Terraform

Privacy policy

Last updated: 27 October 2026

The short version

We keep what the game needs to work: your sign-in, your progress and collection, your purchases, your friends and your settings.
We never see your card details (Stripe handles payment), and we never keep your IP address (abuse checks keep only a scrambled code).
We don’t sell your personal information.
Ads are your choice, and never personalized. Players under 13 (16 in some European countries) and guests see no ads at all.
You can download everything we keep about you, or delete your account, from Settings in the game.

Who we are

Terraform is run by Nelson Brown (“we”). Questions about this policy or your information go to [email protected].

What we keep, and why

Your account

Your email address and how you sign in (Google, an emailed link, a passkey). If you sign in with Google, Google shares your email address and basic profile with us; we use the email to know it’s you.
Your birth year, and whether you’re 18 or older. We ask everyone for a date of birth, keep only the year and that one flag, and use them to decide what’s open to you (purchases, friends, ads and Mature content).
The name you choose, which your friends and the players in your group see.
Security settings: whether two-step sign-in is on, and the public half of any passkey you add. The private half never leaves your device.

Playing

Your progress, collection, Seed Vault, currencies, cosmetics, achievements and skill ratings, so your game is the same on every device.
Your part in the shared world: the chapters you played and the checkpoints you finished. Credit for a finished checkpoint stays on the world, even after you leave it.
Your settings, including sound, quiet hours (with your time zone, so they follow your clock), break reminders and notification choices.
If you turn on notifications, the address your browser gives us for sending them.

Friends and groups

Your friend list, invites, gifts sent and received, the groups you play in and the points you earn there.

Purchases

What you bought, when, the price, its status (paid, refunded, undone) and Stripe’s reference for the payment. Card details go straight to Stripe and never reach us.
For players under 18: the parent’s email address they give us, and each request for approval and its answer.

Whether you turned ads on.

Feedback and votes

Feedback and bug reports you send, with the puzzle you were on so we can reproduce the problem, and your votes in polls.

Keeping the game safe

A record of sign-ins and security events (for example a new device or a changed setting) and a scrambled code made from your IP address, used to limit abuse. We never store the IP address itself. This record is kept for 90 days.
Cloudflare Turnstile checks that an emailed sign-in request comes from a person, not a bot.

On your device

Cookies that keep you signed in. They can’t be read by the game’s own scripts, only sent to our server.
Small saved preferences in your browser, so the game opens the way you left it.
If you turn ads on, Google’s ad tags may use cookies or similar technology to show and measure ads (see “Ads” below).

Guests and children

Anyone can play as a guest without giving us an email address. A guest’s progress is kept for that device, and moves into an account if they sign in later.
Accounts are for players 13 and older. If a date of birth shows someone is under 13, we don’t create the account: we delete the sign-in and they carry on as a guest. We don’t ask guests their age, so guests see no ads (see below), and guests can’t buy anything, add friends or turn on Mature content.
Players aged 13 to 17 need a parent’s approval, by email, for each purchase. Their memberships last one month and never renew.
If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, contact [email protected] and we’ll delete it.

How we use it

To run the game: build your puzzles, keep your progress, place you in the shared world and match puzzles to your skill.
To take payments and give you what you paid for, handle undos and refunds, and keep the records that tax law requires.
To send the messages you’d expect: sign-in links, renewal reminders, a parent’s approval request, notices of changes, and notifications you turned on.
To keep the game fair and safe: limiting abuse, protecting accounts and fixing what breaks.
To improve the game, using bug reports, feedback and votes.

For players in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the legal reasons we rely on are: providing the game and what you bought (our contract with you); keeping the game safe, fixing problems and improving it (our legitimate interests); cookies used by ads (your consent, given in Google’s consent message) and notifications (your consent, which you can withdraw in Settings at any time); and keeping purchase records (a legal obligation).

Google user data

What we access

If you choose “Sign in with Google”, Google shares three things from your Google account with us: your email address, your name and your profile picture (the “openid”, “email” and “profile” permissions). We access nothing else in your Google account: not your contacts, email, files, calendar or anything stored in it.

How we use it

Your email address: to sign you in, keep your account and progress together on every device, and send you the messages listed under “How we use it” (such as sign-in links and receipts).
Your name and profile picture: kept with your sign-in record. The game doesn’t show or use them; the name other players see is the one you choose.
We use Google user data only to provide and improve the game’s features for you. We never use it for advertising of any kind (targeted, personalized, retargeted or interest-based), never sell it, never give it to data brokers or information resellers, never use it to decide credit or lending, and never use it to develop, improve or train artificial intelligence or machine learning models.

