DROPOS

Privacy Policy

Last updated 29 September 2026

DropOS is a single-player puzzle game. The game runs on your device, and there is no account or sign-in. Nothing in DropOS can be bought with real money, and it shows no ads. To run the weekly Standings, back up your progress, learn how the game is played so we can improve it, and find the devices it runs badly on, DropOS sends some gameplay and technical information to the service providers described below. Setting a name for the Standings is optional. This policy explains what DropOS sends, who receives it, how long it is kept, and the choices you have.

What DropOS sends to our database

When you use DropOS, it sends the following to our database, which an infrastructure provider hosts for us.

A random device identifier. The app creates this random code on your device the first time you open it. It is not your name, email, phone number or Apple Account. It connects your Standings results and your progress backup to this installation of DropOS, and our analytics provider receives it too.
A name, only if you choose one. If you type a name in Settings, it is shown with your place on the Standings, which are public, unless our database turns it down because it uses characters or words the Standings do not allow, in which case your place is shown as if you had not set a name. You can change or clear it at any time. If you have not set a name, your place is shown under a generated name made of a first name and an initial, such as "Marco R.", and on your own screen that row carries a small "you" mark. Other players see your place under a generated name of the same kind, which their own device works out. Anyone can read the Standings, for this week and for past weeks. For each place, they give the name, the rank, how many different levels were cleared that week, the furthest level cleared, the best win streak and the Cogs totals for that week. If you see a name on the Standings that should not be there, email us and we can remove it. A removed name can come back when that player's app next sends a result or a backup, so if you see it again, tell us.
Your results and a backup of your progress. Each time you win or lose a level, DropOS sends the level, whether you won, your time, your score, the in-game Cogs you earned and the multiplier applied to them, your win streak, which of the in-game helpers (the Hourglass, the Apprentice or the Blueprint) were used, and the app version. It also sends a copy of your saved progress and your game settings, which includes when you last played each level and a list of your recent Cog spends with what you bought and when. This runs the Standings, and it lets the game restore your progress if the copy on your device is lost while the app is still installed. The copy of your progress is sent after each win or loss, whenever the app goes to the background, and when you change your name.
Game events. These record how long a session lasts, which main screens you open (the Standings, Settings, the What's what page and where you opened it from, and the in-game Cascade and Till screens), when you start a level, how many tries a level takes and how each try ended, and when you give up on a run and whether it was already lost. They also record when you use the in-game helpers called the Apprentice and the Hourglass, and how long the Hourglass ran; where and when you dropped each marble in a level, which marble it was, where it ended up, and how the attempt ended and how long it took, which lets us replay the level; where you reached for a marble and missed, where a marble sprang back, and your screen's size and edge margins during that level, which help us see what you tried to do; and where a marble got stuck, and for how long. They record the in-game Cogs a level win pays you and the Cogs you spend, with the level, how the amount was worked out, what you spent them on and from which screen, whether it was your first spend, and your balance afterward. They record your steps through the first-play tutorial, which of the game's short lessons you have been shown and, for most of them, how many wins you had at the time, how you use the Standings and the rank figures it showed you, how your winning time on a level compares with other players' times, when your progress is restored from the backup, when a sound file fails to load or play (which file, and the error), and how many marbles you picked up and placed and how many sprang back, counted when you leave the app. They record the settings you change: music and effects volume, Marble marks, mixing with other apps, haptics, the daily reminder, and whether you declined notifications. When a session starts, they record whether the game is running in the app or in a browser, the host name of the address it was loaded from, whether that is a test copy or a simulator, your screen's edge margins, the graphics mode your device supports, and how many levels you have won. Game events are recorded under the same device identifier, with the app version, and carry no name, email or other personal detail.
How well the game runs. About once a minute while DropOS is open on your screen, and each time the game lowers its graphics quality to stay smooth, it records the frame rate, the quality level, how many frames ran or stalled, and running counts of your marble moves. The frame and quality readings measure your device's speed, so we can find devices the game runs badly on; the move counts show whether the game is being played.
Error reports. If the game hits an error, it records the kind of error, the error message and, when it can, where in our code it happened and the level you were on, under the same device identifier, up to a small, capped number per session. If the app fails to start, it sends one short report saying how far it got, what went wrong and the error message, how long it had been starting and how long it spent in the background, under the same device identifier when the app already has one. If the app closed unexpectedly while it was on screen, the next launch reports that, with the level that was open, the app version it was running, how long the app had been open and how long ago it was last seen running. From version 1.0.1, that report also says what the game was doing, how long since the screen was last touched and whether the whole app had restarted, and gives technical readings of the app's memory use. We do not put your name or any other personal detail into error reports.

