Glimmertide

This policy describes what data Glimmertide collects, how that data is used, and your rights as a player. If anything here is unclear or you'd like to exercise a right described below, email us at armedcrab@gmail.com.

Who we are

Glimmertide is made by Armed Crab, a solo game studio based in the United States. Our website is armedcrab.com. For privacy questions about this game or any other Armed Crab title, contact us at armedcrab@gmail.com.

What Glimmertide collects

Glimmertide stores the following on your device:

• Your aquarium and collection (creatures hatched, pools unlocked, decorations placed).
• Your puzzle progress, daily streaks, and in-game currencies (Pearls and Moonlight).
• Game settings (audio, notification preferences).
• Which in-app purchases you own, plus a short local record of recent purchase credits so a currency pack is never accidentally granted twice.

This data is stored by the app using standard device storage (localStorage and IndexedDB inside the game's WebView). None of it is transmitted to Armed Crab or to any Armed Crab server. Armed Crab does not operate a backend, an account system, or any player database. We have no way to identify an individual player.

Clearing the app's storage (through your device's settings, or by uninstalling the app) removes all of this data. Unless you use the optional cloud save described next, there is no cloud backup: if you uninstall, your local progress is gone. Purchases of permanent items can be restored by Google Play when you reinstall (see the purchases section below).

Cloud save (optional). If you choose to sign in with Google Play Games, your game progress is saved to your own Google Drive storage, in a private folder that only Glimmertide can read or write. Signing in shares a Play Games player ID with the game so it can find your save; we never receive your name, email address or Google password, and we do not store your progress on any server of ours. Signing in is optional and the game is fully playable without it. Your saved progress stays in your Google Drive if you uninstall the game, and you can delete it at any time through your Play Games profile or your Google Account.

Glimmertide does not collect:

• Your name, email address, phone number, or contact list
• Your precise location
• Your photos, camera feed, microphone, or any media
• Your payment card details or billing information (Google Play processes all purchases; we never see them)
• Any account credentials (there are no accounts)

Starting with version 1.2, Glimmertide also sends a small set of gameplay milestones to Google Analytics for Firebase, for example that a creature was hatched or that a Daily Dive was completed. Your save file itself is never uploaded. Completed purchases are reported to Analytics by Google Play through our Firebase link (the product and price, never your payment details). See the Firebase Analytics section below for exactly what is included.

Third-party services: Google AdMob

Glimmertide uses Google AdMob to serve rewarded-video ads at a small number of opt-in moments, for example doubling a puzzle reward or earning a free egg. You choose when to watch one; rewarded ads are the only kind of ads the game shows. There are no interstitial ads, no banner ads, no forced ad views. If you purchase Tidekeeper's Blessing, the game stops requesting ads entirely and grants those bonuses automatically.

When AdMob serves an ad, it collects information on Armed Crab's behalf, including:

• Your device's advertising identifier (Android Advertising ID) and app set ID
• Your IP address, and approximate location derived from it
• Device type, OS version, and language
• Ad interaction data (ad impressions, taps, video completions, whether the reward was granted)
• AdMob SDK diagnostic information (ad load latency, request success/error codes, network timing) used by Google to monitor SDK health and improve ad delivery. This is AdMob SDK-level diagnostics; Glimmertide does not collect or transmit app crash logs.
• App usage patterns used by AdMob to make ads more relevant (only where you've consented to personalized ads)

AdMob's collection and use of this data is governed by Google's privacy policy, available at policies.google.com/privacy, and by Google's advertising-specific practices at policies.google.com/technologies/ads. The ad technology providers that may be involved in serving ads are listed at support.google.com/admob/answer/9012903.

Consent for personalized ads (EU / EEA / UK). If you're in a region where consent is legally required, Glimmertide shows a consent prompt (via Google's User Messaging Platform) before the first ad. You can choose to see personalized ads or non-personalized ads. Non-personalized ads still collect limited data (for fraud prevention and delivery), but they don't use your behavior to target ads. You can re-open the consent form at any time with the PRIVACY OPTIONS link in the game. (This link is visible only in regions where consent is legally required.)

If you're in a region where consent isn't legally required, ads are shown with Google's default personalization. Your device's system-level ad controls also apply: on Android, look under Settings for "Ads" or "Google Ads" (Settings → Google → Ads, or Settings → Privacy → Ads on newer versions), where you can reset or delete your advertising ID and opt out of ads personalization. You can also manage how Google personalizes ads at Google My Ad Center.

