Privacy policy
Effective 14 October 2026 · Applies to the Dawnkeeper app for iPhone and Android, and to this website
Short version. Dawnkeeper has no account, and your progress is saved on your phone. The free version shows ads from Google AdMob between nights, plus ads you can choose to watch; a one-time purchase removes the ads between nights. The game also sends play statistics and crash reports to Google’s Firebase services, to balance the nights and fix bugs. In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, a consent form at first launch lets you decide for ads and statistics, and the Privacy choices button on the title screen reopens it at any time. On iPhone, Apple’s tracking request decides whether ads may use your advertising identifier. In the US states with a privacy law, the same button lets you opt out of the sale or sharing of your data for targeted ads. Elsewhere, statistics are on by default and you can turn them off on the title screen.
Who we are
Dawnkeeper is published by Hinoro Studio (EI), a sole-proprietor business registered in France (see the legal notice). For any question about your data, write to support@dawnkeeper.app.
What stays on your phone
The game saves the following in its own private storage on your phone:
- your progress: the forest, the night you are on, your stars, dawns in a row, your best night under each sky, deep nights, and the night in progress, so that it can resume where you left it;
- your settings: language, music and sounds, tuning, the hints you have already seen, your statistics choice and the themes and music you picked;
- your purchase: whether you bought the full game, so that it works offline, and when the last full-screen ad closed, to space the ads out;
- the play log: the last 600 game events (when each night started and ended, how it ended, what you did during it), which helps us understand the game during play tests. It never leaves your phone by itself: only if you copy it yourself (long press on DAWNKEEPER on the title screen, then Copy log) and paste it somewhere.
None of this is sent to us. It is deleted when you uninstall the game. Start over erases the forest and your progress, and keeps your settings, the play log and your purchase. If your phone backs up app data to iCloud or Google, this data is part of that backup, under Apple’s or Google’s terms and your phone’s settings.
Advertising
The free version of Dawnkeeper shows ads served by Google AdMob:
- a full-screen ad after a dawn, when you tap Next night, from the third night on: at most one every four minutes, never during a night and never after a lost night;
- an optional ad on the results screen after a dawn (Double tonight’s light), which you can choose to watch for extra light.
The full game removes the ads between nights; the ad you can choose to watch stays optional. Ads are limited to content suitable for all audiences, and they only appear when your phone is online: offline, the game plays without them.
To choose, show and measure ads and to prevent fraud, Google’s ad software in the app collects your IP address (from which Google derives an approximate location), information about your phone and the app (model, system, language, app version), your interactions with the ads, and diagnostic data. Where you allow it, it also uses your phone’s advertising identifier (IDFA on iPhone, advertising ID on Android).
Personalised ads, chosen from your activity in other apps and websites, are shown only when allowed: in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, only if you agree in the consent form; on iPhone, only if you also allow tracking when Apple asks. Otherwise, ads are non-personalised (chosen from the context, such as the app and your approximate location) or limited, and your data is only used to deliver and measure them and to prevent fraud.
Changing your mind: in Europe, the Privacy choices button (the shield at the top right of the title screen) reopens the consent form. In the US states with a privacy law, the same button opens Ad choices, Google’s form to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for targeted ads. On iPhone, tracking can be turned off in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. On Android, you can delete your advertising ID in your phone’s settings (Google › Ads on most phones).
For advertising, Google acts as an independent controller of this data, under the Google Privacy Policy; Google explains how it uses data from the apps that show its ads. In Europe, ads rely on the choices you make in the consent form (GDPR article 6(1)(a)), and delivering non-personalised ads safely also relies on our legitimate interest in funding the free game (article 6(1)(f)).
Play statistics
The game sends events about how nights go to Google Analytics for Firebase, a service operated by Google: where players get stuck, which nights are too hard or too easy, which powers are used. We use them to balance the game, never for advertising.
