Vaelstrand Privacy Policy
Effective 24 October 2026
Vaelstrand is a turn-based fantasy RPG with collectible heroes for Android, published by ST Projects ("we", "us"), an independent developer based in the United States. This policy explains what information the game collects, why, and what happens to it. It applies to the Android app published under the package name com.stprojects.aethervanguard.
In short: you don't create an account with us. Your progress is saved on your phone. The game shows ads from Google AdMob, and purchases go through Google Play. If you are signed in to Google Play Games, your progress is also saved on our server so you can get it back on a new phone. You can delete that cloud data from the game at any time. You can open this policy from the game with the Privacy policy button on the Account tab of the shop.
Information stored on your device
The game saves the following in the app's own storage on your phone:
- Game progress: story stages cleared and their stars, your heroes and team, your gear (armour, charms and prisms), gold, starmotes, stamina, items, Armoury caches and summon tickets, summon guarantee counters and rift dust exchanges, trials progress (including the Forge Vault, Dread Bounties and Hollow Stair), Wandering Reverie progress, daily missions, and Strand Pass progress.
- Settings, such as the light or dark theme.
- Purchase information: what you bought and when (the purchase history shown on the Account tab), your monthly spending total, the order IDs of delivered purchases (so a purchase is never granted twice), and your answer to the "18 or older" question asked before a first purchase.
- If you use cloud save: your Google Play Games player ID and display name (shown as "signed in as"), and a session token that keeps you connected to our server.
This data stays on your phone unless you use cloud save (below). The app allows Android's Auto Backup, so Android may include it in your device backup to your Google account, or copy it to a new phone during device transfer, depending on your phone's settings. That backup is handled by Google, and we cannot see it.
The game never asks you for a permission and cannot access your location, contacts, photos, camera, microphone or files. It uses internet and network-state access, Google Play Billing, and the advertising-ID permissions that Google's ads SDK needs (including Android's ad-services permissions). Google's libraries also include wake-lock and foreground-service permissions for background tasks. The game contains no analytics or crash-reporting libraries of our own.
Ads (Google AdMob)
Vaelstrand shows ads served by Google AdMob:
- Reward videos, which you choose to watch for an in-game reward, for example reviving your team, extra stamina or a few starmotes. They are always optional and limited to 5 a day.
Vaelstrand does not show interstitial (full-screen, between-battle) ads, and does not load them. There is no Remove ads purchase, because there are no such ads to remove.
To show ads, measure them and prevent ad fraud, the Google Mobile Ads SDK in the app collects information directly from your device and sends it to Google. This can include your device's advertising ID, your IP address (from which an approximate location can be worked out), information about your device and the app, and your interactions with ads. We do not receive this information in a form that identifies you. Google's use of it is described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and the Google Privacy Policy.
Your ad choices. When the game starts, it uses Google's consent tool (the User Messaging Platform) to check whether consent is needed where you are. Where Google's consent tool requires it (for example in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland), you are shown Google's consent message and can choose whether ads are personalised. You can change your choice later with the Ad privacy choices button on the Account tab of the shop, which appears where Google's consent tool requires it. On any Android phone you can also reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings (usually Settings > Privacy > Ads, or Settings > Google > Ads).
Purchases (Google Play Billing)
In-app purchases are handled by Google Play Billing. You pay Google, and Google's payment terms and privacy policy apply to the payment. We never see or store your card number, bank details, billing address or Google account email.
When you buy something, the app sends the purchase details from Google Play (the product ID, the purchase token and the order ID) to our verification server. The server checks with Google Play that the purchase is genuine, has not been used before and has not been refunded, and only then is the item granted. We keep a record of each purchase (product, order ID, purchase time and status, such as refunded) so we can confirm purchases, prevent fraud, handle refunds and meet tax and legal obligations. The record is filed under a one-way hash of the purchase token. The token itself is not kept: we would keep it only for subscriptions, and the game sells none. Google also tells our server when a purchase is refunded or cancelled.
If you are signed in to Google Play Games when you buy, the game tags the purchase with your player account ID: a one-way hash of the app's package name and your Play Games player ID, not the ID itself. The tag goes to Google Play with the order (as Google's "obfuscated account ID") and to our server with the purchase check. It lets you get back the days left on a Moonwell card that you bought while signed in, on another phone that is signed in to the same Play Games account.
A Moonwell card is not a lasting unlock: each one runs for 30 days from the day you bought it. If you buy one while another is still running, the game adds the new 30 days after the days you have left, up to 180 days at once. Our server works out the days left the same way: it goes through the cards you bought while signed in, oldest first, and each one adds 30 days from its purchase date or from the end of the days still left, whichever is later, capped at 180 days. So a restore on another phone gives back all the days left, including stacked cards. If the game asks you to choose between the progress on your phone and your cloud save, the days left on a Moonwell card bought while signed in are restored whichever you pick.
