BumuStudios·Türkçe sürüm·ImageToPdf policy·PdfPages policy

Who this policy is from

This policy covers the Android game Word Lantern: Word Search (shown on your phone as Word Lantern), distributed through Google Play under the package name com.bumustudios.wordhunt. It is written by the game's developer, BumuStudios, an independent developer. Questions can be sent to the address in Contact.

What the game is

Word Lantern is a word search game. Letters fill a square grid; you drag across a word, or tap its first and then its last letter, to find it. There are endless Levels that grow from 8×8 to 14×14 grids, free play on 42 themes at four difficulties, and a daily puzzle with a streak. The word lists come in eight languages — English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Turkish — and the word language can be chosen separately from the menu language. No account, no subscription, no energy system.

The game runs entirely on your device

This is the most important section, so it is stated plainly:

• The words and the puzzles never come from a server. All eight word lists are built into the game itself, and every grid — each level, each themed puzzle and the daily puzzle — is generated on your device. Nothing is downloaded to make a puzzle, and no network request is involved.
• Your play and your progress are not uploaded. The game has no backend of its own. The words you find, your times, your stars, your daily streak and your puzzle in progress are not transmitted anywhere, and there is no online leaderboard. The usage statistics described below record when the game is opened, which screens are shown and for how long — never the words you find, your times or your progress.
• The game reads no files. It requests no storage, camera, microphone, contacts or location permission — not on any Android version.
• The same puzzle for everyone, without watching anyone. A level, and the daily puzzle of a given date, is the same grid for every player of the same word language, because it is computed from a fixed starting value (the level number, or the date, and the language) rather than fetched or tailored. Your play is looked at only to keep the game going on your device: to mark found words, to count stars by the hints you used, and, when no hint ad is available, to offer a free hint after 60 seconds without a new word.

What the game stores locally

The game keeps a small amount of state in its own private storage on the device. None of it is personal information, and none of it is sent to the developer:

• your theme, text size, menu language, word language, sound, vibration and timer choices;
• your progress: the highest unlocked level, the stars and best time of each level, your best daily time and daily streak, and how many puzzles you have solved and words you have found;
• a snapshot of an unfinished puzzle, so it can be resumed after a restart;
• whether the one-time "remove ads" purchase is active;
• a counter of how many interstitial ads have been shown, used to keep ad frequency low.

Your settings, your progress and your unfinished puzzle are included in Android's own backup, so that a reinstall or a new phone does not start again from level 1: if backup is turned on on your phone, Android copies them to the backup kept in your Google account and carries them across when you transfer to a new device. That backup is made and stored by Android and Google under your own account; the developer has no access to it. The purchase flag and the ad counter are excluded from backup and from device-to-device transfer (the purchase is restored from Google Play instead), and so are all the shared preferences and databases in the game's storage, which is where Google's advertising, consent and analytics components keep their own settings.

Google's advertising and consent components keep their settings on the device under Google's control, and the Google Firebase components described below keep three random identifiers in the game's private storage: a Firebase installation ID, the Analytics app-instance ID and a Crashlytics installation ID. Unlike the list above, these identifiers travel with the usage statistics and crash reports. Uninstalling the game or clearing its data removes everything the game has stored on the device, these identifiers included.

Advertising — Google AdMob and its mediation partners

The game is free and is supported by ads served through Google AdMob (Google Ireland Limited / Google LLC, depending on your region). AdMob is embedded in the game as a software development kit, and it does collect data, independently of the developer. When ads are served, AdMob and Google's advertising partners may collect and process:

Mediation partners

The game also contains the software of six other ad networks, which AdMob can call on through its mediation feature: AppLovin, Unity Ads, Liftoff Monetize (Vungle), Meta Audience Network, Mintegral and Pangle. When the game asks for an ad, AdMob may pass that request to one of these partners, and the partner then serves the ad. The partner that receives a request collects the same categories of data as in the table above — advertising ID, approximate location derived from your IP address, device information and ad interaction events — and processes them as an independent company under its own privacy policy:

• AppLovin Privacy Policy
• Unity Game Player and App User Privacy Policy
• Liftoff Privacy Policy
• Meta Privacy Policy
• Mintegral Privacy Policy
• Pangle Privacy Policy

The consent choices you make in the form described under "Your advertising choices" are passed on to these partners in the industry-standard form that Google's consent component writes on your device, so they apply to the partners as well as to Google.

