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Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 7, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how PlayAirHockey.com ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses and shares information across two products:

  • The website at playairhockey.com, where the game runs in your browser with no account.
  • The Android app, Play Air Hockey (com.playairhockey.game) on Google Play, which has an account, a coin economy, ads and optional purchases.

Together these are the "Service". The two are not the same. The website collects almost nothing; the app has an account and therefore collects more. Every section below says which one it is talking about where the answer differs.

By using the Service you agree to this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use it.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

  • Display Name (Nickname) (website and app): You may type any name before playing, up to 15 characters. We do not require your real name. In online matches this name is shown to your opponent for the duration of the match. It is stored only in local storage on your own device, is never written to our servers, and is not linked to your account.
  • Account information (Android app only): Playing the app requires an account; there is no guest mode. Signing in uses Google Sign-In: Google issues an ID token, our server verifies it with Google, and we then store the name, email address and profile picture URL from your Google profile, together with Google's stable identifier for your account. We never see, receive or ask for your Google password.
  • Messages you send us: if you email support, we keep the message and your address for as long as it takes to answer you.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

  • Usage & Analytics Data (website only): Only if you consent, we use Google Analytics 4 to collect anonymised information about how visitors use the site: pages visited, session duration, device type, browser, operating system and approximate geographic location (country/region). This data is aggregated and not linked to personal identities. The Android app contains no analytics SDK at all.
  • IP Address: Your IP address may be processed by our analytics provider, our realtime provider and our host (Vercel) for security and delivery purposes.
  • Local Storage (website and app): We store your chosen nickname, your selected difficulty, your chosen goal target, your language, your cookie-banner answer and, in the app, a signed session token and a local mirror of your wallet. See our Cookie Policy.
  • Your game data (Android app only): Your account holds your coin balance, which cosmetic items you are renting, which items you have equipped, and your match record (matches played, matches won, goals, current and best streak, coins earned). This is held on our servers so that it survives reinstalling the app or changing phone.
  • Advertising identifier (Android app only): The app shows ads through Google AdMob, which uses your device's advertising ID to select and measure them. See section 3a.
  • Purchase records (Android app only): If you buy coins or the Aura subscription, we record which product was bought and when. See section 3b.
  • Multiplayer Connection Data (website and app): During an online match, paddle positions, puck position, the score and your chosen nickname are transmitted through Ably's infrastructure to the other player or players in that match. This data is transient: it is used only during the active match and is not stored afterwards.

1.3 What we deliberately do not collect

  • No precise or approximate location from the app.
  • No contacts, calendar, photos, files, microphone or camera access.
  • No chat. The app has no messaging, voice or media sharing of any kind. The only thing another player ever sees is your display name.
  • No card details, ever. Payments are handled entirely by Google Play.
  • Your Google profile name is not shown to other players. It appears only in the app's own settings screen, to you.

2. How We Use Your Information

  • To operate the game and match you with an online opponent
  • To create and maintain your account, and to keep your coins and items attached to it
  • To verify purchases with Google and credit what you bought
  • To show ads in the free version of the Android app
  • To remember your preferences between sessions
  • To analyse usage trends and improve the game (website only, and only with consent)
  • To detect and prevent abuse
  • To comply with legal obligations

We do not use your data to build advertising profiles ourselves, and we do not sell, rent or trade your personal information to any third party.

2a. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR Article 6)

If you are in the EEA or the UK, we rely on the following legal bases:

  • Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)), to run the match you asked to play, including passing your chosen nickname and paddle position to your opponent; and, in the Android app, to create and hold the account, coins and items you asked us to keep for you, and to verify and fulfil purchases.
  • Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), for analytics cookies on the website, and for personalised advertising in the Android app. No analytics is loaded until you accept the cookie banner, and no personalised ad is requested until you have answered Google's consent form. You can withdraw either at any time, via Cookie Settings in the website footer or game menu, or Settings → Privacy in the app, as easily as you gave it. Withdrawing does not affect the lawfulness of what was processed beforehand.
  • Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)), to keep the Service secure and available, and to prevent abuse and fraudulent purchases. We do not use legitimate interests as a basis for analytics or for any tracking.
  • Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)), to keep transaction records where tax or consumer law requires it.

Preferences held in local storage on your device (nickname, difficulty, goal target and language) never reach our servers, so no legal basis is engaged for them. Your account, wallet and purchase history are held on our servers, and are covered by the bases above.

