Privacy Policy · The Line: Cave Diving

The developer runs no servers and collects no personal information through the game. Your photos stay on your device, and so does your progress, apart from the copy your own iCloud or Steam Cloud keeps for you if you use them. The only things that go online are the platform features you use: Apple's App Store (to buy or restore the full game and to check that your copy is genuine), iCloud (to carry your progress between your Apple devices), Apple Game Center, Google Play (to buy or restore the full game on Android), and on Steam, Steam Cloud, achievements, leaderboards, and Buddy Mode with its voice chat. Apple, Google and Valve run those under their own privacy policies. The developer cannot see your iCloud or Steam Cloud data. Everything is set out below.

What the game keeps on your device

A save file: your progress and best scores, in-game coins and the gear and looks you own, your settings (such as view, volume, controls, language and interface size), which films you have already seen, and whether you have unlocked the full game. So that copies from your different devices can be combined without losing or doubling anything, it also notes what each of your devices added and spent, under a short code for each device. The code is made from an identifier your device gives the game; it is not your name, Apple Account or Steam account, and it never leaves your own save and iCloud. The save contains no name, email, contact details or location. It carries a check value so the game can tell if it was edited by hand. A few small flags, such as that you have seen the first-launch notice, are kept in the game's own preferences on the device.
Your photo album: the pictures you take in photo mode and your daily cave cards, with small thumbnails, inside the game's own storage.
Your best run (the "ghost"): for the daily and weekly caves, a small recording of your own best dive there (where your diver went, a few times a second), so it can swim beside you as a faint ghost on your next tries. It is kept in a separate file on the device, only for the current day's and week's cave, and is never sent anywhere or copied to iCloud.

Apart from the iCloud sync below, the game itself never sends these anywhere. Your device or store may also back them up, for example an iCloud backup on Apple devices, Android's backup to your Google account, or Steam Cloud on Steam (described below). Apple, Google and Valve do this under their own policies.

Your progress on all your Apple devices (iCloud)

On iPhone, iPad and the Mac App Store version, if you are signed in to iCloud and iCloud is on for the game, the game keeps a copy of your save file in your iCloud account, using Apple's iCloud key-value storage, so your progress continues on your other Apple devices with the same Apple Account. Each device keeps its own copy there, and each device combines all the copies into its own save: nothing you earned on one device is lost on another.

What is copied: the save file described above (progress, scores, coins, gear and looks, and the settings that are the same on every device, such as language, volume and subtitles). Settings that belong to one device, such as graphics quality, interface size and look sensitivity, are not copied. Your photo album and pictures are not copied; they stay on the device where you took them.
Who can see it: the copy is stored by Apple in your private iCloud space, under Apple's iCloud terms and privacy policy. The developer has no access to it and never receives it.
Turning it off: sign out of iCloud, or turn iCloud off for The Line in your device's iCloud settings. The game then keeps your progress on that device only. Without a connection, the game plays as usual and iCloud catches up later.

Steam Cloud

On Steam, if Steam Cloud is on for the game in your Steam settings, Steam copies the save file to your Steam account, so your progress continues on your other computers and Steam Deck. The free demo and the full game use the same save. Valve stores it under its own privacy policy, and the developer cannot see it. Your photos are not copied. You can turn Steam Cloud off in Steam.

Photos and sharing

iPhone and iPad. When you share a photo or the daily card, the game opens Apple's share sheet and you choose where it goes. Only if you choose "Save Image" does iOS ask your permission to add the picture to your Photos. The game only adds pictures you chose to save; it never reads or looks through your photo library.
Android phones and tablets. When you share a photo or the daily card, the game opens Android's share sheet and you choose where it goes. "Save to gallery" in the photo album puts the picture in your Pictures / The Line folder. The game asks for no storage permission and never reads your other photos.
Mac, PC and Steam Deck. Shared pictures are saved in a "The Line" folder in your Pictures folder (or in the game's own storage if there is none), and on a Mac or PC the game opens that folder for you.
The card's text is also copied to your clipboard so you can paste it.

Nothing you share passes through the developer.

Buying the full game

App Store (iPhone, iPad and Mac). The first dives are free. The full game is one in-app purchase made through Apple's App Store. Apple handles the payment: the developer never receives your payment details, your name or your Apple Account. The game asks StoreKit, Apple's service on your device, whether the full game has been bought on your Apple Account (including through Family Sharing and Ask to Buy), and remembers the answer in the save file so it also works offline. "Restore purchases" asks Apple again. Refunds and cancellations are handled by Apple under its terms.

Google Play (Android). The first dives are free. The full game is one in-app purchase through Google Play. Google handles the payment: the developer never receives your payment details, your name or your Google account. The game asks Google Play, on your device, whether the full game has been bought on your Google account, and remembers the answer in the save file so it also works offline. "Restore purchases" asks Google Play again. Refunds are handled by Google under its terms.

Steam. The game, or its free demo, is bought or downloaded through Steam, and Valve handles any payment; the developer never receives your payment details. In the demo, the button for the full game opens its Steam store page, in the Steam overlay or your web browser.

Checking that your copy is genuine (iPhone and iPad)

When the game starts, it asks Apple, through StoreKit on your device, for Apple's signed record that this copy was installed from the App Store or TestFlight. The game checks the signature and keeps nothing from it. It sends no information of its own. If there is no connection, the game simply plays.

