Privacy policy

Effective 6 November 2026 · Applies to the Android and iPhone apps Startup Office (com.scgames.startupoffice: the package name on Google Play and the bundle ID on the App Store) published by SC Games.

1. What we collect

1.1 Anonymous gameplay telemetry

To learn how far players get and where the game breaks, the app sends a small set of events to a server we run on Cloudflare. Each event carries:

• Install ID — a random identifier generated on your device the first time the app runs. It is not your advertising ID, not a hardware serial and not derived from any property of your device. Reinstalling the app creates a new one.
• Session ID — a random token minted each time you open the app, used to group events from one play session and to discard duplicate deliveries.
• App version and platform — the app version, the version of your saved game, and which app sent the event: android, ios or web (a browser build we test with). This is the operating system family only, never the device model or the OS version.
• Event time and order — when the event happened by your device's clock, and a running number that puts one session's events in order and lets the server discard duplicate deliveries.
• Session events — when a session starts and ends, which in-game goals you completed, and whether you reached the IPO. The start of a session also carries how many sessions this install has had, how many days ago it was installed, whether the device has a touchscreen, which save slot is in use, and a random ID for that saved game, created on your device like the install ID. Goals, the IPO and the end of a session carry progress figures: the number of goals completed, play time in this session and in total, in-game valuation and money, investor points and how many times you have gone public. The end of a session adds the number of floors, rooms, staffed seats and products, how many errors occurred, how many times START was pressed, whether the game screen was reached and running, and which step of the walkthrough you were on. These are counts, numbers, yes/no values and fixed names chosen by us.
• Error reports — when the game hits an error, we receive the error type and its name (for example TypeError), the file, line and column in our own code where it happened, a numeric hash of the message, and how many times it repeated. The message text itself never leaves the device, because it could contain something you typed.
• Ad events — one record each time you tap to watch a rewarded ad or tap a plane flying past: what it was for (the welcome-back bonus, ending a deal early, or the ad plane), the outcome (watched, no ad available, failed, closed early, an hourly or daily limit reached, or a free plane tap), a short reason code when no ad played, and which reward you picked (cash or a time skip). They contain no advertising ID, ad unit ID, ad network name or revenue figure.
• Return events — when you come back after time away, whether by starting the app or by returning to it from the background: how long you were away (rounded to the second under a minute, to the minute under an hour, then to five minutes), whether offline earnings were paid and, if not, which of the game's checks held them back, whether the app saw itself go to the background, and how far the device's clock jumped, rounded the same way.
• Test markers — a marker on every event from a developer or tester install, and whether the developer cheat tools were ever turned on for that saved game, so that we can leave those runs out of the statistics.

Telemetry never includes free text of any kind. Product names you invent in the game, leaderboard usernames, feedback, device model, IP-derived location or contacts are not part of it. Our telemetry server accepts only the exact fields listed above and drops anything else.

You can turn telemetry off at any time in the app under Settings → Diagnostics → Share anonymous progress data. When it is off nothing is collected, and any events waiting to be sent are discarded.

1.2 Optional leaderboard

The global leaderboard is opt-in. You only appear on it if you choose a username and join. When you do, we store on our server:

• the username you typed (3–16 characters; usernames are checked against a filter and must be unique);
• your install ID, which links the entry to your device so you can rename or leave;
• your highest and current in-game valuation, and the time of your last update;
• a copy of your office layout, refreshed at most about once an hour while you play.

Other players can see your username and score. Please do not use your real name or other personal information as a username. You can rename or leave from the leaderboard screen at any time; leaving deletes your entry immediately.

Your office layout. Through the leaderboard, other players can open a read-only view of a copy of your office layout, attached to your public username: the rooms you built, the role at each desk (never a person's name), your shelves, racks and coolers, and room fittings such as garbage cans. It contains no money, orders, products, progress figures such as research or valuation, nothing you typed, and no personal data. The copy is deleted when your leaderboard entry is deleted — when you leave, or when the entry expires after 90 days without an update.

1.3 Advertising (Google AdMob)

Startup Office shows optional rewarded video ads through Google AdMob, on Android and on iPhone. Ads are only played when you tap to watch one. To serve and measure ads, Google may collect your device's advertising ID (on iPhone, only if you allow tracking, see below), ad interaction data (impressions, clicks, whether a video was completed), coarse location derived from your IP address, and device and app information such as model, OS version and app version. Google processes this data under its own privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy. How Google uses information from apps that use its services is described at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

On iPhone, the first time you tap to watch an ad, iOS shows Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt, which asks whether the app may track you. Only if you choose Allow can Google's ad software read your device's advertising identifier (IDFA). If you choose Ask App Not to Track, it does not get that identifier, and ads still play, just without it, so they may be less relevant to you. The prompt never appears before you ask for an ad. You can change your answer at any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

Where the law requires it (for example in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and in US states with privacy laws), the app asks for your consent using Google's User Messaging Platform before personalised ads are shown; on iPhone this comes after Apple's prompt. You can change your choice later in the app under Settings → Diagnostics → Ad privacy options, which appears wherever this consent applies. On Android, you can reset or delete your advertising ID at any time from your device's Google settings (Settings → Google → Ads).

