Privacy

Who Killed Ari? · last updated 20 October 2026

What it stores on your device

The game keeps one small file on your device so it can remember your game between launches. It holds which cases you have solved, how long they took, any boards you have in progress, your language and background choices, how many hints you have used, and two identifiers the app makes up for itself (explained below).

That file stays on your device. Nothing reads it but the app.

The two identifiers

The app generates two random strings the first time it runs. Neither is derived from anything about you or your device — they are made from a random number and the clock, and they mean nothing outside this app.

• A player identifier, so that if your game is ever restored onto a new phone from your device backup, the app can tell that it is you coming back rather than someone starting fresh.
• An install identifier, which says which copy of the app is running.

They go in three places and no others. If you choose to write to us from the Settings screen, the app opens your own mail app with them already in the message — because without them we cannot tell which game you are asking about, and you can see them in the message and delete them before sending. And the player identifier is attached to crash reports, so that if you write to us about a crash we can find it. And from version 1.3 the player identifier is sent to RevenueCat alongside your purchases, so that if you write to us about one we can find it (see Purchases).

Crash reports

The app uses Firebase Crashlytics, a Google service. If the game crashes, it sends Google a report of where in the code it happened, along with your device model, your iOS version, how much memory and storage were free, and the player identifier above. We read those reports to fix the crash.

How far people get

The app uses Firebase Analytics, also Google, to count what happens in the game. It records events like a case being opened, a case being solved (with the difficulty, how long it took and how many hints were used), a season being finished, the steps of the tutorial, and changes to the language or background setting.

These are counts, not a diary: there is nothing in them about who you are, and nothing you type or say. We look at them for one reason — to see where the puzzles become too hard and where people stop playing, so the next season is better.

Firebase Analytics also collects, by itself, an app instance identifier that Google generates for this copy of the app, your device model and iOS version, and an approximate region worked out from your IP address (country-level, not an address). It does not use the iOS advertising identifier, and we have not enabled any advertising or audience-sharing feature.

Advertising

From version 1.1 the app shows ads from AppLovin, an advertising company, through its AppLovin MAX service. There are two kinds: a video ad you choose to watch in exchange for a hint, and — only once you have solved ten season cases, never during the tutorial or the daily case, and at most one every couple of minutes — a full-screen ad between two cases.

To choose and measure those ads, AppLovin and the ad networks it works with receive information from your device: your device model and operating system, your IP address (and from it an approximate location), how you interacted with the ads you were shown, and — only if you allow it — your device's advertising identifier.

What you decide:

• On iPhone, once the tutorial is over, the app asks through Apple's own prompt whether it may use your advertising identifier to show you more relevant ads. If you say no, it doesn't. You can change your answer any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• In the EU, the UK, and anywhere we can't tell where you are, ads are never personalised: the app tells AppLovin you have not consented to personalised advertising, so the ads you see are chosen from the game and the ad itself, not from a profile of you. There is nothing to accept or refuse.
• On Android, you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your device's settings (Settings → Privacy → Ads, or Google → Ads, depending on the phone).

AppLovin processes this data under its own privacy policy: applovin.com/privacy. Other ad networks compete through AppLovin MAX to show each ad, among them Google AdMob and Unity Ads; the one whose ad you see receives the same information, follows the same choices above, and processes it under its own policy: policies.google.com/technologies/ads and unity.com/legal/game-player-and-app-user-privacy-policy. We do not receive your advertising identifier or anything else that identifies you from AppLovin; we see only totals, such as how many ads were shown.

The app also counts, through Firebase Analytics as described above, whether a hint's video was watched, closed early or unavailable, and when a between-cases ad was shown — again as counts, with nothing about who you are.

Purchases

From version 1.3 the game sells one thing: Remove Ads, a one-time purchase that switches off the ads between cases. Hints still play their short video.

You pay through Google Play or the App Store, never through us: we never see your card, your name, your email or your store account. To check that a purchase is real and to restore it on a new phone, the app uses RevenueCat, a service that keeps a record of purchases on our behalf. RevenueCat receives the player identifier described above, the purchase itself (what was bought, when, the price and currency, and the store's receipt), and basic device details such as the operating system, app version and your country from the store. It is used for nothing but recording and restoring purchases.

RevenueCat processes this data under its own privacy policy: revenuecat.com/privacy. The app also counts, through Firebase Analytics, whether Remove Ads was bought, cancelled or failed, and whether a restore found anything — as counts, with nothing about who you are.

If you never tap Remove Ads or Restore purchases, the app still connects to RevenueCat when it starts, under a random identifier of RevenueCat's own, so that a purchase made later, or a refund, reaches your game.

Google as a processor

Firebase is operated by Google, which processes this data on our behalf and stores it on its servers. Google's own terms for the service are the Firebase Data Processing and Security Terms, and what Firebase collects is described in Privacy and Security in Firebase. We keep this data for Firebase's default retention period and use it only as described on this page. We do not sell it, and we do not give it to anyone else.

Our lawful basis under the GDPR for these reports is our legitimate interest in keeping the game working and knowing which parts of it are too hard. There is no switch for them inside the game — it is a small app and we did not want to put a settings question in front of people to answer something this modest. What you can do instead: write to us at the address below and we will tell you what we hold against your player identifier and delete it, and deleting the app stops any further reports.

Device backups

If you have iCloud Backup switched on, iOS may include the app's file in your device backup, in the same way it does for other apps. That backup is between you and Apple; we have no access to it and no ability to see, read or restore it.

Children

The game is suitable for all ages. It has no accounts, no chat and no links out of its own, and it never asks anyone for personal information. The technical reports described above are not tied to a name or an email address. The game is not directed at children under 13, and it shows ads (see Advertising); a parent who wants to limit ad personalisation can do so with the choices listed there.

Deleting everything

Settings → Erase all progress clears your saved game from the device. Deleting the app removes its file entirely, and stops any further reports. To have the reports already sent deleted, write to us with the player identifier from the Settings screen and we will remove them.

If this changes

If a future version collects anything more than what is on this page — for example if leaderboards are added, or more ad networks — this page will say so before that version ships, and the App Store listing's privacy summary will be updated to match.

Contact

Questions about any of this, or a request to see or delete what we hold: pablo@hubapps.team