Privacy Policy for Ringcade
Last updated: 19 October 2026
In short: Ringcade has no account, no server for the app, no ads, no tracking and no analytics tools. Your progress is stored on your device. Anything the game uses beyond your device runs through Apple services: purchases (App Store), syncing your progress and stock between your devices (iCloud), and the daily leaderboard and achievements (Game Center). We do not receive any data that would let us identify you.
This policy covers the Ringcade app and this website, ringcade.aqlis.de.
1. Controller
aqlis — Web & IT
Owner: Cengiz Kobal
Stammheimer Str. 14
71636 Ludwigsburg
Germany
Email: info@aqlis.de
Phone: +49 179 4497409
A data protection officer is not required by law (Section 38 BDSG) and has not been appointed.
2. What Ringcade does not do
- No user account. You play without signing up with us.
- No server for the app. The app sends no data to us.
- No ads, no tracking, no App Tracking Transparency prompt.
- No third-party analytics, crash reporting or advertising tools. The app only uses Apple frameworks (including SwiftUI, SpriteKit, SwiftData, CloudKit, GameKit, StoreKit, UserNotifications, WidgetKit, AVFoundation, Core Haptics).
- No location, no access to contacts, camera or microphone. The app does not read your photos; it only adds an image to Photos if you choose "Save Image" when sharing (section 8).
3. Data on your device
What: Your progress (solved levels, best score and crowns per level), the level in progress (so you can continue after a crash), your stock of boosters, start boosters, extra moves and lives, your daily runs and your streak, the identifiers of your purchases (so each purchase is credited exactly once), markers for the tutorial, chests, achievements and hints already shown (for example when you were last asked about notifications or for a rating) and your settings (music, sound, haptics, reminder, time). For the Home Screen widget, the app stores a small summary (daily level, streak, current level with crowns) in storage on the device that the app and the widget share.
Why: So the game works and remembers where you are.
Who receives it: Nobody on our side. With iCloud turned on, the app syncs part of it between your devices through your Apple Account (section 4). Everything else does not leave your device. The data may be part of your own device backup with Apple.
Legal basis: Storing this on your device is strictly necessary for the game you want to use (Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG). Where personal data is involved: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (providing the app you use).
How long: Until you delete the app or use "Delete progress" in the app (section 15).
4. iCloud: progress and stock on all your devices
What: The iCloud key-value store of your Apple Account holds your best score and crowns per level and your daily runs (day, score, solved or not). Your private CloudKit database holds your boosters, start boosters, extra moves and lives as entries (what, how many, when, and why, e.g. purchase, chest or use). For purchased entries, the entry identifier contains Apple's transaction identifier, so a purchase counts only once even across several devices. Settings, the level in progress, the tutorial and markers stay on the device.
Why: So your progress and stock match on all devices with the same Apple Account and come back after a reinstall or on a new device.
How: Both stores belong to your Apple Account. We have no access to them and cannot read the data. Without iCloud, the app only stores on the device; Settings then shows a note.
Recipient: Apple as the provider of iCloud (see section 10).
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (syncing as a feature of the app).
How long: As long as the data remains in your iCloud account. Deleting the app does not delete it; it comes back when you reinstall with iCloud. You can delete it in the app under Settings → Legal → "Delete progress": after you confirm, the app removes the data from your iCloud account, on all your devices (section 15).
5. Game Center: daily leaderboard, challenge and achievements
What: If you are signed in to Game Center, the app submits the score of your first run of the daily level to the daily leaderboard, if you solve it. If your first run fails, nothing is submitted that day; further runs are practice and are not submitted. The daily leaderboard is also available in Game Center as a daily challenge you can invite friends to. The app also unlocks achievements (for example for levels reached or daily levels solved). Game Center links this to your Game Center profile (player ID, nickname) and your Apple Account. Other players see your nickname, your avatar and your score on the leaderboard.
Why: Daily leaderboard and challenge, your rank in the daily result, achievements.
How: Sign-in is handled by Apple, not by us. The app does not store or share your player ID. Everything stays playable without signing in; your results then stay with you. Daily results from before you sign in are not submitted later. Only achievements you earn before signing in are remembered on the device and submitted after you sign in.
Recipient: Apple as the provider of Game Center. Apple processes this data under its own responsibility in accordance with Apple's Privacy Policy; details are in Apple's information on Game Center: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/game-center/. Leaderboard entries are visible to all players, including us.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (leaderboard, challenge and achievements as features of the app that you use by signing in to Game Center).
How long: Leaderboards and achievements are managed by Apple. According to Apple, Game Center keeps this data as long as your Apple Account exists. "Delete progress" in the app does not change this. You can sign out in iOS Settings under Game Center.
6. Purchases in the App Store
What: You can buy booster packs, "Refill lives" and extra moves. All purchases are consumables. Payment, invoicing and refunds are handled entirely by Apple. We receive neither your name nor your payment details. On your device, the app receives a transaction identifier from Apple and stores it locally so each purchase is credited exactly once; with iCloud, it is also part of the entry in your private CloudKit database (section 4). Nothing can be bought in the daily level.
Recipient: Apple as the operator of the App Store. Apple provides us with aggregated sales reports that contain no information about you.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (processing the purchase).
How long: The local identifier stays on the device until you delete the app; it also remains after "Delete progress" so a purchase is not credited twice. The entry in iCloud remains until you use "Delete progress". Apple keeps purchase data under its own rules.