Apple Game Center

On iPhone, iPad and the Mac App Store version, if you are signed in to Game Center, the game sends your score for the day's ranked dive to Game Center's daily leaderboard, and your best score in the weekly cave to its weekly leaderboard, where other Game Center players see it with your Game Center name. It also reports the achievements you earn to your Game Center profile, on iPhone, iPad and Mac alike. Apple runs Game Center under Apple's privacy policy; the developer does not receive your Apple Account details. If you are not signed in, or turn Game Center off, nothing is sent. The Steam version does not use Game Center or any other Apple service.

Steam: achievements, the daily leaderboard, Buddy Mode and voice

These are in the Steam version only and work through your Steam account and Valve's services.

Achievements (the full game; the demo has none). The achievements you earn are unlocked on your Steam profile. Valve stores them, and who can see them follows your Steam profile's privacy settings.
The daily and weekly caves' leaderboards. After the day's ranked dive (the full game or the demo), or a dive in the week's cave (the full game), the game posts your score to that day's or week's Steam leaderboard with your Steam ID. Valve stores it and keeps your best. Other players can see it, in the game and on Steam, and so can the developer, through Valve's developer tools.

Buddy Mode is a dive for two friends.

Inviting. The game opens a friends-only Steam lobby for two and uses Steam's invite window. While you are in a lobby, Steam's Rich Presence shows your Steam friends that your game can be joined. Steam shows your and your partner's Steam names in the game.
Diving together. The two games exchange what is needed to play the partner: position, where they look, lamp, breathing, gas, actions, and the colours of their suit and gear. This goes directly between the two players, or through Valve's relay network, and nothing is stored.
Voice. During a Buddy Mode dive the game uses your microphone so you can talk to your partner; your computer may first ask your permission. Steam records and compresses your voice, and the game sends it to your partner only, while you speak. It is not saved. The microphone is muted when your diver holds their breath or blacks out, and it is used nowhere else in the game.
Leaderboards. After a team dive (never in learner mode), the game posts the team's score to that cave's Steam leaderboard, with your Steam ID and your partner's Steam ID so the entry shows the team. Valve stores it and keeps your best score. Other players can see the boards, in the game and on Steam, and so can the developer, through Valve's developer tools.

Playing alone on Steam uses none of the Buddy Mode features. Steam itself may record things such as play time, under Valve's privacy policy.

What the game does not do

No accounts or sign-in of its own (iCloud, Game Center, Google Play and Steam use your existing Apple, Google or Steam account).
No analytics, crash reporting, usage tracking or advertising, and no advertising identifiers. The game engine (Unity) is set up with Unity's analytics and diagnostics turned off.
No access to your camera, contacts or location. No microphone except for voice in a Steam Buddy Mode dive. No reading of your photo library.
No Game Center, iCloud, Steam or Buddy Mode on Android. On Android the only online feature is Google Play's purchase.
No selling or sharing of personal information.

Your data and your rights

The only personal data the developer can see is the Steam leaderboard entries the game posts (a score with your Steam ID, and your partner's in Buddy Mode) and any message you send. They are processed to provide the leaderboard features you choose to use and, for messages, because of our legitimate interest in answering you. Messages are kept only as long as needed to answer them. The developer cannot see your iCloud or Steam Cloud copy, your Game Center data or your achievements beyond what Apple and Valve show everyone.

Ask us. Write to makeitworthdesigns@gmail.com to ask what we hold about you, to have a leaderboard entry or a message deleted, or with any privacy question. We answer within one month.
Erase your progress. Use "Erase all progress" in the game's settings, or delete the game. With iCloud sync on, "Erase all progress" also starts the game over on your other Apple devices when they next open it, and replaces the iCloud copies. Your photos are in the game's album and your Pictures folder, where you can delete them.
Apple, Google and Valve. Your iCloud data, your Game Center data, your Google Play purchases and your Steam data (including Steam Cloud, achievements and leaderboard scores) can also be managed or deleted through Apple, Google and Valve.
Complaints. Depending on where you live (for example under the EU or UK GDPR, or Israel's Privacy Protection Law), you have the right to complain to your data protection authority.

Children

The developer collects no personal information from anyone, including children. iCloud, Game Center, Google Play and the Steam features are subject to Apple's, Google's and Valve's own rules and account age limits.

Email updates from this website

Everything above is about the game. This website, thelinecavediving.com, collects one thing, and only if you ask for it: your email address, when you sign up for news about The Line.

What is kept: your email address, whether you confirmed it, the dates you signed up, confirmed or left, and the sentence you agreed to.
What it is used for: only emails with big news about The Line, a few a year. It is never sold, shared, or used for advertising.
Joining takes two steps: you are added only after you press the confirm button from the first email.
Who handles it: the address is stored by Base44, which hosts this website, and the emails are delivered by Twilio SendGrid on Base44's behalf. Like most email services they record whether an email was delivered and may record opens or link clicks; the developer does not use that to build profiles.
Leaving: every email has an unsubscribe link. To have your address deleted, write to makeitworthdesigns@gmail.com.
Age: if you are under 16, ask a parent before you sign up.

Changes

If a future version changes any of this, this policy will be updated before that version is released, and the date at the top will change.

Contact

Shaked Hetzroni (MakeItWorthDesigns), Israel · makeitworthdesigns@gmail.com