At a glance
- You can play offline without an account. Online rankings, friend challenges, garden sharing and account inventory require sign-in.
- We use your email address to sign you in with one-time codes, never for marketing. Rankings show an automatic name such as “Gardener 1A2B3C4D”, never your email.
- Apple handles all payments. We never see your card details.
- Ads come from Google AdMob: optional rewarded videos that play only when you choose to watch one. This version has no forced ads between levels. The app never asks to track you, so it can’t access your device’s advertising identifier (IDFA).
- We don’t sell your personal information.
- You can delete your account in the app at any time.
Who we are
Pocket Garden: City Bloom (“Pocket Garden”) is made by Lynxce Technologies Pty Ltd, a company based in Australia (“we”, “us”, “our”). We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy. Our game services run at garden-api.lynxce.ai.
Questions about this policy or your information? Email contact@lynxce.cn.
Information we collect
Playing without an account
You can play First Sprout, the Garden Path and City Challenge practice without an account. Your progress, stars, streak and My Garden are saved on your iPhone. When you’re online, the app downloads game settings, the daily board, the list of cities and the public rankings from our servers; these requests don’t include any account information. The app also sends app usage events, described below.
Guest accounts (optional)
If you tap Continue as a guest in Settings → Account & sign-in, we create an account with a random ID and no email address. A guest account keeps a copy of your First Sprout progress on our server, and you can later turn it into, or merge it with, a full account.
Signing in with email
To play for your city in the daily City Challenge or to use Garden Baskets, you sign in with your email address. We email you a six-digit code that expires after 10 minutes. We store:
- your account ID (a random code we create) and your email address;
- your sign-in sessions: when each one started, when it was last renewed and when it ends (after 30 days, or when you sign out);
- a record of each code request: the email address, the time, a one-way hash of the code (never the code itself) and the number of attempts. We delete it a day after the code expires.
We use your email address to sign you in and to find your account if you contact us for help. We don’t send marketing emails, and other players never see your email address. Version 1.0 of the app offers email sign-in only.
Game data
- Tutorial progress: whether you’ve completed First Sprout, so it can sync between devices. Local saves include Garden Path progress, stars, streaks and helper tries. When you use account-based garden features, we also store growth progress, stars, unlocked plants and decorations, and your garden layout on our server.
- Daily City Challenge: the city you choose to represent (from our list of cities; we never use your location), your online attempts, and your verified results: when your win was verified, your position in your city and whether a Garden Basket was used. When you finish a run, the app sends your moves so our server can replay them and confirm the win. We keep a fingerprint (hash) of those moves rather than the moves themselves, except that if you use a Garden Basket we keep the moves made before you used it, so the basket can be checked.
- Garden Baskets: your basket balance and a record of every basket added or used, including welcome and daily gifts (with any Garden VIP bonus), rewarded ads, Garden VIP basket claims, purchases, refunds and any adjustments made by our support team.
Garden, daily bloom and friend challenges
For account-based garden features, we store your growth progress, stars, unlocked plants and decorations, garden layout, daily completions and item balances. Friend challenges store invitation codes, membership, chosen difficulty and mode, attempts, helper use, verified results, move counts and, for races, server-recorded start and finish times and elapsed seconds. We keep move traces and operation records where needed to verify results, prevent duplicate rewards and recover an interrupted request.
When you publish a share, we save a snapshot of the invitation or result and, only if you choose to include it, your garden layout. Anyone with the share link can view its automatic display name, invitation code, challenge mode and any included result or garden. We record share creation, landing-page views and revocation. You can revoke a published share; expired or revoked links stop serving the snapshot. Copies already saved by other people are not removed by revocation.
Purchases
When you buy baskets, the app attaches a random purchase token for your account (not your email address) so the purchase reaches the right account. Apple sends us the transaction details, and we keep the transaction ID, product, quantity and purchase date, the delivery and refund status, and the notifications Apple sends us about the purchase. Apple’s transaction data can also include details such as the App Store country or region, the price and the currency. We never receive your payment card details or your Apple Account password.
