Layer Café Privacy Policy
Who we are
Layer Café is a puzzle game made by After Zero ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the game handles and your choices. If you have a question, write to afterzero.contact@gmail.com.
Information stored on your device
The game saves your progress locally on your phone: completed levels, stars, coins, coffee beans, hints, your cafés, their upgrades and styles, unlocked recipes and achievements, event and contest progress, settings such as sound, music and language, and daily reward and mission progress. Apart from the scores and summaries described in the sections below, this data stays on your device and is not sent to us. Uninstalling the game or clearing its app data deletes it permanently.
Leaderboards and events (Google Play Games)
The weekly, all-time and holiday event rankings run on Google Play Games Services. When you are signed in to Google Play Games on your phone (the game signs you in automatically when Play Games allows it), the game sends your scores to Google: total stars, points earned this week, and points earned during an event. Other players can see your Play Games display name, avatar and these scores in the rankings. Google handles your Play Games profile under its own privacy policy; you can change your name, profile visibility or sign out in the Google Play Games app. After an event ends, the game checks your final place in that event's ranking to give the top 10 their coin prize. The game also unlocks Play Games achievements (for example "Clear 100 levels"); Play Games shows the ones you unlocked on your Play Games profile. If you don't sign in, you can still play everything; only the rankings show just your own row, and achievements are kept in the game only.
1v1 duels (Google Firebase)
Duels are optional. When you tap "Find a rival", the game signs in to Google Firebase anonymously: Firebase gives your copy of the game a random player ID, with no name, email or Google account attached. To run a duel and the monthly duel ranking, the game stores in Firebase Realtime Database:
- your random player ID and your barista name (generated by the game from a fixed word list, such as "Swift Mocha 42"; you can't type your own);
- while you search: that you are waiting for a rival, and when you started;
- during a duel: how many orders you served and the drinks on your counter, so your rival can follow along;
- after a duel: your recorded moves with their timing, your score and your fame points for the month.
Other players see your barista name, title, score, fame points and progress during a duel. Your recorded moves can be replayed to other players as a rival when nobody is online; such duels are labelled "Recorded run". Firebase is run by Google, which processes this data for us under its terms, including your IP address to connect the game; see firebase.google.com/support/privacy. Your waiting entry is removed when the search ends. Duel results and recorded runs are kept for the duel ranking and as rivals for up to 12 months. To delete your duel data sooner, email us your barista name and we will remove it.
Player profiles (Google Firebase)
Anyone in the rankings can be tapped to see their café. To make this work, the game keeps a small public summary of your game in Firebase Realtime Database, using the same anonymous Firebase sign-in as duels (a random player ID with no name, email or Google account attached). The summary holds: your display name (your Play Games name if you are signed in, otherwise your generated barista name), your café rank, café value, current city and café style, the number of cafés, levels, stars, achievements and franchise stars, your duel wins and fame this month, and the event trophies you won. It is stored under your random Firebase ID and, if you are signed in to Play Games, also under your Play Games player ID, so it can be found from the Play Games rankings. Other players can see it; nothing else about you is included. It is updated at most every 10 minutes while you play. To have your profile removed, email us your display name; profiles that are not updated for 12 months are deleted.
Photo contests (Google Firebase)
A few times a year the game runs an optional photo contest. If you take part, the game sends a picture it makes itself (an image of your café or of your best drink, drawn by the game; it never uses your camera or your photos) together with your display name and your random Firebase ID. Entries can be seen by everyone: inside the game, and we may show finalists and winners on our own pages and social media accounts (@afterzerogames). When you vote, the game stores which entry you voted for under your random Firebase ID, so each player can vote once a day and never for themselves; other players see only the vote totals. Entries and votes are kept for the contest and its results and deleted within 12 months after it ends. To withdraw an entry, email us your display name and the contest name.
Sharing
The Share buttons make a picture of your café, your drink or your result and open Android's share menu. The picture and its text go only to the app you choose, under that app's terms; nothing is sent to us.