What the ads do and do not receive

The game does not request GPS or precise location permission, and it does not send the words you find, your times or your progress to AdMob or to any partner. The developer receives no personal data from AdMob or the partners — only aggregated, anonymous reporting such as impression and revenue totals.

Because ads require an advertising identifier, the game declares the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission. The ad formats used are:

• a banner at the bottom of the Home screen — never on the puzzle screen;
• an interstitial when you leave a finished puzzle, whichever button you use (Next level or Next puzzle, Play again, or Back to home) — never during a puzzle, not after the first two puzzles you finish, and at least 45 seconds apart;
• an optional rewarded ad behind the Hint button in a puzzle: the button appears only when an ad is ready, and watching the ad to the end circles the first letter of a word you have not found yet. When no ad is available and you have gone 60 seconds without finding a word, a free hint is offered instead;
• an app-open ad when you come back to the game after leaving it — not when you first launch it, at most once every four hours, and not when you return from the privacy policy, the rating page or an e-mail you opened from the game.

How Google handles this data is governed by Google's own policies, not by this one:

• Google Privacy Policy
• How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services
• AdMob and third-party advertising

Usage statistics and crash reports — Google Firebase

To see how the game is used and to find and fix crashes, the developer has built two Google Firebase services into it: Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics. Google provides them as the developer's data processor, and they are active only in the version of the game distributed through Google Play. The game adds nothing of its own to what they collect — no custom events, no user ID or user properties, no custom keys or log messages — so only their automatic collection applies:

Analytics records that a screen was shown and for how long, not what you do on it, and a crash report shows where in the code the crash happened, not your content. Neither service receives your name, your email address or any account details.

In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the consent form described below under "Your advertising choices" also covers Analytics: your choices there decide whether Analytics may store its identifiers on your device and whether the data may be used for advertising. Use of the data for advertising ("ad user data") and for ad personalisation stays off there until you consent. You can change your choice at any time from Settings → Privacy options; the entry appears where it is required. The game has no separate switch for the usage statistics or the crash reports; uninstalling it stops both.

Analytics keeps data linked to an installation's identifiers for no longer than 14 months; aggregated reports that contain no identifiers may be kept longer. Crashlytics keeps crash reports for 90 days.

Google processes this data on the developer's behalf, as its data processor, under the Firebase and Google Analytics data processing terms. It may be processed on Google's servers outside your country, including in the United States, and it is encrypted in transit (TLS).

Google describes these services here:

• Privacy and security in Firebase
• Google Privacy Policy

Purchases — Google Play Billing

The game offers one optional, one-time, non-consumable purchase that permanently removes the interrupting ads. There is no subscription and nothing recurring. The rewarded hint remains available after the purchase — it only ever plays when you ask it to.

The transaction is handled entirely by Google Play Billing. The developer never sees or receives your card number, bank details, billing address or full name. Google Play reports only aggregated sales figures, and Google Analytics for Firebase records that a purchase was made — product, name and price, with no payment details (see above). Inside the game, the purchase is recorded as a single true/false flag on your device, restored from your Google Play account when you reinstall or move to a new device.

The game also uses Google Play's in-app update service to ask whether a newer version is available. If one is, Google Play shows its own update prompt; if you accept, Google Play downloads the update.

Google's handling of payment data is covered by the Google Privacy Policy and Google Play's terms.

Your advertising choices

If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland

Before personalised ads are requested, the game shows a consent form built with Google's User Messaging Platform, where you choose what you allow. Your choice is stored on your device by Google's component and is respected on later launches, by Google and by the mediation partners listed above.

You can change your decision at any time: open the game, go to Settings → Privacy options, and the same form reappears. You may withdraw consent there. Withdrawing consent does not disable the game; you can keep playing, and ads may still be shown in a non-personalised form. The same choices also apply to Google Analytics for Firebase, as described above.

