Privacy policy

Effective 3 October 2026. ParseBound is a ParseLife game. Contact: lucas.ekstroom@gmail.com.

Who is responsible

The controller of the personal data described here is ParseLife, the developer of ParseBound as listed on Google Play, based in Sweden. Contact us at the email above for any privacy question or request. Google (Firebase and AdMob) and your step-data providers process data under their own terms as described below.

Play and local progress

You can play as a guest. Heroes, equipment, gold, stamina, game settings, achievements and step accounting are stored on your device. The optional home-screen widget stores a timestamped summary of your last saved adventure locally (stamina percentage, estimated delving hours, steps received today, Pilgrim rank and running or resting state) and sends no data off your device. Exporting a backup creates a file you control. Clearing app storage or uninstalling may remove local progress.

Walking information

With your permission, the Android app reads step counts from Health Connect or the phone’s step-counter sensor to award game stamina, including while your company is delving. It does not request GPS location, heart rate or other health records. Health Connect may supply steps recorded while the game was closed; the game checks for them when you return and while it is open. You can separately opt in to Import recorded steps sooner in Settings and grant Health Connect background-read permission on supported devices. This schedules local reads about every 30 minutes when the battery is not low; Android may delay them. Background reads store step evidence locally, and stamina and combat settle when you return. This does not control Health Connect recording. You can disable the opt-in or revoke background access; opening the game still catches up when Steps access is available. Updates can arrive in batches. The phone-sensor fallback counts only while ParseBound is open. Step-source availability depends on your Android version, hardware, permissions and recording setup; support is not guaranteed on every phone. You can revoke access in Android settings.

To avoid crediting the same observation again, the app keeps a local step-accounting database with totals for short, normally five-minute UTC intervals, tracking-source identifiers, sync checkpoints, earned cumulative totals, rewarded-boost timestamps, and the gold amounts and times of optional gold doublings. Previously checked Health Connect history is reconciled within a 30-day correction window. Previously unchecked available history is processed separately in batches after an absence. Unfinished sync or reward details can remain longer until they can be checked. Changes to health history do not subtract stamina already earned.

Only one step source awards stamina at a time. Within Health Connect you can use combined sources with Health Connect aggregation, or choose one app found in the last seven days of step records. Discovery reads source metadata from Steps records; app labels, package names and your selection stay on this installation and are not sent to advertising or included in cloud backups. The chosen filter applies to foreground, background and boost-related step reads. An unavailable selected app does not silently fall back to another source. Switching sources requires confirmation, keeps previously earned credits and begins a new tracking period. Earlier walking and boost credits still waiting to sync from the old period cannot be recovered after that change, even by switching back. Future walking within an active boost keeps its eligibility.

Step information is used for gameplay and step-reward accounting. We do not sell it, use it for advertising targeting or include it in advertising requests.

Chronicle walking records and achievements

The Chronicle shows steps credited to this adventure, daily receipt totals and cosmetic achievements. A daily entry uses the date new step credits reached ParseBound, not necessarily the date you walked. Late or offline syncs can include earlier walking. The record keeps a saved time zone so its date boundaries stay consistent when you travel; this time-zone setting is not GPS location. Daily details cover up to the most recent 365 calendar days. Older steps remain in aggregate totals, and steps without reliable daily dates remain undated. Daily history from before this feature is not reconstructed. Stamina bonuses do not multiply the recorded step count.

Chronicle records and achievements are part of local game progress and any backup you choose to export or upload. An existing backup retains the record saved in that copy until you replace or delete it. Restoring an older backup restores its older Chronicle; it does not merge walking records or achievements from different adventures. These records are not included in advertising requests.

Optional local reminders are scheduled and displayed entirely on your device, use no network connection, and can be disabled in Settings.

Local error log

From version 0.21.0 the game keeps a short error log on your device (the last 50 technical errors: an error summary, the game module and line, the time, the app version and the game page). It contains no email, account identifier, step records or game progress, and it is never sent automatically. Settings › Help & feedback lets you copy it yourself if you want to include it in a support message.

Optional accounts and cloud backups

Google Firebase Authentication processes your account identifier, email address and authentication information. Google sign-in may also supply a display name. ParseBound does not receive your Google password. Email/password credentials are handled by Firebase Authentication, not stored in the game’s progress file.

Cloud backup is on by default for verified signed-in accounts after a notice. Closing the notice without choosing keeps automatic backup on for a new sign-in. Existing off preferences stay off unless you choose to turn them on. Your adventure, including its walking records, is backed up about every 10 minutes while playing when progress changes, and we also attempt a backup when you leave. Leaving is best effort; offline or conflicting backups may wait until you return and review them. You can turn automatic backup off in Settings at any time. Turning it off stops future uploads but does not delete an existing backup; an upload already started may still finish. Signing into another account backs up the current local adventure to that account when automatic backup is on. Signing in never replaces your local adventure. Restoring a cloud backup requires your confirmation.

