Privacy Policy

App: Baffled Cat Minesweeper (com.minesweeper.app)
Last updated: 9 October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Baffled Cat Minesweeper collects, uses, and shares information when you use the Android app and related services.

Who we are

Baffled Cat Minesweeper is published by Baffled Cat Studios Ltd on the domain baffledcat.com. If you have privacy questions or requests, you can contact us at [email protected].

Summary

The app does not require you to create an account.
The app uses a pseudonymous device identifier to recognise an installation and support gameplay features such as leaderboards and score submission.
You may choose a nickname and country for leaderboard display.
The app may send game replay and score data to our backend to validate runs, maintain leaderboards, and prevent abuse.
The Android app may show rewarded ads delivered by Google AdMob.
We do not collect precise GPS location, payment card details, email/password login details, or phone numbers through the app.

Information we collect

Information stored on your device

The app stores gameplay and settings data locally, for example:

a random device ID generated for the install;
your nickname;
your selected country code;
game progress, seed progress, times, and settings;
cached leaderboard or statistics responses; and
queued score submissions if you are offline.

Information sent to our backend

When needed for app features, we may receive:

your pseudonymous device ID;
your nickname;
your selected country code;
score submissions, including seed, final time, win/loss result, move/replay data, and related gameplay statistics; and
technical request data such as IP address used for security, rate limiting, and country-level geolocation where available.

Country information

You can choose a country in the app settings. We may also determine an approximate country from your IP address on the server side to support country-level profile or statistics features. This is country-level geolocation only, not precise location.

Advertising data

If you watch rewarded ads, Google Mobile Ads (AdMob) may collect or receive data such as device or advertising identifiers, IP address, app interactions, and diagnostic information under Google's own policies.

How we use information

We use information to:

run the game and save your settings and progress;
submit, validate, and display leaderboard entries;
store and analyse replay data for anti-cheat, integrity, and game statistics;
keep the service secure and rate-limit abusive traffic;
show country flags or country-level statistics where relevant; and
serve rewarded ads through Google AdMob.

Legal basis

Where applicable, we process data because it is necessary to provide the app features you request, such as saving progress, showing leaderboards, validating scores, and securing the service. We may also process limited data for our legitimate interests in operating, improving, and protecting the game and related infrastructure.

How information is shared

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data only as needed with service providers that help us operate the app:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) for hosting APIs, serverless functions, logs, and data storage.
Google AdMob / Google Mobile Ads SDK for rewarded ad delivery, measurement, fraud prevention, and related advertising functions.
MaxMind GeoLite2 for server-side country lookup from IP address, if deployed in production.
FlagCDN to load country flag images.
Google Fonts, if the hosted or bundled page is configured to request fonts from Google.

Leaderboards

If you submit a score, your nickname, performance data, seed identifiers, and related statistics may be visible to other players on leaderboards. Because leaderboards are part of the game experience, please avoid using a nickname that includes information you do not want to make public.

Data retention

We keep data for as long as reasonably necessary to operate the game, maintain leaderboards, prevent abuse, and meet legal or operational requirements.

Locally stored game data remains on your device until you clear app storage, reinstall the app, or delete relevant local data.
Operational activity logs are intended to be retained for a limited period, currently around 21 days, where that retention rule is enabled.
Leaderboard, score, and player statistics data may be retained longer while needed for gameplay features, service integrity, or recordkeeping.

Backup retention and any additional internal retention periods should be verified by the operator before publication.

International processing

The project's backend infrastructure is currently intended to run in eu-west-2 (London). Some service providers we use, such as Google, may process data in other countries depending on how their services operate. Where required, those providers are responsible for applying appropriate safeguards for international data transfers under their terms.

Security

We use measures intended to protect data in transit and at rest, including HTTPS for API requests. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your choices and rights

You can change your nickname or country in the app settings where those features are available.
You can clear locally stored data by clearing app storage or uninstalling the app.
On Android, you can manage or reset your advertising ID through device settings, subject to Android and Google controls.
You may contact us at [email protected] to request access to, correction of, or deletion of data associated with your device ID, subject to our ability to verify and locate the relevant records and any legal exceptions.

The app does not currently promise a self-service in-app account deletion tool, because the app does not use traditional user accounts.

Children

This game is intended for a general audience. It is not presented here as a child-directed service. Parents or guardians who have questions can contact us using the email above.

Third-party policies

Third-party services may handle data under their own privacy notices and terms. Relevant resources may include:

If GeoLite2 is used in production, the following attribution may be required: This product includes GeoLite Data created by MaxMind, available from MaxMind.

Website (baffledcat.com): analytics and cookies

The rest of this policy is about the Minesweeper Android app. This section covers the baffledcat.com website.

If you click "Accept" in the cookie bar, baffledcat.com uses Google Analytics 4 (provided by Google Ireland Ltd) to understand how the site is used, for example which pages are visited and which apps are launched. Google Analytics sets cookies (_ga, _ga_*) and processes data such as your IP address, device and browser information. If you click "Reject" or make no choice, no analytics cookies are set. Your choice is stored in your browser's local storage (bc-consent). You can change it at any time with the "Cookie settings" link at the bottom of every page, or by clearing this site's data in your browser. We also use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which does not use cookies, to count page views in aggregate.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date on this page.