Privacy⁠

1. Introduction and controller

This privacy policy explains how the game “Little Lumen: Window Garden” (“the app”) handles data. It applies to the Android version published on Google Play. The answer is a short one: the app is a purely offline game. It collects no personal data and transmits no data to me or to any third party.

The controller responsible for the processing described here, within the meaning of the GDPR, is the operator of the app. Name, postal address and email address are set out in full in the legal notice.

The email address given there is also the right route for privacy questions and for requests concerning your rights. Sections 9 and 10 explain how that works in practice.

I develop the app as a private individual and give it away free of charge. No data protection officer has been appointed, as the legal requirements for doing so are not met. Please direct any concerns to the address given in the legal notice.

2. The principle: no data collection

Little Lumen is an offline game. There is no user account, no login, no server and no interface through which data could leave your device.

The app does not even hold the Android permission for internet access (android.permission.INTERNET). It is therefore technically unable to establish any network connection at all. You can verify this in the Play Store listing under the app permissions.

In particular, the following are not processed:

• Name, email address, phone number or other identity data
• Location or GPS data
• Contacts, calendar or address book
• Photos, microphone or camera
• Your device's advertising ID
• Device identifiers, IP addresses or usage statistics
• User account, login or password – none of these exist in Little Lumen

This matches the “Data safety” form in the Google Play Store: no data is collected and no data is shared with third parties.

3. What is stored on your device

For the game to work, it has to remember a few things. All of it stays exclusively on your device, in the app's private storage (Android SharedPreferences). I have no access to it.

• Your game progress: the plants you have planted, their growth, watering times and unlocked content.
• Your settings: the chosen language, sound and music, and the reminders.

This data is not transmitted, not analysed and not synchronised with other devices. It never reaches me – I can neither view it nor link it to anyone.

You can delete it yourself at any time: via “Reset progress” in the app's settings, via “Clear storage” in the Android app settings, or by uninstalling the app. Afterwards your progress and settings are gone for good – there is no backup from which anything could be restored.

4. Reminders and notifications

The app can remind you to water your plants. These reminders are optional and are only scheduled if you switch them on.

The notifications are scheduled entirely locally on your device and triggered by Android. No server is involved and no push service such as Firebase Cloud Messaging. Neither I nor any third party learns when or whether you receive a reminder.

You can switch them off at any time: in the app's settings or in the Android settings under “Notifications”. Reminders already scheduled are then removed.

The “Run at startup” permission (RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED) serves only to restore already scheduled reminders after the device restarts – Android discards such schedules when it shuts down. It is not used for any other purpose and transmits no data.

5. Sharing plant codes

You can pass a plant on as a short code. When you tap “Share”, the app opens the Android share menu and hands this code to whichever application you select there – a messenger, your notes, or the clipboard, for instance.

What happens to the code after that is governed by the service you chose and its privacy policy. I have no influence over it. Little Lumen itself transmits nothing and does not learn whether or where you passed a code on.

The code describes nothing but a plant in the game. It contains no personal data and no identifier of your device.

6. Downloading via Google Play

The app is distributed through the Google Play Store. Everything that happens during the download, during updates and around your Google account is Google's responsibility – as a controller in its own right under the GDPR, not on my behalf.

In that context Google may process data, such as installation statistics or crash reports, provided you have allowed this in your Android and Play Store settings. Such information reaches me at most in aggregated, non-personal form via the Play Console.

Google's privacy policy applies: policies.google.com/privacy

7. No tracking, no advertising

The app contains no analytics tools, no ad networks and no third-party tracking SDKs. There are no cookies, no user accounts, no location access and no advertising ID.

No automated decision-making or profiling within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR takes place. Your behaviour in the game is not analysed – neither on the device nor anywhere else.

The weather and seasons in the game reveal nothing about you either: they follow the calendar alone and are fixed to the climate of central Germany. The app queries neither your location nor any weather service for this.

8. Children and young people

Little Lumen is a quiet plant game; the age rating from the Play Store listing applies. Because the app collects no data whatsoever, no data is collected, transmitted or stored from children either.

The app contains no advertising and no chat or online features. Parents and guardians can delete the game progress at any time via the routes described in section 3.

9. Contact by email

If you write to me, I process the data in your message – your email address and its content – solely in order to answer your enquiry.

The legal basis for this is my legitimate interest in responding to enquiries (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

I delete the message as soon as the matter is settled and no statutory retention periods apply. I do not pass it on to third parties. Please bear in mind that an email travels via your mailbox provider and mine.

10. Your rights

As a data subject you have the following rights under the GDPR:

• Access to the data stored about you (Art. 15 GDPR)
• Rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16 GDPR)
• Erasure of your data (Art. 17 GDPR)
• Restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
• Objection to processing (Art. 21 GDPR)
• Data portability in a commonly used format (Art. 20 GDPR)
• Lodging a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR)

A note for honesty's sake: in practice these rights mostly come to nothing here – and that is deliberate. Because the app transmits no data to me, I hold no data about you. The one exception is where you have written to me; your rights then concern precisely that email. The data on your device is managed by you, see section 3.

To lodge a complaint you can contact the supervisory authority of your federal state or country. For me as the controller, the competent authority is the Bavarian Data Protection Authority (BayLDA) in Ansbach.

Requests are free of charge for you. I answer them within the statutory period of one month.

11. Changes to this policy

If the app changes and processes different data as a result, I will update this policy. The version published here is always the authoritative one; the date at the bottom of the page shows how current it is.

For material changes – for instance if the app were to use an internet connection, advertising or analytics tools in future – I will additionally point this out in the app or in the store listing before the change takes effect.