Ancient Potions: Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 9, 2026

Ancient Potions collects a small amount of anonymous usage data to help us understand how the game is played, and — only when you choose to watch one — shows optional rewarded ads through Google AdMob. There are no accounts, no interruptions, and nothing we collect ourselves identifies you personally.

Ads, and the choice they always are

Ancient Potions never interrupts you with an ad. The only ads in the game are rewarded ads you ask for: a clearly labelled button that says what you’ll get (hurrying a brew or a garden bed along), and only plays after you tap it. Declining costs nothing, waiting is always free, and the game is fully playable without ever watching one.

Ads are served by Google AdMob. When an ad is shown, Google and its certified ad partners may collect data as described in Google’s privacy policy and how Google uses information from partners, including:

• Device identifiers, including the advertising ID on Android. On iOS the advertising identifier (IDFA) is not used at all.
• IP address, used among other things to estimate a general (city-level) location.
• Ad interaction data — which ads were shown, watched, or tapped.

We do not receive or store any of this ourselves. The list of Google’s certified ad partners is at support.google.com/admob/answer/9012903.

Consent

The first time you tap an ad button (never at launch), you may be shown a consent form:

• In the EEA and UK, Google’s consent flow (GDPR) asks before any personalized ad is served; if you decline, ads are limited or non-personalized depending on your choices.
• On iOS, the game does not ask for tracking permission and does not use the advertising identifier, so ads there are never personalized using it.
• You can revisit your privacy choices at any time from Settings → Privacy options in the game.

What we collect ourselves (analytics)

With “Share Usage Stats” enabled (it is on by default), the game sends us a short stream of gameplay events:

• App interactions: session starts, tutorial progress, and gameplay milestones (a potion brewed or bottled, an order fulfilled, a villager delivery, a level gained).
• Diagnostics: if a script error occurs, the file name, line number, and error message, so we can fix crashes.

Each event is tagged with a randomly generated install identifier, a per-session random identifier, the app version, the platform name (e.g. “android”), and a timestamp. The install identifier is minted on your device, is not derived from your device or any account, and is deleted when you uninstall the game.

What we do NOT collect

• No names, email addresses, or accounts of our own. The witch and town names you choose in the story never leave your device. If you sign in to Google Play Games on Android, that account stays with Google and we never see it (see below).
• Our own analytics never touch the advertising identifier, and our server does not log or store IP addresses.
• No contacts, photos, files, microphone, or camera: the game never asks for those permissions.
• Our analytics data is never shared with, or sold to, anyone. It goes to our own self-hosted service and stays there. (Ad data collected by Google when you watch an ad is governed by Google’s policies, linked above.)

How we use it

Aggregate analytics only: how many people play, whether they return, where the tutorial loses them, and which features get used. Our data is not used for advertising, profiling, or any per-person decision, and it is encrypted in transit (HTTPS).

Your choices

• Never watch an ad: simply don’t tap the ad buttons — they are the only way an ad can appear.
• Privacy options: Settings → “Privacy options” reopens the consent form where one applies to you.
• Turn analytics off: Settings → “Share Usage Stats”. Turning it off stops collection immediately and discards anything queued but not yet sent.
• Reset your identity: Settings → “Reset Analytics ID” generates a fresh random identifier; data collected before the reset can no longer be associated with your device.
• Deletion requests: email us (below) and we will delete the server-side data for the install identifier you reset or describe. For data collected by Google when serving ads, use the controls at myadcenter.google.com.

Purchases

Ancient Potions offers two optional one-time purchases. Neither is needed to play, nothing is withheld behind one, and nothing in the game expires if you never buy either.

Payment is handled entirely by Google Play or the App Store. We never see or receive your payment details — the store tells the game only whether a purchase completed, so it can unlock what you bought. Refunds are handled by the store you bought from.

What stays with us is small: what you own is recorded in the save file on your own device, and our analytics receive one event noting which of the two products was bought, against the same random install identifier described above. No price, no payment method, no account, no name.

Google Play Games (Android only)

On Android you can sign in to Google Play Games from Settings, which records achievements and leaderboard placings against your Play Games account. The game never asks at launch, never asks twice, and plays exactly the same if you never sign in.

Signing in is handled entirely by Google. We do not receive your Google account, your name, your email address, or your Play Games profile, and the game never reads any of them. What it sends is progress you have already earned in the game: which achievements you have unlocked, and three lifetime totals (potions brewed, orders fulfilled, and coins earned) for the leaderboards. Google’s handling of that data is described in Google’s privacy policy.

You can sign out at any time from the Google Play Games app, which stops further submissions. Nothing in the game is lost or locked if you do: your progress lives in the save file on your device either way.

Local saves

Your game progress is stored in a save file on your own device and never leaves it. Uninstalling the app deletes it.

Children

Ad content is capped at the most restrictive general-audiences rating (G), rewarded ads only ever play when explicitly requested, and our own analytics are anonymous and never used for advertising or profiling.

Changes

If a future update changes any of the above, this policy will be updated before that version ships, and the in-store data-safety section will be revised to match.