Privacy

Privacy at a glance

Playing requires a family account managed by an adult. Player profiles and progress are saved across devices. A nickname is enough for a child’s profile; please avoid full names. Photos are optional and profiles are not public. There are no ads. Analytics is optional. The regular game does not require microphone recordings.

Controller

Tirza Shatz
Wrangelstraße 2
10997 Berlin
Germany
hello@playalef.app

Website hosting

Vercel Inc., USA, delivers this website and processes technical information including IP address, requested URL, access time, browser/device details and request status. This supports delivery, reliability and security. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR: our legitimate interest in a functioning, secure website. We maintain no visitor database. Vercel may process operational and security logs. Retention depends on the operational/security purpose and applicable provider periods; data should be deleted or anonymised when no longer required for those purposes. We do not promise one fixed retention period for all log types.

Recipients and international processing

Vercel and its infrastructure providers may process technical data outside the EU, including in the USA. The documents below describe its roles, recipients, retention and transfer mechanisms. For covered processing, its DPA includes EU Standard Contractual Clauses and, according to Vercel, applies to Pro and Enterprise plans. Contact us for information or a copy of relevant safeguards. Vercel Privacy Notice · Vercel DPA

Progress on this device

The browser stores nicknames, random profile IDs, progress, writing drafts and save timestamps, plus language, sound and privacy settings. Account sessions and a local copy of account progress also remain on the device where enabled. Necessary localStorage/sessionStorage entries support the functions you request (§ 25(2)(2) TDDDG).

Personal data is processed to provide those functions under Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR where applicable, otherwise our legitimate interest in a working learning game under Art. 6(1)(f). Local data remains until removed through the app or browser settings; older guest or recovery saves may remain. Signing out does not erase all local copies.

Use a private browser profile on shared devices. Downloaded backup files are your responsibility to store securely.

Accounts, player profiles and cloud saves

The game uses a family account managed by an adult. Sign-in uses Google or a one-time email code, without a game password. Supabase processes the account email, account and identity identifiers, authentication/session data, and technical security records.

Google may provide basic profile information associated with sign-in, depending on the granted permissions. Game sign-in does not request access to your Google Drive files. We use this information to authenticate you, associate profiles with the correct account and save progress; not to add you to marketing emails.

Account users must be adults or act through a parent/guardian. Each account can create up to three players; existing test accounts may have more. Each player has a name/nickname, a random ID, an optional photo and separate progress.

Photos are cropped and resized locally before upload; originals are not uploaded. These records and progress sync automatically to Supabase. Our project’s primary database is in London, United Kingdom (eu-west-2); processing by Supabase and its subprocessors may also involve other countries.

Relevant terms and transfer safeguards: Supabase Privacy and Supabase DPA. Authentication email is delivered via Resend, which processes the destination address and delivery-related data. Resend Privacy. Processing is necessary to provide the requested account/sync service (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR where applicable), with security measures based on legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)).

Account data is retained while the account is used and until deletion is requested, subject to necessary legal/security retention. You can edit or delete a player in the profile menu where enabled. Full account deletion is currently requested by email; deleting browser data does not delete the cloud account, and deleting a cloud player does not erase independently retained guest saves or downloaded backups.

Learning audio and microphone

Learning audio is prepared in advance. The game does not record children or send their voices to speech providers. Fonts and audio files are hosted with the website.

Google Analytics only with consent

Google Analytics 4 loads only with an adult’s consent to understand use and improve the game. Refusing does not affect play. Legal basis: consent under GDPR Art. 6(1)(a) and TDDDG §25(1).

With consent, we measure visits, sessions, level and exercise use, device information and fixed technical error codes. We do not send player names, photos, answers or full saves. Data is pseudonymous, not fully anonymous. Advertising personalisation is disabled.

The provider is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Processing may also occur in the USA under Google’s applicable transfer safeguards. Analytics cookies and the local consent choice last up to 180 days. Google event retention depends on the property setting (2 or 14 months); aggregate reports may last longer. Contact us for the actual setting.

Withdraw consent at any time in Privacy settings. Further collection stops and accessible cookies are removed; previously sent data is not automatically deleted. Google privacy · Processing and transfer terms.