7. Notifications
What: If you agree, the app reminds you once in the evening about the new daily level (default 6 pm local time, time selectable in settings); on days when you have already played the daily level, there is no reminder. The notifications are scheduled on your device. There are no notifications from a server of ours and no device token sent to us. The app also asks Apple for silent background signals so iCloud can report new entries from your other devices; Apple sends these signals, they show nothing and do not reach us.
Permission and turning it off: Whether the app may show notifications is your choice in the iOS system prompt; before that, the app asks once itself whether you want a reminder. You can turn the reminder off in the app's settings, and the permission itself in iOS Settings under Notifications → Ringcade.
8. Sharing, widget and rating prompt
Sharing: After a daily level you can share a result card. The card is an image with the day, moves, best cascade and your rank, without name or identifier; it comes with a text containing a link to the App Store. Sharing only happens when you tap, through the iOS share sheet, to the destination you choose there. If you choose "Save Image", iOS asks once for permission to add images to Photos; the app does not read your photos. We do not learn whether or with whom you share.
Widget: The widget shows data from the shared storage on your device (section 3). It does not load anything from the internet.
Rating prompt: After certain won levels, the app may show Apple's rating prompt, at most three times. Apple controls whether and how often it appears. We do not learn who rated the app; we only see public ratings in the App Store.
9. Crash reports and usage statistics via Apple
The app contains no crash reporting or analytics tool of its own. If you have agreed in iOS Settings to share analytics with app developers, Apple provides us with crash reports and aggregated usage statistics. According to Apple, it only shares this data in aggregated form or in a form that does not personally identify you (https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/app-analytics/). We cannot link this data to a person and use it only to find and fix errors. Should it nevertheless be personal data, the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in an app that works without errors). You control this in iOS Settings under Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements.
10. Apple as recipient and transfers outside the EU
The App Store, iCloud (key-value store and CloudKit) and Game Center are Apple services. According to Apple's Privacy Policy, personal data of individuals in the European Economic Area is controlled by Apple Distribution International Limited (Ireland); it is also your contracting party for the App Store and iCloud. Apple may transfer data to countries outside the EEA, such as the USA, and according to Apple bases such transfers on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. How Apple processes your data is described in Apple's Privacy Policy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
11. This website
Hosting: The pages at ringcade.aqlis.de are static files on a server of Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany. The server is located in Germany. We have a data processing agreement with Hetzner under Art. 28 GDPR. No data is transferred to a country outside the EU or EEA in the process.
Server logs: When you visit, the server records technically necessary data in logs: requested page, date and time, amount of data transferred, browser identifier (user agent), the previously visited page (referrer) and your IP address in shortened form. Purpose: delivering the website and keeping it stable and secure. This data is not combined with other data sources. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in a secure, working website). The logs are kept for seven days and then deleted automatically.
No cookies, no third-party content: This website sets no cookies, uses no local browser storage, loads no scripts, fonts or other content from other servers and does not measure visits. If you open these pages from the app, the app shows them in an iOS Safari view; the same applies there.
12. Contacting us by email
If you write to us, we process your email address and the content of your message to answer your request. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR if it concerns the app, otherwise Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (answering requests). We delete the message as soon as your request is resolved and no statutory retention obligation applies.
Our mailbox is operated by IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany. We have a data processing agreement with IONOS under Art. 28 GDPR; processing takes place within the EU.
13. Retention overview
| Data | Where | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Progress, stock, settings, markers, widget data | your device | until you delete the app or use "Delete progress" |
| Purchase identifiers (protection against double crediting) | your device | until you delete the app |
| Best scores, crowns, daily runs | iCloud key-value store of your Apple Account | until you use "Delete progress" |
| Boosters, start boosters, extra moves, lives (entries) | private CloudKit database of your Apple Account | until you use "Delete progress" |
| Daily leaderboard, achievements | Game Center (Apple) | under Apple's rules |
| Purchase data | App Store (Apple) | under Apple's rules |
| Website server logs | server at Hetzner | 7 days |
| Emails to us | our mailbox (IONOS) | until resolved, unless a retention obligation applies |
14. No obligation to provide data, no automated decisions
You do not have to give us any data. Without Game Center sign-in, iCloud or notifications, the game remains fully playable; you only miss the leaderboard and achievements, syncing between devices or the reminder. Without the technically necessary connection data, the website cannot be delivered. We do not make automated decisions and do not carry out profiling (Art. 22 GDPR).
15. Your rights
You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18) and data portability (Art. 20). You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7(3)).
Write to info@aqlis.de. Since the app itself stores no data about you with us, many questions concern data held by Apple. You can contact Apple directly (https://privacy.apple.com); we are happy to help.
Data in your iCloud account and on your device is not held by us. You can delete it yourself in the app under Settings → Legal → "Delete progress". After you confirm, the app deletes your levels, crowns, daily history, stock (including purchased boosters) and settings on this device and in iCloud, on all devices with your Apple Account. This cannot be undone. Only the local purchase identifiers (section 6) and a deletion note with a timestamp in your iCloud key-value store remain, so your other devices do not write the old state back.
Right to object: Where we process data based on Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (website logs, emails, crash reports), you can object at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation (Art. 21 GDPR). Write to info@aqlis.de.
16. Right to lodge a complaint
You can lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), for example in the country where you live. The authority responsible for us is:
Der Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg
Lautenschlagerstraße 20, 70173 Stuttgart
https://www.baden-wuerttemberg.datenschutz.de
17. Children
Ringcade is not built for the App Store Kids category. Parents control whether and how children use Game Center and purchases through Apple's Family Sharing and Screen Time.
18. Changes
When the app changes, for example with new features, we update this policy. The version with the date above applies.