3. Third-Party Services

We share data with the following third parties as necessary to operate the Service:

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information to any third party for marketing purposes.

3a. Advertising (Android app)

The free version of the Android app shows ads through Google AdMob. AdMob uses your device's advertising ID to select and measure ads, and that identifier is shared with Google acting as the ad network. This is the only piece of data the app shares with a third party for advertising.

  • You can reset the advertising ID, or tell apps not to use it for personalised advertising, in Android Settings → Privacy → Ads.
  • Where the law requires consent for personalised advertising, the app asks before requesting any personalised ad, using Google's UMP consent form. You can reopen that choice from the app's settings at any time.
  • Aura subscribers see no ads at all, and no ad request is made for them.

How Google uses data from apps that use its services: policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites

3b. Purchases (Android app)

Coin packs and the Aura subscription are sold through Google Play Billing. Google processes the payment. We never receive your card, bank or billing details, and we never see them. What reaches us is the purchase token Google issues, which our server sends back to Google to verify before it credits your account.

We keep a record of which product was bought and when, so that coins or subscription time can be restored if you reinstall the app or change device, and so we can answer a support or refund question. Manage or cancel a subscription in Google Play, not in the app.

3c. One account across two games

Your Velovid account, coin balance and Aura plan are shared with Play Snake Online, our other game. Coins you earn or buy in either app spend in both, and an Aura plan bought in either covers both. If you use both apps, they are reading and writing the same account, so deleting it deletes it for both.

4. Children's Privacy (COPPA)

PlayAirHockey.com is a general-audience game. The Android app is rated and targeted at 13 and over, is not enrolled in Google Play's Designed for Families programme, and should not be used by children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA). The display name entered before playing is chosen freely by the user and is not linked to any real identity.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information to us, contact support@velovid.net and we will promptly investigate and delete it. See our full COPPA notice.

5. Your Rights (GDPR / CCPA)

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

  • Access: request a copy of data we hold about you
  • Correction: request correction of inaccurate data
  • Deletion: delete your account and everything attached to it, see how to delete your account, or section 5a below
  • Objection: object to certain types of processing
  • Portability: receive your data in a portable format
  • Withdraw consent: turn analytics back off at any time via Cookie Settings in the footer or the game menu, and change your advertising choice under Settings → Privacy in the app. One tap, no email needed.
  • Complain to a supervisory authority: if you are in the EEA or UK, you may lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.

To exercise any of these, contact support@velovid.net. We respond within 30 days (GDPR) or 45 days (CCPA).

5a. Deleting your account and data (Android app)

In the app: open Settings (the gear icon on the lobby), then Delete account, and confirm.

By email: if you have uninstalled the app or cannot sign in, write to support@velovid.net from the email address on the account, with the subject "Delete my account". We complete the deletion within 30 days and confirm by reply.

What is deleted: your account, your Google profile details (name, email address, profile picture URL) and Google identifier, your coin balance, your rentals and equipped items, and your match record. This happens immediately and applies to both Play Air Hockey and Play Snake Online, because they share one account.

What is kept, and for how long: a minimal record of purchases made through Google Play, for as long as tax and consumer-protection law requires (typically up to seven years). These records are kept for accounting only and are no longer linked to a usable account. Anything held in local storage on your own device is removed when you uninstall the app or clear its storage.

Deletion cannot be undone. Coins, items and remaining subscription time are not refunded. Cancel an active Aura subscription in Google Play separately: deleting the account does not cancel it.

6. Data Retention

  • Analytics data (website, with consent): up to 14 months.
  • Account, wallet and match record (app): kept until you delete the account.
  • Purchase records: as required by tax and consumer law, typically up to seven years.
  • Local storage: remains on your device until you clear it or uninstall the app.
  • Multiplayer session data: never persistently stored by us.

7. Data Security

All traffic uses HTTPS, and the Android app blocks cleartext traffic outright at the platform level. We use secure response headers (HSTS, CSP) and reputable third-party infrastructure. Sign-in tokens are issued by our server, held only on your device, and expire after 30 days. No system is 100% secure, so we encourage you not to use your real name as your in-game nickname.

8. International Transfers

Our service is hosted in the United States. Our analytics, realtime, advertising and payment providers also process data internationally. By using the Service from outside the US you consent to this transfer. We rely on Standard Contractual Clauses where required by GDPR.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above reflects the most recent change. Continued use after an update constitutes acceptance.

10. Contact

Privacy enquiries: support@velovid.net