Garden VIP
Garden VIP is a one-time purchase that belongs to your Apple ID. You can buy and restore it without an account; the app then checks it with the App Store on your iPhone, and the purchase isn’t linked to any account. If you buy it while signed in with email, the app attaches your account’s random purchase token, as it does for baskets. Whenever you’re signed in and your Apple ID has Garden VIP, the app sends Apple’s signed record of the purchase to our server. We verify it and record on your account that it has Garden VIP, so your account gets the VIP basket perks. We keep Apple’s transaction IDs, the product, the purchase date, when it was linked, the App Store environment (for example, whether it was a test purchase) and whether Apple has refunded or revoked it. One purchase can be linked to only one account. If Apple tells us that a Garden VIP purchase was refunded or revoked, we record that even if it isn’t linked to an account, so that it can’t be linked later.
Rewarded ads
When you choose to watch an ad for a basket, the app gives Google your account ID and a one-time reward ID. Google sends them back to our server in a signed confirmation, and we record the reward: Google’s transaction ID, the ad unit, the date and whether a basket was granted. With Garden VIP linked to your account, you can claim these baskets without watching an ad, within the same daily limit; we record each claim and its date in the same way.
Other ad rewards are given only on your iPhone, whether or not you’re signed in: an extra Firefly hint, or an extra try of a Garden Path helper. For these, the app gives Google a fixed placeholder instead of an account ID, along with a random one-time reward ID, so the reward isn’t linked to any account and no basket is added. Ads from Google AdMob explains what Google collects.
App usage events
The app records a limited set of in-game events, such as opening the app; starting, restarting, winning or losing a level (with details like the level, the mode, tiles left and whether a basket was used); using a Firefly hint or a Garden Path helper; your current streak; flowers planted in My Garden; opening Garden Supplies; claiming a gift; starting, cancelling or completing a purchase; tapping Restore purchases; opening, buying or restoring Garden VIP, and whether it’s active; watching a rewarded ad, earning an on-device ad reward with the estimated ad revenue Google reports; whether you accept or skip the Save your garden invitation; tapping Share; your answer to the notification permission prompt; and which version of a feature test you see. Each event has a time and a random install ID that the app creates the first time you open it.
These events don’t include your email address, your location, your device model, iOS version or language, or any advertising identifier. The app sends them without your account details, so we store them under the random install ID. Reinstalling the app creates a new install ID.
Technical information
When the app connects to our servers, they receive your IP address. We use it to answer the request and to limit abuse, such as too many requests in a short time. We don’t store it with your account or game data.
When you contact us
If you email us, we receive your email address and anything you include, such as screenshots or your account ID, and we use it to help you.
Information from Apple
If you’ve chosen to share analytics with app developers in your iPhone settings, Apple may give us crash reports and combined usage statistics under Apple’s own privacy policy.
Information stored on your device
These are stored in the app on your iPhone: your game saves (including Garden Path progress, stars, streaks, helper tries, My Garden and practice boards), your City Challenge runs in progress, the country and city you picked, your sound, haptics and language settings, the random install ID, usage events waiting to be sent, records of purchases waiting for approval or delivery, whether Garden VIP is active (which the App Store confirms on your iPhone), and how many on-device ad rewards you’ve used today. Your sign-in session is kept in the iOS Keychain and is only available on that iPhone.
When you merge a guest account into a full account, or sign in to an account on your iPhone for the first time, the app combines the gardens saved on that iPhone. Account-based growth and layout data also sync to our server as described above; local preferences and unsynced saves remain on your iPhone.
If you allow notifications, the app schedules a local streak reminder on your iPhone: at most one a day, at 7 pm your time, while you have a streak going. We don’t send push notifications and don’t collect a push token. You can turn notifications off in iOS Settings.
