Mystery Walks App - Privacy policy

Privacy policy for the Mystery Walks App

Contents

    User data and personal information

    The Mystery Walks App does not share, store or transmit any personal information (PII) such as email addresses, device identifiers, etc.

    Location data

    The app uses location data (latitude and longitude) for the following:

    • While the app is in use (displayed on screen):
      • to show your approximate distances from the start location of a mystery you have purchased.
    • When the app is in the background (even when closed / not in use / screen is off), the app collects (receives and processes) location data during your mystery walk:
      • to display your location on the route map.
      • to enable tracking of your progress around the route. Due to the real-time nature of a mystery walk, the app needs to receive location data even when it is in the background (screen is off or another app is in the foreground) in order to alert you if you need to follow a walking direction at that moment. Receiving and processing location information in the background only starts when the mystery begins and ceases as soon as the mystery ends.
    • Analytics for a puzzle involving searching for a location so we can check the location is being found OK.

    We do not retain/store/transmit/share a history of your location data which we treat as highly-sensitive personal information. The location data received by the app never leaves your device and is not stored anywhere permanent on it, apart from the final position (but not the positions leading up to it) of a "warmer/colder" puzzle so we can check it is being reached OK.

    Compass data

    The app receives a compass bearing (if your device has one) during a mystery walk in order to display your orientation on the map. If your device doesn't have a compass, a crosshair icon is shown rather than an arrow. We do not retain/store/transmit/share your compass data.

    Anonymous usage statistics ("analytics")

    The app uses a randomly-generated anonymous identifier to help us diagnose issues and improve performance of the app.
    Since it's just a random number, there's no way it can be traced back to you as an individual.
    The analytics data we collect is sent to Google Firebase for the purpose of technical support, usage analysis, performance monitoring and the Crashlytics crash reporting service to enable us to detect and diagnose app crashes in order to improve the stability of the app.
    We do not share this analytics data with anyone else or use it for any purpose other than that stated above.
    Data is expired after 12 months.

    In-app purchases and payment information

    The purchasing of mysteries within the Mystery Walks App is done entirely through Apple and Google's in-app purchase mechanisms (they are the retailers and we effectively wholesale the content to them) and the in-app purchases (walks) from these companies are stored in your Apple or Google Account.
    Consequently we do not hold or have access to any payment, card or contact information associated with your Apple or Google account.
    Apple do not give us the ability to refund purchases on their platform (you must contact Apple).
    Google do permit us to refund purchases if you can provide us with an order number (by default we cannot identify you).
    We record mysteries purchased against the anonymous user identifier to be able to monitor our sales and calculate mystery popularity.

    Camera

    The app integrates with your device's camera to allow you to take photos during a mystery without needing to switch to a different app. These photos are stored privately within the app and removed once a mystery has been completed. The app does not save them to the photo gallery on your device and therefore doesn't require access to your photo gallery. The app does not collect, share or access the photos once they are taken.

    Contacting us

    The "Contact us" section of the app uses email to send us messages containing feedback or issues with the app or a particular mystery.
    Since we normally can't tell who you are in our analytics (since they're anonymous), we'll pre-populate the email with some diagnostic information to help us quickly troubleshoot any problems you are having (we sometimes receive requests for help on the same morning someone wants to do an iwalk or mystery walk). This will include the anonymous identifier which will allow us, for example, to locate any error messages recorded in our analytics that relate to your issue.
    You can remove this information from the email before sending it if you change your mind about sending it to us.