Purchases: Google Play Billing

All in-app purchases are processed by Google Play. Armed Crab never receives or stores your name, payment card details, billing address, or any other payment information. Google Play handles the entire transaction under Google's privacy policy and terms of service.

On your device, the game keeps only what it needs to deliver what you bought: which permanent items you own (for example, whether ads are removed) and a short local record of recent purchase credits. At each launch, the game asks Google Play, on the device, which purchases you own, so permanent purchases are restored automatically if the app's local data was lost. None of this leaves your device through us. Your Google Play purchase history and refunds are managed by Google through your Google account. Separately, because our Firebase project is linked to Google Play, Google reports each completed purchase (the product, price, currency, and quantity — never your payment details) to our Google Analytics property. See the Firebase Analytics section below.

Third-party services: Google Analytics for Firebase

Starting with version 1.2, Glimmertide uses Google Analytics for Firebase, an analytics service provided by Google, to understand how the game is actually played (which puzzles people finish, whether the collection loop holds up) and to measure whether our ad campaigns bring in players who stay.

What it collects. Firebase Analytics runs while you play and sends the following to Google:

• An app-instance ID, a random identifier Firebase assigns to your install of the game. It is not your name, email, or account (Glimmertide has none of those).
• Your Android Advertising ID, used to attribute installs and play to our ad campaigns.
• Approximate location (country or city level), derived by Google from your IP address. Google masks IP addresses in this process; the game never asks for location permission and never sees your precise location.
• App-interaction events: standard ones like app opens and sessions, plus a small set of game moments we defined ourselves. Those are finishing the opening puzzle, solving your first puzzle on your own, hatching a creature paid for with Pearls you earned, completing a full Daily Dive, opening the game again on a new day, enchanting a creature with Moonlight, and the outcome of a rewarded ad (which reward it was for, whether it played, and whether the reward was granted). These carry only fixed game values such as the pool, the species, the puzzle, and its difficulty. There is no free-text input anywhere in Glimmertide, so no typed content can be attached to an event.
• Purchase events: when you complete an in-app purchase, Google Play reports it to our Analytics property through the link between our Firebase project and Google Play. Each purchase event carries the product, price, currency, and quantity, tied to the same app-instance ID and advertising ID described above. It never includes your name, payment method, card details, or billing address; Google Play keeps those and we never see them.

What it does not collect. Your aquarium and save file are never uploaded. The game itself sends no purchase, refund, or entitlement events to Analytics; the purchase events described above come from Google Play through the link with our Firebase project. Your payment details never reach Analytics: Google Play keeps them and we never see them.

Why. Three reasons and only these three: to see where the game loses people so we can improve it, to measure ad-campaign performance, and to see how purchases relate to play and to those campaigns. We do not build profiles of individual players, and we do not sell this data.

Where it goes. The data is transmitted to Google, encrypted in transit, and processed under Google's terms. Google may use it in connection with its own services, including linking measurement data to Google Ads. Google retains it for a limited period set on our Analytics property, currently 14 months. For Google's side of this: the Google Privacy Policy, how Google uses information from apps that use its services, and Firebase privacy and security.

Your choices. There is no in-game switch to turn analytics off in this version. At the device level you can delete or reset your advertising ID and opt out of ads personalization (on Android, under Settings for "Ads" or "Google Ads"); deleting the identifier removes what links your device to ad attribution. In regions where consent is legally required, the ad-related parts of this measurement stay switched off until you answer the consent prompt described in the AdMob section above. The PRIVACY OPTIONS link in the game governs consent for ad personalization; it does not currently switch analytics off entirely.

If you would rather we did not process something described here, email armedcrab@gmail.com and we will do what we reasonably can, including forwarding deletion requests through Google's tools. As everywhere else in this policy: Armed Crab operates no backend, no account system, and no player database. This analytics data lives with Google, not on our servers.

Notifications

Glimmertide can send optional local reminders, for example about your daily streak. These notifications are scheduled entirely on your device. They involve no server, transmit no data, and exist only if you grant the notification permission when asked. You can turn them off at any time in the game or in Android settings, and the game works fully without them.

Permissions the app requests

• Internet and network state: used by Google's ad, billing, and analytics services. The game itself contacts no Armed Crab server.
• Notifications: optional, for the local reminders described above.
• Billing: allows Google Play to process in-app purchases.

