Privacy policy: Glimmerthaw

Last updated 10 November 2026

The short version

Glimmerthaw has no account and no sign-in. Version 1.0 collected no data at all. Version 1.1.0 sent usage data and error reports from the first start. From version 1.2.0, on iPhone and Android, the game sends usage data and error reports to PostHog only if you say yes, tied to a random install id and never to your name, account or email.
Sharing is off until you agree. The game asks one question, once, on the map after your first win: Share or No thanks. You can change your answer at any time in Settings > Privacy > Share usage data. Until you say yes, and after you say No thanks, the game sends no usage data and makes no request to PostHog.
The save with your progress, settings and purchase record stays on your phone, and we never receive it. While sharing is on, the usage data includes some facts about it, such as a level won, a setting changed or the product you bought.
The daily reminder is a notification your phone schedules for itself. It stays off unless you turn it on.
A postcard is shared only when you tap Send postcard, through your phone's share sheet. The link in it names only the mural.
Purchases go through Apple or Google Play. We never see your payment details.
Glimmerthaw has no ads and no ad software. It does not track you across other apps or websites, and it does not show Apple's tracking question.
If a future version adds ads or collects other kinds of data, we will update this policy before that version is released.
These web pages set no cookies of their own. Our host, Cloudflare, may set one security cookie. If you use the demo's Effects or Music button, your browser remembers that choice.

Who we are

Glimmerthaw is made by OPTIMUMTECH FUSION SRL, a company registered in Romania (tax ID / CUI 48288243, Trade Register J22/1781/2023), in the European Union. We are the controller for the personal data this policy describes, except where Apple or Google decides for itself how it uses data, as explained under Purchases.

Contact: contact@optimumtechfusion.com

What stays on your phone

The game saves these on your iPhone or Android phone:

your progress: murals thawed, embers, boosters, perch themes, the Critter Album and your Daily Thaw streak;
your settings, such as sound, music, haptics, reduced motion, the colour-blind palette, the reminder time and your choice about sharing usage data;
a record of each purchase (the store's transaction ID, the item and when it was delivered, and on Android also the Google Play purchase token), so nothing is delivered twice.

The game does not send this save to us, and there is no cloud save run by us. While Share usage data is on, the usage data described below includes some facts about it, such as a level won, a setting changed or the product you bought, but never the save itself, a transaction ID or a purchase token. Your progress stays until you reset it or delete the app. Your settings and purchase record stay until you delete the app. Backups can change that; see Backups.

In version 1.2.0 and later, usage data and error reports are off. A new install, and every save that holds no answer yet, starts with sharing off: nothing is set up and nothing is sent. The game asks one question, once. It shows it on the map the first time the map opens after you win level 1, and not before. The question reads "Help make Glimmerthaw better?", with the lines "Send play statistics and error reports. Never your name or account." and "You can change this any time in Settings.", and two buttons that look alike: Share and No thanks. Share turns sharing on. No thanks keeps it off. Closing the question with your phone's Back button counts as No thanks. The answer is saved on your phone and the question does not come again. Players who update from version 1.1.0, which asked nothing and started with sharing on, start version 1.2.0 with sharing off and see the same question.

Nothing is sent before you answer, and nothing is sent after No thanks. Events from before you said yes are not kept or sent later. You can change your answer at any time in Settings > Privacy > Share usage data; moving that switch counts as an answer too.

What the game sends if you say yes

Version 1.0 sends nothing. Version 1.1.0 sent usage data and error reports to PostHog from the first start. From version 1.2.0 the game sends them only while Share usage data is on, which it is only after you said yes. The game sends only the events below, in plain words:

