Privacy policy

Last updated: 12 October 2026

This policy explains what happens to information when you play Murder Trail on iPhone, iPad or Android. The short version: Murder Trail has no accounts and we run no servers. Your progress stays on your device and, if you use it, in your own Apple or Google account. Two third-party services receive data from the app: Google AdMob (ads) and GameAnalytics (play statistics under a random player id). Both follow the choices you make in the app.

Who we are

Murder Trail is published by Veryne Media, Wim Sonneveldlaan 53, 1948 AE Beverwijk, the Netherlands (Chamber of Commerce/KvK 98172433), the controller for the processing described here. Contact: koen@veryne.media.

What we do not collect

We do not ask for your name, e-mail address, phone number, contacts, photos, precise location or any other personal details. There is no sign-up, no chat and no way for players to contact each other. We never see your payment details.

Your progress (on your device and in your cloud account)

Your solved Cases, boards in progress, Hints, Streak, purchases and settings are saved in a file on your device. To keep devices in step the app also stores a copy of this save in your own cloud account:

• on iPhone and iPad in iCloud (key-value storage), under your Apple Account, when iCloud is on for the app;
• on Android in Google Play Games (Saved Games), under your Play Games profile, when you are signed in to Play Games.

We cannot read these copies; Apple and Google keep them under their own privacy policies. Deleting the app deletes the save on the device. The cloud copy can be removed in your iCloud settings (Manage storage) or in the Google Play Games app.

Purchases

In-app purchases (Hint packs, Ranks, extra Eras) are handled by the App Store or Google Play. The store tells the app on your device that a purchase went through; the app checks it on the device and keeps the transaction number in your save so a purchase is never granted twice or lost. There is no server of ours involved, and we never receive your card or account details.

Ads: Google AdMob

Murder Trail is free to play and shows ads from Google AdMob, between Cases and when you choose to watch an ad for a reward. Ads never block playing.

• Consent first. Where the law requires it (the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland), Google's consent form asks for your choices before any ad loads. You can change them at any time in Settings › Ad privacy.
• Tracking on iPhone. iOS asks whether Murder Trail may use your device's advertising identifier (App Tracking Transparency). If you say no, ads are not personalised with it.
• What AdMob receives. Depending on your choices: the advertising identifier (IDFA on iOS when allowed, the Android advertising ID), your IP address and the approximate location derived from it, device and app information (model, operating system, language), and how you interact with ads. Google uses this to show, measure and limit ads and to prevent fraud; with your consent also to personalise ads.

Google acts under its own policy: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and Google Privacy Policy. You can also reset or delete your advertising identifier in your phone's settings.

Play statistics: GameAnalytics

To learn which Cases are too hard and where players stop, the app sends play events to GameAnalytics:

• a Case started or solved, with its id and the time it took;
• a Hint used (which kind of step), a wrong accusation, a Trail redrawn or a Case left unfinished;
• a purchase (which item) and an ad watched (which placement);
• the very first Case opened.

Each event carries the app version, the platform and operating system version, a session number and a player id: a random identifier stored with your game progress. Because it travels with your save, it stays the same after a reinstall and on your other devices, so the statistics count you as one player. It is pseudonymous: it is not your name, your Apple or Google account, your device identifier or your advertising identifier, and it isn't linked to any of them. If you turn statistics off (or withdraw consent in the consent form) after the id was used, the app throws it away and makes a new random one, so later statistics can't be connected to the earlier ones. GameAnalytics receives your IP address when the event arrives, as any internet service does, and may derive your country from it.

Where the consent form applies (EEA, UK, Switzerland), statistics are only sent when your answer in that form allows storing information on your device and measuring content and audiences; otherwise they are not sent. Elsewhere they are on by default. Everywhere you can turn them off in Settings › Analytics. See the GameAnalytics privacy policy.

Reminders

If you allow notifications, the app schedules a Streak reminder on your device. It is a local notification: nothing is sent to us or to a push service, and you can turn it off in your phone's settings.

Legal bases

Where the GDPR applies: storing your save and syncing it is needed to provide the game you asked for (contract); ads and statistics that use information on your device are based on your consent, given and withdrawn in the app; non-personalised ad delivery, fraud prevention and security rely on our legitimate interest in offering a free game.

How long data is kept

Your save lives as long as you keep the app (and the cloud copy as long as you keep it in your account). Google keeps what it receives for the periods in its own policies. GameAnalytics keeps detailed play statistics for up to about 12 months, after which only aggregated totals remain; it deletes the data when we stop using the service or on our request.

Children

Murder Trail is a logic puzzle with a crime theme. Its content is rated for younger players too (no depicted violence), but it is designed for teenagers and adults and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13; if you believe a child has used the app and want their statistics removed, contact us.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or move data about you, to object to processing and to withdraw consent at any time (in the app, as described above). We hold no data that identifies you, and the statistics are stored under the random player id only, so we can't find "your" statistics from your name or e-mail. Turning statistics off replaces the id, which cuts the link to what was sent before. For anything else, Apple, Google or GameAnalytics may be the right address; we will gladly help, so contact us at the address above. You may also complain to your data protection authority (in the Netherlands: the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).

International transfers

Google and GameAnalytics may process data outside your country, including in the United States, under the safeguards described in their policies (such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses).

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will be published here with a new date. Significant changes will also be mentioned in the app's release notes.