Game statistics (Google Analytics for Firebase)
To learn which levels are too hard or too easy, the game sends anonymous game events to Google Analytics for Firebase: a level started, finished or failed (with the level number, stars, number of pours, time taken, hints and undos used), rewarded ads watched, taps on a purchase, and whether you turned café reminders on. Firebase adds a random app-instance ID and basic device information (model, Android version, app version, language, and country or region derived from your IP address) and records how long sessions last. The game turns off collection of the advertising ID for these statistics and does not allow them to be used for ad personalization. We see only totals and trends, not individual people. Google processes this data for us under its terms (firebase.google.com/support/privacy) and keeps it for up to 14 months. To stop it, uninstall the game or reset your app data; you can also email us to have the statistics for your app-instance ID deleted.
Café reminders
The game can send one reminder a day when your café's coin box is full. It asks you first, and Android asks for permission too. The reminder is set on your phone itself; nothing is sent to us or to a server. You can turn reminders off at any time in Android Settings › Apps › Layer Café › Notifications.
New levels
New level packs are downloaded from our website, afterzerogames.github.io, which is hosted by GitHub. Like any website, GitHub receives your IP address to deliver the files and may keep it in its server logs under its own privacy statement (GitHub Privacy Statement). The game sends nothing else in these requests.
Purchases and reviews (Google Play)
The optional purchases ("Remove ads", the one-time Starter pack, coffee bean packs and the piggy bank) are processed entirely by Google Play. We never see your payment details. The game only asks Google Play whether your account owns a purchase, so it can be restored on a new phone, and confirms each bean purchase once so it is added to your game only once. Now and then the game may show Google Play's own rating card; ratings and reviews go to Google Play under Google's terms, and we only see them as they appear on the store.
Advertising (Google AdMob and its partners)
The game is free and shows ads, including optional rewarded ads you choose to watch for bonuses. Ads are served by Google AdMob. To serve, measure and protect ads, the Google Mobile Ads SDK may collect:
- your device's advertising ID and other device identifiers;
- approximate location derived from your IP address;
- information about your device and the app (model, operating system, app version, crash and performance data);
- interactions with ads, such as views and taps.
AdMob runs an auction for each ad, and two ad networks can take part through AdMob mediation: Unity Ads (Unity Technologies) and Liftoff Monetize (Liftoff Mobile, formerly Vungle). When one of them shows an ad, its own SDK in the game may collect the same kinds of data listed above (advertising ID and other device identifiers, approximate location from your IP address, device and app information, and your interactions with its ads; Unity Ads may also note in-app purchase events to show more relevant ads). They follow your consent choice from Google's consent form. Their privacy policies: unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-policy and liftoff.io/privacy-policy.
Google uses this information under its own policies. You can read how Google uses data from apps that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites and Google's privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.
If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the game asks for your consent through Google's consent form before personalized ads are shown. You can change your choice at any time with the privacy button in the game's Settings (the gear on the home screen). On any Android phone you can also reset or delete your advertising ID in Settings › Privacy › Ads.
What we don't do
- We don't ask for or collect your name, email address, phone number, contacts, photos or precise location.
- We don't sell personal information.
- The game has no chat and no way to contact other players.
- We don't link your duel data to your Google account, name or email.
Children
Layer Café is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided information through the game, contact us and we will help remove it.
Security and retention
Data sent to Google's services (ads, Play Games, Firebase and game statistics) and level downloads are encrypted in transit. Your game progress stays on your device until you remove it. Duel data, player profiles and contest entries in Firebase are kept as described in their sections above, and only you can change your own entries.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR), you may have rights to access, correct or delete personal data and to withdraw consent. For data held by Google for advertising, use the consent button in the game, your device's ad settings, or Google's tools described in its privacy policy. For your Play Games profile and scores, use the Google Play Games app or Google's account tools. For duel data, email us your barista name. For anything else, email us and we will reply within 30 days.
Changes to this policy
If the game starts using new services, we will update this page and the effective date above before that version is released.