Playing a level (a main level, the Daily Thaw, a seasonal trail, the weekly Long Night mural or a postcard challenge): that a level was started, won, retried or left, and that the stuck panel appeared, each with the level number (main levels only). Starting a level also says whether you had beaten it before (or already won that day's Daily Thaw) and whether a saved game was picked up where you left it. A win says the same about beating it before, and carries the number of moves, undos, retries, boosters used and critters woken, a rough length of time in bands such as "under 1 minute", and, for a level with a glow mark, whether this win earned it. A Daily Thaw win also carries your streak. Leaving a level carries the number of moves, the rough length of time and whether the stuck panel was showing. The stuck panel carries the number of moves and why you were stuck (no moves left or not enough sparks), and a retry says which button you used.
How you play: which tutorial hint was shown (a number from 1 to 5); that you previewed a move, and how (press and hold, tapping twice, or the screen reader's Preview action); that you undid a move; why a move was refused, from a fixed list (for example all perches full); whether you skipped the picture that plays after a win; and that the Daily Thaw opened after level 4. Each comes with the kind of level and, for a main level, its number.
Valleys: that a win restored a step of a valley (the chapter number and step 1 to 3); which critter you picked to live in a valley (Snow Hare, Ember Fox, Bear Cub or Owl) and the chapter; and that you looked at a valley (the chapter, and whether from the map or after a win).
Postcards: that the share sheet opened with a postcard, and whether it was a valley or a mural postcard (what you then pick in the sheet is not known to the game); and that the game was opened by a postcard link, and whether this version of the game knew that mural.
Boosters: which booster was used, on which level, and whether it was bought with embers in the same tap; and which booster was bought with embers, how many embers it cost, and whether it was bought in the shop or on the level.
The shop and purchases: that the shop was opened and from where (the map or a level), which product you started to buy (by product name, never a price in money), and how that purchase ended (granted, pending, cancelled, failed or already owned).
Restore purchases: the outcome of a restore (restored, nothing to restore or unfinished).
Settings: which setting you changed and whether it is now on or off, that the reminder time changed (not the time itself), and which language you picked and the one you had before.
The reminder: whether you turned the daily reminder on or off, whether the permission was refused or setting it failed, and whether this happened in Settings or from the offer after a Daily Thaw win.
Reset all progress: that you reset, and how many main levels you had beaten.
Screens viewed: which screen opened (map, level, daily, shop, album or settings).
The app itself: that the app was opened (and whether it came back from the background), sent to the background, installed or updated, with the app version and build and, after an update, the ones before.
Turning sharing off: when you switch Share usage data off after it was on, the game sends one last note saying so. Usage data it had already collected before the switch took effect, including that note, may still be sent with it or on a later start. Nothing collected after the switch took effect is sent while sharing stays off.
Errors: when the game hits an error, it sends the error's type, how serious it was, whether the game caught it, and the place in the game's code where it happened (file, function and line). It never sends the error's message.

Every event carries its exact time, as PostHog's software stamps it. The software also adds details about the app and your device to every event:

the app's name, package name, version and build, and whether it was installed from the store (on iPhone also whether it is a TestFlight test version);
the device maker, model and the model's code name (never the name you gave your phone), the kind of device, the operating system and its version, and whether the game runs on an emulator or on a Mac;
on Android, the system's standard user-agent text, which repeats the Android version, the model and the system build;
on a foldable phone, whether it is folded or open;
the screen size (on Android also its pixel density), your language and region setting, and the name of your time zone;
the type of network (Wi-Fi, mobile or, on Android, Bluetooth) and, on Android, the carrier name;
the name of the last screen you viewed;
the name and version of PostHog's software library, a session id and when that session began, and PostHog's own status notes, such as how many events are waiting to be sent and that screen recording and person profiles are off;
a random id for each event, and the random install id described below.

PostHog also records when each batch of events was sent. The game never sends your name, email, an account, a phone number, an advertising id, your location, free text you typed, a price in money, a payment detail or a purchase token. The game creates no person profiles, and it does not record your screen.

The random install id

Each install of the game gets a random install id. At the first start with sharing on after the id is 395 days old, the game replaces it with a new random id. The id is made by the game's software on your phone, is not your phone's own device id, and is not shown anywhere in the game. It lets us see that events came from the same install, without your name or account. It is still personal data under the GDPR, because it singles out one install, so we treat it that way.

Once each time the game starts, when sharing begins, PostHog's software also fetches its settings from PostHog. That request carries no install id and no usage data. Your IP address reaches PostHog with each request, as it does with any internet connection. We have set the PostHog project not to store it with the events, and its location lookup from the IP address (GeoIP) is switched off.

Where the data goes and for how long

Usage data and error reports go to PostHog's EU cloud, where PostHog states that its servers are in Frankfurt, Germany. PostHog acts as our processor: it handles the data on our behalf and under our instructions. PostHog keeps the events for 1 year, the data retention of our PostHog plan.

