Gold Miner: Hook & Strike · Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy: Gold Miner: Hook & Strike

Effective: 23 October 2026

This policy describes how LonkeroStudio processes personal data when you play Gold Miner: Hook & Strike on Android: what data, why, on what legal basis, who receives it, and the choices and rights you have. It applies alongside our Terms of Use at lonkerostudio.com/gold-miner/terms/.

The game has no accounts, no sign-in, no purchases and no chat, and we run no servers of our own. Other websites, including an advertiser's page that an ad links to, are covered by their own policies, not this one.

1. Who is responsible

The data controller is LonkeroStudio, an independent game developer based in Finland, in the European Union. Because we are established in the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to our processing for every player, wherever you live.

Contact for anything in this policy: support@lonkerostudio.com

2. What we process, why, and on what legal basis

We do not use your data for any purpose not listed here.

Running the game: necessary to provide the game you asked for

• Keeping your progress, settings and choices (including your privacy answers) on your device, so the game works and remembers where you were. None of it is sent to us.
• Answering you when you write to us.

Gameplay statistics: your consent, or our legitimate interest where consent is not required

• Learning which levels players struggle with or give up on, so the difficulty can be balanced.
• Understanding how the optional rewarded-ad offer affects play. For this purpose the statistics also appear, as totals, in our advertising account's reports. They are not used to choose which ads you see.

Where consent is required by law, including the EEA and the UK, statistics stay off until you say yes, and your consent is the legal basis (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)).

Everywhere else, statistics start on, and you can switch them off at any time. There we rely on our legitimate interest in balancing the game (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)). Switching them off is your objection, and it takes effect at once.

Advertising: your consent, or our legitimate interest in a limited, non-personalised ad

• Showing a rewarded video ad when you choose to watch one, and measuring, capping and protecting that advertising against fraud.
• Where consent is required, personalised ads are shown only with your consent, given through Google's consent form.
• Where consent is required, an ad that reads or stores information on your device needs your consent, and you give or refuse it in the same form. If you decline, or if the form cannot be shown or loaded (for example without a connection), the game can still request the ad you chose to watch. Google then serves a limited ad, which is not personalised and is served without cookies, advertising identifiers or other storage on your device; or a non-personalised ad, if you have consented to that. We rely on our legitimate interest in offering the ad you asked for, so that a refused or failed form does not cost you the extra time.
• Where Google reports that no consent is required, no form is shown, and ads, which may be personalised, rely on our legitimate interest in funding a free game. You can limit personalisation in your device settings (section 4).

Providing any of this is voluntary. It is not required by law or by contract. Saying no to statistics changes nothing in the game. Saying no to ads may mean fewer ads, or none, so the optional extra-time offer may not always appear. The game is complete without either.

We make no decisions about you by automated means, including profiling, within the meaning of GDPR Art. 22. Google's advertising systems may profile for ad selection under Google's own terms (section 6).

3. The data involved

Data you give us. Only what you put in an e-mail to us: your e-mail address and whatever you choose to write.

Data kept on your device. Your game progress, settings and choices, stored in the app's private storage. It contains no name, contact details, photos or location, and we never receive it.

Gameplay statistics, when they are on:

• game events such as levels started and finished, bosses defeated and how a run ended, and how long you play;
• automatic app measurements such as first open, sessions and engagement time, screens viewed, app updates and removal, and which store page or link the app was installed from;
• device information such as model, Android version, language and screen size, and the app version;
• approximate location (country, region, city), which Google derives from the connection's IP address. Google Analytics does not store the IP address itself;
• device identifiers: a random app-instance identifier created for this installation, and the device's Android ID, an identifier Android gives each app on the device. The app-instance identifier changes if you clear the app's data or reinstall; the Android ID stays the same until the device is reset to factory settings. Both are collected only once statistics are on.

Statistics never use your advertising ID.

Because these identifiers single out one installation, the statistics are pseudonymous, not anonymous, and we treat them as personal data. Versions up to 1.2.5 sent the same kind of game events directly to Google Analytics, under the same choice and the same retention.

Advertising data, collected by Google's advertising software when an ad is requested or shown: the advertising ID and other device and app identifiers, approximate location from the IP address, ad requests, views, clicks and rewards, device information and diagnostics. A limited ad uses no advertising identifiers (section 2).

The app asks for no permission that shows a prompt, and has no access to your location, camera, microphone, contacts, photos or files.

4. Your choices in the game

Statistics. The game asks you in its own question, separate from the advertising form. "No" and "Yes" are offered equally, and closing the question without answering is not a yes. Change your answer at any time under Settings → CONSENT. Saying no, or changing yes to no, switches statistics collection off completely, including the automatic measurements.

