Privacy

Planet Pop: Merging Worlds · Updated October 9, 2026

Planet Pop: Merging Worlds is operated by Zane Ross. Planet Pop lets you play as a guest or create a username-and-PIN account to sync progress and compare scores. We do not sell player data or request access to your device contacts. The iOS app includes Google AdMob advertising and an optional Apple ad-free purchase. Website play does not include the native advertising SDK.

What stays on your device

Guest rounds, settings, and progress are stored on your device. Signed-in players also keep a local copy of their progress so play can continue offline. The iOS app stores its account session credential in Apple Keychain. Your PIN is not stored in that credential.

What the server stores

For an account, we store your chosen username, an internal account identifier, salted PIN hash, hashed recovery code, account creation time, last username change time, an optional email address and verification status, session credentials in hashed form, saved game progress, lifetime statistics, settings included in your save, and leaderboard scores. Friend requests, accepted friendships, and blocked-player relationships are also stored. Email verification and recovery codes are stored as hashes with a 10-minute expiry and a limited number of attempts. Resend delivers account verification and PIN recovery emails. It receives the destination email address and message content, including the temporary code, to deliver those messages. Your PIN, friends list, scores and gameplay saves are not sent to Resend.

We use temporary rate-limit records derived from account identifiers or IP addresses to limit guessing and request abuse. The hosting service processes network information such as IP addresses to serve and protect the game and may retain operational logs under its own policies. The game uses Cloudflare Workers hosting and D1 storage.

What other players can see

Your username can be found through username search. Your email is private and is never included in search or leaderboard responses. Your username and ranked scores, including the game mode and round statistics, can appear on the Global leaderboard. Public player profiles show your lifetime gameplay totals (rounds, time played, Stardust, drops, merges, chains, Suns, black holes, and worlds cleared) and up to three of your highest verified scores, including their mode and completion date. These totals may include offline play synced to your account. Anyone, including guests, can view public profiles. The Friends board shows scores from accepted friends and yourself. Friend requests are visible to their sender and recipient; your friend and block lists are not publicly listed. Use a player name that you are comfortable sharing publicly.

Why we use this information

We use it to authenticate players, recover accounts, save and restore games, rank scores, manage friends, prevent abuse, and operate the service. Optional usage reports help us understand how the game is used and improve it. Advertising and purchases are described below.

Optional gameplay summaries

Settings → Share gameplay summaries is off until you turn it on. When enabled, we receive app-open and round-start counts, and finished-round summaries containing mode, duration, Stardust, drops, merges, highest planet, app build and platform. These reports are sent without your account session or username and do not include a persistent analytics or device ID. We combine them into daily totals; a random receipt used once per report is temporarily stored to prevent duplicates. Turning sharing off stops future reports. Network requests still pass through our hosting provider, which processes connection information as described above.

Feedback and bug reports

Main menu → Provide feedback or Report a bug (also available from Pause) sends the message you type, its category, app build, platform, a random report receipt and submission time to our private database. No profile is required and no account identity is attached. Do not include personal information, a PIN or recovery code. We cannot reply to anonymous reports. For individual account help, you may choose to email support instead; that email will include the information you send.

Ads and ad-free purchases

The iOS app uses Google AdMob interstitial ads. Ad availability depends on Google’s approval and inventory. Ads are eligible only at a new-round boundary, never during a round or immediately after game over. The same schedule applies to guests and signed-in players. The app requests non-personalized ads using Google’s child-age treatment and general-audience content rating for every player. It does not request Apple’s advertising identifier or tracking permission, and publisher first-party IDs are disabled. No player names, PINs, scores, friends or gameplay saves are sent to Google by our code.

Ad delivery still involves Google processing network and device information, which can include IP addresses and approximate location, ad interactions and diagnostic information. Non-personalized ads are not data-free. See how Google uses information from apps. Where Google requires a privacy-choice form, ads are withheld until those requirements are satisfied and Settings offers Ad privacy choices.

Apple handles payment for the optional one-time Remove Ads purchase. We do not receive your payment-card information. The app checks Apple-verified purchase ownership on your device; no Planet Pop account is required. Restore purchases uses your Apple Account. Apple may revoke ownership after a refund.

Apple Game Center

When you sign in to Apple Game Center, the iOS app sends completed-round scores and milestone progress to Apple for Game Center leaderboards and achievements. Your Game Center display name and scores may be visible to other players through Apple’s service. Game Center is optional and separate from your Planet Pop profile: we do not request your Game Center friends list or use Game Center to sign in to our server. Planet Pop friends remain in the game. Pending scores and achievement progress are stored locally with your Game Center player identifier for retrying under the same Apple player. Apple manages Game Center information under its Game Center privacy information. Deleting a Planet Pop account does not delete your Apple Game Center account or its records.

Retention and deletion

Account and gameplay records remain until you delete your account. Sessions expire after 30 days; temporary security buckets have short expiry windows and are cleaned up during subsequent activity. In Account → Delete account, enter your username and current PIN to permanently remove your account, cloud saves, ranked scores, sessions, friendships, requests, and block relationships from the active database.

Deletion also removes the signed-in profile cache on the device making the request. Other devices may retain offline copies until their app storage is cleared; those copies cannot authenticate or recreate the deleted account. Guest progress is separate and can be removed by clearing the game’s local storage or removing the app. Historical hosting backups may retain deleted data during the provider’s recovery window and are not used for active gameplay.

Anonymous feedback is removed after 90 days, one-use reporting receipts after 24 hours, and daily usage totals after 400 days. Expired records are removed during reporting activity and the scheduled daily cleanup. Aggregates cannot be traced back to a profile and are not removed by account deletion. If you included personal information in a feedback message by mistake, contact support with the report reference.

Contact

For privacy questions or data requests, email info@planetpopapp.com. Never send your PIN or recovery code. You can delete your account directly in the game without contacting anyone.