The app does not request access to your location, camera, microphone, contacts, photos, files, or any other sensitive permission.

Data retention

Armed Crab does not retain any of the data AdMob collects. We do not operate a backend or database. Retention of AdMob-collected data is governed by Google's own policies; see Google's advertising privacy pages linked above for Google's retention, access, and deletion controls. The gameplay events collected by Google Analytics for Firebase are retained by Google for a limited period set on our Analytics property, currently 14 months; we do not archive analytics data ourselves.

Cookies and local storage

Glimmertide is built on web technology (HTML5) and runs inside a native app container. It uses localStorage and IndexedDB inside the app to persist save data on your device. It does not use cookies in the browser sense, and it does not participate in any cross-site tracking.

Data sharing

Armed Crab does not sell, rent, or share player data. We have no player database to share from. AdMob's own data practices, including whether AdMob shares data with other Google services or advertising partners, are governed by Google's privacy policy linked above. The gameplay milestones and purchase events described in the Firebase Analytics section are shared with Google (Google Analytics for Firebase, and Google Ads where campaign measurement is linked).

Children's privacy

Glimmertide is a general-audience game and is not directed at children under 13. Ad content in the game is capped at a parental-guidance rating, and the optional rewarded ads only appear when the player chooses to watch one. Armed Crab does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your under-13 child has been using Glimmertide and that personal information was collected, email us at armedcrab@gmail.com and we will help. (As noted above, we don't operate a player database; in practice there is nothing device-side to delete on our end beyond what clearing app data already does locally. The AdMob SDK has its own deletion mechanism linked from its privacy policy.)

Your rights

If you're in the EU, EEA, or UK (GDPR)

You have the right to:

• Access information about what's collected
• Correct inaccurate information
• Delete your data ("right to erasure")
• Object to processing
• Port your data to another service
• Withdraw consent for personalized ads at any time (see "Consent for personalized ads" above)

Because most of what Glimmertide stores lives on your device, you can exercise access, correction, and deletion rights directly: check your device's app storage settings, clear app data, or uninstall. For data held by AdMob on our behalf, follow AdMob's deletion process linked from Google's privacy policy.

If you're in California (CCPA / CPRA)

You have the right to:

• Know what categories of personal information are collected (listed above)
• Delete personal information (see local-device note above)
• Opt out of the sale of personal information (we don't sell your data)
• Not be discriminated against for exercising a privacy right

How to exercise a right

Because Armed Crab does not retain any user data off-device, there is no server-side deletion endpoint for us to provide. For data held on your device: clear the app's storage or uninstall the game. For data held by Google via AdMob or Google Analytics for Firebase: follow Google's deletion controls linked from its privacy policy, and see "Your choices" in the Firebase Analytics section for the device-level identifier controls. Your Google Play purchase records are managed through your Google account. Email us at armedcrab@gmail.com if you have questions about any of these paths; we'll respond within 30 days.

Security

The save data Glimmertide stores lives on your device, protected by your device's operating system. Data collected by Google's SDKs is encrypted in transit using TLS and handled by Google under its own security practices. No system is perfectly secure, but we commit to taking reasonable, practical measures appropriate to a small studio with no player database.

Changes to this policy

If we update this policy, we'll change the effective date at the top and note the change in the game's next release notes on the Play Store. Material changes (for example, adding cloud save or an analytics service) will be surfaced in-game where practical. Continued use of Glimmertide after changes means you accept the updated policy.

Change on August 9, 2026: added the Google Analytics for Firebase section. The previous version of this policy said Glimmertide used no analytics service and promised to update this page before that changed. This update is published ahead of the game version that begins sending those events, so the policy describes the game before the game behaves that way. Purchase data is explicitly excluded from what is sent.

Change on September 2, 2026: our Firebase project is now linked to Google Play, so completed purchases are reported to Analytics as described in the Firebase Analytics section. The August 9 note above described the game before that link existed. Nothing about how purchases are made or what Google Play keeps has changed.

Change on September 9, 2026: added a Cloud save section ahead of an update that adds optional Google Play Games cloud save; signing in is optional; no other data collection has changed.

Effective date of this version: September 9, 2026.

Contact

Email: armedcrab@gmail.com
Studio: Armed Crab, United States
Website: armedcrab.com

We aim to respond to privacy requests within 30 days.