How we use information
We use the information described above to:
- run the game: sign you in, sync progress and garden layouts, run daily and friend challenges, check results and show rankings;
- deliver Garden Baskets from gifts, rewarded ads and purchases, give your account its Garden VIP perks, and keep your balance accurate;
- keep the game fair and safe: verify wins, apply limits such as one ranked win per account each day, and prevent cheating, fraud and abuse. This can include suspending accounts or removing City Challenge results that break the rules;
- handle purchases, refunds and payment questions with Apple;
- understand how the game is played and improve it, including trying different versions of a feature;
- answer your messages and help you;
- meet our legal obligations and protect the rights and safety of our players and our business.
If you’re in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on these legal bases: performing our contract with you (running the game and delivering what you buy); our legitimate interests in security, fairness, fraud prevention, analytics and improving the game, which we balance against your rights; your consent (the optional refund-review setting, and ad choices made in Google’s consent form); and compliance with legal obligations, such as keeping transaction records.
What other players can see
When you complete a daily City Challenge online, your verified result appears in that day’s public rankings. They show an automatic name such as “Gardener 1A2B3C4D” (made from a scrambled form of your account ID), the city you played for, your position in that city, when your win was verified, and whether a Garden Basket was used (“Basket assisted”). City rankings show how many verified gardeners each city has.
Friend challenge participants can see automatic display names, verified results, rankings and assistance status. Published share links can also show your chosen garden snapshot and result, as described above. We never show your email address to other players. Practice results aren’t published.
Ads from Google AdMob
Pocket Garden offers optional rewarded ads from Google AdMob:
- Rewarded ads are optional videos that only play when you tap to watch one. They can add a basket to a signed-in account (“Watch a short ad · +1 basket”, up to a daily limit), or give you an extra Firefly hint or Garden Path helper try on your iPhone, with or without an account (up to six a day).
This version has no forced interstitial ads. Existing Garden VIP purchases retain their applicable ad-free reward benefits; VIP does not change fair competition rules. So that an ad is ready when needed, the app starts the Google Mobile Ads SDK when it opens and loads ads in the background.
- Consent: where the law requires it (for example in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland), the app shows Google’s consent form before any ads load. Where required, Settings also shows Ad privacy choices, so you can review or change your choice at any time.
- No tracking: the app doesn’t request App Tracking Transparency permission, so neither the app nor Google’s SDK can access your device’s advertising identifier (IDFA).
- What Google collects: Google may collect information such as your IP address (which can indicate your approximate location), information about your device and the app, and how you interact with ads. Google uses it to show and measure ads, prevent fraud and, where you allow it, personalize ads, under its own policies. Learn more in how Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and the Google Privacy Policy.
- Rewards: only signed-in accounts can earn baskets from ads. To confirm a basket reward, the app gives Google your account ID and a one-time reward ID. For rewards given only on your iPhone, it gives Google a fixed placeholder instead of an account ID. See Rewarded ads.
Payments, refunds and refund reviews
All purchases, including Garden VIP, are processed by Apple under Apple’s terms and privacy policy. Refunds are requested from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com; we can’t issue refunds ourselves. If Apple refunds a purchase, any baskets from it that you haven’t used are removed from your account. If Apple refunds or revokes Garden VIP, its perks end.
Garden Supplies has an optional setting, Share basket use for refund reviews. It’s off by default. If you turn it on and later ask Apple to refund a basket purchase, Apple may ask us about that purchase. We then tell Apple what share of that purchase’s baskets you’ve used and whether they were delivered, that the game offers a free basket trial in practice, and a suggested outcome based on that (for example, a full refund if you haven’t used any). We don’t send your email address or other contact details, and Apple makes the final decision. While the setting is off, we send nothing. You can turn it off at any time in Garden Supplies. The setting applies only to basket purchases, not Garden VIP.
How long we keep information
- Account details, sign-in sessions, synced progress, garden layouts, friend challenge and share records: until you delete your account.
- City Challenge city choices, attempts and results: until you delete your account. Our support team may remove results that break the rules sooner.
- Purchase, refund, Garden VIP, Garden Basket and rewarded-ad records: kept after you delete your account, no longer linked to your email address, for as long as we need them for deliveries, refunds, fraud prevention, accounting and legal requirements.
