Ardhan — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 30 September 2026

1. Who I am

Ardhan is a single-player card game made and published by Ștefan Mihai Șerb, a private individual living in Romania ("I", "me"). For the small amount of personal data described in this policy, I am the data controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

• E-mail: contact@unitechdigital.net

2. The short version

• There is no account, no login, no advertising, no analytics, no tracking and no crash reporting in the game.
• Your progress is saved on your device. The game has no cloud save of its own (for Steam Cloud, see section 4).
• The game goes online only to download optional content from GitHub, to check for updates of content you already downloaded, and to talk to the store you got the game from (Google Play, Steam, the App Store or the Microsoft Store) about the game's optional in-app purchases.
• The game sends me nothing. I only receive what you send me yourself (for example an e-mail) and the sales reports the stores give me.

3. Where this policy applies

This policy covers the game Ardhan everywhere I publish it:

• Android, through Google Play;
• iPhone and iPad, through the App Store;
• Windows and Linux, through Steam;
• Windows, through the Microsoft Store.

The game is free on every one of them, with the same optional in-app purchases, and each store's own payment system handles the payment (section 6). The same rules apply on every platform. The few differences are named below.

4. What the game keeps on your device

The game stores these things on your device only:

• Your save: runs in progress, your collection, shards and gold, unlocked items, achievements, statistics, run history and your settings (language, volume and similar choices).
• A list of the purchases already delivered, so that a purchase is never granted twice. For each delivered purchase the game keeps the identifier the store gave it: on Google Play a purchase token, on Steam the number of the item in your Steam inventory, on the App Store the original transaction identifier, on the Microsoft Store the add-on's Store identifier. None of these names you; each names one sale. The game keeps the last 256 of them.
• On the Microsoft Store only: for packs of shards, gold or deck slots, a tracking number that the game itself makes up for each pack you buy or redeem, kept in a small file (msstore_packs.json) next to the save until the game has told the Microsoft Store that the pack was delivered. It is never part of a save code.
• Optional packs you downloaded (see section 5).
• Share cards you saved: a picture of a finished run with the faction, the result, the act reached, the run's seed and one line of text. It contains nothing about you or your device. On Android the game can pass it to the system share menu, and you choose the app. On other platforms it is saved in the game's own folder.
• On Windows and Linux: a technical log file (logs/godot.log) in the same folder as the save.

None of this is sent to me or to anyone else by the game.

Clipboard. The game puts text on your clipboard only when you press a button: the backup code of your save (Settings, "Copy save code"), the run's seed text (the "Copy" and "Save share card" buttons after a run) and my e-mail address (the contact buttons). Where you paste it is your choice. The game reads the clipboard only when you press "Import save code" and confirm, or "Paste" when you enter a seed.

Steam Cloud (Steam only). The game itself has no cloud save. If Steam Cloud is switched on for Ardhan and in your Steam settings, Steam keeps a copy of the save folder in your Steam account. Valve runs that service under its own privacy policy (section 6); I cannot see those copies. You can switch Steam Cloud off in Steam.

Deleting your data. On Android, iPhone and iPad, uninstalling the game deletes all of it. For the Microsoft Store version, Windows normally removes the game's data, the pack tracking file included, when you uninstall it. On Windows and Linux through Steam, the save folder stays on your computer after you uninstall; you can delete it yourself (a Steam Cloud copy, if any, is managed in Steam). What you bought stays recorded with the store (section 6), so it comes back after a reinstall.

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\Ardhan
• Linux: ~/.local/share/Godot/app_userdata/Ardhan

5. When the game uses the internet

The game works offline. It connects to the internet only in the cases below. None of them goes to a server of mine.

5.1 Optional downloads from GitHub

Some content is an optional download:

• On Android: the card art for most cards, the narration in languages other than English, and the story cinematics.
• On iPhone, iPad, Windows and Linux: all card art and all nine narration languages are already inside the game. The only optional download there is the boss cinematics (about 5 MB).

