Golden Apple Privacy Policy
Effective: October 26, 2026 (version 6)
This policy explains what information HIGHERS ISLAND (“we”) collects when you use the Golden Apple app (the “App”), how we use and keep it, and how you can manage your own data. Golden Apple is made by the Golden Apple Production Committee and operated by HIGHERS ISLAND; “we” in this document means the operator.
1Information we collect
| Information | Why we use it |
|---|---|
| Account: email address and nickname; your account identifier when you sign in with Google or Apple (and the email address you agree to share). Passwords are stored hashed — we cannot read them. You can play without signing in: on first launch we create a device account, and our server generates a random key that this device keeps (the server stores only its hash). We do not read any device identifier. You can link an email address, Google or Apple later. | Creating and identifying your account, signing you in, and replying to support requests. |
| Game progress: your save data, such as spirits, items and expedition records. | Cloud save, so you can continue on another device. |
| Purchase history: the items you bought, transaction ID and time, the App Store receipt and purchase environment. | Delivering what you bought, preventing the same purchase from being claimed twice, and handling refunds. Payment is processed by Apple; we never receive your card or other payment details. |
| Support requests: the category and message you submit in Support & Feedback, plus context such as the app version at the time; for the website support form, also the email address and optional player code you enter. | Answering your request. For requests from the App, replies go to the email address of your account. For the website form, we first send a confirmation email to the address you enter and only handle and reply after you confirm. Website-form records are not linked to a game account, so they are not deleted automatically when you delete your account — tell us through the support form if you want them removed. |
| Gameplay events: e.g. starting a session, sending an expedition, summoning, starting and finishing a Lumber Run stage (which attempt it was and which wave you reached); plus, at each launch, the install environment (App Store, TestFlight, etc.), device model, OS version and app version. | Statistics, game balancing and troubleshooting download and connection problems. Events are first recorded on your device, then uploaded and linked to your account (including a device account). |
| Approximate country: when gameplay events are uploaded, we estimate your country (e.g. “Taiwan”) from the connection’s IP address. We store only the country, not the IP address. The lookup runs on our own server; the IP address is not sent to any other service. | Understanding which countries our players are in (for example, to decide which languages and event times to support); linked to your account (including a device account). If you use a VPN, it will be the VPN’s country. |
| Friends and camp: nickname, player code and featured spirit; what your camp looks like (solar term and journey day, campfire, spirits in camp, decorations, the painting on your notice board and the one line you write, number of dex entries, a farm summary); your friends and blocked players. | Letting you add friends and visit each other’s camps. Only mutual friends can see your camp. Nicknames and board notes pass through a word filter. The invite link you share shows only your player code — not your nickname or camp. When you block someone, they are not notified. |
| Codes, invites and helping: codes you redeemed and when; invite links between players (inviter, new player, the player code entered, when the goal was met and rewards paid); watering you did on a friend’s farm and the thank-you gift. | Delivering rewards and preventing double claims. A new player sees the inviter’s nickname; the inviter sees only how many people they have invited. A friend whose farm you water sees your nickname. |
| Crash reports: error message, stack trace, device model, OS version and app version. | Fixing bugs and improving stability. Collected even when you are signed out, without any identity information. |
2What we do not do
- We do not track you across other apps or websites. The App has no ads and no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs.
- We do not collect your precise location (GPS), contacts or advertising identifier (IDFA). Your country is only roughly estimated from your IP address, as described above.
- We never read your photos. “Save” only asks for permission to add a painting to your photo library; it cannot see what is already there.
- We never sell or rent your personal data.
3Service providers
We share data with the following providers only as needed to run the App, and we do not allow them to use it for anything else.
| Provider | What it handles |
|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services (Tokyo, Japan) | Hosting and storage of all data; sending account-confirmation and support reply emails (Amazon SES). |
| Apple, Google | Sign-in verification; Apple also processes in-app purchases and payment. |
| Google Fonts | Our website and the account-confirmation page load fonts from Google Fonts, so Google receives the visitor’s IP address. The App itself does not use it. |
| Anthropic | Helps draft support replies and therefore processes the content of your support message. Requests about refunds, accounts, payments or personal data are always handled by a person. |
| OpenAI | Generates the gallery paintings. We send only game content such as spirits, discoveries and places — nothing that identifies you. |
| Slack | Support requests that need a person are posted to our internal team channel. |
4Gallery paintings
Paintings are created for a combination of discovery and companion spirits, so players with the same combination see the same painting. A painting contains none of your personal data.
5Storage and retention
- Our servers are in Tokyo, Japan (AWS). All connections are encrypted with HTTPS.
- Account, save data, purchase history and support requests are kept until you delete your account (for copies of support requests, see “Deleting your account”).
- Gameplay events and crash reports are normally kept for no more than 90 days and then deleted automatically (deletion may be briefly delayed during a system problem and is completed once it is resolved).
- We keep routine backups; backup copies normally expire and are deleted automatically within 30 days.
6Deleting your account
You can delete your account at any time in the App (Menu → Account → Delete Account). Deletion is immediate and permanent:
- Your account, save data, purchase history, support requests, gameplay events, crash reports and gallery list are removed from our database and servers at once.
- Support replies already emailed to you, and copies of support requests forwarded to our internal team channel (Slack) and support workflow, are not deleted automatically when you delete your account. To have these copies removed, tell us through the support form and we will delete them manually.
- Your friendships, block list, camp snapshot and redeemed codes are deleted as well. Records of watering you did on friends’ farms, and invite records left by people you invited, are unlinked from your account (your nickname no longer appears to them). An invite record still keeps the player code the new player entered at the time; that code no longer points to any account.
- A device account that is not linked to an email address, Google or Apple is recognised only by the key saved on this device. Before deleting the App or changing devices, link an account or delete the account in the App — once the key is lost we cannot tell that the account is yours.
- Copies left in routine backups are deleted as those backups expire (normally within 30 days). We never restore a deleted account from a backup.
- To stop the same receipt from being claimed twice, we keep transaction IDs that do not identify you, and a one-way code that cannot be traced back to your account.
- Paintings that have already been created, which contain no personal data, may remain in the shared gallery.
- Virtual items in the account are lost and cannot be restored.
7Your rights
You can ask to access, correct or delete your personal data. Besides deleting your account in the App, you can contact us through Support & Feedback (Menu → Support & Feedback) or the support form on our website.
8Children
The App is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. If you are a minor, please get a parent’s or guardian’s permission before making a purchase.
9Contact us
HIGHERS ISLAND
Web: the support form on our website
In the App: Menu → Support & Feedback
10Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update this page and its effective date.
11Website analytics (Google Analytics)
This section applies only to our website, golden-apple.highersisland.com (home page, friend invite pages, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, account deletion and support pages). The App itself does not use Google Analytics.
To understand how the website is used and improve it, the website uses Google Analytics 4, provided by Google LLC. When it runs, your browser sends the following information to Google.
- Information sent: the address and title of pages you view (the player code on friend invite pages is not sent), the referring page, date and time, browser and operating system type, device type, screen size, language setting, approximate location estimated from your IP address (Google Analytics does not store the IP address itself), actions on the website (clicks on the App Store / Google Play buttons, opening a friend invite page, whether the support form was sent successfully (not what you wrote)), and a random identifier stored in cookies (_ga, _ga_*)
- Not sent: the email address, player code, message or any other personal information you type into the support form, or the player code on friend invite pages
- Recipient: Google LLC (United States); data may be processed outside Taiwan and Japan
- Purpose: measuring visits and improving the website. It is not used for advertising, and Google signals and ad personalization are turned off
- Retention: according to the Google Analytics data retention setting (up to 14 months)
- How Google uses this data: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites?hl=en
- How to opt out: for visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, it does not run until you press “Accept” on the consent bar. Anyone can change to “Decline” at any time with “Cookie settings” below, or install Google’s opt-out browser add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout