This privacy policy governs your use of the mobile application Imposter Circle (the “Application”, Android package identifier com.flx_apps.impostercircle), an offline party game created and published by FLX Apps (Felix Heller), flx.es. It explains what the Application does and does not do with information, which device permissions it holds and why, and how the optional in-app purchase is handled.
Imposter Circle is a party game for a group sitting around one phone. Everybody sees a secret word except the imposter, the phone goes round the table, and the group votes on who was faking it. There is no online mode, no matchmaking, no lobby, and no way to play against strangers. It is a single-device tool: nothing is synchronised, nothing is shared, and nobody can see that you are playing, including us.
The game is written to work with no connection at all: every word, every game mode and every screen is on your device, and the code contains no HTTP client, no socket, no sync and no remote configuration. We operate no server that the Application could contact even if it wanted to.
The published package does nevertheless declare android.permission.INTERNET and android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE. Those come from Google’s Play Billing library and its own dependencies, which the Application includes so that the optional Pro unlock can exist at all; Android merges a library’s permission requests into the app that ships it. The purchase check itself is answered by the Google Play Store app already installed on your device over an on-device interface. Nothing in the game reads or writes the network, and no information about you or your games is transmitted by us or on our behalf.
If you want to verify this rather than take our word for it: put the device in flight mode. Every part of the game keeps working, including a Pro unlock you have already bought, because the entitlement is remembered locally.
The published package declares three permissions that concern your device, and the game itself uses none of them:
com.android.vending.BILLING). Required by Google Play so that the optional one-time purchase described below can be offered at all. It grants no access to your device or to your data.android.permission.INTERNET, android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE). Declared by the Google Play Billing library that the Application bundles, as described under Network access.
A fourth entry appears in the manifest for completeness: com.flx_apps.impostercircle.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION. The Application declares that one for itself at signature protection level, which means only the Application can hold it. It is added automatically by Android’s own AndroidX libraries, it grants access to nothing outside the Application, and Google Play does not list it.
The Application requests no location, no camera, no microphone, no contacts, no storage, no notification and no advertising-identifier access. Keeping the screen on during a round, which the Application does so the phone does not lock halfway around the table, needs no permission: it is a window flag, and you can switch the behaviour off in the Application’s settings.
The Application keeps the following in its own private application storage, which other apps cannot read: the names and seating order of the players you added, any tables you saved, the running scores of the current session, how often each player has been dealt the hunted role (this is what the fairness display on the score screen shows) and how often each has started a round, which secret words have already been dealt so they do not repeat, any word lists you wrote yourself, and your settings. This data is never transmitted. Uninstalling the Application removes it. You can also clear the scores and the dealt-word history from within the Application at any time.
Player names are whatever you type. The Application does not read them from your contacts and attaches no meaning to them; if you would rather not enter real names, nicknames or initials work exactly as well.
Depending on your device settings, Android’s own Auto Backup feature may include the Application’s local storage in the backup Android makes to your personal Google Drive. That backup is made by the operating system, is tied to your own Google account, and is governed by Google’s terms rather than ours; we have no access to it. You can disable it in your device’s backup settings.
The Application is free and complete without paying. Every word, every category, every game mode and every group size is available at no cost, and there is no advertising and no subscription. A single optional one-time in-app purchase, Imposter Circle Pro (product identifier imposter_circle_pro), unlocks a small set of convenience features: more than one of your own word lists, more than one saved table, mixing more than five word categories into a single round, and choosing the light or dark theme instead of following the system. No word, category or game mode is ever unavailable without it.
That purchase is processed entirely by Google Play Billing. Payment details are handled by Google and never reach the Application or us: we do not see, receive, or store your name, address, card number or any other payment information. The Application asks the Play Store app on your device whether the product has been purchased and remembers the resulting yes or no locally so the Application still works unlocked with no connectivity. Google’s handling of the transaction is governed by the Google Privacy Policy. If you request a refund, Google handles it.
The Application’s settings screen holds two links that leave it: this privacy policy, and our own site at flx.es. Tapping either hands the address to your device’s browser, which then opens the page as an ordinary web request under its own privacy terms. The Application makes no request itself, and no information about you or your game is added to the address.
We collect nothing. Specifically, the Application does not collect or transmit to us: your name, e-mail address, phone number, or contacts; the names of the people you play with; your device’s advertising identifier or any persistent hardware identifier; your IP address; your location; the list of apps installed on your device; how often or how long you play; crash logs or diagnostic telemetry; or any behavioural or analytics event. There is no cloud storage of your data, because there is no cloud component. Whatever Google’s own billing library reports back to Google about a purchase is Google’s processing under its own policy, and it reaches us only as the yes-or-no answer to “has this user bought Pro”.
The Application is a word game suitable for a general audience. It collects no personal information from anyone, including children, and contains no advertising, no social features and no user-generated content that anyone else can see. Purchases are made through Google Play and are subject to whatever parental controls you have configured there.
Because nothing leaves your device for us, there is no server-side repository of your information for us to secure or to be breached. On-device data remains protected by Android’s standard application sandboxing and by whatever device security (screen lock, encryption) you have configured. The purchase check runs through Google Play’s own secured channel.
For users in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom: the Application performs no processing of personal data on our infrastructure, and there is no transfer of personal data to us. Data you enter is processed only locally on your own device, under your own control, which falls outside the scope of a controller relationship with us. Any processing performed by Google in connection with the optional purchase, or by your device manufacturer in connection with Android’s own backup feature, is carried out by them as independent controllers under their own terms.
We may update this privacy policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes in the Application or in legal requirements. The current version is always the one published at this URL, and the “Last updated” date above indicates when it last changed. Continued use of the Application after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
The section above concerns the mobile Application. The website on which this policy is hosted (operated by FLX Apps on the operator’s own first-party server, flx.es) may use a self-hosted, cookieless system to compile anonymous, aggregate visit statistics (such as page views, referring sites, browser/device type and approximate country). No cookies are set, no data is shared with any third party, and your IP address and browser user-agent are never stored: they are used only transiently, with a secret key that changes every day, to derive an anonymous identifier and an approximate two-letter country code. Visits cannot be linked to a person or across days. You can opt out at any time by enabling the “Do Not Track” or “Global Privacy Control” setting in your browser. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in privacy-friendly, aggregate statistics).
By using the Application you consent to the terms of this privacy policy as it may be amended from time to time.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or the Application’s privacy practices, please contact FLX Apps (Felix Heller) at felixheller@mailbox.org.