When automatic backup is on or you save online, Firebase Cloud Firestore stores game progress including saved step totals, Chronicle receipt-day history and its saved time zone, aggregate walking totals, achievements, stamina, heroes, equipment and gold. It also stores the reward ledger identifier and total doubled gold so an earned reward is never paid twice. The native five-minute step database and raw Health Connect records are not uploaded. Database access rules restrict your backup to your signed-in account. Automatic backup replaces only the revision this device last wrote or restored; a different revision needs your review. A restore keeps this phone’s local tracking records. Firestore is configured in Stockholm, Sweden, and Google may process information in other countries. While you are signed in, the app may read your existing backup to show its age, even when automatic backup is off. Verification email is requested when you create an email/password account or choose to send another verification email.

Age group and optional services

ParseBound is intended for players aged 13 and older. From Android build 14 (version 0.10.0), the app asks for a broad age group before optional online features. From version 0.23.2 the age question is asked when the game is first opened: when a new guest adventure begins, before delving starts. It is not asked automatically for signed-in players or an existing account session. Existing adventures keep the later-visit question after the introduction; if you skip it, it asks once more at least a week later. After a second skip it is not asked automatically again. Choosing “Prefer not to answer” answers the question, so it is not asked again. It does not ask for your date of birth. This choice, the number of automatic questions and the time of the latest one stay in this app’s local device settings and are not included in exported progress or cloud backups. The saved range stays on the device; for players aged 13–17, only a protective age-treatment signal derived from it reaches Google with ad requests. Answering the question never makes an advertisement appear. You can review it in Settings. Choosing not to answer keeps guest gameplay, local progress, walking and local export available.

Optional rewarded ads are available for selected age groups 13 and older, subject to Google’s privacy availability check. Players under 13 or with no age answer, including “Prefer not to answer”, receive no ads. Choosing an age group does not itself request an ad or open a consent form. New sign-in and cloud-backup actions in the Android app require a selected age group of 13 or older. Existing-account management and the account-deletion website remain available without using advertisements. Age selection does not delete an existing account or cloud backup.

Optional rewarded advertising

The game requests a Google AdMob rewarded video only when an eligible player chooses one: a road blessing, or doubling the gold earned while away on the “While you were away” card. A confirmed earned blessing grants four hours of twice the stamina per step, subject to the final cap of 15 stamina seconds per step that applies to all walking bonuses; blessings do not stack. The gold offer appears only after 4 hours or more away, at most once every 4 hours; a confirmed earned doubling adds the gold shown on its button. It depends only on time away and gold earned in the game, never on step data, and nothing about your walking is sent to the advertising provider or used to choose ads. Video length and availability are controlled by the provider; a 15- or 30-second video is not guaranteed. There are no purchases, banners or forced advertisements. Builds using test advertisements identify them in the game.

For players aged 16–17 and adults, in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google’s consent form asks for your choices when required the first time you choose Watch ad, before any ad loads. You can change those choices later with Ad privacy choices in Settings. Every ad request for ages 16–17 uses Google’s teen treatment: no personalized ads or remarketing. For ages 13–15, no consent form is requested and every ad request uses Google’s child treatment: no personalized ads, remarketing, third-party ad vendor requests or advertising ID transmission. All ages have a maximum ad content rating of G. Adults receive no age-restricted treatment.

From Android build 6 (version 0.5.0), advertising and consent services connect only when you choose Watch ad or open Ad privacy choices. Build 14 adds the age requirement described above. Opening privacy choices refreshes consent information without loading an ad; players aged 16 and older can open it in Settings after restarting or while a blessing is active. Earlier builds 4 and 5 may contact the consent service when the app starts.

The advertising provider may process device and account identifiers, IP addresses and their approximate location, diagnostics and ad interactions for delivery, security, measurement and, for adults only, any consented personalization, subject to the age protections above. Declining personalized advertising does not necessarily stop limited or contextual ad processing after you choose to use the feature. Walking records and cloud game saves are not included in ad requests. See the Mobile Ads SDK’s data disclosure, Google’s privacy policy and how Google uses data from partner apps.

Storage, security and retention

Network connections to Firebase use encrypted transport. Cloud backups remain until you replace or delete them or delete your account. We do not maintain a separate archive of deleted game saves. After account deletion, we retain a minimal deletion marker containing the former account identifier and deletion time to prevent another signed-in device from recreating a deleted backup. This marker has no automatic expiry and contains no email, step records or game progress. Providers may retain limited security, operational or legal records under their own policies. No online service can promise absolute security.

Your choices and deletion

You can sign out, export local progress, revoke step access and manage advertising privacy choices. To delete your account and its cloud backup, open Account in the game or use the account deletion page. You must confirm ownership through your password or Google account. Account deletion does not erase separately exported backups, local copies on your phones, or records maintained by Health Connect or its data sources.

If you cannot sign in, contact ParseLife at the email above. Include the account email and your request; never send a password. We may ask for ownership verification.

Legal bases and your rights

We process account and backup data to provide the features you choose (performance of a contract), step data with your permission (consent, which you can withdraw in Android settings), and advertising data only after you choose Watch ad and, where required, give consent through Google’s form. Security and anti-abuse processing relies on our legitimate interests. Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, you can ask for access to, correction or deletion of your data, a copy of your data, restriction of or objection to processing, and you can withdraw consent at any time without affecting earlier processing. You can also complain to your data protection authority; in Sweden this is the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY).

Changes

We will update this page when the app’s data handling changes. The effective date above identifies the current version.