Overview
AbsoluteNoobStudio ("we", "us", "our") develops and operates HydroValve, a pipe-routing puzzle game for iOS and Android. This policy explains what information is handled when you play HydroValve. The short version: HydroValve asks for very little. Your progress lives on your device. To post to the world leaderboards you clock in with a player account — as a guest, or with Apple or Google — and the only things that leave your device are a player ID, a display name, and your scores, plus the technical data our advertising and purchase providers need to do their jobs. You can delete your account, and everything attached to it, from inside the game at any time.
What we collect
On your device only: game progress, settings, personal bests, streaks, achievements, and your lifetime play statistics (runs, levels cleared, time played). These are stored locally and never uploaded by us. Deleting the app deletes them.
Through your player account: a player ID, a display name, and — if you sign in with Apple or Google — the email address those services share with us. See Player accounts.
Through the world leaderboards: your display name, level reached, run time, and a timestamp, attached to your player ID. See World records.
Separately, advertising data is handled by Google AdMob and purchase receipts by your app store and RevenueCat, each described below.
Player accounts
When you first open HydroValve you choose how to clock in: Continue with Apple, Continue with Google, or Play as guest. All three create a player account with Firebase Authentication, a Google service, which issues a random player ID. That ID is what your leaderboard entries are stored under.
- Guest accounts hold no personal information at all — just the random ID and a display name you can choose. A guest account lives on the device it was created on; if you delete the app, it is gone.
- Apple or Google sign-in lets your account follow you across devices and reinstalls. We receive the name and email address the provider shares with us. Apple lets you hide your real email behind a relay address, and we recommend it. Your email is held by Firebase Authentication for account management (for example, recognising you on a new device) and is never shown in the game, published on leaderboards, or used to contact you. We do not receive or store your password.
- A guest can link an Apple or Google account later from the Profile page; scores are kept.
Display name. Your display name appears on the public leaderboards. It is taken from your sign-in provider, or from Game Center (iOS) or Play Games (Android) if you use those, and you can change it at any time on the Profile page. Please do not use personal information as a display name.
Deleting your account. Open Profile → Delete account. This permanently deletes your Firebase account and removes every leaderboard entry stored under your ID. It cannot be undone. Local progress on your device is not affected. If you can no longer access the app, see our account deletion page.
Firebase Authentication is operated by Google. See Firebase's privacy documentation.
World records (leaderboards)
Each game mode keeps one best entry per player. When you set a record we upload your display name, the level reached, the run time, and a timestamp, stored under your player ID in Google Firebase Realtime Database on servers in the European Union (Belgium). The daily-shift board works the same way, one entry per player per day. Leaderboard entries are publicly visible to other players in the in-game records screen. No device identifiers, email addresses, or other personal details are attached to entries. Entries are removed automatically when you delete your account, or on request — email us with your display name and the mode.
Advertising (Google AdMob)
HydroValve shows an occasional full-screen advert after a failed run, and offers an optional "second chance" advert you can choose to watch. Adverts are served by Google AdMob, which may process device information such as advertising identifiers, IP address, device type, and ad-interaction data in accordance with Google's policies.
In the UK and European Economic Area you will be asked for consent through Google's consent dialog before personalised ads are shown; if you decline, ads are non-personalised. On iOS, the App Tracking Transparency prompt lets you refuse tracking, in which case ads are likewise non-personalised. Purchasing Remove Ads permanently disables the full-screen adverts (the optional rewarded advert remains available, and only ever plays when you choose it).
Purchases
The Remove Ads purchase is processed entirely by the App Store or Google Play — we never see your payment details. To validate purchases and restore them on reinstall, receipts are processed by RevenueCat, which assigns a random anonymous identifier to your app installation. This identifier is not linked to your name or contact details. See RevenueCat's Privacy Policy.
Our website
On absolutenoobstudio.co.uk we use Google Analytics only if you accept analytics cookies via the banner. It may collect pages viewed, approximate location, browser and device type. See Google's Privacy Policy.
How we share information
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it except with the service providers named above (Google, RevenueCat) acting on our or the platforms' behalf, when required by law, or to protect our rights. Leaderboard entries are public by design, as described above.
Retention and security
Local game data stays on your device until you delete the app or clear its data. Your player account and leaderboard entries are retained until you delete the account (in-game, or via the deletion page), after which they are removed from our systems; Firebase may hold residual copies briefly in backups. Advertising and purchase data are retained by Google and RevenueCat under their own policies. We take reasonable measures to protect data in our control, but no system is completely secure.
Children
HydroValve is suitable for a general audience and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The game can be played entirely as a guest, which uploads no personal data. Where consent frameworks apply, adverts default to non-personalised unless consent is given by someone able to give it. If you believe a child has created an account or posted personal information as a display name, contact us and we will delete it.
Your rights
Depending on your location — including under UK and EU data protection law — you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict the use of personal information, and to object to certain processing. You can delete your account and leaderboard entries yourself from the Profile page. For anything else — including access requests, or data held by Google or RevenueCat — we will help direct any request we can't fulfil ourselves. Contact us at admin@absolutenoobstudio.co.uk.
Updates to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will update the "Last updated" date above and may be flagged in the game or on this website.
Contact us
AbsoluteNoobStudio
Website: absolutenoobstudio.co.uk
Email: admin@absolutenoobstudio.co.uk