streak: current and best streak
• rockpool-practice: Practice progress for each difficulty
• rockpool-muted: sound on or off
• rockpool-howto: whether "How to play" has been seen
• rockpool-remove-ads: set if ads were removed with the free device-only option (only counts while paid options aren't offered)
• rockpool-unlock: set if ads were removed in Rock Pool by paying. A signed code (with the time it was last checked) that contains no personal information
• rockpool-unlock-pending: a Stripe checkout reference, kept only if a grown-up comes back from Stripe's payment page but the game can't reach our server to confirm the payment. The game tries again on the next visit and deletes it as soon as our server answers
• rockpool-probe: a split-second test that checks the browser allows saving, removed straight away

All-games pass (the first six Pixelripper games)

• pixelripper-all-games: set if the all-games pass was bought. Also a signed code with no personal information
• <game>-unlock for any other Pixelripper game: the same kind of signed code, for that game
• Restoring a purchase with a restore code (in a game or on the For parents page) can also save another game's <game>-unlock record and the shared pixelripper-all-games pass, if they were bought together

Scores, streaks, stars, progress and settings stay on your device and are never sent anywhere. The only items that ever leave it are the signed unlock codes and the games' checkout references (riptide-unlock-pending and rockpool-unlock-pending), which go to our own server to check a purchase (see "Unlock check" below). Clearing this site's data removes everything listed here.

Cookies

Pixelripper itself doesn't set any cookies. The game and unlock items listed above are kept in your browser's localStorage, not in cookies, and are never used to track you. Our host, Cloudflare, may set a strictly necessary security cookie to protect the site from abuse. Google's ad cookies are covered in the next section, and only apply once ads are switched on.

Ads (Google AdSense)

No ads are shown on Pixelripper yet. Ads are switched off across the whole site and in every game, and the Google ad script isn't loaded at all.

When we switch ads on, they'll be served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners may then use cookies or similar technologies, and technical data such as your IP address, to serve ads, limit how often they show, count them and prevent fraud. Every ad request will be marked child-directed and as under the age of consent, so ads are non-personalised: Google turns off personalised ads and remarketing, blocks third-party ad vendors and applies its protections for children. Once ads are removed on a device (with a free or paid unlock), the Google ad script isn't loaded there at all.

To learn more, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. You can manage Google ad personalisation at Google's ad settings.

What ads will look like once they're on:

• Home page: one labelled banner.
• Riptide: at most one short ad per game you play (after Tide 2). No ads during play, and no rewarded ads.
• Rock Pool: at most one ad break after you solve the day's Daily puzzle, shown before your stars appear. In Practice and Last 7 days there's at most one break for every three puzzles you solve. There's never an ad in the middle of a puzzle, never after the first puzzle of a visit, and never on the title screen. There are no "watch an ad to get a reward" ads. Buying "No ads" for Rock Pool (A$2) or the all-games pass removes them on that device.

Before we turn ads on, we'll update this page and the date at the top, including how ads work for visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland.

Payments (Stripe)

If a grown-up buys a Remove-ads option (one game or the all-games pass), payment happens on Stripe's own page. Stripe collects the card details and an email address for the receipt. We receive the payer's email address, the amount, the date and a payment reference in our Stripe account. We use them only to provide the purchase, handle refunds and meet tax record-keeping rules, and keep them for 5 years, as Australian tax record-keeping rules require. Stripe also keeps these records under its own policy. Unlock codes saved on your device stay there until you clear this site's data. Stripe's privacy policy: stripe.com/privacy.

Unlock check

To confirm a purchase, the site sends the payment reference, the unlock code or the restore code to our server (a Cloudflare Pages Function), which checks it with Stripe. We don't keep a log of these checks beyond our host's standard logs.

Children

Pixelripper is made for kids through teens. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. Parents and carers can ask us to show or delete any information we hold by emailing support@pixelripper.com.

Hosting

The site is served by Cloudflare. Like any website host, it may keep standard server logs (such as IP addresses and request times) to keep the service running and secure.

Changes

If this policy changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top.