Privacy Policy

Runlings is a workout companion game for iPhone (iOS) and Apple Watch. We believe privacy is a fundamental human right, so Runlings is built to keep your personal information private. We do not collect personally identifying information. There are no ads. We don’t sell data or have any desire to collect data for that purpose.

This page explains the standard anonymous data used to improve the app, intentionally kept to a minimum and limited per our preference for your privacy.

Health and fitness

With your permission, Runlings reads your recent workouts and activity from Apple Health so your creatures can grow as you move, and saves workouts you record in Runlings back to Health. You choose what Runlings can read and write, and you can change that at any time in the Health app or in Settings.

Your health data stays on your devices and in Apple Health. We never receive it, it is never sent to analytics, and it is never used for advertising or sold. The only time workout details leave your device is when you choose to share workouts with a friend, described below.

Anonymous usage analytics

To learn which parts of the game people enjoy and where they run into bugs, Runlings sends anonymous usage signals through TelemetryDeck, the privacy-focused analytics service hosted in the EU, used by many popular privacy-focused companies. A signal says something like “a workout was completed”, “an onboarding step was finished” or “a backup failed”, together with the app version, device model, system version and a rough count of days since install.

Each signal carries a random identifier for your device that TelemetryDeck hashes before storing, so it can’t be traced back to you or your device. Signals never contain health measurements like heart rate, and never contain your name, friend codes or anything you type. This data is not linked to your identity and is not used for tracking or advertising.

iCloud backup

If you’re signed in to iCloud, Runlings backs up your game progress and your planet to your own iCloud account, so you can restore them on a new device. That backup is stored by Apple in your private iCloud storage. We can’t see or access it. You can delete it in Settings under your name, then iCloud.

Friends and multiplayer

These features are optional. Just like with any multiplayer feature in a game, some information is shared with the people you play with:

• Adding a friend with a code or invite link shares your player card with them: the name you play under, a random player ID, your Game Center player ID if you’re signed in, and your creatures. The card passes through a database in the app’s iCloud container (Apple’s CloudKit), the standard setup for iOS games. A friend code only works for several minutes.
• Working out with a friend shares a summary of that workout with them: the kind of workout, when it started and ended, the distance, and the creature you trained.
• Minigame invites. When you share a minigame challenge, the link carries the course, your run, the creature you played and the name you played under, so your friend can race it. If a friend joins Runlings through your link, your player card and an anonymous iCloud identifier are stored so both of you can be rewarded once.
• Nearby friends connect directly between devices over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, with your permission. Nothing goes through us.
• Multiplayer worlds, leaderboards and achievements use Apple’s Game Center, under Apple’s privacy policy. Your Game Center friends list is only used to show friends you can invite.

Purchases

In-app purchases are handled entirely by Apple. We never see your payment details.

This website

We sometimes try two designs of the home page to see which one helps more people find Runlings. When we do, runlings.com sets one small cookie that only remembers which design you saw, so you see the same one each time. It holds no ID and nothing about you. We count how many times each design is shown and how many times the main button is tapped, along with the country Cloudflare reports for the visit, and nothing else.

Your choices

• Turn off Health access in the Health app under Sharing, then Apps. Workouts will not work if you do, because Apple requires these permissions.
• Remove a friend in the app at any time.
• Delete the app to remove everything stored on your device, and delete its iCloud backup in Settings.

Contact

Privacy is important and extensive measures were taken to create this app in a way that respects your personal data compared to other fitness apps and games. Questions about privacy? Email us at [email protected]. Runlings is made by Made by Nick LLC.