A download starts only when you tap its Download button (on the title screen, the language screen, the Collection, the faction choice or in Settings; on Android the first start also asks you once whether to download the card art now). The files come over HTTPS from GitHub (raw.githubusercontent.com), a file-hosting service run by GitHub. Before a download, the game fetches a small list of the available packs (a "manifest") to learn their sizes and checksums, and it checks each download against that list before installing it.

5.2 Update checks for packs you already have

Only if you have installed a pack, the game also checks whether a newer version of it exists:

• when you open Settings, the Collection or the faction choice, it may fetch the small manifest;
• when the game starts, it checks the narration and cinematics packs you installed and, if a newer version exists, downloads it in the background without asking again.

It never starts a download of a pack you did not choose. If you have never installed a pack, the game makes none of these requests. You can avoid them at any time by playing offline.

5.3 Purchases through the store you got the game from

Every version of the game contains the purchase component of its own store, and talks to that store and to no other:

• Google Play (Android): Google's Play Billing library, through the Play Store app on your device.
• Steam (Windows, Linux): the Steamworks library, through the Steam client running on your computer. The game must be started through Steam; if it is not, Steam starts it again.
• App Store (iPhone, iPad): Apple's StoreKit, through iOS.
• Microsoft Store (Windows): the Windows Store services, through the Microsoft Store on your PC.

The game asks the store for the current prices of its products and for the purchases you made in this game with your store account, so that anything you paid for is delivered: when the title screen or the shop opens, when the game comes back to the front, and when you press "Restore purchases" in the shop. When you buy something, the store handles the whole payment in its own purchase sheet or overlay. If the store cannot be reached (for example Steam is not running, or you are offline), the shop shows a "store offline" notice, every paid item is disabled and nothing is bought or given away; the rest of the game works as usual.

5.4 What these connections carry

In every case the game sends no name, e-mail address, account, advertising identifier, location, contact list or any identifier made by me. GitHub and the store receive what any internet request carries: your IP address, the time, the file or service asked for, and basic technical information about the app and the device. The store's purchase component inside the game may also send the store technical information about how the purchase features work. GitHub handles this under the GitHub General Privacy Statement, and each store under its own policy (section 6). I do not receive your IP address or any of these details.

6. Purchases and the stores

• The same optional in-app purchases on every store: hero skins, faction looks, card backs, factions, bundles, and packs of shards, gold and deck slots. The store processes the payment in its own payment system: Google Play Billing on Android, the Steam Wallet on Steam, Apple's in-app purchase on iPhone and iPad, Microsoft Store add-ons on Windows through the Microsoft Store. I never see your card or bank details. The store gives the game only the details of the purchase (such as the product, an order or transaction identifier and the state of the purchase), and the game unlocks the item in your save on your device.
• Restore. Each store gives back what your account on that store bought. The game asks the store silently at start and when it comes back to the front; the shop's "Restore purchases" button asks again, and on the App Store it may ask you to sign in to your Apple Account. On Steam, the one-time items you bought are also visible in your Steam inventory.
• Items do not move between stores. What you bought with money stays with the store account that bought it, and comes back on any device signed in with that account. A save code (Settings) carries your progress, shards, gold, deck slots and everything bought with shards to another device or store, but drops items that only money buys; the store then restores the ones your account there owns.
• Refunds are requested from the store where you paid; each store decides under its own rules. If Apple refunds a one-time item and reports it revoked, or if the Microsoft Store reports that a one-time item's licence is no longer active, the game takes that item back the next time it checks. On Google Play and Steam the game takes nothing back by itself. A pack of shards, gold or deck slots that has already been delivered is never taken back.
• Each store keeps its own record of what you bought, and the store app on your device (Play Store, Steam, App Store, Microsoft Store) may collect data about how you use it, including play time. That is covered by the store's own policy, not by this one: Google, Apple, Valve (Steam), Microsoft.