- Invitation rewards: we retain reward and eligibility records, including a salted one-way hash of verified sign-in identities, after account deletion to prevent the same identity from repeatedly claiming a new-player reward. Public invitation pages do not expose sign-in identities. Link visits are counted by invitation and UTC date, without recording a visitor account, IP address or device identifier in these counters.
- Records of sign-in code requests: deleted a day after the code expires, and straight away when you delete your account or remove your email address from it.
- App usage events: kept for analysis under the random install ID.
- Emails with our support team: for as long as we need them to help you and keep a record of your request.
- Backups: we back up our database every day. Deleted information can remain in these backups until they are deleted. Access to backups is restricted, and we use them only to restore the service.
Deleting your account
You can delete a guest or full account in the app: open Settings (the sliders button at the top right of the home screen) → Account & sign-in → Delete account, then confirm Delete account permanently.
When you delete your account, we immediately delete:
- your email address, sign-in details, sessions and sign-in code records;
- your synced progress, garden growth and layouts, daily completions, friend memberships and attempts, and published garden shares;
- your City Challenge city choices, attempts and results, so you no longer appear in the rankings;
- any support notes about your account.
We keep the following without your email address, linked only to a random ID: purchase and refund records, Garden Basket records (gifts, ad rewards, purchases, use and balance, including the moves recorded when a basket was used), and a log of any actions our support team took on the account. We need these to complete deliveries, handle refunds Apple reports to us later, prevent fraud and meet accounting and legal requirements. Your refund-review setting stays with these records, so it still applies to earlier purchases.
If Garden VIP was linked to your account, we keep that record too, but no longer linked to any account. Garden VIP stays with your Apple ID, so you can keep using it and link it to another account.
Before you delete, please note:
- Unused baskets are lost and can’t be restored, even if you create a new account.
- Deleting your account doesn’t cancel a purchase that’s waiting for approval, and it doesn’t request a refund from Apple.
- Progress saved on your iPhone stays there. Delete the app if you want to remove it too.
- App usage events aren’t removed by in-app deletion, because they’re stored under the random install ID rather than your account. See How long we keep information.
If you can’t use the app, email contact@lynxce.cn from the email address on your account and we’ll delete the account for you.
Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR in the EU and the UK, or Australia’s Privacy Act 1988), you may have the right to:
- access the personal information we hold about you and get a copy;
- correct information that’s wrong;
- have your information deleted;
- object to, or ask us to restrict, some uses such as analytics;
- receive your information in a portable format;
- withdraw your consent at any time (this doesn’t affect what we did before).
You can also make choices in the app: play without an account, turn off Share basket use for refund reviews, use Ad privacy choices where it’s shown, turn notifications off in iOS Settings, or delete your account.
To make a request, email contact@lynxce.cn from the email address on your account, so we can confirm it’s you. We’ll respond within the time the law requires. If you’re not happy with our response, you can complain to your local data protection authority: in Australia, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au); in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk); in the EU, the authority in your country.
International transfers
We’re based in Australia, and our servers are hosted by Alibaba Cloud. Your information may be stored and processed in countries other than the one where you live, including by our service providers, Apple and Google. Those countries may have different data protection laws. When we transfer your information, we take reasonable steps to keep it protected as described in this policy.
Security
- Connections between the app and our servers are encrypted with HTTPS.
- Sign-in codes expire after 10 minutes, allow a limited number of tries and are stored only as one-way hashes. The app keeps your session in the iOS Keychain.
- Only authorized staff can access player data. Our support tools hide email addresses unless a staff member with permission needs to see one, and each such view is logged.
No system is perfectly secure, but we work hard to protect your information, and we’ll tell you and the authorities about a data breach where the law requires it.
Children
Pocket Garden is not directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We’ll post the updated version on this page with a new effective date. If we make significant changes, we’ll take reasonable steps to let you know, for example with a notice in the app.
Contact us
Lynxce Technologies Pty LtdAustralia
Email: contact@lynxce.cn
Need help with the game itself? Visit Pocket Garden support.