Privacy Policy

Who this is from

Hatchfire is made by Kelby Corr, an independent developer publishing as Stonemill Studios. "We" and "us" on this page mean Kelby Corr. This policy covers the Hatchfire app for iPhone and Android, the game server it talks to, and the website at playhatchfire.com.

Playing offline

Your progress is saved in a file on your device. Played offline, it isn't sent to us or to anyone else. Because it's part of the app's data, it may be included in your own device backups if you've turned those on. Deleting the app deletes the save.

Playing online

Cloud saves, Waymeet (the town you share with other players), friends, player cards, raids and world events need our game server. They're optional: the game asks before you use them, and plays on without them.

Your account

The first time you go online, the game makes an account on our server, known by a random ID the app creates. It isn't your phone's hardware ID. If you sign in with Apple or Google, that account is linked so your guild can follow you to another phone. Apple or Google tells our server an ID for your account with them, and may pass on the name or email address you chose to share. We use these only to sign you in.

What the server keeps

• Your guild's save, so it can be restored on another phone, and a few earlier copies (up to ten, about an hour apart) in case a save goes wrong.
• Your player card: your leader's and guild's names, their look, crest and banner, your dragon, your hall's level, the counts you've earned and the two things you pin. Other players can see it.
• Your hall, without anything private in it, so your friends can visit it.
• Friends: your friends, requests, and anyone you've blocked. Friends see when you last played.
• Online play: what you've earned from world events and work parties until the game collects it, and the moves a raid or a sparring bout needs while it's on.
• Your birth year and that you accepted the chat rules, if you give them to type in Waymeet's chat. The year can't be changed once given.
• Moderation: reports, a moderator's actions (a name reset, a muted chat, a suspension) and the reason for them.

Chat

Waymeet's chat is passed between the players in the same copy of the town and run through a word filter. It isn't stored with your account. The server holds the last lines said in each copy of the town for a short while, so that if someone reports a player, the lines around it can be kept with the report for a moderator to read. Lines you send are shown to other players with your leader's name.

Connections

Like any online service, the server processes your IP address and your app's version to connect you and keep the service secure. Our server is reached through Cloudflare, which handles that traffic on our behalf. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.

How long it's kept

Your account and what it holds are kept while the account exists. When you delete it, your save, card, hall, friends and sign-in links go with it, and an Apple sign-in is cancelled too. Reports and moderators' notes about an account may be kept a while longer, so a moderator can still act on them. Copies in our server's backups are replaced as new backups are made.

What the game doesn't do

• No advertising and no advertising identifiers.
• No analytics, tracking or crash-reporting software of our own.
• No access to your contacts, photos, location, camera or microphone.
• No selling or renting of anything about you.

Notifications

If you allow them, the game reminds you when a party is home, a cart has arrived and so on. These are scheduled on your device by the game itself. No server is involved, and you can turn each kind off in the game's Settings or all of them in your phone's Settings.

The purchase

The game has one optional purchase, which opens the full game. Apple (on iPhone) or Google (on Android) handles the payment. We never see your name, card or billing details. The game is only told whether your Apple or Google account owns the purchase, and it keeps that answer in your save. See Apple's privacy policy and Google's privacy policy.

Test versions

If you test the game through Apple's TestFlight or Google Play's testing tracks, Apple or Google passes on what you choose to send us: written feedback, screenshots and crash reports, along with basic details such as your device model and system version. If you were invited by email, we have the address the invitation went to. We use these only to fix the game and to reach you about testing, and we delete tester details when testing ends or when you ask.

What the stores show us

Apple and Google give every developer sales and download totals, and usage and crash figures from people who have agreed to share them with developers. These are grouped together and don't identify you.

This website

• Hosting. The site is served by Cloudflare. Like any web host, Cloudflare processes your IP address and browser details to deliver pages and to keep the site secure.
• Newsletter. If you sign up, your email address is stored by our email provider, Kit. We use it only to send news about Hatchfire. Every email has an unsubscribe link. The sign-up form is loaded from Kit's servers, so Kit receives the usual details of that request. See Kit's privacy policy.
• No ads or trackers. We don't run advertising, and we don't set cookies to follow you between sites.
• Links. Discord, X, Reddit, the wiki's host and the app stores are run by other companies and follow their own policies.

Sharing

We don't sell personal information and we don't share it for advertising. The only companies involved are the ones named above (Apple, Google, Cloudflare and Kit), each for the job described. Other players see only what's described above as shown to them: your card, your chat lines, and, for friends, your hall and when you last played.

Children

Hatchfire isn't directed at children under 13. In Waymeet's chat, anyone who says they're under 13, or doesn't give a birth year, can only send and see the game's own set phrases, never typed messages. If you believe a child has given us personal information, tell us and we'll delete it.

Your choices

• Play offline: nothing is sent to us.
• Turn cloud saves off in the game; your player card is taken down with them.
• Delete your online account in the game's Settings. This removes it from our server; the guild on your phone stays.
• To erase your game data on your phone, delete the app.
• To leave the newsletter, use the link in any email.
• To see, correct or delete anything we hold about you, ask us. Depending on where you live, the law may give you further rights over your personal information, and we'll honour them.

Changes

If the game or the site starts handling information differently, this page will change first and the date at the top will be updated.

Contact

Questions about privacy: reach us at the Hatchfire Discord.