Privacy Policy for Sudoku-cat
Effective Date: 1 September 2026
Sudoku-cat is provided by The Playing Cat ("we", "us", or "our"). This Privacy Policy applies to Sudoku-cat on all supported platforms, including Android, iOS, and Windows, and to both paid and ad-supported editions. It explains what information the game and its service providers collect, how it is used and shared, how long it is retained, and your choices and rights. Some practices differ by platform and edition, as explained below.
1. Information We Collect
Information You Provide
Sudoku-cat does not require an account and does not ask for your name, email address, phone number, postal address, or payment information. If you purchase a paid version, the applicable app store processes the purchase and payment information under its own terms and privacy policy; we do not receive your full payment-card details. If you contact us, we receive your email address and message so that we can respond.
Game, Device, and Performance Information
When you use the game, Sudoku-cat automatically collects and sends limited pseudonymous information to our servers, including:
- A randomly generated installation identifier and a temporary session identifier
- Platform, operating-system version, and app version
- Device manufacturer, model, device type, and form factor
- Display dimensions, density, orientation, rotation, and refresh rate
- Performance information, including page or screen name, rendering frame rate, sample duration, rendered-frame count, reduced-animation status, and timestamps
- Gameplay information, including difficulty, puzzle identifier, play time, score, win or loss result, and hints used
- Network information necessarily received by our servers, such as IP address and request time
The installation identifier does not contain your name or contact details, but it allows events from the same installation to be associated and is therefore pseudonymous rather than fully anonymous.
Information Stored on Your Device
Game preferences, local statistics, pending results, and limited diagnostics may be stored locally. You can remove this information by clearing the app's data or uninstalling it, subject to your device's backup settings.
2. Edition-Specific Advertising and Purchases
Ad-Supported Editions
Ad-supported editions of Sudoku-cat on Android display advertisements supplied by Google AdMob. Depending on your region, settings, consent choices, and Google's configuration, Google and its advertising partners may process IP address and approximate location derived from it; advertising and other device or app identifiers; device, app, diagnostic, and interaction information; and information used to serve, personalize where permitted, limit, secure, and measure ads and prevent fraud.
Where required, an ad-supported edition asks for advertising consent before using information for personalized advertising. You can review or change available advertising privacy choices from the game's About page and through your device or Google account. Withdrawing consent does not necessarily remove advertisements; non-personalized or limited ads may still appear.
See Google's Privacy Policy and How Google uses information from apps that use its services.
Paid Editions
Paid editions of Sudoku-cat, which may be available on Android, iOS, Windows, or other supported platforms, do not display advertisements. Google AdMob and its advertising partners do not receive information from a paid edition for advertising. Purchases are processed by the store through which you obtain the game, subject to that store's terms and privacy policy.
3. How We Use Information
We use this information to operate the game and provide worldwide puzzle statistics; save and synchronize results; understand usage and balance difficulty; measure performance and compatibility; diagnose problems; prevent abuse, fraud, and security threats; comply with law; and enforce our terms.
We do not use our installation identifier to determine your real-world identity, and we do not sell personal or sensitive user data.
4. How Information Is Shared
Information may be disclosed to:
- Google AdMob and its advertising partners, only when you use an ad-supported Android edition, to provide, personalize where permitted, secure, and measure advertisements
- Platform and app-store providers, such as Google Play, Apple's App Store, or the Microsoft Store, where needed to distribute the game, process purchases, verify licences, provide updates, or support platform and store functionality
- Hosting and infrastructure providers that process information for us to operate and secure our servers
- Authorities or other parties when reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights or safety, investigate abuse, or establish or defend legal claims
- A successor organization in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale, subject to applicable law
Service providers may process information only for the services they provide to us, except where their own terms and policies apply, such as platform and app-store providers and, for ad-supported Android editions, Google and its advertising partners.
5. Security
Data sent between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit using HTTPS. We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards, including access restrictions, to protect stored information. No transmission or storage system is completely secure.
6. Data Retention and Deletion
We retain installation-level gameplay and performance telemetry for no longer than 24 months after collection, unless a longer period is reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, legal compliance, or resolving a dispute. Routine server logs containing IP addresses are retained for up to 30 days, unless needed for those purposes. Aggregated or permanently de-identified statistics may be kept longer because they can no longer reasonably be linked to an installation or individual. For ad-supported Android editions, advertising data is retained by Google and its partners under their own policies. App stores retain purchase and transaction information under their own policies.
You may request deletion of information associated with your installation by emailing support@theplayingcat.com with the subject "Sudoku-cat data deletion request." Because the game has no accounts, we may ask for limited information needed to locate the relevant installation data. If we cannot reasonably associate stored data with your installation, we will explain that limitation. We will respond and complete verified requests within the period required by applicable law.
7. Children's Privacy
Sudoku-cat is intended for a general audience and is not directed specifically to children. We do not knowingly request names, contact details, or other directly identifying information from children. In an ad-supported Android edition, advertising and device information may nevertheless be processed as described in this policy. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, contact us so that we can investigate and delete it where appropriate.
8. Your Choices and Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information; object to or restrict processing; withdraw consent; or complain to a data-protection authority. Contact us using the details below. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that occurred before withdrawal.
If you use an ad-supported Android edition, you may reset or limit use of the advertising identifier through your device settings and review available advertising privacy choices within the game. On all platforms and editions, you may delete locally stored game data by clearing the app's data, where the platform offers that option, or by uninstalling it.
9. International Processing
Our service providers may process information in countries other than where you live. Where required, we use appropriate safeguards for international transfers of personal information.
10. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this policy when our practices, services, or legal obligations change. We will post the revised policy here and update the Effective Date. If a change requires consent under applicable law, we will request it separately.
11. Contact Us
The Playing Cat is the developer responsible for Sudoku-cat and the privacy contact for the game.
Email: support@theplayingcat.com
Website: https://theplayingcat.com