SoilBoundPrivacy Policy
Soilbound ("the game") is made by Andrew Mullin and Harrison Hagan ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the game collects, why, who it is shared with, and the choices you have. If you have a question, write to us at [email protected].
The short version
- You can play Soilbound without signing up. The game gives you an anonymous guest account that holds only an ID and your Sunstones; your garden is saved only on your device.
- If you make an account, we store your email address, your username and your game progress so you can play across devices and visit friends.
- The game shows optional rewarded ads through Unity LevelPlay and Unity Ads. On iPhone, ads are only personalized if you allow tracking when the game asks.
- Purchases are handled by Apple or Google. We never see your card or bank details.
- You can delete your account, and everything stored online with it, from inside the game.
- We do not sell your personal information for money.
1. Information we collect
If you play as a guest (without signing up)
Your garden and settings are saved on your device only. We do not receive them. So that your Sunstones cannot be lost or faked, the game creates an anonymous guest account the first time you play online. It holds a random ID, your Sunstone balance and history, and the game progress that earns Sunstones (your level, completed plant families and daily rewards) when the game reports it. It has no email, name or other contact details. If you later add an email, it becomes a full account and keeps the same Sunstones.
If you create an account
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Email address and password | To create your account, sign you in and let you reset your password. Your password is stored by our hosting provider in a scrambled (hashed) form that we cannot read. |
| Username and friend code | So other players can find you, add you as a friend and see who made a garden. |
| Player level and portrait | Shown on your profile to other players. |
| Cloud save (your garden and game progress) | To back up your game and restore it on another device. Only you can read it. |
| Shared garden (a copy of your garden's plants, decorations and garden themes, and the garden name you choose) | So friends and other players can visit it. You choose who can see it: everyone, friends only, or no one (Public, Friends only, Private). |
| Friends, gifts and likes | To run friend lists, daily gifts between friends, and garden likes. |
| Blocks and reports | If you block or report a player, we store who you blocked or reported, the reason you chose, and any details you write (up to 500 characters), so we can keep the community safe. |
| Sunstone balance and history | To keep your Sunstone balance, pay rewards once, and record what you spend. |
| Purchase records | When you buy Sunstones, we store the store (Apple or Google), the product, and the store's transaction number, so each purchase is paid exactly once. |
| Redeemed codes | To make sure each code is used only once per account. |
Information collected automatically
- Network information for security. To stop abuse and limit how often the game's servers can be called, our servers use your IP address. It is scrambled (hashed with a secret value) before it is stored, and these counts are deleted within about a day.
- Advertising and device information. When ads are shown, the ad services described in section 3 collect information about your device and how you interact with ads.
We do not use analytics services, crash-reporting services, or your precise location.
Information stored on your device
The game keeps your settings, your local save and the tokens that keep you signed in on your device. Deleting the game removes them.
2. How we use information
- To run the game and its online features (accounts, cloud saves, friends, gifts, shared gardens).
- To deliver purchases and rewards, and to prevent them being paid twice.
- To show optional rewarded ads, and to give you the reward after you watch one.
- To keep the game safe: stopping cheating, spam and abuse, and reviewing player reports.
- To answer you when you contact us.
- To meet legal obligations.
3. Ads
Soilbound shows rewarded ads only when you choose to watch one (for example, to earn a Sunstone). Ads are provided by Unity LevelPlay and Unity Ads, both operated by Unity Technologies, which may show ads from other advertising partners through its auction.
These services may collect your device's advertising identifier (the IDFA on iPhone or the Advertising ID on Android), your IP address, device type and settings, and information about the ads you see and tap. They use it to show and measure ads, to prevent fraud and, where you allow it, to show ads that are more relevant to you. Their use of this information is covered by their own privacy policy: Unity's privacy policy.
Your choices:
- iPhone: the game asks whether you allow tracking. If you choose "Ask App Not to Track", the advertising identifier is not shared and ads are not personalized using it. You can change this any time in Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.
- Android: you can reset or delete your Advertising ID, or opt out of ad personalization, in your device's settings under Google > Ads or Privacy > Ads.
- You never have to watch an ad to play.
4. Purchases
Sunstone packs are sold through the Apple App Store or Google Play. Apple or Google handles the payment; we receive only the product you bought and a transaction number, which our server checks with Apple or Google before adding your Sunstones. We never receive your card or bank details.
5. Who we share information with
We do not sell your personal information for money. We share information only with:
- Other players, as described above: your username, friend code, level, and your shared garden according to the visibility you choose.
- Service providers that run the game for us: Supabase (accounts, database and servers), Resend (sending account emails such as sign-up confirmations and password resets), Cloudflare (our website and support email), Apple and Google (purchases and app delivery), and Unity Technologies (LevelPlay and Unity Ads). They may only use the information to provide their services, except the ad services, which also follow their own privacy policies as explained in section 3.
- Legal and safety reasons, when required by law or to protect players, the game or the public.
- A new owner, if the game is ever sold or transferred, under the same protections.
Under some US state laws, sharing information with ad services for personalized ads can count as "sharing" or "selling". You can opt out as described in section 3, or by writing to us.
6. How long we keep information
- Account data, including a guest account's (profile, cloud save, shared garden, friends, Sunstone and purchase records, blocks and reports), is kept while your account exists and deleted when you delete your account. Copies in our hosting provider's backups may remain for a short time before they are overwritten.
- Security counts based on hashed IP addresses are deleted within about a day.
- Apple, Google and Unity keep their own records under their own policies.
7. Your choices and rights
- Delete your account: in the game, open your account settings and choose Delete Account. This permanently deletes your account and everything stored online with it. A guest account is deleted the same way.
- Change your information: you can change your username and your garden's visibility in the game.
- Access, correction or a copy of your data: write to [email protected].
- Ads: see section 3.
Depending on where you live (for example the EU, UK or California), you may have further rights, such as to object to certain uses of your information or to complain to a data protection authority. We will not treat you differently for using them.
8. Children
Soilbound is made for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us at [email protected] and we will delete it.
9. Security
Information is sent to our servers over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Each player's private data is protected so that only they can read it, and our servers limit how often they can be called to prevent abuse. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.
10. Where information is stored
Our servers are provided by Supabase and located in the United States (US East, Virginia). If you play from another country, your information is transferred there.
11. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top, and for significant changes we will ask you to agree again in the game.
12. Contact
Andrew Mullin and Harrison Hagan
[email protected]