Hearth Privacy Policy

Hearth is a companion app for fifth-edition (5e-compatible) tabletop role-playing games. You can use the core app for free; optional paid upgrades (Hearth+ and packs) are available. This policy explains in plain English what happens to your information when you use Hearth, on the website and in the Android app.

The short version. Hearth works fully on your device, and you don't need an account. Nothing you create leaves your device unless you turn on one of the optional features below. There are no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Optional paid upgrades are handled by Google Play or Stripe; we don't store your full card number.

Who is responsible for your data

Hearth is made and run by Thomas Dalton, trading as Castlegate Studios, in the United Kingdom ("Castlegate Studios", "we", "us"). He is the data controller. Postal address available on request.

Official contact: info@castlegatestudios.co.uk. For help with the app: support@castlegatestudios.co.uk.

This policy is written for UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) and also covers users in the EU under the EU GDPR.

Where your data lives by default

Everything you create (heroes, campaigns, encounters, maps, notes, settings and photos you add) is stored on your own device. If you uninstall Hearth or clear its data, it's gone unless you exported it or turned on Google sync.

Hearth uses your browser's local storage only to make the app work. It sets no advertising or tracking cookies.

Optional: Sign in with Google (sync your heroes across devices)

You never have to sign in. If you tap Sync with Google:

What Google gives Hearth: your Google account's name (display name), email address and a unique account ID. We never see your password, contacts or anything else in your Google account.

What Hearth stores on its server:

• Your synced heroes: a copy of each character (the full character sheet, its name, edition and when it was last changed), so it appears on your other devices. Hero portraits inside a character sheet are uploaded with it, including any photo you chose as a portrait. Very large portraits are skipped and stay on your device. Deleted heroes leave a small "deleted" marker so other devices remove them too. Content you imported privately stays on your device and is not uploaded.
• If you're a GM and invite players: the game's name, your display name, the email addresses you invited and the current join code.
• When an invited player joins: a short note with their account ID, email, display name and a random device ID, so the GM can see the invite is genuine.

Where it's stored: Google Firebase (Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore, project hearth-74888), run by Google LLC as our processor. Your synced data is kept in Cloud Firestore, in Google’s London region (europe-west2), operated by Google on Hearth’s behalf. Google may still process some account data outside the UK. Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest by Google. Our security rules let only you read and change your own heroes. Only the GM can see the list of invited email addresses. Each invited player sees only the game's name, the GM's display name and the join code.

What it's for: only syncing your heroes and running game invites. It is never sold, never shared with advertisers and never used for anything else.

If a GM invited you, the GM added your email address. You can ask the GM to remove it, or email us at info@castlegatestudios.co.uk and we'll delete it.

Optional: Paying for Hearth+ or packs

You can use Hearth without paying. If you buy Hearth+ or a one-off pack:

Google Play (Android in-app)

Payment is handled by Google. For UK customers buying through Google Play Billing, Google is the merchant of record. We receive purchase confirmation (such as an order id or purchase token, the product id and its status) so we can unlock what you bought. We do not receive or store your full card number. Google’s payments privacy terms also apply.

Website (Stripe)

Payment is handled by Stripe for Castlegate Studios. We may see your email, Stripe customer id, subscription or payment status, billing country, and card brand and last four digits (and similar wallet hints) in the Stripe Dashboard or via Stripe’s API. We do not store full card numbers on our servers; card details are entered into Stripe’s fields.

If you choose Google Pay on our website, Google shares a payment token for the card you pick with Stripe so we can take the payment. Google acts as an independent controller under its own privacy terms. We use this only for that purchase and related support, refunds or disputes.

What we use it for: fulfilling your purchase, customer support, fraud and abuse prevention, and accounting and tax records. We do not sell payment data or use it for advertising.

Lawful bases (UK GDPR Article 6):

• Performing the contract to supply what you bought — Art 6(1)(b).
• Legal obligation to keep tax and accounting records — Art 6(1)(c).
• Legitimate interests in preventing fraud and securing accounts — Art 6(1)(f).

How long we keep payment-related records:

• Entitlement and purchase flags: while your account needs them, and for 12 months after cancellation.
• Invoices, receipts and tax records: normally up to 6 years (UK tax record-keeping).
• Support emails about payments: up to 2 years after our last reply.
• Stripe and Google keep data under their own retention policies.

Your rights: the same as the rest of this policy. For Play billing disputes you may also use Google’s order tools. For web billing email support@castlegatestudios.co.uk.

