Privacy Policy

This policy explains what VAULT GG ("we", "the Service") collects, why, who we share it with, and how you can delete it. Questions: simplekites@gmail.com.

1. Who can use VAULT GG

You must be 13 or older. Everyone answers a neutral "When were you born?" question when they first sign in. We only store your birth month and year, not your full birthday. If the answer is under 13, the account and everything in it is deleted right away and that device is blocked from signing up again.

Players aged 13–17 can't use the 🤫 Secret games, coin buy-in chess, or chess betting. They need a parent or guardian's OK before buying gems.

2. What we collect

• From Google sign-in: your name, email address, and profile photo.
• Profile: username, bio, avatar, school tag (optional). Your birth month + year is stored in a private record only the server can read; your public profile only says whether you're 18+ or not.
• Game + account activity: coins, gems, items, XP, streaks, game history, stock market trades, coin history, chess games.
• Messages: room chat, chess chat, vault chat, crew chat, profile wall posts and direct messages (DMs), plus friend requests, offers, ideas and ratings you post.
• Game data: pets you own and trade, crews you join, case battles, tournaments, season pass and challenge progress.
• Device check: a random ID saved in your browser, stored only as a scrambled (hashed) code, so we can spot one person running lots of accounts to farm rewards. It isn't used for ads or tracking.
• Payments: amount, date, and a Stripe reference for each gem purchase. We never see or store your card number.
• Safety: reports, bans, mutes and staff actions, so we can keep the site safe.
• Device storage: cookies and local storage to keep you signed in and remember settings. The full list is in our Cookie Policy.

3. How we use it

To run your account and the games, show leaderboards, deliver chats and DMs, process purchases, send emails you asked for (each one has an unsubscribe link), stop cheating, alt-account farming and abuse, and fix bugs. Chats automatically block phone numbers, emails, home addresses and payment handles to keep players safe. We don't sell your personal information and we don't share it for cross-context behavioral advertising of minors.

4. Who we share it with

• Google Firebase (login + database) stores your account data.
• Vercel hosts the website.
• Stripe handles payments.
• Google AdSense shows banner ads (see section 5).
• AppLixir plays the optional "Watch & earn" reward videos, only when you press play.
• Gmail sends our emails.
• Anyone if the law requires it, or to protect players' safety.

Your username, avatar, school tag, rank and leaderboard stats are public to other players. DMs are only visible to the people in them (and staff if a message is reported).

5. Ads

We show ads through Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies to show and measure ads.

• Under 18, age not confirmed yet, or not signed in: we only request non-personalized ads (no ad profile based on your browsing).
• 18+: ads may be personalized. Opt out anytime at adssettings.google.com.
• EU / UK / Switzerland: Google shows a consent popup first, and you can say no.

Your privacy choices: the cookie banner lets you pick "No ad tracking" anytime (change it from the footer). We also honor the browser Global Privacy Control signal as an opt-out of ad tracking ("sharing"). We don't sell personal information.

6. How long we keep it

We keep your data until you delete your account. Payment records are kept as long as tax and payment laws require, even after deletion. Backups are cleared on their normal schedule.

7. Download or delete your data

Download: go to Profile → 📦 Download my data to get a copy of your account data as a file.

Delete: go to Profile → 🗑️ Delete my account, type DELETE, and confirm. This permanently erases your profile, coins, gems, items, history, chats, DMs, friends, vaults and login. You can also email us and we'll do it for you.

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EU/UK or the CCPA/CPRA in California), you can ask to see, correct, download, or delete your data, and object to or limit how we use it. Email simplekites@gmail.com and we'll reply within 30 days. We won't treat you differently for using these rights.

9. Parents

If you think a child under 13 has an account, or you want to see or delete your teen's data, email simplekites@gmail.com and we'll handle it fast.

9b. Things we don't collect

We don't ask for your full birthday, phone number, home address, school address or government ID, and chats block people from sharing them. Public pet counts ("how many exist") are totals only and don't show who owns what.

10. Security

Data is sent over HTTPS, the database only accepts changes through our server, and staff actions are logged. No system is 100% secure, so use a strong Google password.

11. Changes

If we change this policy we'll update the date at the top, and for big changes we'll post a notice on the site.

12. Contact

Privacy questions or requests: simplekites@gmail.com.