In US states with their own privacy laws

Where a US state privacy law applies, the same Google consent tooling handles the choices that law gives you, such as opting out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for advertising. Where such a choice is offered, it is available from the same Settings → Privacy options entry.

Everywhere else

The privacy options entry appears only where a consent choice is legally required, so you may not see it. You can still control advertising at the operating-system level: open Android Settings → Privacy → Ads (the exact path varies by manufacturer and Android version) to reset your advertising ID, or to delete it entirely, which stops apps from receiving a stable advertising identifier.

Removing ads completely

Buying the one-time ad removal stops the banner, interstitial and app-open ads altogether. The only ad left is the rewarded hint, which plays only when you tap its button; the game loads one in advance so that it is ready.

Permissions the game requests

These are the permissions the game declares itself. The Google and ad-network components built into it add a few more that Android grants at installation without asking you, such as Google Play's billing and install-referrer permissions, Android's advertising-services permissions, and Wi-Fi-state and wake-lock permissions used by those components; but the game requests no storage, camera, contacts, microphone, location or account permissions on any Android version, and it shows no permission prompt.

Children

This is a general-audience game. It is not directed at children under 13 (under 16 in the EEA, or the equivalent minimum age in your country), it is not listed in a children's category, and it is not designed for or marketed to children. The developer does not knowingly collect any personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the ad, analytics or crash-reporting services in this game, contact the address below and contact Google, whose services would hold it.

Data retention

The developer runs no server and keeps no user data of its own. The usage statistics and crash reports are held by Google on the developer's behalf: Analytics data linked to an installation's identifiers for no longer than 14 months (aggregated reports without identifiers may be kept longer), and crash reports for 90 days. Data held on your device stays there until you clear the game's data or uninstall it; a copy in your own Android backup is kept and deleted by Android and Google under your Google account's backup settings. Data collected by Google through AdMob and Google Play is retained according to Google's own retention schedules, described in the Google Privacy Policy, and data collected by a mediation partner according to that partner's own policy, linked above.

Legal bases and your rights

Where the GDPR (EU/UK) applies, the legal basis for personalised advertising is your consent, collected through the form described above and withdrawable at any time. Non-personalised advertising, fraud prevention and the security of the ad services rely on legitimate interests. Processing your purchase is necessary to perform the contract you enter when you buy ad removal. The usage statistics and crash reports rely on the developer's legitimate interest in keeping the game working and understanding, in aggregate, how it is used; storing Analytics identifiers on your device and any advertising use of the data follow your choices in the consent form.

Under the GDPR, and under Turkey's KVKK (Law No. 6698) on equivalent terms, you have the right to ask whether your personal data is processed, to access it, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent. You may also lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority — in Turkey, the Kişisel Verileri Koruma Kurumu (KVKK).

The usage statistics and crash reports are pseudonymous: they carry random identifiers, never your name or email address, so the developer cannot tell which records are yours. Where the consent form is shown, you can withdraw consent at any time in Settings → Privacy options, and you can object to this processing, or ask about it, by writing to the address below. Uninstalling the game or clearing its data ends the link to the old identifiers, and data already sent then expires on the schedule above. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID in Android's settings at any time. Requests concerning advertising data must be directed to Google, or to the mediation partner concerned, as the party that holds it, using the tools in the Google Privacy Policy or in that partner's policy. For anything else, or for help finding the right route, write to the address below.

Security

The game's own data stays in its private storage on your device, which other apps cannot read. Google's components send their data encrypted in transit (TLS); how the mediation partners secure the data they receive is described in their own policies, linked above. The developer holds no copy of your data, so there is no developer database that could be breached.

Changes to this policy

If the game's data practices change — for example if a new third-party service is added — this page will be updated and the "last updated" date at the top will change. Material changes will also be reflected in the game's Google Play listing. Continuing to play after an update means you accept the revised policy.

This is the first version of this policy, published with the game's first release.

Contact

For any question about this policy or about privacy in this game, write to: