Privacy Policy

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy describes how Lazy Lion Studios (“Lazy Lion Studios,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) handles information when you use the Nudge iOS application — a daily word puzzle. It applies to Nudge version 1.0 and later.

This policy does not cover the privacy practices of the Apple App Store itself. Apple processes App Store downloads, payments, and related account activity under Apple’s own policies.

This page itself is part of the Lazy Lion Studios website, which is hosted by Vercel and loads Vercel Web Analytics. That script records a page view — the page path, the referring page, browser, operating system and device type, and a country or region inferred from your IP address — under a hashed, cookie-free visitor value that resets every day. It is handled by Vercel under Vercel’s privacy policy. It is separate from the app: nothing on this page talks to the Nudge app or to PostHog.

2. Ads and the data Google receives

The free tier shows one sponsored banner, served by Google AdMob. Nudge Plus removes ads entirely, and a Plus player’s device never loads the ad SDK or contacts Google for ads at all. What Google receives is described below; the separate matter of usage analytics is covered in Usage analytics (PostHog).

When a banner is requested on the free tier, Google may receive:

• Device identifiers. The advertising identifier is used for tracking only if you allow it in iOS’s App Tracking Transparency prompt. Nudge always requests non-personalized ads, whatever you choose.
• Coarse location inferred from your IP address — not precise GPS location.
• Advertising and interaction data — that an ad was shown, and how you interacted with it.
• Diagnostics — crash and performance data from the ad SDK.

This data is received, held, and processed by Google under Google’s own policies, not by Lazy Lion Studios. Nudge itself collects none of it and receives none of it back. Google’s handling is described in the Google Privacy Policy and in how Google uses data from sites and apps that use its services.

Consent and how to withdraw it

Where consent is required — for example in the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland — Google’s User Messaging Platform (UMP) shows a consent form before ads load, and records your choice. Separately, iOS asks once, through the App Tracking Transparency prompt, whether Nudge may track you; declining is always allowed and every puzzle plays the same.

You can change these choices at any time:

• Reopen Google’s consent form under Settings → Ads → “Ad privacy options” inside Nudge (shown where UMP requires it).
• Change tracking under iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• Remove ads altogether by upgrading to Nudge Plus.

Because the free tier now shares data with Google for advertising, Nudge’s App Store privacy label reflects Google’s disclosure rather than “Data Not Collected.”

3. Usage analytics (PostHog)

Nudge sends anonymous usage analytics to PostHog, so we can see whether the parts of the game that are meant to help — the tutorial, hints, reminders, the offline gate, the paywall — actually do. The events are hand-placed at a handful of moments; there is no session replay, no autocapture, no tap or scroll tracking, no feature flags, no surveys, and no error tracking. Analytics is on by default and can be switched off in the app.

A short note leaves the app at those moments. What a note carries:

• The moment. For instance when the app opens or goes to the background, the tutorial is finished or skipped, a board starts or is solved, a hint is asked for, a result is shared or a result-sheet button is tapped, a streak milestone lands, the reminder prompt or the ad primer is answered, you tap one of the reminders or the system answers the reminder-permission prompt, the offline gate appears, the paywall opens or closes, or you switch analytics off.
• A few numbers — such as the move count, how long a board was open, and whether Nudge Plus is active.
• Device context — the app version, device model, iOS version, language, time zone, screen size, and whether you are on Wi-Fi or cellular.
• A purchase outcome, on the notes about a purchase — bought, cancelled, or failed. Never the receipt, and never your Apple Account.

Every note travels under a random install id minted by the app on this phone. It is not a device identifier: deleting the app removes it, and a fresh install mints a new one. It is never joined to a name, email address, Apple Account, or advertising identifier, and no person profile is created. The PostHog project is set to discard your IP address on arrival rather than store it.

Switching it off

Turn analytics off under Settings → Privacy inside Nudge and every note stops; the switch is yours alone, and buying or restoring Nudge Plus does not change it. One thing continues while the app is installed: the PostHog SDK fetches its own configuration once per launch, which sends the project token and your IP address — no event data.

The notes are held and processed by PostHog Inc. under PostHog’s privacy policy, and used by us only in aggregate to improve the game.

