Privacy Policy
Cell Quake — the Android application and the web client.
Effective 25 September 2026 · Published by Prashant Mudgal · Contact codecreeds@gmail.com
The short version. You can play all of Cell Quake without an account: pass-and-play, solo computer opponents, and online rooms all work signed out, and that is how the game opens. It never asks for your contacts, your fine location, your photos or your private files.
Signing in is optional on both the Android app and the website. If you choose to sign in with Google (handled by Google's Firebase Authentication), we maintain an account for you: your rank, your record against each computer opponent, your virtual currency and unlocked ball textures, and your username. You can delete your account at any time from inside the game, and everything in it is permanently erased.
Optional Rewarded Ads. The game may display optional rewarded video ads via Google AdMob to grant daily free in-game tokens. AdMob processes device identifiers (such as the Google Advertising ID) and performance diagnostics to deliver ads and prevent fraud.
Almost everything the game remembers — your theme, sound and vibration preferences, display name — stays on your device and is never shared.
1. Who this policy covers
This policy applies to both the Cell Quake Android application (distributed on Google Play) and the Cell Quake web application (at cellquake.pages.dev and 4cells.pages.dev). Both clients share the same backend game architecture, accounts system, and privacy principles.
2. What is stored on your device
The game stores the following preferences in your device's local storage. They remain on your device and are never sold or used for cross-site tracking.
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Theme and colour palette | So the game looks the way you left it. When signed in, this is also synced to your account so it follows you across devices. |
| Sound on/off, vibration on/off | So your audio and haptics choices survive a restart. |
| Ball texture selection | So your chosen ball style persists across sessions. |
| Display name | So you do not need to retype it each time you join an online room. |
| Terms & Privacy consent marker | So the game remembers that you have accepted our Terms and acknowledged this Privacy Policy. |
| Aggregated usage marker | A single daily timestamp so the anonymous counter reports this device once per day rather than on every launch. |
| If you sign in: session tokens and cached profile | So you stay signed in and the profile screen loads instantly. Managed securely by Google's Firebase Authentication library. |
Clearing the app's storage, or uninstalling the app, removes all local data.
3. What the app sends, and when
Playing online with other people
When you create or join an online room, the app connects to our Cloudflare Worker server and sends the display name you chose and the moves you make. Your display name is shown to other players in that room. No personal account details or emails are shared with other players.
Playing against the computer
Opponent moves are calculated on our server to ensure responsive, accurate bot play. The app sends the current state of the board and which difficulty level you chose, and receives the bot's move in return. This request carries no personal identifier.
Signing in, if you choose to
Signing in is completely optional on both Android and web. If you sign in, authentication is handled securely by Firebase Authentication (Google) using your Google account.
What we store in our database (Cloudflare D1 and Durable Objects) for a signed-in account is:
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Account identifier (issued by Google) | To identify which game progress belongs to your account without storing passwords. |
| Username | The unique public handle displayed on the leaderboard. |
| Avatar preset | One of a fixed set of geometric textures and colours drawn by the game itself. No photo uploads exist. |
| Display name | The room name you prefer, synchronized across your devices. |
| Game progression, Elo rating & stats | Your rating, ladder rank, bot match records, and unlocked virtual items. |
| Terms & Conditions consent timestamp | Records the timestamp of your agreement to the game's Terms and Privacy Policy. |
What is public: Only your username, your preset avatar, and your ranking/medals appear on the public leaderboard. Your email address, internal Google ID, and personal match histories are private and never exposed to other players.
Rewarded Advertisements (Google AdMob)
The Android app and web client may offer optional rewarded video advertisements provided by Google AdMob (Google LLC) in exchange for free daily game tokens.
When an ad is requested or viewed, Google AdMob may collect and process:
- Device and Advertising Identifiers: Google Advertising ID (AAID) and standard device characteristics for frequency capping, ad delivery, and fraud prevention.
- App Activity & Interaction Data: Ad views, clicks, and video completion events.
- Diagnostics & Performance: SDK crash logs, loading latency, and diagnostic signals to ensure stable ad playback.
All ad requests are handled in accordance with Google's Advertising Policies. You can manage or reset your Google Advertising ID at any time in your Android device's Settings → Google → Ads.
Counting how the game is used
When opened, the game transmits an anonymous ping with only the platform (Android app or browser) and the version number. No device ID, IP address, or user ID is recorded in these counts. They are stored as aggregated daily totals (e.g. 45 opens of version 3.7.11) and automatically purged after about six months.
4. IP Addresses
Like any internet service, our Cloudflare edge servers temporarily see the IP address of incoming network connections to deliver content and prevent denial-of-service abuse. In-memory rate limiting is applied to room creation and API endpoints. IP addresses are never logged or permanently associated with your game account.
5. What we never collect
- No phone numbers or physical addresses.
- No contacts, address book, calendar, camera, or microphone access.
- No precise GPS location tracking.
- No financial or credit card information (Cell Quake uses virtual tokens only; no real-money purchases are collected).
- No sale or commercial sharing of personal data with third-party data brokers.
6. Third-Party Service Providers
- Cloudflare: Hosts our web assets, Workers, and database infrastructure under strict enterprise security standards.
- Google Play: Distributes the Android app package.
- Firebase Authentication (Google LLC): Manages secure user sign-in and token issuance.
- Google AdMob (Google LLC): Provides optional rewarded video advertisements.
7. How long data is kept
| Data Category | Retention Period |
|---|---|
| Local preferences and tokens on your device | Until you clear app storage or uninstall the game. |
| Online room state | Automatically deleted 30 minutes after all players leave (or 1 hour if never started). |
| Aggregated usage counts | Retained for approximately 6 months as anonymous daily sums, then purged. |
| Your account and game progress | Retained until you delete your account. Deletion is immediate and irreversible. |
8. Children's Privacy
Cell Quake is designed for general audiences aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe an account was created by a child under 13, please contact us at codecreeds@gmail.com and we will promptly delete the account and its data.
9. Your Rights & Deleting Your Data
You have full control over your data:
- In-App Account Deletion: In the game, open Settings → My Profile → Delete my account. Deletion is instant and permanently erases your account, rating, username, and sign-in record.
- Web Portal Deletion: You can also delete your account without having the game installed by visiting our self-service page at cellquake.pages.dev/delete-account.
- Assisted Deletion: You may also email codecreeds@gmail.com from your registered email address to request manual deletion.
10. Security
All data transmitted between the client and our servers is encrypted in transit using industry-standard TLS (HTTPS and secure WebSockets). User authentication tokens are cryptographically verified on every sensitive request.
11. Contact
For any privacy inquiries, data rights requests, or questions regarding this policy, please contact: codecreeds@gmail.com.