In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, they are sent only if you agree in the consent form (statistics are part of it), and the Privacy choices button changes your choice. Elsewhere, they are on by default, and you can turn them off at any time: with the Share play statistics switch under Privacy choices in the US states with a privacy law, and with the chart button at the top of the title screen everywhere else.
| Event | When | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| Game opened | The app starts | Language, nights played, night reached, how far the forest has healed, whether a night was resumed |
| Guided first night | The steps of the first night | Step reached, seconds taken, whether it was completed |
| Night started, night ended | Each night | Night number, attempt, length, sky, wish and depth; at the end: won or lost and why (gloom, tide, darkest hour, abandoned), time, light, stars, biggest light grown, how long the gloom touched the tree, the heart’s lowest strength, and how many times you launched, merged, lanced, pulsed and fed the heart |
| Night restarted, power unlocked, hint shown, setting changed, start over | When they happen | The night, the power, the hint or the setting concerned |
| In-app purchase | When you buy the full game | The product, its price and currency (recorded by Firebase itself) |
Firebase adds the phone model, operating system, app version, language, an approximate location (country and region, derived by Google from the connection; Google Analytics does not store IP addresses), and a random app-instance identifier that is reset if you reinstall the game. Statistics never contain your name, email, contacts, precise location or anything you typed, and we never try to link them to you.
Event-level data is kept for at most 14 months. Google processes these events on our behalf under the Firebase terms. Google may process data outside the European Union; such transfers are covered by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses. Where the GDPR applies, the legal basis is your consent (article 6(1)(a)), which you can withdraw at any time; elsewhere, it is our interest in improving the game, and you can object by turning statistics off.
Crash reports
Crash reports follow the same choice as statistics. If the game crashes, it sends a report through Firebase Crashlytics (Google), so that we can find and fix the bug. A report contains the phone model, operating system and app version, the state of the phone at the time (orientation, free memory and storage), the technical trace of the crash, the time, and a random Crashlytics installation identifier that is reset if you reinstall the game. It never contains your progress or anything personal. Reports are kept for 90 days, under the same conditions as the statistics above.
The full game
The full game (⋮ › Full game on the title screen) is a one-time purchase that removes the ads between nights and unlocks night themes, forest themes and a second music, which only change how the game looks and sounds. Payment is handled entirely by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play): we never see your payment details. The app keeps on your phone the fact that you bought it, so that it works offline, and Restore purchases brings it back on another phone through your Apple or Google account. No server of ours is involved.
What we do not do
- No account, no sign-in, no profile.
- We never sell your personal data for money, and we never share your progress or your play log. Some US state laws call letting Google use data for personalised ads a “sale” or “sharing”: you can opt out of it, as explained below.
- No access to your contacts, photos, camera, microphone or location. The only permission the game asks for is Apple’s tracking request on iPhone, for ads.
Apple and Google
Apple and Google may collect download statistics, crash reports and diagnostics about the app, according to your phone’s settings and their own privacy policies. We only see an anonymous summary of them in their developer consoles.
Children
Dawnkeeper is a game for a general audience. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. Ads in the game are limited to content suitable for all audiences.
This website
dawnkeeper.app is hosted on Firebase Hosting (Google). Like any host, Google records visitors’ IP addresses in its technical logs, for security and to run the service. The site uses no cookies, no analytics, no ads, and no third-party fonts or scripts.
Your rights
Under the GDPR and French law, you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, portability and objection, and you can withdraw your consent at any time with the Privacy choices button on the title screen. Your progress is on your phone, under your control: Start over or uninstalling the game deletes it. Statistics, crash reports and advertising data are not linked to your identity, so we cannot find yours by name: changing your choices stops what follows, and reinstalling the game resets its identifiers. You can also manage how Google uses data for ads at myadcenter.google.com.
US residents. If you live in a US state with a privacy law, such as California, you have the right to know what personal information is collected (described in this policy), to ask for its deletion, and to opt out of its sale or sharing for targeted advertising. To opt out, open Privacy choices on the title screen, then Ad choices (“Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information”). Refusing tracking on iPhone, or deleting your advertising ID on Android, also stops personalised ads. We will not treat you differently for using these rights.
For any request, write to support@dawnkeeper.app. When you write to us, we keep the conversation as long as needed to answer and follow up. You can also lodge a complaint with the CNIL, the French data protection authority (cnil.fr).
Changes
When this policy changes, the new version is published at dawnkeeper.app/privacy with its effective date. Important changes are also mentioned in the app’s release notes.
Contact
Hinoro Studio · support@dawnkeeper.app