Rail Critters Privacy Notice
This is the privacy notice for the game Rail Critters. The website's notice is at /en/privacy. You can also read the Spanish version.
Rail Critters Privacy Notice
1. Controller
Lopand Solutions S.A. de C.V., Vicente Guerrero 132, Colonia Santa Anita, 45600 Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico, is responsible for the game Rail Critters. Contact: soporte@lopandsolutions.com.
2. Personal data we process
The game does not ask you for any data to identify you. Rail Critters does not ask you to register and does not ask for your name, email or an account. What does reach us is: technical and usage information about the game tied to a random installation identifier, which we use to fix bugs and improve the game (section 4), the record of a sale if you buy something (section 6) and, on Android, the game service's random identifier with your purchases and, if you turn it on, your progress (section 7). It shows no ads, does not use your phone's advertising ID and does not sell or share data for advertising. It connects to the internet to send that technical information (section 4), for Google Play Games (section 5), which is optional, to your phone's store for purchases (section 6), on Android to our game service to validate your purchases and, if you turn it on, back up your progress (section 7) and, if you accept them, to receive the game's news (section 8).
3. What is stored on your phone
The game stores your progress (best score, distance, coins, characters and outfits bought with in-game coins, missions, achievements and settings) and a copy of what you bought with real money on your phone's storage. Your progress only leaves your phone if you turn on the backup (section 7); otherwise we have no access to it (the usage data in section 4 is separate and does not include your saved game). What is on your phone is deleted when you uninstall the game or clear its data in your phone's settings (the backup is not: see section 7).
4. Crashes and game usage
On Android, the game uses Firebase Crashlytics and Google Analytics for Firebase, Google services, to send us —without your name, email or account—:
- Crashes: what error happened and where in the game, the game's state at that moment (for example, the world and the game mode) and what happened just before.
- Device data: model, Android version, language, game version and a random installation identifier, created when you install the game and changed if you reinstall it.
- Game usage: when a run starts and ends, distance, score, what you crashed into, which missions or achievements you completed, what you buy in the shop (with in-game coins or real money: product and price) and how smoothly the game runs on your phone.
- Approximate location (country, region and city), which Google infers from your IP address without storing it in full. Never your phone's precise (GPS) location.
Primary purposes: detecting, diagnosing and fixing bugs, and measuring the game's stability and performance. Secondary purpose: improving the game's design and difficulty with aggregate statistics. We do not use this data to identify you, for advertising or to make decisions about you. Google keeps usage data tied to the installation for up to 2 months (after that only aggregate statistics remain) and crash data for up to 90 days. You can object to the secondary purpose as explained in section 11.
5. Google Play Games
On Android, the game uses Google Play Games for achievements and leaderboards. If you are signed in to Google Play Games, the game sends your achievements and scores (best score, longest run and daily challenge) to your account on that service, which Google runs under its own privacy policy; to work, its component collects your player name and avatar, and diagnostic data for Google. On the leaderboards we see, like any other player, the player name and score the service shows according to your privacy settings; we do not receive your email or your real name. Using Google Play Games is optional: without it, the game works the same and your achievements are saved on your phone.
6. In-game purchases
The game is free and coins are never sold. If you buy something in the game's shop (an exclusive character or outfit, a tip for the studio or the bundle with everything), the payment is made by Google Play (or the App Store) with your account, under their own terms and privacy policies: we do not receive your card or payment details. The store tells the game which products your account owns so they can be delivered, and the game notes it on your phone. For accounting and refunds, the store gives us a record of each sale (order number, product, price, date and country or region), which we keep for as long as tax law requires. What you buy only changes how the game looks: it gives you no advantage.
7. Game service (purchases and backup)
On Android, the game connects to a service run by Lopand Solutions (apilgs.lopandsolutions.com) for two things.
To use it, the game creates a random identifier on your phone that does not carry your name, email
or account.
- Validating your purchases: when you buy something, the game sends the service that identifier, the product and the purchase receipt Google Play gives it. The service asks Google whether the purchase is real and whether it was refunded, so it is delivered only once, restored if you reinstall the game and removed if it is refunded. Also, when you open or return to the game, it asks the service, with that identifier, whether any of your purchases was refunded. Google only receives a one-way version (a hash) of the identifier. We keep the identifier and the record of each purchase (receipt, order number, product and dates) for as long as the game exists, because it is the record of what was sold, and Google's refund notices for up to 24 months.
- Backing up your progress (optional): if you turn it on in the game's help, the game uploads your progress (coins, best score, characters, outfits and upgrades bought with coins, missions, daily reward and challenge, and achievements) and gives you a 12-character code to recover it on another phone. We keep the progress and a fingerprint of the code (not the code); it is deleted when you choose "Delete backup" or after 24 months without updates.
The service uses your IP address only at that moment, to limit abuse, and does not store it with this data. Everything travels encrypted (HTTPS). We do not use this data to identify you, for advertising or for profiling.
8. Notifications
The game only sends you notifications if you say yes (in the question shown after your first run or in Options; on Android 13 or later your phone's permission is also needed). There are two kinds, and each can be turned off separately in Options or in Android's notification settings:
- Reminders: that your daily reward or the daily challenge is waiting, or that you haven't played in a few days; at most one a day, in the afternoon. Your own phone schedules them: they send no data.
- News: occasional notices about the game (for example, new characters or events), which we send with Firebase Cloud Messaging, a Google service. To receive them, your phone gets a random notification identifier and registers it to the game's news topic; that identifier does not carry your name or account, we do not store or see it, and it stops being used if you turn news off or uninstall the game. Firebase tells us how many notifications were received and opened, as part of the usage data in section 4. We never send third-party advertising.
9. Children
The game is intended for ages 13 and up and does not ask anyone, including minors, for data to identify them; the technical information in section 4 is the same for everyone. Purchases follow the store's rules for minors' accounts (for example, parental approval).
10. Transfers
We do not transfer personal data to third parties. We process the game service data (section 7) ourselves and do not share it. For sections 4 and 8, Google acts as our processor: it provides the Firebase service to us, processes the data only for that and may do so on servers outside Mexico (Firebase privacy). What Google Play Games sends goes to your own Google account, and payments are processed by the store; in those two cases Google or Apple act as controllers.
11. Your rights
The data in section 4 does not carry your name or account; if you want to exercise a right over it, we will ask for details that help locate your installation (for example, your phone model and the date you played) and, if it cannot be found, we will tell you. For any question, to object to the secondary purpose in section 4, or to exercise your rights of access, correction, deletion or objection over that data or over the sales records in sections 6 and 7, write to soporte@lopandsolutions.com. To delete your progress, if you backed it up, first choose "Delete backup" in the help (if you no longer have the phone, write to us with your code), then uninstall the game; to stop receiving notifications, turn them off in Options or in Android's settings; for your Game Center or Google Play Games data, use those services' settings.
12. Changes
If a future version of the game starts processing other personal data, we will update this notice before releasing it, with a new version number and effective date.