Privacy policy
Last updated 4 October 2026
In short. You can play Bingoku with no account and nothing leaves your phone except adverts and crash reports. If you sign in, we keep a username, your times, and a backup of your progress, so you can be on the leaderboard and move to a new phone. We do not sell your data. You can have it all deleted.
Who we are
Bingoku is made and run by Raghav Sharma, an individual developer ("we"). For anything in this policy, write to tilakddsharma@gmail.com.
What we collect
If you never sign in
Your progress, settings, sparks balance and daily check-in are stored on your phone. The app creates an anonymous guest account in Firebase Authentication with a random ID, which we use to let the app talk to our servers. It holds no name or email. Uninstalling the app removes the local data.
If you sign in with Google
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your Google account name, email address and profile photo address, received from Google when you sign in | To recognise you and keep your account. Your name and photo are not shown to other players. |
| The username you choose | Shown to everyone on the leaderboards. Pick one that does not identify you. |
| Your daily results: card number, time, mistakes, hints, and the list of moves you made | To rank you on the daily board and the monthly season, and to check that results are genuine. |
| Optional: an age range and a gender, if you answer | To understand who plays. Stored privately, never shown to other players. You can leave them as "Rather not say". |
| A backup of your sparks, unlocked books, cleared levels, check-in position and purchase records | So they come back if you change phone or reinstall. |
Purchases
Payments are handled entirely by Google Play. We never see your card or bank details. We receive the product bought and Google's order number, which we store to make sure a purchase is credited once and only once.
Adverts
Bingoku shows adverts through Google AdMob, unless you pay to remove them. AdMob may use your device's advertising ID and other device information to choose and measure adverts. Where the law requires it (the EEA, the UK and some other places) the app shows Google's consent form first and requests no adverts until you have answered. You can reset or delete your advertising ID in Android's settings, and manage ad personalisation in your Google account's Ad settings.
Analytics and crash reports
- Firebase Analytics records how the app is used: which screens and features, and whether the economy is balanced (for example, how often a hint is bought). It is switched on only after you have agreed in the consent form, where one is required. The events contain numbers and short fixed words, never your username or email.
- Firebase Crashlytics receives a report when the app crashes: device model, Android version, and what the app was doing. It is used only to fix bugs.
- Firebase Remote Config downloads settings, such as prices of in-game items, so they can be adjusted without a new release.
- Firebase App Check uses Google's Play Integrity service to check that requests come from the genuine app on a genuine device, which protects the leaderboard from cheating.
These Google services also use a Firebase installation ID, which is a random identifier for this install of the app.
Why we may use it
Where the law asks for a reason: to provide the game you asked for (accounts, leaderboards, backup, purchases); for our legitimate interest in keeping the game fair, secure and working; and, for analytics and personalised adverts, your consent.
Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it for other companies' marketing. It is processed for us by Google, as our service provider, through Firebase (authentication, database, analytics, crash reports, configuration, App Check), Google AdMob and Google Play. Their own privacy policies apply to what they do: policies.google.com/privacy. The leaderboards show your username and your results to other players. We may disclose information if the law requires it.
Where it is kept
Our database is hosted by Google in the United States (a North American multi-region). Using the app from elsewhere means your data is transferred there. Google relies on recognised safeguards for those transfers.
How long we keep it
Account data is kept while your account exists. Crash reports and analytics are kept for the periods Firebase sets, which is up to 14 months for analytics events. When you ask us to delete your account (see below) we delete the account, profile and backup, and remove or anonymise your leaderboard entries.
Your choices and rights
- Play without an account. Everything except the leaderboard works signed out.
- Delete your data. Follow these steps.
- Access, correct or export. Write to us and we will send you what we hold about you.
- Withdraw consent for adverts and analytics at any time by changing your choice in the consent form where the app offers it, in your Google account's Ad settings, or by uninstalling the app.
- Complain. If you are in the EEA or UK you can complain to your data protection authority. We would like the chance to put it right first.
Children
Bingoku is not aimed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has given us personal information, write to us and we will delete it. In some countries the minimum age to use an account is higher than 13; there, the higher age applies.
Security
Access to the database is controlled by security rules so that a player can read and change only their own private data. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot promise otherwise.
Changes
If we change this policy we will change the date at the top and, for significant changes, say so in the app.
Contact
Raghav Sharma, tilakddsharma@gmail.com.