Changing your answer

Open Settings > Privacy > Share usage data and switch it off or on. Switching it off makes the game stop collecting usage data and send the one note described above. That note, and any usage data collected before the switch took effect, may still be sent, now or on a later start. Nothing collected after the switch took effect is sent while sharing stays off. If the game cannot turn collection off at once, it tries again each time you switch sharing off. Switching it on starts sharing from that moment. The choice applies to this install of the game. If you delete the game and install it again without restoring a backup, it starts with sharing off again and asks the question again after your first win. If you restore a backup, your choice comes back with it.

The daily reminder

If you turn on the daily reminder (in Settings, or when the game offers it after your third Daily Thaw win), your phone asks whether Glimmerthaw may send notifications. On Android this is the notification permission. The game then schedules one local notification a day at the reminder time, which you can change in Settings. Your phone creates and shows it; the notification itself is not sent through us. You can turn it off with the Daily reminder switch in Settings, or in your phone's system notification settings for Glimmerthaw. If sharing is on, the game sends the usage events described above about the reminder switch, such as that it was turned on.

Postcards

A postcard is a picture of a thawed mural or of one of your valleys, drawn on your phone. Nothing is shared until you tap Send postcard. The game then saves the picture for a moment in a temporary folder in its cache on your phone, and opens your phone's share sheet with the picture and a short text. You pick where it goes, or close the sheet. The game does not see which app or person you pick, and the postcard does not go through us: we run no server for it. The game empties that folder the next time it starts.

A mural postcard shows the painting, the mural's name, its glow mark if it has one, "Glimmerthaw" and a link. The text that goes with it holds the same link and the addresses of the game's App Store and Google Play pages. The link has the form glimmerthaw://card/ followed by the level, and for a mural with a glow mark also the kind of mark. It names only the mural: no name, no install id, no account and no date. A valley postcard shows the valley as it stands, with the chapter's name and "Glimmerthaw", and its text holds the two store addresses and no link. When a friend opens a mural link in the game, the game reads only the level and the kind of glow mark from it, and nothing is sent to anyone. Whoever receives your postcard gets it under the rules of the app or service you chose in the share sheet, not under this policy.

Purchases

In-app purchases are made through Apple's App Store on iPhone and through Google Play on Android. Apple or Google takes the payment, and we never see your name, card or other payment details. For each purchase the game keeps the record described above on your phone. On Android that record includes the Google Play purchase token, and it also travels in your Google backup (see Backups). When you tap Restore purchases, the game asks Apple or Google Play for your purchase history, so a Supporter Pack you bought comes back. If sharing is on, the game sends the product name of each purchase step to PostHog, as described above, never the price. Apple's handling of your data is described in Apple's privacy policy, and Google's in Google's privacy policy.

Backups

Android: your save (progress, settings and the purchase record with its purchase tokens) can come back from your Google backup when you set up a new phone or reinstall the game. So deleting the game no longer erases your save while a Google backup of it exists. The random install id and PostHog's queue of unsent events are not part of that backup, so a restored phone gets a new random install id.
iPhone: the game's data may be included in backups you make with iCloud or a computer. The random install id and PostHog's queue of unsent events are not part of those backups, so an iPhone restored from one gets a new random install id.

These backups are kept by Google or Apple, or on your computer, not by us.

No ads and no ad tracking

Glimmerthaw contains no ads and no advertising software, and it does not track you across other apps or websites. It does not ask for Apple's App Tracking Transparency permission, because it does not track in that sense. The game talks to Apple or Google for purchases and for delivering the app, and, if you agree, to PostHog for the usage data and error reports described above. If a future version adds ads or any other collection of data, we will update this policy before that version is released.

The Privacy policy and Support links in Settings open these pages in your phone's web browser (see This website). If you allow it in your phone's diagnostics settings (on iPhone, Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements), Apple or Google may share crash reports and usage statistics with us, without your name.

If you email us

When you write to contact@optimumtechfusion.com, we receive your email address, your message and anything you add to it, such as your phone model, iOS or Android version or screenshots. Cloudflare forwards it to our support mailbox at Google Gmail, where we read and answer it. We use it only to answer you and to fix problems in the game.

This website

These Glimmerthaw pages are part of optimumtechfusion.com, which Cloudflare hosts. The pages set no cookies of their own. If you tap the Effects or Music button in the demo, your browser keeps that choice in its local storage on your device, so the next visit starts the same way; it is never sent to us. Our host, Cloudflare, may set one security cookie (cf_clearance) to block automated traffic. The pages' fonts, images and sounds come from this site.