Subscription screen measurement

As part of optional usage measurement, only after consent, we store a family-linked record of a displayed subscription screen in Supabase: family account ID, server receipt time, attempted chapter when applicable, game release and a random event ID for deduplication. Neither family ID nor email is sent to Google or Vercel as part of this event. This helps us understand conversion from the free introduction to a subscription. Records are deleted within 180 days, or when the account is deleted. Withdrawing consent stops further collection; it does not automatically delete previously collected records.

Optional launch and email updates

The launch waitlist is separate from game sign-in. After explicit consent to email updates we store your email address, interface language, consent time/version and unsubscribe information in Upstash Redis (Frankfurt) and use Resend for contacts, delivery and a welcome confirmation where enabled. Waitlist information is not linked to a child’s game progress.

The legal basis is consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR); security/rate-limiting counters are based on legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)). IP-HMAC rate-limit counters last up to one hour and aggregate daily counters up to one day. The waitlist record is kept for up to one year from registration or until unsubscribe.

You can withdraw through the unsubscribe link or by emailing us. Removal or suppression information and necessary delivery/security records may remain to honour the opt-out and address delivery issues. Upstash Privacy · Resend Privacy.

Family subscriptions and payments

For family subscriptions Stripe processes payment details, billing addresses and tax information. We store customer and subscription IDs, payment status, access periods and the accepted terms version. No child profiles or learning progress are sent to Stripe. Subscription management and cancellation take place in the Stripe customer portal. Resend delivers purchase and cancellation confirmations; these are not marketing subscriptions.

Subscription status is stored in Supabase. Upstash Redis holds pending Checkout attempts and technical deduplication records. The Checkout attempt includes the parent email or Stripe customer reference and accepted terms, so retries do not cause duplicate purchases. It is retained while reconciliation or dispute handling is necessary; it is not used for advertising. Contract and financial records may remain after account deletion where legal retention is required. Transactional email jobs are held for up to seven days, with technical delivery markers retained to prevent duplicates. Email enquiries are handled as described in the contact section. Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(b), (c) and (f) GDPR as applicable.

Optional support through Stripe

For optional one-time or monthly support, the labelled links open a Stripe payment page. Stripe processes the contact and payment details entered there, plus transaction, device and security data. We receive payment information such as amount, status and reference, and the contact details provided. Full card details are entered directly with Stripe and are not stored in the game. We do not send Stripe child profiles, photos or learning progress.

Stripe Payments Europe, Limited, Ireland, and other Stripe entities depending on the service act as processors or as controllers for their own purposes. International processing, including in the US, is possible. Details and transfer safeguards: Stripe Privacy · Stripe Privacy Center · Stripe DPA.

The bases are handling your chosen support (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR), legal obligations (6(1)(c)) and preventing abuse (6(1)(f)). Payment and accounting records remain for as long as processing, legal retention or necessary legal claims require. Deleting a game account does not automatically erase those records. Supporting does not enrol you in marketing emails or start a game subscription.

Recovery and external backups

Local recovery copies and manually downloaded backup files are available for progress recovery. An automated encrypted external database backup to Google Drive is being prepared but is not yet operational; we do not currently promise daily external backups. Before activation, this notice will be updated with the implemented retention and recipients. External backup access is for the operator, not a permission requested from game players. Backups and synchronisation serve different purposes: synchronisation can also propagate deletions.

Email

If you email us, we process your address, message and voluntary details to respond, under Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (or Art. 6(1)(b) for contractual enquiries where applicable). We delete this information when the enquiry is resolved and it is no longer needed, unless legal retention duties or a specific need to defend legal claims apply. You are not added to a newsletter.

Your choices and rights

You may request access, correction, deletion, restriction and portability where applicable (Art. 15–20 GDPR), object to legitimate-interest processing on grounds relating to your situation (Art. 21), and withdraw consent for future processing.

Contact hello@playalef.app.

Local-only data is not accessible to us; remove it on the device.

For account data, contact us from the account email so we can verify the request proportionately.

You may complain to the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit.

There is no advertising profiling or automated decision-making with legal or similarly significant effects.

Progress after a subscription ends

After the paid period ends, progress saved in the account will be retained for 90 days so that you can continue when renewing the subscription on the same account, unless you request earlier deletion. After 90 days, we do not guarantee that the progress will remain available or can be restored, and it may be deleted. Before a planned deletion, we will notify the account email address. We do not undertake to retain progress indefinitely.