Privacy Policy

Creature Hatcher · Last updated 4 October 2026

Creature Hatcher is a step-tracking game in which walking hatches and grows virtual creatures. This policy explains exactly what the app collects, why it needs it, and who else can see it.

Health and step data

With your permission, the app reads your step count from Apple HealthKit on iPhone, or Health Connect on Android. Steps are the game's core mechanic: they accumulate as incubation points that hatch eggs and advance creatures through growth stages.

• Only step counts are read. The app does not read heart rate, sleep, workouts, weight, or any other health category.
• Daily step totals are sent to the app's server so your progress is tied to your account and survives reinstalling the app or changing phones.
• Health data is never used for advertising or marketing, and is never shared with third parties.
• On Android the app also reads steps in the background, about every 15 minutes, so your progress keeps up while the app is closed. That is the only thing background access is used for.
• You can revoke access at any time: on iPhone in the Settings app under Privacy & Security → Health → Creature Hatcher, and on Android in Settings → Health Connect → App permissions → Creature Hatcher. The game will simply stop crediting new steps.

Account information

Creating an account stores your email address and a hashed password — the password itself is never stored and cannot be recovered by anyone, including the developer.

If you use Sign in with Apple, the app stores the anonymous identifier Apple provides instead of a password. If you choose Apple's Hide My Email option, the developer only ever sees the relay address.

If you use Sign in with Google on Android, Google shares your account identifier and email address with the app, which stores them instead of a password. The app does not receive your contacts, calendar, or any other Google data.

You may optionally set a username, which is visible to people you add as friends.

Friends

You can add friends to see each other's creatures and progress. Doing so records the connection between the two accounts. Friend requests can be sent by scanning a QR code, which is why the app asks for camera access — camera frames are processed on your device to read the code and are never stored, uploaded, or transmitted anywhere.

Purchases

In-app purchases are handled entirely by Apple on iPhone and by Google Play on Android. The app never sees your payment details, card number, or billing address. When a purchase completes, the app sends the store's purchase receipt to its server so the item can be verified with Apple or Google and granted; the server keeps the transaction identifier, product identifier, and purchase date to prevent the same purchase being redeemed twice. Refunds and billing are managed by Apple or Google, not by the developer.

Advertising attribution

The developer advertises Creature Hatcher on the App Store. So those ads can be measured, the iPhone app asks Apple once, after you sign in, whether your install followed a tap on one of them. Apple's answer is stored with your account: whether an ad was involved and, if so, which campaign, ad group, keyword and ad it was, the country or region, and the date of the tap. It says nothing else about you, it is used only to see which of the developer's own ads work, and it is not shared with anyone.

Feedback you send

If you use the in-app feedback form, the message you write is stored along with your app version and device model, so the developer can reproduce the problem you are reporting.

Where your data is stored

All data is stored on a private server operated by the developer, not on a commercial cloud platform. Compressed database backups are uploaded nightly over an encrypted connection to a private Google Drive account, so data can be restored after a hardware failure. Google stores them encrypted at rest, acts purely as storage here, and does not use the contents for any purpose of its own. The backup files themselves are not separately encrypted by the developer.

There are no analytics SDKs, advertising networks, or third-party trackers embedded in the app. Nothing you do in the app is reported to any external service; the one exception is the single advertising attribution check with Apple described above.

Data retention and deletion

Your data is kept for as long as your account exists. You can request deletion of your account and everything associated with it — creatures, step history, friendships, feedback and the advertising attribution record — by emailing the address below. Requests are honoured within 30 days. Backups containing already-deleted data age out on a rolling 7-day cycle.

Children

Creature Hatcher is not directed at children under 13, and the developer does not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has created an account, contact the address below and it will be removed.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete the personal data held about you, and to object to its processing. All of these requests are handled through the contact address below at no charge.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, the date at the top of this page will be updated and the change will be noted in the app's release notes.

Contact

Questions, deletion requests, or privacy concerns: david255ff@gmail.com