The analytics component is part of the app from installation, but it stays switched off and stores or sends nothing for statistics until statistics are allowed. A yes given in version 1.2.5 or earlier does not carry over: the game asks again, because the current version collects more.

Ads, in plain terms. Ads appear only when you choose to watch one, after losing a level, to get extra time. A non-personalised ad is chosen from the app and the moment (for example the general location and the type of device), not from a profile of your interests; it can still use device identifiers to count views, limit repetition and stop fraud. A limited ad uses no identifiers or device storage at all. A personalised ad may also use a profile built across apps and websites.

• Change your ad choice under Settings → CONSENT → PRIVACY OPTIONS, or from the pause menu. The button appears where the game asked for your advertising consent.
• Reset or delete your device's advertising ID in Android settings (usually Settings → Privacy → Ads; the path varies by manufacturer).
• Or never watch an ad, or play offline. Offline, no ad is requested and no statistics are sent.

Erase progress. Settings → NEW GAME erases your game progress on this device. It does not delete statistics already sent (section 8).

5. Cookies and device storage

The app uses no browser cookies, but EU law treats storing or reading information on your phone the same way. Without asking, we store only what the game needs to work: your progress and settings. Statistics identifiers and advertising identifiers are stored or read only as section 2 describes. Our website, lonkerostudio.com, sets no cookies.

6. Partners

Two Google services in the app receive data. Google is an independent company with its own privacy policy. We use no other analytics, advertising or ad-mediation partners.

Google's advertising partners, and how Google uses information from apps that show its ads: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

Apart from these, we share personal data only where the law requires it, for example in response to a lawful request from an authority.

7. International transfers

Google processes data in the United States and other countries outside the EEA. Google relies on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses and, where it applies, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (https://business.safety.google/privacy/). You can ask us for a copy of the safeguards.

8. How long data is kept

Android backup. If Android's backup is on, Android may copy the app's data, including the app-instance identifier, into your own Google account so your progress follows you to a new phone. We have no access to that copy. You can turn backup off and delete the copy in your device settings.

9. Security

Data sent by the app travels encrypted. Data on your device sits in the app's private storage, which other apps cannot read. We run no server, and access to our statistics is limited to the studio's own account. If a breach affecting your data ever occurs, we will handle it as the GDPR requires, including notifying the authority and, where needed, you.

10. Your rights

You have the right to access your personal data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting what was done before.

One honest limit. We hold nothing that identifies you, and the app does not show you its statistics identifiers, so we cannot tell which statistics record is yours. In that situation the GDPR (Art. 11(2)) does not require us to find it. What works instead: switch statistics off (this stops collection at once), clear the app's data or uninstall it (the app-instance identifier goes with it; the Android ID stays with the device until a factory reset), or let the 14-month period run out. If you can give us an identifier, we will delete that record.

Write to support@lonkerostudio.com. We answer within one month.

You may also complain to a data protection authority. Ours is the Finnish Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (Tietosuojavaltuutettu, https://tietosuoja.fi/en/). You may instead use the authority where you live (EEA list: https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en; UK: https://ico.org.uk/).

11. Children

The game is made for players aged 13 and over. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. We do not ask your age.

The age at which a young person can consent online on their own differs across the EU, from 13 to 16 depending on the country (13 in Finland). Below that age, a parent or guardian has to give or approve the consent. If you are under the age that applies where you live, ask a parent or guardian before saying yes to statistics or ads, or simply say no; the game is the same either way.

Parents and guardians can switch statistics off under Settings → CONSENT, change the ad choice under PRIVACY OPTIONS, reset the device's advertising ID, or uninstall the game. You can also write to us, and we will delete whatever we can identify.

12. California

We do not sell personal information. When an ad is personalised, Google's advertising software discloses the advertising ID and IP-derived location to Google for interest-based advertising, which California law calls "sharing". To stop it, opt out of ad personalisation, reset or delete the advertising ID, or do not watch ads. The categories collected are those in section 3; no sensitive personal information is collected. LonkeroStudio does not currently meet any threshold that makes the CCPA apply to a business; if that changes, this section will be updated.

13. Changes to this policy

We will publish any new version at lonkerostudio.com/gold-miner/privacy/ with a new effective date. Before a material change takes effect, we will announce it in the store release notes and in the game's What's New screen. If a change adds a purpose you have not agreed to, we will ask you again instead of relying on the new text.

14. Contact

LonkeroStudio, Finland support@lonkerostudio.com

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