Visits are counted with GoatCounter, which sets no cookies and stores nothing in your browser. It counts page views by page, referring site, browser, operating system, screen width, language and location (such as the country, worked out from the IP address). To tell repeat visits apart, it keeps the site name, your IP address and your browser's User-Agent in memory for up to 8 hours. It does not store your IP address. GoatCounter stores its data on servers in Finland and Germany. More in GoatCounter's privacy notes.

Who receives data

PostHog (our processor): the usage data and error reports described above, on its EU cloud, only if you said yes.
Apple: App Store purchases and delivering the app to you on iPhone.
Google: Google Play purchases and delivering the app on Android, your Google backup, and our support mailbox (Gmail), which holds only the emails you send us.
Cloudflare: hosts these pages, forwards email sent to our address and may set the security cookie.
GoatCounter: cookieless page counts for these pages.
The app or person you pick in the share sheet: the postcard, if you send one.

Data outside your country

Google and Cloudflare may process data in the United States and other countries. PostHog stores the game's data in the EU, and PostHog's data processing agreement with us allows it to process data outside the EU, including in the United States, through the subprocessors it lists. Google LLC, Cloudflare, Inc. and PostHog Inc are active participants in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, its UK Extension and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, as the Data Privacy Framework list showed on 4 November 2026, and transfers to them rely on it. GoatCounter keeps its data in the European Union.

Legal bases

Where we process personal data (the game's usage data and error reports, emails to us, these web pages, and the purchase records the game keeps on your phone), under the GDPR we rely on:

Consent (Article 6(1)(a)) for the usage data and error reports, and for storing the random install id on your phone: you give it by saying Share in the game's question or by switching Share usage data on in Settings, and you can withdraw it at any time by switching it off. We use these data to see how the game is played, find the levels where players get stuck and fix errors.
Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) for answering your emails and fixing problems you report, and for keeping these web pages secure and counting visits to them.
Contract (Article 6(1)(b)) for delivering what you buy. Apple or Google takes the payment and the game delivers the item on your phone.

Withdrawing consent and your right to object

You can withdraw your consent to the game's usage data at any time with the switch in Settings > Privacy > Share usage data: once it is off, the game collects nothing more. Only the last note and usage data collected before the switch took effect may still be sent, as described above. Withdrawing does not make what was collected before it unlawful. You can also object at any time to processing based on legitimate interests (answering emails, and keeping these web pages secure and counting visits to them): email us, and we will stop unless we have a compelling reason that overrides your interests.

How long data is kept

Usage data and error reports at PostHog: 1 year. A new random install id at the first start with sharing on after 395 days limits how long one id can link your play.
Your progress stays on your phone until you reset it or delete the app (or, on Android, until you also remove the Google backup). Your settings and purchase record stay until you delete the app and any backup.
Support emails are deleted within 12 months after the conversation ends, unless we need them longer to deal with a legal claim.
GoatCounter keeps the IP address and User-Agent it uses to tell visits apart in memory for up to 8 hours.

Your rights

You have the right to access your personal data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to how it is used, to receive it in a portable form, and, where we rely on consent, to withdraw it.

The game's progress, settings and purchase record live on your phone, so you control them directly. Delete the app to erase them (on Android, also remove the Google backup). Settings > Reset all progress erases your progress only: your settings and your purchase record stay.

The usage data at PostHog is tied only to a random install id that the game never shows, so we cannot match a request to a person, and we cannot look up or delete the data of one player. Turning off Share usage data stops the collection, and deleting the app drops the id. For anything else, such as an email you sent us, email contact@optimumtechfusion.com and we will answer within one month.

You are not required by law or by contract to provide any data to play the game.

Profiling and automated decisions

We build no profiles of players and make no automated decisions about you. PostHog's person profiles are switched off.

Complaints

You can complain to a data protection supervisory authority, especially in the country where you live or work. In Romania, that is the National Supervisory Authority for Personal Data Processing (ANSPDCP), at dataprotection.ro. We would be glad to help first, so please email us.

Children

Glimmerthaw is not directed at children under 13 and is not in the App Store's Kids category. The game cannot tell how old a player is and asks no one, so the question, and the usage data and error reports described above if the answer is Share, are the same for every player, whatever their age. A parent or the player can say No thanks, or turn sharing off later in Settings > Privacy > Share usage data. The game never asks for a name, an email or an account. Children under 16 should ask a parent before emailing us. If you believe a child has sent us personal data by email, email us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will publish the new version on this page with a new date at the top.

Privacy policy