Privacy policy

Who we are

Cuckoo! is made by Alpaca Media Limited, a company in the United Kingdom ("we", "us"). Questions about privacy, or a request about your data: [email protected].

This policy covers Cuckoo in all its forms: the Android and iPhone apps, the game on alpaca-media.com/cuckoo and the Chrome extension.

What stays on your device

Your progress, scores and best times, eggs, boxes, cosmetics, streak, settings and a record of your purchases are saved on your device only (in the app's or your browser's storage). We never receive them. Uninstalling the app, or clearing the website's data in your browser, deletes them.

Leaderboards, usernames and friends

When you finish a game or a daily puzzle, Cuckoo sends our leaderboard server:

• a random player ID that the game made on your device the first time you played,
• which leaderboard it's for (for example today's Easy puzzle), and
• your score or time.

We keep your best score per leaderboard and when it was set.

Your username. The game asks you to pick a username (you can skip it, and change it in Settings). It's shown next to your scores on the public leaderboards, and friends use it to find you, so please don't use your real name. We store it with your random player ID. There's no password: the username belongs to the game on your device. Without a username, a made-up name ("Brave Kiwi 42") is shown instead. Usernames are checked against a list of words that aren't allowed, and other players can report a rude one. We keep each report (which name, and the reporting player's random ID); a name reported by several players is hidden, and we may remove names that break these rules.

Friends. You add friends by their username. Your friends list is kept on your device; to show your friends' scores, the game sends a scrambled form of their IDs (which can't be turned back into the ID) along with the request. Anyone who knows your username can add you and see your scores.

We don't collect your email, contacts, location or device identifiers for this. The server runs on Cloudflare, which handles your IP address to deliver the request, as with any website; we don't store it with your scores.

Scores and usernames are kept while the leaderboards run. To have them removed, see Delete your data. Uninstalling the app or clearing the game's data gives you a new player ID (your old username stays taken until we remove it).

Ads (apps only)

The apps can show rewarded videos from Google AdMob, and only when you choose to watch one (for example to double your eggs). To show and measure ads, and to personalise them if you agree, Google may collect information such as your device's advertising ID, your IP address and how you interact with ads. See how Google uses data from apps that use its services.

• In the UK, the EEA and Switzerland, the app asks for your consent first, using Google's consent message. You can change your choice at any time in Settings → Privacy choices.
• On iPhone, ads are only personalised using your device's advertising ID if you allow tracking when Apple asks.

The website and the Chrome extension show no ads.

Purchases (apps only)

Purchases (egg packs, the welcome pack and the Nature land pack) are paid through Google Play or the Apple App Store. We never see your card or payment details. To confirm a purchase and to let you restore it on a new phone, the store's purchase receipt and a random app user ID go to RevenueCat, the service we use to check purchases (RevenueCat's privacy policy). Google's and Apple's own privacy policies cover the payment itself.

The website and the Chrome extension

The website is hosted by Cloudflare, which handles your IP address to deliver the page. It loads its fonts from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google for them. The Chrome extension has its fonts built in, asks for no access to the websites you visit, and only goes online for the leaderboards. On the website, the rewild pot's donate button takes you to an external payment page, which has its own privacy policy.

What we don't do

• No accounts, passwords or sign-in.
• No analytics or tracking of our own.
• We don't sell your data. Apart from what Google AdMob collects for ads in the apps (see above), we don't share it, and we don't use it for anything beyond what's described here.

Children

Cuckoo is a general-audience game and isn't directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. If you think a child has given us personal information, email us and we'll delete it.

Delete your data

To have your Cuckoo! data deleted from our servers (Cuckoo! by Alpaca Media Limited):

1. In Cuckoo, find your name. If you picked a username, it's in Settings → Your name. If you didn't, open the leaderboards and note the made-up name next to your score, marked "(you)" (for example "Brave Kiwi 42"), and one of your scores.
2. Email [email protected] with the subject "Delete my Cuckoo data" and that name (and score).
3. We delete your data within 30 days and reply to confirm.

What we delete: your username, all your leaderboard scores and times, the random player ID they're stored under, and any reports you made about other players' names. We keep nothing afterwards.

What's not on our servers: your progress, eggs, cosmetics, streak and friends list are only on your device; uninstalling the app (or clearing the website's data) deletes them. Purchase records stay with Google Play or the App Store, and with RevenueCat under a random ID, as records of the sale. Ad data is held by Google: you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings.

Your rights

Under UK and EU data protection law, we keep leaderboard scores, usernames and reports because they're needed to run those features (our legitimate interest), handle purchases to provide what you bought, and personalised ads rely on your consent. You can ask us for access to, or deletion of, data we hold about you, object to how we use it, or withdraw consent (for ads, in Settings → Privacy choices). If you're unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or your local data protection authority.

Changes

If we change how Cuckoo uses data, we'll update this page and the date at the top.