What our analytics provider receives

We also use a product analytics provider to see how the game is actually used: which menus and buttons get tapped, which levels people reach, and where they get stuck. It receives the same device identifier described above and keeps a record for each device under it. With the settings we use today, it receives:

The game events and error reports described above. The once-a-minute performance readings, the graphics-quality changes and the start-up failure report stay in our database only.
Which controls you tap, including quick repeated taps and taps that hit nothing, and where on the screen you tap (and, if you use a mouse or trackpad, where the pointer comes to rest), which we read as a heat map to find buttons people aim for and miss.
The visible text of the control you tap, and a technical description of that control and of the screen elements that contain it, such as their element types, style names and labels.
A recording of the screens you move through, including the menus, the cards and the controls shown during play, with where you touch and drag on the screen, so we can watch back a screen that confused people. The picture of the 3D puzzle board is not recorded, but your touches and drags over it are. If you set a name, it can appear in these recordings, for example on the Standings screen.
The app's own diagnostic messages, recorded alongside that recording. These are messages the game writes for us, not anything you type.
How quickly the app loads and responds, including the addresses of the files and services it fetched. In the app, those are the app's own files and our three service providers, never a record of anywhere else you go.
Crash and error reports, including the error message and the technical trace of which part of our code failed.
A page view when the app loads, and a page-leave event when it closes, with how long the page was open and how far it was scrolled.
On every event except the recording itself, the app version, whether the game is running in the app or in a browser, and what kind of address it was loaded from. After a level loads, its number is attached to later events.
Technical details the analytics software attaches to events by default, for example: its own name and version, the time, random session and window IDs, the device type, operating system and version, browser and version, language, time zone, screen and window size, the full user-agent string, the full page address, including any part after a question mark, the site that linked you here and any campaign tags, and, if you came from a search engine, its name and any search words it passed along.
Your device's internet (IP) address, which it sees each time the app sends it something and keeps with the events it receives.

None of this includes your email, contacts or photos, and none of it follows you outside DropOS.

What DropOS does not collect

DropOS does not collect your email, phone number, contacts or photos, and it collects a name only if you type one in. It does not use your camera or microphone. It does not read your device's GPS or precise location, and on every event except the screen recording it tells our analytics provider not to work out an approximate location from your internet connection. It has no advertising and no ad-tracking or ad-targeting software, it does not track you across other companies' apps or websites, and it does not build an advertising profile of you.

Who handles your data

Three kinds of service providers handle this data for us.

An infrastructure provider hosts our database, which holds what is listed under "What DropOS sends to our database", so the Standings, the progress backup and the error reports work. It also sees your device's internet (IP) address each time the app connects to our database, and may keep it in routine records of its own.
A product analytics provider receives what is listed under "What our analytics provider receives".
A web hosting provider serves our website, including the online copy of this policy. The app also asks that provider for one small file when it starts and each time you return to it, to check whether a newer version is out. Like any web server, it may keep routine records of these requests, such as the IP address and time.

These providers process the data on our behalf. We do not sell your data, none of these providers sells anything about you, and the data is not shared beyond them.

On your device

Your progress, best times and Cogs are kept on your device as the main copy, and the game plays fully offline. Your device also keeps the random device identifier, your name if you set one, small notes the game uses to run (such as which tips you have seen, and a note it keeps while open so it can report an unexpected close), and our analytics provider's own identifiers and settings. The copy on our server is a backup, and it is only as recent as its last sync. The app and its game files come from the App Store and are stored on your device, along with a copy of this policy as it stood when that version of the app was built.

Your choices

You can play without ever setting a name. In Settings, Hold to reset progress erases your progress on this device, while your name, your settings and your place on the Standings stay. The copy on our server is replaced with the reset progress the next time the game backs up your progress.