Everything else you buy (starmotes, bundles and Strand Pass premium or deluxe) is added to your game when you buy it. It is not restored from our purchase records, and it comes back on a new phone only as part of your cloud save.
Real-money purchases are for players 18 or older. The game asks before your first purchase and turns purchases off for players who say they are younger. The game also limits real-money purchases to US$100 per calendar month. It keeps the running total on your phone, as part of your game save, and the limit resets on the 1st of each month (UTC).
Some items give random results. Summons give random heroes (and, on prism banners, prisms). They are paid for with starmotes or with Rift and Lantern tickets. Starmotes can be bought with real money, and Rift tickets also come from the paid Strand Pass premium track. Before every summon, the game shows the odds for that banner and how its guarantees work. Armoury caches each give a random 4★ or 5★ armour piece or charm: 5★ armour 22.5%, 4★ armour 52.5%, 5★ charm 7.5%, 4★ charm 17.5%. The game shows these odds before you open them. Armoury caches are earned in the game, for example in the Dread Bounties and the Hollow Stair, and also come from the paid Strand Pass premium track.
Cloud save (optional, through Google Play Games)
You don't need to sign in to play. If your phone is signed in to Google Play Games, the game connects to it automatically and saves your progress on our server, so you can restore it after reinstalling or on a new phone. If you are not signed in, none of the information in this section is sent.
When cloud save is on, our server stores:
| Information | Why |
|---|---|
| Your Google Play Games player ID | To know which save is yours. Your records are filed under your player account ID, a one-way hash of the app's package name and your player ID. |
| Your game save | Everything listed under "Information stored on your device" about your progress and purchases, compressed, so it can be restored. |
| A small summary of the save | Your world, stages cleared, stars, number of heroes, gold and starmotes, and when you last played, shown if your phone and the cloud have different progress and you need to choose one. |
| A device label | Your phone model and Android version (for example "Pixel 8 (Android 15)"), shown in the same choice screen. |
| Up to 2 earlier versions of your save | Backups, so progress can be recovered if something goes wrong. A new one is kept at most once an hour, and older ones are deleted automatically. |
| When you first and last signed in | To manage the link between you and your save. |
| Your player account ID on your purchase records | Purchases you make while signed in carry it (see "Purchases" above), so the days left on a Moonwell card bought while signed in can be restored on another phone. |
Our server does not store your Play Games display name, your email address, or your Google sign-in tokens. The game asks Google for no extra permissions beyond Play Games sign-in. Google's handling of your Play Games account is covered by the Google Privacy Policy.
While you are signed in, the Account tab shows your Player code, for example 3FA9-0C21-7B4E. It is the first 12 characters of your player account ID. Quote it if you email us about your data, so we can find it without asking you for anything else.
To stop cloud save, use Delete cloud data (see below). After that, cloud save stays off on that phone until you tap Sign in on the Account tab.
Information shared with third parties
Google AdMob collects information directly through the app to show ads, as described above.
Google Play handles payments and Play Games sign-in, and receives the player account ID tag on orders you place while signed in. Our server contacts Google Play to verify purchases and your sign-in.
Google Cloud hosts our server (Cloud Run) and database (Firestore). Google processes this data on our behalf.
We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with anyone else, except where the law requires it.
Where your information is stored
Our server and database run on Google Cloud in the us-central1 region, in the United States. The game is offered through Google Play in many countries. Wherever you use it, the information described under "Purchases" and "Cloud save" is sent to and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those where you are. Wherever you live, this policy applies to you, and the section "Your rights" explains extra rights that people in some places have under local law.
How your information is protected
All communication between the app and our server is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Your session with our server is tied to this app and your player ID, and it expires after 30 days. The server limits how many requests it accepts, to prevent abuse.
Our server's logs record the time, the type of request and its result, how long it took, and the IP address it came from. Google Cloud's request logs also record your device's user agent (your phone model, Android version and browser-engine version). For purchase checks the logs include the product ID and the order ID, and refund notifications from Google log the order ID. To help us trace problems, some log lines include the first 12 characters of your player account ID (the same as your Player code) or of the purchase token's hash. The logs never contain your save, your full player ID or player account ID, or any tokens. We use them for security, to limit abuse and to fix problems. Google Cloud keeps them for 30 days by default.
How long we keep it
- On your device: game progress and purchase information until you tap Reset progress (which also replaces your cloud save with a fresh start if you are signed in). Your Play Games player ID, display name and session token until you tap Delete cloud data, clear the app's data or uninstall the app. Settings such as the theme until you clear the app's data or uninstall the app.
- Cloud save and its earlier versions: until you delete them. Each new save replaces the previous one, and at most 2 earlier versions are kept. There is currently no automatic deletion of inactive saves. If we introduce one, we will say so here.
- Purchase and order records: kept for 7 years after the purchase, for tax, refunds and fraud prevention. A daily clean-up job then deletes each record, with its order claim and its refund or cancellation events. If you delete your cloud data, your player account ID is removed from them straight away (see "Deleting your data" for when Google's order tag is written back), and the rest of each record is kept until the same 7-year point.