SC Games does not receive your advertising ID and does not combine ad data with gameplay telemetry.

1.4 Feedback you send us (optional)

From time to time the app shows an in-game announcement with a Respond button. If you use it, the text you write is sent to our server together with your install ID. If you tick the box asking for a reply and enter an email address, that address is stored with your message; if you do not ask for a reply, no email address is kept. This is the only place the app can ever collect an email address, and only because you typed it.

1.5 What stays on your device

Your saved game, settings, the telemetry opt-out switch and the install ID are stored locally on your device. The app has no cloud save. Uninstalling the app deletes all of it.

1.6 What we do not collect

No account, no name, no email address (except as described in 1.4), no phone number, no contacts, no photos or files, no precise location, no microphone or camera access, no payment information (the game has no in-app purchases), and no data from other apps.

2. Why we collect it

Data	Purpose
Gameplay telemetry	Analytics: understanding where players stop, which goals are reached, and whether saved games migrate correctly between versions. App stability: finding and fixing crashes and errors.
Leaderboard entry and office layout	App functionality: showing your username, score and office layout to other players, and letting you rename or leave.
Advertising data (Google)	Advertising: showing and measuring the rewarded ads that fund the game, and preventing fraud.
Feedback and optional email	Developer communication: reading your feedback and replying if you asked us to.

We do not use any of this data for tracking you across other apps or websites, and we do not build advertising profiles. Google, which serves the ads, may use your device's advertising ID to show you personalised ads and to measure them, but only where you have allowed it: on iPhone, if you chose Allow in Apple's tracking prompt; where the law requires consent, if you agreed in the consent form; and on Android, unless you have deleted the advertising ID in your device's Google settings.

3. Who we share it with

• Cloudflare, Inc. hosts our telemetry, leaderboard and feedback servers and the database behind them. Cloudflare processes the data on our behalf as a service provider.
• Google LLC (AdMob) receives advertising data directly from your device when an ad is requested or shown, as described in section 1.3. Google acts as an independent controller for that data.
• Google Play handles app distribution and may provide us with aggregated install and crash statistics under its own terms.
• Apple distributes the iPhone app through the App Store and may provide us with aggregated install and crash statistics under its own terms.

We do not sell your data, and we do not share it with anyone else, except if we are required to by law.

4. How long we keep it

• Telemetry: kept for 90 days. Events older than that are deleted automatically by a nightly job on our server. We also delete a device's telemetry on request (section 5).
• Leaderboard: your entry, and the copy of your office layout attached to it, is kept until you leave. Entries that have not been updated for 90 days are removed automatically together with their office layout, which also frees the username.
• Feedback: kept until we have acted on it, or deleted on request. Email addresses given for a reply are deleted once we have replied, or on request.
• Advertising data: retained by Google according to Google's policies, not by us.

5. Your choices and how to delete your data

• Stop telemetry: Settings → Diagnostics → turn off Share anonymous progress data.
• Leave the leaderboard: open the leaderboard and choose Leave. Your entry and your office layout are deleted immediately.
• Ads: where the consent form applies, change your choice under Settings → Diagnostics → Ad privacy options. On iPhone, change whether the app may track you in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. On Android, reset or delete your advertising ID in your device's Google settings. Rewarded ads are never forced; you only watch one if you tap to.
• Delete everything we hold about your device: email us at stonecitygames67@gmail.com. Include your install ID, which you can find and copy from Settings → Diagnostics → Copy Diagnostics, so that we can find your records — it is the only key we have. We delete the telemetry, leaderboard (including the office layout) and feedback records for that install ID and confirm by reply within 30 days.
• Uninstalling the app removes the saved game, settings and install ID from your device. Because the install ID is gone, we can no longer link server records to you; send us the ID before uninstalling if you also want those deleted.

If you live in a region that grants you additional rights (for example access, correction or portability under the GDPR or UK GDPR, or the rights under US state privacy laws), you can exercise them by contacting us at the address above. We will not treat you differently for doing so.

6. Children

Startup Office is not directed at children under 13 (or under the age of digital consent in your country), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. The app has no account, no chat and no way to enter personal details other than the optional leaderboard username and feedback form. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it. Ad requests for users we know or believe to be children are made with Google's child-directed treatment settings where applicable.

7. Security

All data is sent over HTTPS. Our servers accept only the fields described in this policy and reject anything else. Telemetry cannot carry free text, so a bug in the game cannot accidentally send us something you wrote. Server-side rate limits and validation protect the leaderboard and feedback endpoints. No system is perfectly secure, but we keep what we collect small so there is little to lose.

8. Where data is processed

Our servers run on Cloudflare's global network, so data may be processed in a country other than the one you live in. Google's ad services are likewise global. Where required, transfers rely on standard contractual clauses or the equivalent safeguards offered by these providers.

9. Changes to this policy

If we change what the app collects, we will update this page, change the date at the top, and mention it in the app's release notes or an in-game announcement. Older versions of the app keep behaving as described in the policy that applied when they were released.

10. Contact

SC Games
Email: stonecitygames67@gmail.com
Support page: Support