The Lens Detective is a walking game. You play it outdoors, and the game uses your phone's location to place things near you on a map. This policy explains what that means for your data.
Short version: there is no account, playing never requires your name or email, and your location is used on your device to run the game. Analytics are off unless you turn them on, and even then your coordinates are never sent. The one thing we ever ask for is an optional email address, if you want to hear when new games are out — you can play the whole game without giving it.
You do not create an account to play. We do not collect your name, phone number, date of birth, contacts, photos, or any social profile.
The only personal detail we ever ask for is an email address, and only if you choose to give it — see section 6. It is never required, nothing in the game is withheld without it, and there is no sign-in anywhere in the app.
The game stores a randomly generated identifier on your device (a GUID created the first time you launch it) so your progress and any analytics events can be grouped together. It is not derived from your device or your phone number, and it cannot be traced back to you. Deleting the app deletes it.
What we use it for. The game reads your device's location continuously while you play, to draw the map around you, to place waypoints, characters and clues near you, and to detect when you have reached them.
Where it goes.
overpass-api.de). No identifier of any kind is sent with the query.
Results are cached on your device so the same area is not requested repeatedly.As with any internet request, these services also receive your device's IP address.
Turning it off. You can revoke location permission in your device settings at any time. The game cannot function without it — almost every task depends on where you are — but nothing else about the app changes.
Two tasks in the game listen to the microphone: one asks you to shout, one asks you to clap a rhythm.
Audio is analysed in memory on your device, in a one-second rolling buffer, purely to measure loudness and timing. No audio is recorded, saved to storage, or transmitted anywhere. The microphone is opened only while one of those tasks is running and is closed as soon as it ends. You can refuse or revoke the permission; only those two tasks are affected.
The game uses Google Analytics for Firebase to understand how the game is played — which cases people finish, where they give up, how long tasks take.
Analytics collection is disabled by default and stays disabled unless you agree to it. You are asked once, in plain language, and you can change your mind at any time in Settings → "Share anonymous data". If you decline, nothing is sent, and events gathered while the question was still open are discarded rather than held.
If you do agree, the events sent are limited to the following, and nothing else:
| Event | What it records |
|---|---|
session_start, session_end | App opened/closed, session length, distance walked in the session, tasks completed, why it ended |
quest_started, quest_resumed, quest_completed, quest_abandoned | Which case, how many tasks, how long, why it ended |
task_started, task_completed, task_abandoned | Which task, its type and position in the case, duration, number of attempts |
walk_distance | Metres walked, in 100-metre increments |
share_offered, share_accepted | Whether the end-of-season share card was shown and used |
Each event also carries a random session identifier and a timestamp. The random player identifier described in section 1 is attached so events from the same player can be grouped.
Not included: no coordinates, no addresses, no device identifiers, no contact details, no free-text you type.
Firebase itself receives your device's IP address, which Google uses to derive an approximate (city-level) location and then discards or shortens according to its own policy, along with basic device and OS information. See Google's terms: firebase.google.com/support/privacy
Data is retained by Firebase for 14 months and then deleted automatically.
player_save.json in the app's private storage: your
random identifier, progress through cases, collected clues, credits and rank, total metres walked,
and your analytics choice. Plain JSON, readable only by the app.With the single exception of that queued address, none of this is uploaded anywhere by us. Uninstalling the app removes all of it.
If you want to hear when Season 2 or another of our games is released, you can give us your email address. There are three places to do it: the Settings screen, once at the end of the season, and the signup form on this website. All are optional and nothing else in the game depends on them.
Signing up on the website. You first receive a confirmation email, and you are added to the list only after clicking the link in it. To keep the form from being abused, our server counts signups per connection. It stores only a salted one-way hash of your IP address, never the address itself. The count only covers the last hour, and older counts are cleared automatically.
What you agree to. The wording shown next to the field says what the list is for: news about this game and about other games from Jousoft. We record which version of that wording you agreed to, along with the app version and platform, so we can show what was consented to.
Where it goes. The address is sent to our mailing-list provider, who stores the subscriber list and sends the messages. It is used for nothing else. It is never attached to your analytics, your random identifier, or your progress — those remain unconnected to any contact detail, and the game blocks contact details from being sent as analytics data at all.
Unsubscribing. Every message we send contains an unsubscribe link, which removes you from the list. You can also email info@jousoft.fi and we will remove you. See the data deletion page for the full picture.
If you are offline when you sign up, the address is held on your device and sent the next time the app has a connection. It is not stored anywhere else in the meantime.
Legal basis. Consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)), which you may withdraw at any time using the unsubscribe link or by emailing us.
When you finish the season, the game offers you a card to share — a date, a time, a distance and a link. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to share it, and you choose the destination yourself using your phone's normal share sheet. We do not receive a copy.
We do not sell or rent your data to anyone. The optional mailing list in section 6 is a list you ask to join: it is not linked to your in-game identifier, and we do not pass it on.
The Lens Detective is not directed at children under age 13. It requires walking around outdoors unsupervised. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has done so, contact us at info@jousoft.fi and we will delete it.
If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, and to data portability.
In practice:
You may also lodge a complaint with your data protection authority. In Finland this is the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (tietosuoja.fi).
Controller: Jousoft Oy, 2268304-1, Sinebrychoffinkatu 11, 00120 Helsinki, Finland. Contact: info@jousoft.fi.
If this policy changes materially, the app will be updated to point at the new version and the date at the top will change.