- Server logs: 30 days by default, then deleted automatically by Google Cloud.
- Database backups: we also keep encrypted copies of our whole database on Google Cloud: a point-in-time recovery history of the last 7 days, daily backups kept for 7 days and weekly backups kept for 14 weeks. We use them only to recover from data loss or to restore a player's progress at their request. Backups can't be edited, so data you delete (including your player account ID removed from purchase records) stays in them until they expire: up to 14 weeks after you delete it.
Deleting your data
In the game: open the shop, go to the Account tab and tap Delete cloud data. This immediately deletes your cloud save, its earlier versions and the record linking your Play Games player ID to your data from our live database, and removes your player account ID from your purchase records. The purchase records themselves are kept until 7 years after each purchase, as described above, without your player account ID (with one exception, explained below). Progress on your phone is kept. Deleted data can remain in our encrypted backups, which we use only to recover from data loss or to restore a player's progress at their request, until they expire: up to 14 weeks.
What this means for purchases: the days left on a Moonwell card can no longer be restored on another phone from our purchase records. They stay in the save on the phone you are using (and if you sign in again later, that save is uploaded to a new cloud save).
After you delete your cloud data, your purchases are no longer linked to you, and they stay that way unless you sign in to Play Games again. Google Play keeps its own copy of the tag on each order, and we cannot remove it. When the game checks a purchase with our server again, the server writes Google's tag (your player account ID) back onto that purchase record, but it does not link the record to you or restore it to you. Only signing in to Play Games again with the same account could link such a purchase to you again. In this game every purchase is used up when it is delivered, so the game does not check it again, and in practice your old purchases are not linked to you again.
By email: you can also ask us to delete your data by emailing battlearenaunlimited@gmail.com. Please say it is about Vaelstrand and include your Player code from the Account tab. If you can't open the game, send the order number (it starts with GPA.) from a Google Play receipt instead. We will reply within 30 days, and we will confirm when your data has been deleted.
To remove your progress and purchase information from your phone, tap Reset progress on the Account tab (if you are signed in, this also replaces your cloud save with a fresh start). To remove everything the game keeps on your phone, including your Play Games player ID, display name, session token and settings, clear the app's data in Android settings or uninstall the app. The full steps are on the data deletion page.
Your rights
If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, data protection law (GDPR or UK GDPR) gives you the right to access the personal data we hold about you, correct it, have it deleted, restrict or object to how we use it, and receive a copy of it. You can also complain to your local data protection authority. We use your information to provide the game and cloud save you asked for, for our legitimate interests in preventing fraud and keeping the service secure, to meet legal obligations such as keeping tax records, and, for personalised ads, on the basis of the consent you give in Google's consent message.
If you are in California or another US state with a privacy law, you have the right to know what personal information we collect, to have it deleted or corrected, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We do not sell personal information. Apart from the information Google's AdMob SDK collects to show ads, as described above, we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising. You can limit ad personalisation by resetting or deleting your advertising ID in your phone's settings, and with the Ad privacy choices button on the Account tab, which appears where Google's consent tool requires it. We will not treat you differently for using these rights.
To use any of these rights, email us at the address below and include the Player code shown on the Account tab, so we can find your data. We will reply within 30 days.
Children
Vaelstrand is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has used cloud save, contact us at the address below and we will delete the data.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this address with a new effective date. If the change is significant, we will also mention it in the app or its store listing.
Contact
battlearenaunlimited@gmail.com
Data safety summary
This table summarises the data the app handles, in the terms used by Google Play's Data safety section.
| Data type | Collected / shared | Required or optional | Purposes |
|---|---|---|---|
| User IDs (Play Games player ID, and the player account ID made from it) | Collected by us. Not shared. | Optional: only when signed in to Play Games | App functionality, Fraud prevention, Account management |
| App activity: other actions (your game save, its summary and the device label) | Collected by us. Not shared. | Optional: only when signed in to Play Games | App functionality |
| Purchase history (product, order ID, time, status) | Collected by us. Not shared. | Optional: only if you make a purchase | App functionality, Fraud prevention |
| Device or other IDs (advertising ID) | Collected and shared with Google by the AdMob SDK | Required | Advertising, Analytics, Fraud prevention |
| Approximate location (from IP address) | Collected and shared with Google by the AdMob SDK | Required | Advertising, Fraud prevention |
| App interactions (ad views and taps) | Collected and shared with Google by the AdMob SDK | Required | Advertising, Analytics |
| Diagnostics (ad SDK performance data) | Collected and shared with Google by the AdMob SDK | Required | Analytics, Fraud prevention |
All of this data is encrypted in transit. You can ask for your data to be deleted in the game (Delete cloud data on the Account tab) or by email, as described under "Deleting your data". Purchase records are then kept until 7 years after each purchase, without your player account ID except as described there. Data collected by the AdMob SDK is held by Google, and you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone's settings.