YarnPaws Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 27, 2026

YarnPaws is a mobile game developed and operated by Aldehyde Studios, an independent developer based in North Macedonia. This policy explains how the Google Play version of YarnPaws handles information, including through its Google services. For privacy questions or requests, contact aldehydestudios@gmail.com.

INFORMATION STORED ON YOUR DEVICE

YarnPaws saves information on your device to preserve gameplay and preferences, including:

• Completed, unlocked and previewed levels, your last level and selected world.
• Coin and Golden Paw Pass balances, owned cats, helpers and yarns, and equipped items.
• Daily challenges, reward claims and reward-collection state.
• Audio, vibration and appearance preferences.
• A broad age category and the year it was confirmed.
• Purchase product identifiers and one-way purchase-token fingerprints used to prevent duplicate rewards.
• A linked Play Games player identifier and synchronization records, if you link cloud saves.

YarnPaws asks for “12 or younger”, “13–17”, or “18 or older”, rather than an exact age or birth date. This choice is stored separately on the device and is not included in cloud backups. Younger players may be asked to confirm their category again in a later year.

You can skip the age choice and play locally without starting YarnPaws’ optional Play services for that session. After a saved age choice, YarnPaws can start Google Play Billing, check for updates and attempt Play Games sign-in. The game does not send its local age-category record to Aldehyde Studios or include it in the requests it constructs for these services.

GOOGLE PLAY GAMES AND CLOUD BACKUPS

YarnPaws does not create a separate studio account. Google manages your Google account and Play Games profile. Ordinary gameplay remains available without successful Play Games sign-in.

After age selection, YarnPaws may attempt sign-in automatically. Google controls its account prompts. The game reads your Play Games player identifier and display name to show connection status and associate cloud saves with the correct profile. YarnPaws keeps the display name in memory for the current session rather than writing it to its own save files. The linked player identifier is saved locally when you enable cloud backups.

Google’s Play Games service also processes gamer-profile information and service analytics and diagnostics. YarnPaws does not request your Google password, email address, contacts or friends list through Play Games. The current beta does not submit achievements or leaderboard scores. See Google’s Play Games data disclosure and Google Privacy Policy.

Cloud backups require linking your progress to the Play Games profile. Once linked, YarnPaws can synchronize automatically when connected and at suitable menu screens. A backup contains:

• Level progress, coin and pass balances, and owned and equipped items.
• Daily challenge state, reward claims, your last level and selected world.
• Purchase product/pack identifiers and one-way purchase-token fingerprints used to prevent duplicate fulfilment.
• Save-format, integrity and synchronization information, including an account-derived identifier, plus metadata managed by Google.

Backups exclude the local age category, audio/vibration/appearance preferences and raw purchase tokens. Google stores the backups through Play Games Saved Games; Aldehyde Studios does not operate a separate game-save server or keep its own server copy.

Recovery after reinstalling or moving to another supported Android device depends on using the same Play Games profile and having an available, successfully synchronized backup. Offline or recent changes can be missing. YarnPaws may ask you to choose between device and cloud progress; it does not combine their balances. Some incompatible or outdated saves cannot be restored safely.

GOOGLE PLAY PURCHASES

YarnPaws offers optional coin and Golden Paw Pass packs through Google Play Billing. Purchases are not required to play. Google processes payments; YarnPaws does not ask you to enter payment-card details, bank details or a Google password into the game.

The game receives purchase information such as product identifiers, quantity, purchase state, purchase tokens and signed purchase data. It uses this information to validate purchases on the device, grant content, prevent duplicate fulfilment and complete the transaction with Google Play. Pending payments grant nothing until Google reports completion.

The Google Play Billing library also includes operational logging. It may send Google information about Billing requests, results and connection errors, together with app and library versions, Android/device details and a temporary Billing-client identifier. Google describes this logging as supporting Billing performance improvements and error diagnosis. This is separate from the purchase records saved by YarnPaws. See Google’s Billing release notes.

