Effective date: · Last updated:
This notice describes what the Otter Element game does with data. It is written from how the game and its ranking service actually work, not from a general template.
Otter Element is published by Otterly Games. In this notice, “the developer” means Otterly Games. The notice covers the Otter Element Android game and the Otter Element ranking service it talks to.
These stay in your browser or app storage and are not sent anywhere unless a section below says so:
The game does not run analytics or advertising trackers of its own. Google’s ad SDK, described below, is separate.
Export save writes a file with your campaign only. It does not include the secret above, and it does not include Lab Siege plans, progress, checkpoints, uploads waiting to be sent or paid supplies. Saves from older versions of the app may still hold purchase or recovery data that the app cannot confirm is safe to transfer. Export is then blocked; the app says so and changes nothing. Import and Undo change only the campaign. They do not carry Lab Siege data with them, and Lab Siege data left on the device is not guaranteed to be the data the imported or restored campaign was using.
Lab Siege data from older versions of the app that is not marked for the install it is running under is kept once on this device only, in a private area that is not tied to any install ID. Your Lab Siege progress and supplies stay across reloads and changes of install ID. While Lab Siege is in that mode, the game does not upload scores, including any waiting to be sent, does not move campaign potions or rewards, and does not start new purchases. Lab Siege data that is marked for the current install works as normal.
If you play an event, Lab Siege or rankings, the app talks to the Otter Element ranking service, which runs on Microsoft Azure. Two kinds of install exist:
The app sends:
The service stores this as: a player record (name and replay checks), your best scores, leaderboards, Lab Siege state (roster, wallet and purchase counters), purchase fingerprints, and a profile record (your name and the time of its last change or activity). For secure installs it also stores the install ID, the hash of the secret and when the identity was created. Daily limits are counted only as totals, without install IDs.
Public boards show your public name, score and rank, and a public Otter ID. The public name is optional and visible to everyone, so choose one that does not identify you. The Otter ID is a scrambled code derived from your install ID. It is not the install ID, but it stays the same for your install. If you have not chosen a name, the game generates one.
The service keeps rate-limit counters in memory while it runs; they are not saved or logged by the app’s code. Like any web service, the platform that hosts it may process your IP address in its own logs; see What this notice does not cover.
Otter Element shows only rewarded ads, and only after you tap to watch one. There are no banners or pop-ups. Ads come from Google AdMob through the Google Mobile Ads SDK in the Android app.
To request and show an ad, the SDK sends data to Google. Google’s published disclosure for the Google Mobile Ads SDK lists the IP address, interactions with ads (such as taps and video views), diagnostic information, and device and account identifiers: the Android advertising ID (the app declares that permission), the app set ID and, where they apply, other identifiers related to accounts signed in on the device. The SDK may also use cookies or similar technologies. Google’s own privacy policy governs what it does with that data. These identifiers are Google’s and your device’s; they are separate from the install ID and public name used by rankings. The game does not ask for your Google account or email, and does not add your name, install ID or progress to ad requests.
Outside the Android app (for example in a web browser) the game simulates ads in its own screen and sends nothing to Google for them; the ad choices row does not appear there.
Paid Lab Siege supplies are bought through Google Play Billing. Google handles payment and your payment details; the game never receives them.
To keep rankings fair, the ranking service checks paid play against Google Play. When a build talks to the ranking service, a real purchase works like this:
This applies to both secure and older installs. For an older install, checking a new purchase does not turn it into a secure identity and does not give it the right to delete online records.
Purchases made before this check existed, or without the one-way code, cannot be matched to Google Play automatically. They are not treated as verified and stay pending, and the developer has no automatic way to assign them to an install. Your progress and supplies are kept.
A paid score that has not been confirmed with Google yet stays private and does not appear on public boards. Your progress and supplies are kept either way. When Google confirms the purchase, the score is published automatically.
Deleting your data does not erase your Google account, your Google Play purchases or Google’s records of them. Use Restore purchases after a device is erased.
Until you erase it, uninstall the app or clear its storage.
A profile that has been inactive for 90 days is removed by the ranking service, along with its ranking and Lab Siege copies. Reading your profile, changing your name and accepted scores count as activity. This is the service’s default setting.
Event records, including scores waiting for purchase confirmation, are kept for the event retention period, currently 8 weeks. This is not the same as the 90-day profile setting, and not all data expires after 90 days.
Records that stop a deleted install or a used store receipt from being used again are kept without an automatic expiry. They are not public and do not hold your name. See Deleting your data.
The normal way to delete your online data is to do it yourself in the app, without writing to the developer. Contacting the developer is only for installs that cannot do this in the app, and for privacy questions.
Settings → Your data → Delete my data asks the ranking service to delete your online records. Nothing on your device is erased until the service confirms. When it does, the app erases your campaign, settings and plans from the device and restarts. If you are offline or the service is busy, nothing is erased and you can try again. Trying again is safe even if an earlier attempt reached the service but the app never heard back.
The service deletes your chosen name, player and score records, leaderboard entries, Lab Siege state and purchase grants for this app. It keeps:
Public board responses fetched earlier can show the old entry for up to about 45 seconds. New responses are not cached. Your Google Play purchases stay with your Google Play account; use Restore purchases afterwards.
Older installs use an ID that is not secret, so the service cannot tell whether a request really comes from the owner. The same applies if the secret that proves ownership is missing or does not match. The app therefore does not try to delete these online records: Delete my data says so and offers only to erase this device. If you want the online records deleted, ask the developer (see Contact); the developer may need to ask for evidence of ownership. You can still erase your device from Settings, but that does not delete the online records, and the app then no longer holds the ID it would need to ask for them to be deleted. The 90-day inactivity rule in How long things are kept applies to these profiles too.
If the ranking service is not available, the app can erase this device alone. It says plainly that the online records stay.
Publisher: Otterly Games. For a privacy question about Otter Element, or to ask for the online records of an older install (or an install that has lost its secret) to be deleted, use the contact form on otterlygames.com and choose the topic “Otter Element privacy or data deletion”. You do not need the form to delete an install with a secure online identity: use Settings → Your data → Delete my data, described under Deleting your data. The form is for parents, carers and other adults and asks for an email address so that a reply is possible. The form service and how a message is handled are described in the general Privacy Policy. This notice does not list an email address or postal address of its own.
Please do not put passwords, purchase tokens, receipts, save files or any secret kept by the game in a message, and leave out children’s names, school, birth date, photos and other identifying details, as the form asks.
If this notice changes, the dates at the top of this notice change with it.