Who we share it with

We share Google user data only with the companies that run parts of the game for us, and only so they can do that work: Supabase (our sign-in and database), Render (the servers that run the game), Resend (sends the emails you’d expect from us) and, if you buy something, Stripe (your email address on the checkout page and receipt). They may not use it for anything else. We don’t transfer or disclose it to anyone else, except where the law requires it or to protect players, and if the game is ever sold, only under this policy.

How we protect it

Everything travels encrypted (HTTPS), and our database is encrypted where it’s stored. Each player’s data is locked to that player at the database level, the keys that can read it stay on our server, and only the operator can reach it, for running and supporting the game.

How long we keep it, and deleting it

We keep your Google user data while your account exists, and delete it when the account is deleted.
You can delete your account in the game (Settings → Account → Your data → Delete my account); it’s removed for good after 7 days. You can also ask us to delete it by writing to [email protected].
You can remove Terraform’s access to your Google account at any time at myaccount.google.com/connections. That stops new sign-ins with Google; to remove what we already have, delete your account as above.

Terraform’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Who helps us run it

These companies process information for us, only to provide their service:

Supabase: our database and sign-in.
Render: hosts the game’s website.
Stripe: payments, refunds and receipts.
Resend: sends our emails.
Google: “Sign in with Google”, and ads if you turn them on.
Cloudflare: delivers the website and protects it from attacks (it sees your IP address and rough location, which the game uses only for the ad consent question and abuse limits), and runs the bot check on emailed sign-in links.
Your browser’s notification service (from Apple, Google or Mozilla, depending on the browser), if you turn notifications on.
Anthropic: its AI writes the names and descriptions of new worlds. It is never sent anything about you.

Other players see only what the game shows them: your chosen name, your part in shared worlds, and, for friends and group members, your gifts, points and podium place. We may also share information if the law requires it, to protect players or the game, or as part of a sale or merger of the game, under this policy.

Your information is stored in the United States, where our database and servers are. If you play from elsewhere, it is transferred to the United States; for players in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, our providers protect those transfers with the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses (and the UK’s equivalent).

You choose whether to see ads when you first open the game, and can change your mind any time in Settings → Privacy and ads. Ads never earn currency or affect puzzles, ratings or rewards.
Ads are served by Google, and every ad request is marked non-personalized: ads are never chosen using what we or Google know about you. Every request also blocks adult, gambling, alcohol, drug, tobacco, weapon and shocking content, and stricter categories for players under 18.
No ads show, and no ad code loads, for players under 13 anywhere, or in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland under that country’s age of digital consent (13 to 16; 16 where unsure). We use the date of birth you gave us, and the country you’re playing from. Guests see no ads, since we don’t ask their age.
In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Google’s consent message asks before ads use cookies or similar technology.
Google’s use of information for ads is described in its own policy: policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

How long we keep it

Your account and game, including Google user data: until you delete your account. Then we delete it.
The security record: 90 days.
Purchase records: when an account is deleted, they’re stripped of anything linking them to you and kept for 7 years, because tax and accounting law requires it. Stripe keeps its own records under its own legal duties.

Your choices and rights

Download your data: Settings → Account → Your data → Download my data gives you one file with everything we keep about you, and pictures of every world you finished.
Delete your account: in the same place. It takes 7 days, so you can change your mind; then your account and game are removed, and only the anonymous purchase records above remain.
Change things: your name, ads, notifications and quiet hours in Settings, any time.
Ask us: to see, correct or delete information, or to object to how we use it, write to [email protected]. We answer within one month.

In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland you also have the right to restrict how we use your information, to take it with you (the download above), to withdraw consent at any time, and to complain to your local data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office).

In California you have the right to know what we collect and why, to get a copy, to correct it and to delete it. We don’t sell personal information. Ads are never personalized, so nothing about you is shared for targeted advertising. We won’t treat you differently for using any of these rights.

Security

Everything between your device and the game is encrypted (HTTPS), and our database is encrypted where it’s stored. Each player’s data is locked to that player at the database level, sign-in uses cookies that the page’s scripts can’t read, our secret keys stay on our server, the server checks every move and purchase, and you can add two-step sign-in or a passkey. No system is perfectly secure; if something goes wrong that affects your information, we’ll tell you as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a way that matters, including any change to how we use Google user data, we’ll tell you in the game at least 14 days before the change takes effect, and list it in What’s new. We’ll ask for your permission again where the law or Google’s rules require it.