Balbal is a mobile game made by Barış Dede. This page explains what data is processed when you play, why, and what you can do about it.
The short version: the first three levels need no account. From the fourth level on you sign in with your Google or Apple account, for one reason only — so your progress is not lost when you change devices. After sign-in the only identifying data we hold is your email address and the account id. Your password never reaches us.
If you use “Hide My Email” when signing in with Apple, Apple
gives us a private relay address of the form
…@privaterelay.appleid.com instead of your real one. In that case we
never see your actual email address.
1. Who we are
| Data controller | Barış Dede |
| Contact | baris@barisdede.com |
| App | Balbal (com.barisdede.balbal) |
2. What we do not collect
Worth stating plainly. Balbal does not ask for and does not collect:
- Your password. Sign-in happens through Google and Apple; you type it on their screen, not ours.
- Name, surname, phone number, date of birth
- Contacts, photos, microphone, camera, location
- Payment card details — payments run entirely through Apple and Google and never reach us
3. What is processed and why
| Data | Why | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address and account id | To attach your progress to your account so you can continue on another device | Supabase (Frankfurt, EU). The provider is Google or Apple; your password never passes to us. |
| Game progress: levels unlocked, helper counts, quest and achievement state, your settings | So the game continues where you left off | On your device, and in Supabase against your account. |
| Leaderboard score: the level you reached and your best single-level score | To show your place on the Game Center and Play Games leaderboards | Apple Game Center / Google Play Games. You appear there under your platform nickname; the score is not written to our own server. |
| Advertising identifier (Android Advertising ID / Apple IDFA) | To show ads and to avoid showing you the same one repeatedly | With the ad provider. If you decline, ads are still shown but not personalised. |
| Device information: model, OS version, language, country, screen size | So the game runs correctly on every device, and for debugging | With the ad and subscription providers. |
| Purchase state (which pack, whether a subscription is active) | So what you bought reaches your account and ads switch off | RevenueCat and the store. Contains no payment details. |
| In-game events: which level started and finished, how long it took, session length, which booster was used, ad and store screens being seen, app build and platform | To learn where the game is hard, broken or abandoned — balancing levels and finding bugs | Supabase (Frankfurt, EU), linked to your account. Not shared with third parties. |
| Crash records: the error message and where it happened | To find and fix the errors that close the game | Supabase (Frankfurt, EU), linked to your account. Carries no personal content. |
Analytics stay on our own server. In-game events go to our own Supabase database — the same place your account lives (Frankfurt, EU) — not to an analytics company. They are never used for advertising and are not shared. Events created before you sign in are not recorded at all. Deleting your account deletes these records too.
4. Who we share data with
We do not sell data. The following providers do the work the game needs and are subject to their own privacy policies:
| Provider | For | Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Accounts and cloud save (EU, Frankfurt) | supabase.com/privacy |
| Google (AdMob, Play, Sign-In) | Ads, distribution, payment, accounts, Play Games leaderboards | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Apple | Distribution, payment, accounts, Game Center leaderboards | apple.com/legal/privacy |
| RevenueCat | Purchase validation | revenuecat.com/privacy |
| Unity Technologies | Game engine | unity.com/legal |
5. Ads and your choices
Balbal is free and supported by ads. Ads appear in two places: a full-screen ad shown occasionally at the end of a level, and rewarded videos you choose to watch. There are no banner ads, and no ad is ever shown on the board screen.
iOS: the tracking prompt appears once at first launch, right after the game screen comes up. If you decline, ads are still shown but not personalised, and no part of the game is turned off. You can change your mind at any time under Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking.
Android: you can reset your advertising ID or turn off personalisation under Settings › Google › Ads.
EEA and the UK: Google's consent screen is shown at first launch; you set your personalised-ads preference there and can change it later.
6. Children
Balbal is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them. If you believe your child created an account, write to the address above and we will delete the account and its data.
7. How long we keep data
- Account and progress: as long as your account exists. Deleting the account deletes the progress record too.
- The copy on your device: when you sign out, your progress is written to the cloud first and the local copy is then removed — so that whoever picks up the phone next does not see your progress. If the write fails (for example if you are offline) the copy is kept.
- Purchase records: for as long as store and tax rules require — these are held by Apple, Google and RevenueCat.
- Advertising identifiers: for the provider's own retention period; you can reset them in your device settings.
8. Your rights and deleting your account
Under GDPR and Turkish KVKK you have the right to access, correct, delete and port your data.
You can delete your account from inside the game: Settings › Account › Delete my account. Deletion cannot be undone; your account, progress and cloud save are permanently removed. Records of your purchases remain with the store — that is not somewhere we can delete from.
You can also write to baris@barisdede.com; we reply within 30 days at the latest.
9. International transfers
Account and progress data are stored inside the European Union (Frankfurt). Ad, payment and store providers may process data in other countries including the United States; those transfers happen under the providers' own standard contractual clauses.
10. Changes
If this page changes, the date at the top is updated. For a significant change we will also say so inside the game.
11. Contact
For any question or request: baris@barisdede.com
Credits
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Sound effects are drawn from CC0 and public-domain sources.