Curio Island privacy policy

The short version

• No accounts, no sign-in and no email address. We never ask a child for personal information.
• Player names, buddies, coins, hearts and progress are saved only on the phone. They are never sent to us.
• Ads come from Google AdMob. Every ad request is marked as directed to children, is non-personalised and is limited to G-rated ads. The app does not collect the Android advertising ID.
• The optional Ad-free upgrade is paid through Google Play. We never see card or payment details.
• Purchases, settings and links out of the app sit behind a grown-up check.

Information kept on the phone

When you add a player, the name you type (it can be a nickname), the chosen buddy and the age band are stored on the phone together with that player's progress, coins and hearts. If the app hits an error, a short technical note about it is also kept on the phone so the app can recover. None of this leaves the device and GroundLearn cannot see it. You can remove a player in Parent Corner, and uninstalling the app deletes everything.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

The free version shows ads from Google AdMob, never in the first three minutes of play and only at natural breaks. Children can also choose to watch an ad to get a heart back; a parent can turn this off in Parent Corner.

We mark every ad request for Google's child age treatment (child-directed treatment under COPPA, and treatment for users under the age of consent in Europe), ask for non-personalised ads only, and cap ad content at the G rating. The Android advertising ID permission is removed from the app, so it is not collected. To serve and measure ads and prevent fraud, Google's ad software still receives some technical information from the device: the IP address (which can suggest a rough location), basic device and app details, an app-specific identifier (the app set ID), how ads are viewed and tapped, and diagnostic data. Google handles this under its own policies: How Google uses information from apps that use its services.

The Ad-free upgrade (Google Play and RevenueCat)

Ad-free is a one-time purchase made through Google Play billing. Google Play processes the payment. We use RevenueCat to check that the purchase is valid; RevenueCat receives a random identifier created by the app and the purchase record (product, date and price), but no name, email or payment details. GroundLearn can see the purchase records but cannot link them to a person. See RevenueCat's privacy policy.

What we do not do

• No analytics, tracking or crash-reporting services of our own
• No chat, no sharing, no user-generated content visible to others
• No location permission, camera, microphone, contacts or photos
• No sale of data, and no personalised or behavioural advertising

Children's privacy

Curio Island is designed for children and follows Google Play's Families policy, the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the children's provisions of the GDPR and UK GDPR. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, write to us and we will delete it.

Deleting your Curio Island data

Curio Island has no accounts, so almost everything is on the phone and you can delete it yourself:

• One player: open Grown-ups (Parent Corner), answer the grown-up question, and tap Remove next to the player. Their name, buddy, progress, coins and hearts are deleted at once.
• Everything on the phone: uninstall Curio Island, or clear its storage in Android Settings, Apps, Curio Island, Storage. All players, progress and settings are deleted.
• The Ad-free purchase record kept by RevenueCat (a random app identifier, the product, date and price): email contactgroundlearn@gmail.com with the subject "Curio Island data deletion" and the Google Play order number (it starts with GPA.). We delete the record within 30 days and confirm by email. Google Play keeps its own order record under Google's policies; deleting ours does not cancel the purchase, and you can restore Ad-free later from Parent Corner.

GroundLearn does not hold any other data about players. Data that Google's ad service receives is handled under Google's policies, and is not linked to a name or account by us.

You can also turn off "ads for hearts" in Parent Corner, or buy Ad-free to remove ads.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, we will update this page and the date at the top. Questions or requests: contactgroundlearn@gmail.com. GroundLearn is a small independent studio based in India.