Privacy policy
Your photos stay on your phone.
The short version: every photo you load is processed on your iPhone and never uploaded. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking. The app sends a small set of anonymous gameplay events and crash reports so we can fix bugs and tune the difficulty, and Apple and RevenueCat handle the one purchase.
01Who we are
Dark Current is published by Imperial Engineering Labs Private Limited, shown on the App Store as Imperial Engineering Labs (“we”, “us”). We are responsible for the data described here. You can reach us at support@imperial.engineering.
02Your photos
- All photo processing happens on your device. Finding the people, faces and light in a photo, hiding a figure in it, and every darkroom instrument you use all run on your iPhone.
- Nothing about your photos is uploaded. No photos, thumbnails, hashes, fingerprints or analysis results are sent to us or anyone else.
- Only the photos you pick. The app uses Apple’s system photo picker, so it only ever sees the photos you choose. It never asks for access to your photo library and never browses it.
- What is kept on your phone. The app does not keep a copy of your original photos. Your archive keeps, for each round, the date, what kind of figure was hidden and a small (256 px) safelight-tinted thumbnail of the spot where it was hidden. The app also keeps your settings and the day’s film count. All of this lives in the app’s private storage on your iPhone. If you back up your iPhone (for example to iCloud), it can be included in that backup, which is yours and which we cannot access.
- Sharing is your choice. When you share a negative or a print, it goes only where you send it. Shared images are re-encoded without the location, camera details or other metadata of the original photo.
03What the app sends, and to whom
The app makes network requests to two services only: Google’s Firebase and RevenueCat. Your purchase itself is handled by Apple.
Google Analytics for Firebase (Google LLC)
We use the configuration of Google Analytics for Firebase that has no advertising ID support. The app does not access your device’s advertising identifier, does not collect the identifier for vendors, has advertising personalisation signals turned off, and does not report screens automatically. In our Google Analytics settings, Google signals are off and data sharing with Google’s other products and services is switched off.
The app records only these events:
| Event | What it tells us |
|---|---|
round_started | A round began, and whether the photo was your own or one of the found negatives. |
round_called | Whether your call was right, what kind of figure was hidden (if any), whether you marked a spot, and whether headphones were connected. |
share_completed | That you shared, and whether it was a negative or a print. |
paywall_shown | That the unlock screen appeared, and which button opened it. |
purchase_completed | That the Full Darkroom unlock was bought. |
archive_opened | That the archive was opened. |
film_exhausted | That the day’s free frames ran out. |
Firebase also records a few standard events on its own, such as the app’s first open, the start of a session, app and iOS updates and in-app purchases (the product and price), together with basic technical details: device model, iOS version, app version, language and an approximate location at country and city level that Google derives from the connection. Google states that Analytics does not log or store IP addresses.
These events are tied to the Firebase app instance ID, a random identifier created when the app is installed. It is not your name, email, Apple ID or advertising ID, and we never attach a user ID or any description of you to it. Event-level data is kept for 2 months, after which Google deletes it; we keep only aggregate counts (for example, how many rounds were played on a given day).
Firebase Crashlytics (Google LLC)
If the app crashes, Crashlytics sends a crash report so we can fix it: the stack trace, device model, iOS version, app version, basic device state at the time of the crash (such as free memory and disk), the time, and a random installation identifier. Crash reports never contain your photos. Google keeps crash reports for 90 days.
Firebase Remote Config (Google LLC)
Once per launch, the app may fetch updated game settings (such as the number of free frames a day and difficulty values). The request carries a random Firebase installation identifier and nothing about you or your photos.
Apple and RevenueCat (RevenueCat, Inc.)
The Full Darkroom unlock is bought through the App Store. Apple handles the payment; we never see your card details or your Apple ID. RevenueCat receives the App Store transaction details (the product, the purchase date and the transaction ID) and keeps your entitlement status, so the unlock works and can be restored. This is linked to a random anonymous ID that RevenueCat creates; it is not linked to your name or email. Purchase records are kept for as long as needed to provide the unlock and to meet accounting and legal obligations.
04What we don’t do
- No accounts or sign-in. We never ask for your name, email, phone number or contacts.
- No ads and no advertising SDKs.
- No tracking: we don’t link data from the app with data from other companies’ apps or websites for advertising, and we don’t share it with data brokers.
- We don’t sell your data, and we don’t use it to work out who you are.
- No access to your camera, microphone, contacts or precise location.
05Why we use this data
Analytics events help us see whether the game is fair: whether rounds are too hard or too easy, whether the sound helps, and whether the unlock is offered at sensible moments. Crash reports help us fix bugs. Remote settings let us tune the difficulty without an app update. Purchase data lets us deliver and restore what you bought. If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK, we rely on our legitimate interest in keeping the game working and fair for analytics, crash reports and remote settings, and on performing our contract with you for purchases.
06Where it is processed
Google and RevenueCat may process this data in the United States and other countries. Both act as our processors under their data processing terms, which include the safeguards required for international transfers, such as standard contractual clauses.
07Children
Dark Current is not directed at children under 13, and it contains mild horror themes. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has used the app and you would like its data removed, email us and we will delete what we can.
08Deleting your data, and your rights
- On your phone: deleting the app removes everything it stored there: your archive, settings and film count. It also resets the Firebase app instance ID, so earlier analytics can no longer be connected to your phone, and that data expires within 2 months.
- Analytics and crash data: email us and we will request deletion of the data associated with your installation from Google. Because the data is not tied to your name or email, we may ask for a few details (such as roughly when you used the app and your device model) to help locate it.
- Purchase records: email us and we will delete your RevenueCat record. Apple keeps its own purchase history under Apple’s privacy policy.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or object to the processing of your data, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Email us to exercise any of these rights; we reply within 30 days.
09This website
This website uses no cookies, no analytics, no trackers and no third-party scripts or fonts. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes standard request information such as your IP address to deliver the pages and protect them from abuse.
10Changes
If this policy changes, we will update it here and change the effective date above. If a change affects what the app collects, we will say so in the app’s update notes.
Contact
Imperial Engineering Labs Private Limited, publisher of Dark Current.