> Who we are
The Signal is developed and published by Rasena ("we", "us").
> The short version
The Signal does not collect your data. Your steps, your walk figures and your progress through the story are stored on your phone and are never sent to us. There is no account to create, and none of your data is sold, shared or used for advertising.
> What the app records, and why
The Signal is a walking game, so it needs to know that you are walking.
Step counts. The app reads your step count from your phone's motion sensor: Core Motion on iPhone, the step counter sensor on Android. Steps are what move the story forward. This is the one thing the game cannot work without.
Location, if you allow it. With your permission the app records the distance, pace and elevation of a walk so it can show you those figures. Location never drives the game: the story moves on steps alone, and declining location changes nothing about how it plays. You can turn it off at any time with LOCATION under PERMISSIONS in the app's settings, or in your phone's settings.
Your progress and preferences. Mission progress, free-walk records, lifetime totals and your settings.
A log of your walks. For each walk you finish: when it was, how long it took, its steps and figures, and the places in the game it passed through. It does not record where you walked.
> Where it goes
All of the above is stored on your device and read back by the app. The Signal has no servers of its own, and its own code makes no network requests. It has no analytics, crash reporting or advertising.
Your phone's own location service (Google Play services on Android, Apple's on iOS) works the way it does for every app on the device and is covered by their terms rather than this policy. The Signal reads a position from it and keeps the result on your phone.
In-app purchases are handled by the App Store or Google Play, under their terms. Your payment details go to Apple or Google, never to us. The app only learns which items you own and each purchase's order reference, and keeps them on your phone.
On Android, purchases go through Google Play's billing component, which is built into the app. That component can contact Google's servers, under Google's terms rather than this policy, including to send Google technical diagnostics about how the component is working. That is why Android lists internet access among the app's permissions. The Signal itself sends nothing and does not receive that information.
On Android, spoken alerts are optional. When they are on, your phone's built-in speech engine reads them aloud using a voice stored on the device; the app will not use a voice that needs the internet.
> Apple Health (iPhone)
On iPhone the app can read your step count from Apple Health. It is read-only: the app never writes to Health. It is used only to notice that you have walked while the phone is in your pocket, so a story message or a challenge alert can reach you. Health data is never used for advertising, never shared with anyone, and never leaves your device.
> Permissions the app asks for
- Motion and fitness / physical activity: counting your steps. Required; without it there is nothing to move the game.
- Location, while using the app: distance, pace and elevation for your walk summary. Optional.
- Notifications: telling you mid-walk that a story message has arrived, or how a challenge is going, and once when a new episode is out. Optional.
> Location during a walk
The app only asks for location "while using the app". It keeps recording during a walk with your phone in your pocket, and your phone shows this with its usual indicator: the location symbol on iPhone, an ongoing notification on Android. It never asks for always-on location.
You can refuse or withdraw any permission in your phone's settings. Refusing location or notifications leaves the game fully playable.
> Backups
Your phone's own backup (iCloud Backup on iPhone, Google's device backup on Android) may include the app's saved progress, depending on your backup settings. That is what lets your progress come back on a new phone. Those backups are made and held by Apple or Google under their terms. The Signal has no cloud backup of its own and we cannot see them.
> Deleting your data
Uninstalling the app removes everything it stored on your phone. It does not remove copies inside your phone's backups, which you manage in your iCloud or Google settings. We hold nothing, so there is nothing for us to delete on your behalf.
> Contacting support
If you email us, we receive your email address, your message and anything you choose to attach, and use them only to reply to you.
If you are a supporter, you can email us the name you would like in the game's credits with the order reference the app shows you. We use the reference only to check the purchase and the name only for the credits, and we will take a name out if you ask.
> Children
The Signal is not directed at children and collects no personal information from anyone, of any age.
> Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published with a new date at the top. If a future version of the app ever collects or sends anything (it does not today), that will be described here before it ships, and it will ask for your consent where the law requires it.
> Contact
Questions about this policy: hello@rasena.co.uk