7. Personal data I do receive

• Messages you send me. The game's contact buttons copy my address, and one of them also opens your own e-mail app; nothing is sent until you send it yourself. If you write to me, I receive your e-mail address, your name if your e-mail shows it, what you write and anything you attach (for example a screenshot, a save backup code or a log file). I use it only to answer you and to fix problems in the game.
• Store reports. Google, Apple, Valve and Microsoft give me sales and payout reports and order details (such as an order number, the product, the price, the date and the country). Some store tools let me look up a single order, for example when you ask me for help with it. I use this for support, refunds, and my accounting and tax records.
• Store statistics. The stores show me statistics they collect under their own policies, such as install counts, ratings and reviews, and crash or performance reports from people who agreed to share them with developers. I use them to improve the game. I do not try to identify anyone from them.

I do not sell personal data, I do not use it for advertising, and I make no automated decisions or profiles about anyone.

8. Why this is allowed (legal bases under the GDPR)

• Answering your messages: my legitimate interest in supporting the people who play the game (Article 6(1)(f)); for a question about a purchase, also the performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)).
• Keeping store reports for accounting and tax: a legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)).
• Making the downloads you ask for: providing the content you requested (Article 6(1)(b)).
• Update checks for packs you installed: my legitimate interest in keeping the content you chose complete and working (Article 6(1)(f)). You can object, or simply play offline.

9. How long I keep it

• E-mails: until your question is settled, and then no longer than 24 months after our last message, unless a message must be kept longer for a legal claim or a tax record (for example about a purchase).
• Store reports: as long as Romanian tax and accounting law requires.
• Everything on your device: until you delete it (see section 4).

10. Who else is involved

I do not share personal data with anyone, except that my e-mail provider stores my e-mails for me. The stores and GitHub act on their own account, under their own privacy policies (sections 5 and 6). Some of them, and possibly my e-mail provider, are based in, or process data in, the United States; their policies explain how they protect data sent outside the European Union.

11. Permissions and backups

Android permissions. INTERNET (downloads and Google Play), ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE (to see whether the device is online), com.android.vending.BILLING (Google Play purchases), and one technical permission that Android creates for the app itself (…DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION), which gives access to nothing of yours. None of them lets the game read your contacts, location, photos, files, camera or microphone. On iPhone and iPad the game never asks for any of these either.

Backups. The Android version switches off Android's automatic backup (android:allowBackup is false), so Android does not copy your save to your Google account's backup. When you move to a new phone by cable or direct transfer, Android may still copy it. On iPhone and iPad, your device backup (iCloud or computer), if you use one, may include the game's data; Apple and you control that backup. On Windows and Linux, any backup is your own. To keep your progress safe, use the backup code in Settings.

12. Children

Ardhan is a fantasy card game with fantasy combat, made for players aged 13 and older. It is not directed at children under 13. The game collects no personal data from anyone, children included. Please do not send me personal data about a child. If you are a parent and believe your child sent me personal data, write to me and I will delete it.

13. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to ask for access to your personal data, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to its use, and to receive it in a portable form. To use any of these rights, write to contact@unitechdigital.net. I will answer within one month. I may ask you to write from the same e-mail address, so that I know the request is yours.

Most of what the game knows about you never leaves your device, so I cannot see, export or delete it for you. You can delete it yourself (section 4).

You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority. In Romania this is the National Supervisory Authority for Personal Data Processing (ANSPDCP), 28-30 G-ral Gheorghe Magheru Blvd., District 1, 010336 Bucharest, e-mail anspdcp@dataprotection.ro, www.dataprotection.ro. You can also complain to the authority of the EU country where you live or work.

14. Changes to this policy

If the game's handling of data changes (for example a cloud save, an online mode, analytics, advertising, or a way of paying other than the four stores' own payment systems), I will update this page before that version is released, change the "Last updated" date at the top, and mention the change in the game's notes. The address of this page stays the same.

15. Contact

Ștefan Mihai Șerb, Romania. E-mail: contact@unitechdigital.net