YarnPaws processes raw purchase tokens in memory and stores one-way SHA-256 fingerprints with product identifiers in its save data. These fingerprints also enter a linked cloud backup. Aldehyde Studios does not operate a server that verifies purchases or maintains a separate currency balance.

Once a consumable purchase is fulfilled and settled with Google Play, querying current purchases cannot reconstruct your remaining coins or passes. Their recovery depends on your local save or a sufficiently recent cloud backup. Owned coins and passes can be used offline, but unsynchronized changes may be lost. Google retains payment and transaction information under its own policies and applicable terms.

ADVERTISING

This beta contains no live advertisements or AdMob integration. Offers labelled as an ad bonus explain that they are free during beta and no advertisement will play. YarnPaws does not use an advertising SDK in this version. If advertising is introduced later, this policy and the relevant privacy controls will be reviewed before that change is released.

UPDATES, DEVICE FEATURES AND DIAGNOSTICS

YarnPaws uses Google Play In-App Updates to check for available updates and offer installation through Google Play. Google describes these requests as handling device metadata, the app version and installed modules or asset packs to determine update availability and size. Google states that this information is encrypted and deleted after a fixed retention period. See Google’s update data disclosure.

Motion-sensor readings support tilt controls and are processed on the device; YarnPaws does not save them or transmit them to Aldehyde Studios. The game also uses audio playback and optional vibration. This beta does not include push notifications, Firebase Analytics or a developer-operated analytics service.

Google Play and its integrated services may process service, transaction and diagnostic information when providing downloads, purchases, authentication, backups and updates, under Google’s policies. The absence of a studio analytics service does not mean Google processes no information.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

YarnPaws is intended for a mixed audience of children, teenagers and adults. It does not ask children to provide their legal name, email address, exact birth date, precise location, contacts, photographs or messages to play.

Play Games access and purchases may depend on Google’s age requirements, supervised-account support and parental settings. A local age selection is not parental consent. Gameplay remains available without Play Games sign-in or purchases. Parents or guardians can contact aldehydestudios@gmail.com with privacy questions or requests.

SUPPORT, SHARING AND RETENTION

Aldehyde Studios does not sell personal information. Information is handled by Google for the services described above. Google and its service providers handle that information under the Google Privacy Policy and applicable service terms.

If you email us, we receive your email address and the information you choose to send. We use it to answer your request and provide support. Email is handled through our Gmail service. Support correspondence is retained for up to 12 months after the request is resolved, unless it is needed for an ongoing dispute or a legal obligation. Please do not send passwords or payment-card information.

Local game data remains until removed from your device. Cloud and transaction data held by Google is subject to Google’s retention and deletion controls. Aldehyde Studios does not maintain a separate player-account database.

DELETING INFORMATION

To remove local YarnPaws data, clear the app’s storage through Android settings or uninstall the game. This removes local progress and settings, including local purchase records, but does not automatically delete cloud backups or Google’s transaction records.

To manage or delete YarnPaws data in Play Games, visit your Play Games profile, open “Your Data”, and use the controls for deleting individual game data. Choose YarnPaws. You can also use the Play Games profile settings in the Play Store. Follow Google’s current deletion instructions, since menu wording can change.

Local and cloud deletion are separate. Removing cloud data does not erase a copy on your device, and deleting local data does not erase an existing cloud backup. Later linking or synchronization can restore or upload progress again. Google may retain other records, including transactions and account activity, separately.

For help or to request deletion of support correspondence we hold, email aldehydestudios@gmail.com with the subject “YarnPaws data deletion”. We can address information under our control, but cannot directly delete records held solely in your Google account. We will explain the relevant device or Google controls where necessary.

SECURITY AND POLICY CHANGES

YarnPaws stores its working save in the app’s private storage. Google states that Play Games data is encrypted in transit using HTTPS, and that In-App Updates data is encrypted. No electronic storage or transmission method is completely secure.

We will update this policy when YarnPaws’ features or data practices change and reflect changes in the effective date.

CONTACT

Aldehyde Studios
North Macedonia
Email: aldehydestudios@gmail.com