sortwise.

Sortwise Privacy Policy

Effective date: 27 October 2026
Developer: Dutz Studios, an individual developer ("we", "us")
Contact: vladimir.dutan@gmail.com

Sortwise is a puzzle game for Android, available on Google Play. This policy explains what data the game handles, why, and your choices. Signing in is optional. If you choose to sign in with Google, we keep a Sortwise account for you on Google's Firebase service (see section 4a). We don't run servers of our own, and we don't sell personal data.

1. Data we handle

Game progress, stored on your device. Your current level, best results, hint balance, achievement progress, settings, and a cached record of whether you bought Remove Ads are stored on your device. Deleting the app deletes this data.

Usage statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase). The game uses Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the game is played, so we can fix difficulty and bugs. It records a small set of game events (level started, with the level number; level finished, with the level number and stars; Daily puzzle played; Daily puzzle completed, with the stars; sign-in) and, automatically, screen views, sessions and in-app purchase events. With these, Google's software collects an app-instance identifier, basic device and app information (model, OS version, app version, language) and an approximate location (country or region) derived from a masked IP address. We do not send your name, email or photo to Analytics, we don't set a user ID in Analytics, collection of the advertising ID by Analytics is turned off, Google signals and ad-personalisation sharing are turned off, and the game sends no crash or diagnostic reports. Usage statistics are collected whether or not you sign in, under the app-instance identifier.

Your choices: you can turn usage statistics off at any time in Settings (Settings > Privacy > Share usage stats); the game then stops collecting and sending them. In the EEA, UK and Switzerland, usage statistics also follow the choice you make in Google's consent message: if you don't consent, the game sends no usage statistics at all. You can change that choice in Settings > Privacy & ad consent.

We do not collect your phone number, contacts, photos from your device, precise location, or payment card details. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture link from Google (section 4a); otherwise we receive none of these.

2. Advertising (Google AdMob)

The free version shows ads served only by Google AdMob (no other ad networks and no mediation): optional rewarded ads you choose to watch (for a hint or an extra peg) and occasional full-screen ads between levels. To serve, cap and measure ads and prevent fraud, Google's Mobile Ads SDK may collect device and usage data such as IP address (which may be used to estimate your general location), device and app information, app and ad interactions, diagnostic and performance data, and, where permitted, your device's Android advertising ID.

How Google uses this data: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services and Google Privacy Policy.

3. In-app purchase (Remove Ads)

Remove Ads is a one-time purchase processed entirely by Google Play. We never receive your payment details. The store only tells the game that the purchase succeeded, so the game can turn off interstitial ads and restore the purchase on a new device. See the Google Privacy Policy.

4. Google Play Games Services (optional)

You can play the whole game without signing in. If you use Google Play Games, it may sign you in automatically when the game starts (depending on your Play Games settings), or you can sign in from the game's Profile or Settings screen. While you are signed in, the game sends your Play Games player ID, your scores, your unlocked achievements and your saved games to Google through Google's Play Games software, and shows your Play Games nickname on your phone. Google handles this data under its own privacy policy. The game uses it only to:

We don't store or copy your player ID or nickname anywhere. You can sign out, or change visibility and profile settings, in the Google Play Games app. See the Google Privacy Policy.

4a. Sortwise account (Google sign-in, optional)

You can play the whole game as a guest. If you tap Sign in with Google on the Profile screen, Google's Firebase Authentication creates a Sortwise account linked to your Google account. It stores:

The game shows your name and profile picture on the Profile screen and your email in Settings > Account. The game reads the picture link from your sign-in on the phone, loads the picture from Google and caches it only on your phone; it never stores the picture or its link in your cloud save. (Google's Firebase Authentication keeps the profile details your Google account provides, including the picture link, as part of your sign-in record.)

Cloud sync (Cloud Firestore). While you are signed in, the game stores one record for your account in Google's Cloud Firestore: your campaign progress (levels completed, stars and moves, highest level unlocked, hint balance, play-streak stats, unlocked achievements), your Daily puzzle results and monthly trophies, whether you bought Remove Ads (a cached flag; Google Play remains the record of the purchase), the app version and the time of the last sync. Your name and email are not stored in this record. It is used only to back up your progress and sync it between your phones. Only you (signed in) can read or change it. This is separate from, and in addition to, Play Games cloud save (section 5).

Sign out any time in Settings > Account. Your progress stays on the phone and syncing stops.

4b. Who processes the data

Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Analytics) is provided by Google, which processes this data on our behalf as our service provider under the Firebase and Google Analytics terms (https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy). The Firestore database is located in Google's multi-region Europe location (eur3). Data is encrypted in transit (TLS). Google may process data outside your country under its own safeguards.

5. Cloud save

When you are signed in, the game keeps two backups through Google Play Games Saved Games: (1) your campaign progress (levels completed, stars and moves, highest level unlocked, hint balance, play-streak stats, unlocked achievements, last update time), and (2) your Daily puzzle results and monthly trophies. They contain no contact or payment data and no purchase record. Google stores them under its policies. You can delete them by deleting the game's saved data in your Play Games settings, or by deleting your Play Games profile.

6. Children

Sortwise is intended for players aged 13 and over and is not directed to children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. Data that leaves your device goes to Google: for ads (section 2), usage statistics (section 1), and, if you use them, Play Games (sections 4 and 5) and your optional Sortwise account (section 4a). Players under 13 should not sign in. Ads are limited to general-audience (G-rated) content. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal data through the game, contact us at vladimir.dutan@gmail.com and we will help remove it. In the EEA, where a higher age of digital consent applies, ad consent is handled through Google's consent message.

You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your personal data, the right to data portability, and the right to withdraw consent at any time (Settings > Privacy & ad consent) without affecting earlier processing. If you have a Sortwise account, we can access, export or delete your account data; email vladimir.dutan@gmail.com from, or naming, the Google account you signed in with. For Play Games and ad data, Google handles requests directly. You may also complain to your local data protection authority.

International transfers: Google may process data outside your country under its own transfer safeguards. See also Google's privacy frameworks.

8. Retention

8a. Deleting your account and data

9. Changes

If this policy changes, we will update this page and the effective date above.

10. Contact

Dutz Studios, vladimir.dutan@gmail.com