Privacy policy

Castled · last updated 9 November 2026

This policy covers the game Castled (including its test versions), its online server, and this website. Castled is made by Tom O C ("we", "us"), who decides how the data described here is used (the controller). You can reach us at support@playcastled.com.

Playing alone

A game against the computer, the tutorial and the missions run entirely on your phone. Your settings, saved games, tutorial progress, the date of your first launch (for the free hosting week) and whether you own the full game are kept on your phone only. They leave it only through your phone's own backup, if you use one. Uninstalling the game removes them.

Online matches

When you host, join or watch an online match, your phone connects to our game server. The server passes each player's moves to the others, and keeps a recording of every match:

• the match's settings, its room code and when it started;
• every player's orders (such as "build a farm here" or "march these soldiers there") and when each was given;
• regular checksums of the game from each phone, and a snapshot of the game if two phones disagree;
• events such as a player dropping out, coming back, leaving, offering to end, or reporting the match, and the result.

Players appear in a recording only as numbered seats. It holds no name, account, device identifier or internet address. Online play has no chat and no names you type. We use recordings to check results when phones disagree, to find and fix faults, and to look into reports of cheating. They are deleted automatically 30 days after the match started.

The server also keeps counts, such as how many matches started each day, with nothing that identifies anyone.

Buying the full game

The full game is bought in your app store's own payment sheet (Google Play's, on Android). We never see your card, bank or store account details. The store handles the payment, and the data its payment system gathers, under its own terms and privacy policy (Google's privacy policy).

When you host an online match on a phone that has the full game, the phone sends our server the purchase token that Google Play issued for your purchase (a code for the purchase that does not tell us who you are) and the app's name. Our server asks Google whether it is a valid purchase of the full game that has not been refunded. We keep:

• a scrambled copy of the token (a SHA-256 hash, which cannot be turned back into the token);
• Google's answer (bought, pending, refunded, or a test purchase) and when we asked;
• the day the token was last used, and how many matches it opened that day (to stop copied tokens).

We delete these 90 days after the token was last used. We never keep the token itself, the order number, your name or your Google account. A token Google has not answered for yet is held in the server's memory only. Every hour the server reads Google's list of refunded Castled purchases, to mark the tokens it keeps. Players who join a match never send anything about a purchase.

The online self-check

Before your phone's first online match, and again after an update, the game checks that your phone works out the game exactly as other phones do. If the check passes, nothing is sent. If it fails, your phone sends our server one short report: the check's result, the game's version, the phone's model name (for example "samsung SM-S928B") and its system version (for example "Android OS 16"). We keep these reports for 30 days, to find out which phones need a fix.

Internet addresses, and who carries the game

• Our server does not store your internet (IP) address. Connections reach it through Cloudflare, which carries them from your phone to our server and sees your address to do so, as our processor.
• Our server runs at Hetzner in Germany, as our processor.
• Google answers our purchase checks and handles payments, under its own terms.

Cloudflare's network may carry a connection through countries outside the European Union, under Cloudflare's data processing terms, which include the EU's standard contractual clauses.

This website and e-mail

This website sets no cookies, runs no scripts and uses no analytics. Cloudflare hosts it and processes visitors' internet addresses to deliver the pages and protect the site from attacks.

Mail to support@playcastled.com is forwarded by Cloudflare to our mailbox at Google (Gmail). We use your address and message only to answer you, and delete them once they are no longer needed.

What we never do

We show no ads, use no analytics or tracking services and read no advertising ID. There are no accounts or sign-in. The game does not ask for your location, contacts, photos or files. The game engine is not connected to its maker's online services and sends nothing. We do not sell, rent or share your data with anyone.

Children

Castled is meant for players aged 13 and over. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them.

Why we may use this data (legal bases)

• Purchase checks: to give you what you bought, hosting with the full game (performance of a contract), and our legitimate interest in stopping copied purchases.
• Match recordings and self-check reports: our legitimate interest in online matches that work, are fair, and are the same game on every phone.
• E-mail: our legitimate interest in answering you.

Your rights, and deleting your data

You may ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to its use, or to receive it in a portable form. Write to support@playcastled.com. We answer within one month.

Most of this data deletes itself: recordings and self-check reports after 30 days, purchase records 90 days after their last use. Because Castled has no accounts, we cannot tell which records are yours without your help: for a match, tell us its room code and day; for a purchase record, your Google Play order number; for a self-check report, your phone's model and the day.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, please tell us first. You can also complain to Ireland's Data Protection Commission, our lead supervisory authority, or to the data protection authority where you live.

Changes

When this policy changes, we update it here and change the date at the top.