Privacy Policy

Effective 1 September 2026.

Bayou is a boat-racing game for iPhone. This policy explains what data the game and its service providers process, why they process it, and the choices available to you.

The developer and controller for Bayou's game, cloud-save and purchase-confirmation data is:

Ole Emil Frikstad Urstad<br>
ole.emil.urstad@gmail.com

Google is an independent controller for the advertising data it receives through Google Mobile Ads. That relationship is described under Advertising and consent.

The short version

Bayou does not ask for your name, email address, password, contacts or precise location, and there is no account you can log in to. The game can be played offline. When a connection is available, Bayou may automatically create an anonymous Firebase guest account for cloud progress and leaderboards, send purchase confirmations for validation, and request advertisements from Google. You can delete that online account from Settings → Delete Online Account without deleting local progress or App Store purchases.

Before requesting an ad, Bayou asks Google's consent system whether ads may be requested in your region. Every ad request Bayou sends is non-personalised. Bayou does not request Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) permission, so Google Mobile Ads does not send the advertising identifier (IDFA) in ad requests. Buying Remove Ads stops Bayou from requesting ads.

Data stored on your phone

Your local progress includes credits, boats, upgrades, cleared rivers, best times and best distances. An anonymous Firebase credential may also be stored in Bayou's iOS app container. It survives relaunches, device restarts and app updates. Deleting Bayou deletes that local container and credential. A later reinstall normally creates a new anonymous identity and cannot reclaim the former cloud record. A restored device backup may restore the credential.

Using Settings → Delete Online Account is different from deleting the app: it deletes the online guest identity and its addressable cloud records while keeping local progress and App Store purchases on the phone. When it finishes, that installation remains opted out of creating another online guest account. Deleting and reinstalling Bayou clears the installation and may create a new anonymous identity later.

The local save remains the game's primary record, so normal play does not require a network connection.

Data sent by Bayou

Anonymous identity, progress and leaderboards

When an online feature first needs it, Firebase Authentication creates a random anonymous user identifier. There is no sign-up form, login screen, email address or password. Bayou uses that identifier to associate Firebase records with the same installation across relaunches. It is not deliberately joined to the advertising identifier.

Bayou may copy progress to Firebase Realtime Database: credits, boats, upgrades, cleared rivers, best times, best distances and related gameplay counters. It may also post leaderboard rows containing a score or time, run context, the date and a fixed display label. Other signed-in copies of Bayou can read leaderboard rows, including the anonymous row key, because that is how the shared leaderboard works. Bayou provides no free-text name field.

For Apple's App Privacy categories, this is User ID and Gameplay Content, linked to the anonymous identity, not used for tracking, and used for App Functionality.

Purchase confirmations

Apple processes payments. Bayou does not receive your card number, Apple Account password or billing details. After a purchase has been granted locally, Bayou may send the App Store receipt, product identifier, transaction identifier, bundle identifier and resulting credit amount to the developer's validation service. The service checks the receipt with Apple and keeps a purchase record for support, refund and accounting purposes. A failed or unavailable network request never removes a purchase already granted on the device.

Delete Online Account removes the per-account purchase and wallet mirrors Bayou can address through that guest identity. Separate transaction records may be retained where needed for accounting, consumer protection, refund support and fraud prevention.

For Apple's App Privacy categories, this is Purchase History, linked to the anonymous identity, not used for tracking, and used for App Functionality.

Advertising and consent

Bayou uses Google Mobile Ads (AdMob) and Google User Messaging Platform (UMP). Google acts as an independent controller for the advertising data it receives, under Google's Privacy Policy and its advertising controls. The developer does not receive the device advertising identifier; the developer receives reports such as aggregate ad delivery and earnings.

At the beginning of an app session, UMP updates the consent information that applies to your region. Bayou does not initialise ad serving or request an ad until UMP reports that ads may be requested. Where Google requires a privacy-options entry, Bayou makes Privacy Choices available from Settings so that you can review or change those choices.

Bayou's ad configuration is permanently non-personalised: every app-created request carries Google's non-personalised-ad setting, publisher first-party ID is disabled, and publisher ad personalisation is disabled before Google Mobile Ads starts. Bayou does not request ATT, so Google Mobile Ads does not send IDFA in ad requests. Google explains that non-personalised ads may still use other cookies or mobile identifiers for frequency capping and aggregated ad reporting. Google's regional consent state still decides whether an ad request is permitted at all; a non-personalised request is not a substitute for that consent process.

