Privacy Policy

Effective date: 6 October 2026

This policy covers Ballast, a mobile puzzle game, made by Benoit Boure ("I", "me"). It explains in plain language what information the game and its ads use. This page is not legal advice.

The short version

There are no accounts, and you can't post or upload anything.
I don't collect your name, email, location, contacts or photos.
Your progress and settings stay on your device.
I count anonymous usage (for example, which level was played) with Plausible Analytics. It can't identify you.
The game shows ads through Google AdMob. Because children play Ballast, every player is treated as a child: ads are not personalized, and the game doesn't give AdMob an advertising ID.

What I collect myself

Nothing that identifies you. Your level progress, best scores and settings (sound, haptics, language) are saved on your device only and I never receive them. If you delete the app, they are deleted too.

Anonymous usage statistics (Plausible)

The game sends anonymous usage events to Plausible Analytics, a privacy-focused service. I use them to see which levels are too hard or too easy. An event is a name and a level number: a level was opened, completed, failed, restarted or undone, or the menu was opened. Each event also notes whether the device is iOS or Android.

Plausible doesn't use cookies, doesn't build a profile of you, and doesn't store a persistent identifier on your device or share data with advertisers. Your IP address is used briefly to deliver the request and is not stored in the statistics. I can't tie these counts to a person.

Ads (Google AdMob)

Ballast shows ads using Google AdMob. Because the game is for everyone, including children, every ad request is sent as child-directed and as coming from a user under the age of consent, and ads are limited to the "General audiences" content rating. This means:

ads are not personalized (no interest-based or behavioral ads);
the game doesn't ask for tracking permission and doesn't give AdMob your advertising ID (your device's advertising ID, such as Apple's IDFA or Android's advertising ID, is not used);
the game doesn't show a consent form, because no personalized-ad consent is needed.

To deliver ads and measure that they ran, AdMob and Google may still collect limited information from your device, such as your IP address, device and operating-system information, and how ads were shown or tapped. I don't receive this data. Google's handling of it is described in its own policies:

Ads only appear at natural pauses (leaving a win, or restarting after a failure), never in the middle of play.

Children

Ballast is made for everyone. Children are not the main audience, but they may play, so the game is built to follow the rules for children's apps, including COPPA in the US and the GDPR in Europe. I don't knowingly collect personal information from children, and the game has no accounts, chat, purchases, social features or location access. Ads are child-directed and non-personalized, as described above.

If you are a parent or guardian and think your child has given personal information to me or to an ad provider through the game, email me at benoit.boure@gmail.com and I will look into it and help.

Your choices

Ads are never personalized in Ballast, so there is nothing to turn off in the game. You can still use your phone's own ad settings for other apps: on Android, Settings → Privacy → Ads → Delete advertising ID; on iPhone and iPad, Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking (menus vary by version).
Statistics: they are anonymous. If you'd rather not send them, email me and I'll look at adding an option.
Stop all collection by deleting the app. This doesn't delete data Google may already hold; see Google's policies above.

Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in Europe or the CCPA in California), you may have the right to ask what data is held about you, and to have it corrected or deleted. I hold no personal data about you, but you can email me to ask. For data held by Google, use Google's own privacy tools.

Data handled by Google may be processed in countries other than yours, under Google's own safeguards.

Changes to this policy

I may update this policy, for example if the game adds a feature or a service. The new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. If a change is significant, I'll also say so in the app or in the store listing where I can.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: benoit.boure@gmail.com