Hare & Shell1. Who we are
Hare & Shell (“the game”) is made by Little Fern, the studio name of an independent individual developer (“we”, “us”). We are responsible for the personal data described here. Contact: SUPPORT_EMAIL_HERE.
This policy covers the Hare & Shell apps for iPhone, iPad and Android, and this website. The website itself sets no cookies and uses no analytics or trackers.
2. Data stored on your device
- Runner name you choose (shown to Moss and on leaderboards). Please don’t use your full real name.
- Birth year, asked once by the age check before any ad or purchase. We keep only the year, never a full date of birth.
- Settings (sound, music, haptics, accessibility, language) and progress (best distance, coins, cosmetics you own, storybook pages, missions, daily-race attempts).
This data lives in the app’s private storage. Uninstalling the app removes it from the device.
3. Data processed by our online services
Online features run on Google Firebase. The game works offline too; when it is offline, nothing below is sent.
| Service | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Firebase Anonymous Authentication | A random user ID created for your install. No email, phone, password or social login. | To know which leaderboard rows and cloud save belong to you. |
| Cloud Firestore — leaderboards | Runner name, play-style title, distance, % of the run as the Hare, run duration, time of the run. | To show daily, friends and all-time leaderboards. These rows are visible to other players. |
| Cloud Firestore — cloud save | A copy of your on-device save (including runner name and birth year), visible only to your ID. | To back up and restore your progress. |
| Cloud Firestore — friends | Your friend code and the list of friend IDs you added. | To show the friends leaderboard. |
| Firebase Analytics | Gameplay events (for example run start/end, distance, swaps, jumps, missions, purchase and ad events), app version, device model, OS version, language, country/region derived from IP (not precise location), and an app-instance ID. | To understand how the game is played and to fix balance and bugs. Ad personalisation signals are switched off. |
| Game Center (iOS) / Google Play Games (Android) — optional | Achievements you unlock, only if you are signed in to Game Center or Play Games on your device. | To show your achievements in Apple’s or Google’s games apps. Apple and Google process this under their own privacy policies. |
| Firebase Remote Config | App-instance ID and app version. | To adjust game balance numbers without an app update. |
4. Advertising (Google AdMob)
The game shows only rewarded ads, and only when you choose to watch one (for example to wake Pip up once per run). There are no banner or interstitial ads. Buying the “No ads” bundle removes them.
- Players under 13 (or the age of digital consent where you live), according to the age check: ad requests are marked as child-directed and under the age of consent, so only non-personalised ads are shown and Google limits the data it processes.
- Players in the EEA, UK and Switzerland: Google’s consent message asks for your choice before any personalised ads. You can change it later from the game’s settings.
- When an ad is requested, Google may process your IP address, device and app information, ad interactions, and on Android the advertising ID. On iOS the game does not ask for tracking permission and does not access the IDFA.
See how Google uses data in ads.
5. In-app purchases
Purchases are handled entirely by Apple (App Store) or Google (Google Play). We never see your payment details. We receive only what was bought and whether the purchase is valid, so we can unlock the cosmetic item.
6. Children
Hare & Shell is made for all ages. We do not ask children for any information beyond the runner name and birth year described above, and we do not knowingly collect other personal information from children. The age check runs before any ad or purchase, and children receive only non-personalised, child-directed ads. We designed this with the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the GDPR rules for children in mind.
Parents or guardians can delete a child’s data at any time (see section 9) or contact us.
7. Legal bases (EEA/UK)
- Contract: running the game, leaderboards, friends and cloud save that you use.
- Legitimate interests: analytics to improve balance and fix bugs, and keeping leaderboards fair and secure.
- Consent: personalised ads where required. You can withdraw consent at any time.
8. Who receives data
Only our service providers: Google (Firebase and AdMob) and Apple or Google for purchases. Their privacy policies: Google, Firebase, Apple. Google may process data on servers outside your country under its standard data-protection terms. We do not sell personal data and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.
9. Keeping and deleting your data
- Cloud save, leaderboard rows and friend data are kept until you delete them, or until we close the game’s online services.
- User-level analytics data is kept for no longer than 14 months.
- Delete everything: in the game open Settings → Delete my data. This deletes your cloud save, leaderboard rows, friend code and friends, and your anonymous account, then resets the game on your device. Or email us — see Delete my data.
10. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or export your data, to object to or restrict processing, and to withdraw consent. Most of these you can do in the game. For anything else, email SUPPORT_EMAIL_HERE with your friend code (shown in the game’s Leaderboard). We reply within 30 days. You can also complain to your local data-protection authority.
11. Security
Data is sent over encrypted connections. Server rules only let your anonymous ID read and write your own cloud save, and only let it write its own leaderboard rows.
12. Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date above, and for important changes we will tell you in the game.