The privacy manifests supplied with GoogleMobileAds 13.8.0 and UMP 3.1.0 declare the following collection. “Linked” uses Apple's definition and can include association by Google with a device or service identity; Bayou does not join these rows to its Firebase uid.

Coarse Location does not come from GPS permission: Bayou requests no location permission. Internet services can infer an approximate region from an IP address and related network information. Product Interaction and diagnostics may include ad requests, impressions, interactions, performance and errors associated with the advertising SDK.

Device ID is the only data type Bayou declares under “Data Used to Track You.” The other game, purchase and advertising rows above are not declared as tracking. Buying Remove Ads prevents future ad requests by Bayou, subject to processing needed to complete or restore the purchase itself.

Bayou does not include Firebase Analytics or a separate developer-operated crash-reporting service. Google Mobile Ads nevertheless declares Analytics purposes and Crash, Performance and Other Diagnostic Data as shown above.

Other service providers

• Google Firebase Authentication, Realtime Database and Cloud Functions process the anonymous identity, progress, leaderboard and purchase-confirmation data on the developer's behalf. The Realtime Database is configured in the European Union (europe-west1).
• Apple processes App Store purchases and, if you choose to use it, Game Center. Game Center is optional. Bayou may read Game Center identity information to display or highlight leaderboard entries but does not send the Game Center player identifier to Firebase. Apple's handling is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy.
• Google AdMob processes advertising data as an independent controller, as explained above.

Legal bases in the EEA, United Kingdom and Switzerland

The anonymous identity, cloud progress and leaderboard processing provide game features you request and are based on performance of the service contract (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)). Purchase confirmation supports the purchase contract, fraud/support handling and legal record-keeping (Articles 6(1)(b), 6(1)(c) and, where applicable, 6(1)(f)).

Google's consent form records the choices required for advertising in applicable regions. Bayou does not enable personalised advertising or request access to IDFA. Where permitted, contextual/non-personalised ads are used on the developer's legitimate interest in funding the free game (Article 6(1)(f)), subject to the choices and objections offered in Privacy Choices. Google separately describes its legal bases in its own privacy information.

Tracking

Bayou conservatively declares Device ID as used for tracking because the Google Mobile Ads SDK declares that capability for advertising. Bayou itself sends only non-personalised requests, disables publisher first-party ID and does not request ATT, so Google Mobile Ads does not send IDFA in ad requests. Non-personalised ads may still use other mobile identifiers for frequency capping and aggregated reporting. Bayou does not use the Firebase uid, gameplay content or purchase history for tracking and does not sell those data to data brokers. Remove Ads stops Bayou's ad requests.

Children

Bayou is not directed specifically at children and is not submitted to Apple's Kids Category. It has no chat, user-generated content or free-text entry. The app does not knowingly ask a child for a name, email address or other contact information. Advertising and service-provider processing remain as described in this policy and are controlled by the regional consent and platform settings that apply.

Retention

Cloud progress and leaderboard rows are retained while the service operates or until they are deleted. Purchase-confirmation records are retained as needed for accounting, consumer-protection, fraud and support obligations. Google and Apple apply the retention periods stated in their own policies to data they control.

Settings → Delete Online Account removes the anonymous Firebase identity and the owner-scoped cloud save, leaderboard, purchase and wallet records Bayou can address through it. It keeps local progress and App Store purchases, and opts that installation out of creating another Firebase guest account. Separate purchase-transaction records may remain for the obligations described above.

Deleting Bayou itself removes its local save, credential and opt-out state, but it does not by itself reliably delete a server record. Use Delete Online Account before uninstalling if you want the online record removed. A later reinstall may create a new anonymous identity. A device backup may preserve or restore app-container data.

Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may request access, correction, deletion or restriction of your data, object to processing, or withdraw consent. Email ole.emil.urstad@gmail.com and state that the request concerns Bayou. For direct deletion while the installation is still available, use Settings → Delete Online Account. If you cannot use the app, email is the fallback for deletion and the route for access, correction or restriction. Include enough approximate gameplay and purchase information to help locate the record; the developer may need to verify that the record is yours without asking for more information than necessary.

You can revisit regional advertising choices through Privacy Choices when it is shown, buy or restore Remove Ads, play offline, or delete the app. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal.

In Norway, you may complain to Datatilsynet. Other regions have their own supervisory authorities.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated version and effective date will be posted at the same public address.