Privacy Policy

Effective 1 November 2026

This policy covers the Dial-Up Arcade app for Android (com.dialuparcade.app), including Spud Cannon and any games added to it later. "We" and "us" means the developer of Dial-Up Arcade. We keep things small: there are no accounts or sign-ins, and we never ask for your name, email, contacts, photos or precise location.

The short version

• When you set a high score, the app sends your 3-letter initials and score to our world leaderboard, along with a random ID that identifies your copy of the app.
• The app shows ads from Google AdMob. Google collects device data, such as your advertising ID, to show and measure those ads.
• If you buy Remove Ads, Google Play handles the payment. We never see your card or bank details.
• Your settings and best scores are stored on your phone.

World leaderboard

The first time you set a new high score in a game, the app asks for 3 letters as your initials. Each time you beat your best score, the app sends these details to our leaderboard server:

• your initials (3 letters, A to Z)
• your score, and which game it is for
• a random player ID that the app creates when it first contacts the leaderboard. The ID isn't linked to your name, your Google account or your advertising ID. We use it only to keep one best score per player.

The leaderboard server is a Cloudflare Worker with a Cloudflare D1 database. We store your initials, best score, player ID and the time you set that score. Anyone who uses the app can see the top initials and scores. Player IDs are never shown to anyone.

To limit spam, the server also keeps the time of each player's latest submission and a one-way hash of their network (IP) address. Cloudflare is our hosting provider. It processes your IP address to deliver requests, and its request logs can include your IP address for a few days.

Leaderboard entries are kept for as long as the leaderboard runs. To have your entry removed, email us with the game, your initials and roughly what score you had. When the app loads the scoreboard, it sends your player ID so the server can show your own rank. Nothing else about you is sent.

Reports. If you tap Report on an entry, the app sends that entry's initials and score along with your own player ID. We store the report so we can review it. Your player ID is never shown to the person you reported.

Leaderboard rules

You agree to these rules when you post initials to the world leaderboard. The app shows the same rules on the initials screen.

• Your initials are shown to everyone who plays.
• No rude, hateful, sexual or otherwise offensive initials, and don't use initials to pretend to be someone else.
• No cheating, and no tampering with the app or the leaderboard server to post scores you didn't earn.
• If you see an entry that breaks these rules, open World High Scores, tap Report, then tap the entry. You can also email us.
• We review reports and remove entries that break these rules. We may ban players who keep breaking them from the leaderboard.

Ads (Google AdMob)

The app is free to play and shows two kinds of ad, both from Google AdMob:

• Rewarded ads. Once per play session, you can choose to watch an ad to keep your run going.
• Full-screen (interstitial) ads. These appear now and then between runs, after you tap AGAIN or MENU.

To show and measure ads, and to prevent ad fraud, Google's Mobile Ads SDK collects and shares data with Google, including:

• device identifiers, such as your Android advertising ID and app set ID
• your IP address, which can be used to estimate your general location
• how you interact with ads and the app, such as app launches, taps and ad views
• diagnostic information, such as app launch times and performance

Google may use this data to show personalized ads. See How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and Google's Privacy Policy. We ask AdMob to limit ads to content suitable for general audiences or with parental guidance.

Consent in the EEA, UK and Switzerland. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the app shows Google's consent form the first time you open it. You choose there whether Google may use your data for personalized ads. To change your answer later, tap Privacy choices at the bottom of the arcade menu.

Your advertising ID. You can reset or delete your advertising ID on your phone at any time. On most phones it's under Settings > Privacy > Ads (or Settings > Google > Ads). Without an advertising ID, Google shows ads that are less personalized.

Remove Ads purchase (Google Play Billing)

You can buy a one-time Remove Ads upgrade through Google Play. It stops full-screen ads and makes the keep-going continue free. Google Play handles the payment under Google Payments' privacy notice. The app only asks Google Play whether your Google account owns Remove Ads, so it can restore the upgrade after a reinstall. We never receive your payment details.

Data stored on your phone

The app stores these items in its own local storage on your phone. They aren't sent to us, apart from the leaderboard details described above:

• whether sound and music are on
• your best score in each game, how many times you've played, and whether you've seen each game's how-to-play screen
• your initials and your random player ID
• a high score waiting to be sent, if you were offline when you set it
• ad pacing counters (how many runs you've played and when the last full-screen ad appeared) and whether you own Remove Ads
• whether you've used this session's continue (this is cleared when you close the app)

To delete this data, clear the app's storage in Android settings or uninstall the app. If Android backup is turned on, Android may include this data in your phone's Google backup.

What we don't do

• We don't have accounts. Apart from internet access, the app's only permissions are the standard ones that Google's ads and Google Play Billing libraries add, such as the advertising ID and billing. It never asks for your location, camera, microphone, contacts or files.
• We don't collect your name, email, contacts, photos or precise location.
• We don't sell the leaderboard data or use it for advertising.

Children

Dial-Up Arcade is made for teens and adults aged 13 and over, and is not directed at children. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). If you think a child has posted to our leaderboard, email us and we'll remove the entry.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct or delete personal data about you, or to object to how it's used. For leaderboard data, see how to delete your data, or email us. For ad data, use the Privacy choices form and your advertising ID settings described above, or contact Google directly.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll post the new version on this page and update the effective date. If we start collecting new kinds of data, we'll update this policy before the app does so.

Contact

Questions or requests: dialuparcade@gmail.com