Hold to reset identity asks our database to erase your Standings results, your name, your progress backup, and the game events, performance readings and error reports stored under your identifier. Our database keeps a one-way scrambled form of that identifier and the time of the reset, which it uses to limit how often resets can happen. When our database erases that data, the app switches this installation to a new random identifier, or tells you if it could not. Our analytics provider keeps receiving the old identifier until the game next restarts, for example when you close the app fully and open it again. Your progress, best times and Cogs stay on your device, and the game backs them up again under the new identifier the next time it backs up your progress. Your place on the Standings starts fresh. The name you typed is cleared from this device too, so you can set a new one whenever you like. Because this cannot be undone from the app, the game asks you to hold the control down rather than tap it. If our database cannot be reached, nothing changes, and the app says so. Our database can decline a reset when an unusually large number arrive in the same hour, or when the same identifier has already been reset twice in the past 24 hours; it then erases nothing. Version 1.0.2 of the game tells you the reset was declined and keeps your identifier and name. Versions 1.0 and 1.0.1 do not notice a declined reset: they switch to a new identifier, clear your name from the device and say the reset worked, while our database keeps the data under the old identifier. If you had set a name and are not sure your reset went through, email us that name, and we will delete that data from our database.

To ask us to delete the data tied to your device, email us at the address below. We will delete your Standings results, name, progress backup and game events from our database. If you keep playing on the same installation afterward, it sends your results, a backup of your progress, game events and your name, if you set one, again under the same identifier. Backups of our database expire on our infrastructure provider's own schedule. A deletion request does not currently remove the copy held by our analytics provider. In Settings, under About, the Device ID row copies your identifier when you tap it. Please send us that identifier: it is how we find your data and make sure we delete the right person's. If you cannot get to it and you had set a name, tell us the name you used on the Standings, and we will ask you to confirm a detail or two before we delete anything. Generated names like "Marco R." are not stored in our database, so we cannot search for them. Like a name you set, they can appear in the screen recordings our analytics provider receives, for example on the Standings screen.

How long we keep it

Your Standings results, name, progress backup, game events, performance readings and error reports stay in our database until you reset your identity or ask us to delete them. We do not delete them on a schedule. A reset leaves a one-way scrambled form of the old identifier and the time of the reset, which we keep. Deleting the app removes the copy on your device, not the one in our database. Our analytics provider keeps its own copy of what it received. Neither resetting your identity nor a deletion request removes that copy at present.

Children

DropOS is not directed to children and does not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes

If a future version changes what DropOS collects, we will update this policy before that version is released and describe the change here.

29 September 2026. This policy was updated to say that DropOS also records which of its short lessons it has shown you, and when you open the What's what page. Later that day, with no change to what DropOS collects, it was corrected to describe more exactly what the game and our providers already do: what the progress backup, the game events, the error reports and the screen recording hold, what our providers see of your internet (IP) address, what anyone can read on the Standings, what a reset or a deletion leaves behind, and how versions 1.0 and 1.0.1 handle a declined reset.

28 September 2026. This policy was updated to say that, during each level, DropOS also records where you reached for a marble and missed, where a marble sprang back, and your screen's size and edge margins. Versions of the game from before this change do not record them.

25 September 2026. This policy was rewritten in plainer language. What DropOS collects did not change, but the policy now also names things the game was already sending: a short report when the app fails to start; your score, the multiplier on your Cogs, helper use and the app version with each result; your settings inside the progress backup; what you spend Cogs on and from which screen; the level you were on when an error happened; running counts of your marble moves in the once-a-minute reading; and, after an unexpected close, the time since the screen was last touched and readings of the app's memory use. It also now says how long we keep your data and what a deletion covers.

22 September 2026. This policy was updated to say that a player who has not set a name appears on other players' Standings under a generated name. The game has worked this way since 16 September 2026.

16 September 2026. DropOS began telling our analytics provider not to work out an approximate location from your internet connection. Before then, the provider recorded an approximate location for each device: country, region, city and that city's coordinates. That location came from the internet connection, not from your device's GPS.

14 September 2026. This policy was corrected. It had said that DropOS built no profile of you and shared usage events with no one, but our analytics provider was receiving usage events and keeping a record for each device.

15 August 2026. The reset identity control was changed to erase your Standings results, name and backup from our server. Before that, it disconnected them from your device but left them on the server.

9 August 2026. This policy began describing the performance measurements and error reports, which the game was already sending.

Contact

Questions or requests to delete your data: scott@launchkitos.com.

Help with the game and answers to common questions: DropOS Support.

DropOS. Made with care.