4. Data on your device

Your progress — solved boards, streak, hints used — and your preferences live in the app’s own local storage on your device. Nudge uses this information only to run the game for you on that device. That stored record is not uploaded anywhere and is not shared with anyone; the only thing that leaves the app is the anonymous analytics described in Usage analytics (PostHog).

Your analytics preference — on or off — and the random install id that those notes travel under are stored locally too. Deleting the app removes both, and a reinstall mints a new id.

This local data may be included in your own Apple device backups, under whatever backup settings you have chosen with Apple. Deleting the app removes its locally stored data from your device; a copy may persist in an existing Apple backup until that backup is replaced or removed under Apple’s normal behavior.

Sharing a result copies a short text summary to your device’s clipboard so you can paste it wherever you like. Nudge does not send that summary anywhere itself.

5. Purchases

Nudge Plus is a one-time purchase. Apple’s StoreKit handles Nudge Plus purchases and restores through Apple’s own services. Lazy Lion Studios never sees your payment details — no card number, no billing information passes through us.

Restoring a previous purchase asks Apple to confirm the entitlement tied to your Apple Account. That exchange is between your device and Apple; we do not receive your Apple Account credentials. Apple’s handling of your purchase is described in Apple’s App Store privacy information.

6. Connectivity

Free play checks for a working connection before dealing a board — playing offline is part of Nudge Plus. That check confirms only that the device can reach the network; it does not send any gameplay or personal data, and it does not fetch anything from Lazy Lion Studios.

The app itself has no server of ours to talk to and pulls no content from us. Two third parties are contacted: Google, to serve the free tier’s sponsored banner — see Ads and the data Google receives — and PostHog, to receive the anonymous usage notes, unless you have switched analytics off — see Usage analytics (PostHog). Ordinary network activity your device performs — for example, when Apple processes a purchase or restore — is handled by Apple, not by Nudge.

7. Notifications

Nudge uses local notifications only, and only if you turn them on. A daily reminder is scheduled on your device by iOS; there is no push service and no message is sent from us or through a server. If you leave reminders off, or turn them off later in Settings, Nudge schedules none.

The reminders themselves are local: they are scheduled and delivered on your device and never leave it. If analytics is on, tapping one of them is one of the moments a note is sent — which kind of reminder it was, nothing else — and the system’s answer to the permission prompt is noted once. With analytics off, none of that is recorded. See Usage analytics (PostHog).

8. Retention and deletion

Lazy Lion Studios runs no backend of its own, so there is no account or profile on our side to retain, export, or delete. What is held, and by whom, breaks down like this.

• On-device data: kept on your device until you delete the app, at which point its local data is removed — subject to the normal behavior of your Apple device backups.
• Purchase records: retained by Apple as needed to validate purchases and support restores, under Apple’s policies.
• Advertising data: any data Google receives to serve free-tier ads is retained and deleted by Google under its own policies, not by us. Upgrading to Nudge Plus stops these ad requests altogether.
• Analytics data: the anonymous notes described in section 3 are retained by PostHog under the project’s retention settings and read by us only in aggregate. Because they carry no name, email address, or account, we cannot single out one person’s notes, and so cannot look them up or delete them on request. Switching analytics off under Settings → Privacy stops new notes, and deleting the app stops them too, but neither recalls notes already sent.

9. Children’s privacy

Lazy Lion Studios requests no personal data from anyone, children included: we do not knowingly ask any user for a name, email address, or other contact information. Nudge is a general-audience puzzle and is not directed to children under 13.

The free tier does serve Google AdMob ads, which may involve the data described in section 2. If a child in your care uses Nudge and you would prefer no advertising data be involved, Nudge Plus removes ads entirely. You are welcome to contact us with any question about how Nudge works for a child in your care.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy if Nudge’s features or our legal obligations change. If Nudge ever gains a developer backend or begins handling data differently, this policy and the app’s App Store privacy label will be updated to say so before that change ships. We will update the effective date on this page when we make a change.

11. Contact

Contact us with any privacy question about Nudge. Please do not send payment details, passwords, or other sensitive information by email.