Deleting your account and data

In the app (or on the website): open Sync with Google and tap Delete my cloud data. This permanently deletes your synced heroes, any games and invites you created, your join notes, and your Hearth sign-in record. Heroes on your device are kept. If Google asks you to sign in again first, sign in and tap Delete my cloud data once more to finish.

Signing out stops syncing, but the cloud copy stays until you delete it.

By email: if you can't use the app, email info@castlegatestudios.co.uk from the Google account you signed in with and ask us to delete your account and data. We'll do it within 30 days and confirm by email.

Web page: these instructions are also at castlegatestudios.co.uk/hearth/delete-account.

Optional: Live games and remote play

When a GM starts a live game and players join, the devices connect using WebRTC.

• Finding each other: the devices briefly use the free PeerJS connection service (0.peerjs.com) and Google's public STUN servers. These see the devices' IP addresses and a random session code.
• Direct first: Hearth always tries a direct connection first. On the same Wi-Fi, game data goes straight between the devices.
• What's sent: character names, hit points, conditions and dice rolls, plus for remote play the GM's battle map (map picture, token positions, fog). It is encrypted between the devices and not stored on any server.
• Relay (Cloudflare): if a direct connection fails, for example when players are on different networks, the encrypted data passes through Cloudflare's Realtime TURN relay. You'll see "Connecting via relay…" or "Relayed". Cloudflare can't read the game data. To run the relay it processes your IP address, ports, session timing and the amount of data relayed. Hearth doesn't receive these IP addresses. The app gets a relay pass from our server (hosted by Netlify). The pass lasts up to 24 hours, is kept only in the app's memory and is not stored by us. Cloudflare acts as our processor under its Data Processing Addendum and may handle the data outside the UK. It publishes no specific TURN retention period.
• To avoid the relay, put all devices on the same Wi-Fi or one phone's hotspot.

No voice, video, chat or recordings

Hearth does not use your microphone and has no voice chat, video chat, text chat or recordings. The website blocks microphone access. The camera is used only if you tap Scan QR to join a game. The picture is read on your device and never saved or sent.

Other internet use

• Text recognition downloads its engine from cdn.jsdelivr.net the first time you use it. Photos are processed on your device.
• Community Content Library downloads files from GitHub.
• Optional AI connection: if you enter your own AI service's address, requests go straight to that service.
• Hosting: Netlify hosts the website and app and runs the relay-pass function, and processes IP addresses in normal server logs.
• Bug reports open a public GitHub issue, and only if you submit it yourself.

Legal bases (UK GDPR Article 6)

What	Legal basis (UK GDPR Article 6)
Google sign-in, hero sync and invites	Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)).
Invited emails and join notes	Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)).
Relay connection data	Contract and legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f)).
Hosting and security logs	Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)).
Emails and rights requests	Legitimate interests and legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(f) and (c)).
Google Play or Stripe purchase records	Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)); legal obligation for tax records (Art. 6(1)(c)); legitimate interests in preventing fraud (Art. 6(1)(f)).

We don't use your data for marketing, profiling or automated decisions.

How long we keep it

• On your device: until you delete it or uninstall.
• Synced heroes, games, invites and join notes: until you delete them or your account, or ask us to. Email requests are done within 30 days.
• Emails to us: up to 2 years after our last reply.
• Entitlement and purchase flags: while your account needs them, and for 12 months after cancellation.
• Invoices, receipts and tax records: normally up to 6 years (UK tax record-keeping).
• Relay passes: up to 24 hours, in app memory only.
• Relay data: none kept by us. Cloudflare keeps it only as long as needed.
• Hosting logs: short periods, under Netlify's and Google's policies.

Who else handles your data

• Google (Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Google sign-in, STUN).
• Google Play / Google Payments (Android purchases; merchant of record for many territories including the UK on Play Billing).
• Google (Google Pay, website payments only).
• Stripe (web payments).
• Cloudflare (TURN relay).
• Netlify (hosting).
• GitHub (library files and bug reports, where it is an independent controller).
• jsDelivr (OCR engine).
• PeerJS cloud broker (starting a live game connection).
• Google Play (app download).

We never sell your data.

International transfers

These providers, including Stripe and Google Payments, may process data outside the UK, including in the US. We rely on the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, otherwise on standard contractual clauses with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

Your rights

You can ask to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the use of your data, and to get it in a portable form (for heroes, use Export). Email info@castlegatestudios.co.uk and we'll reply within one month. We may ask you to email from your signed-in Google account so we can check it's you.

You can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, telephone 0303 123 1113. If you live in the EU, you can complain to your local data protection authority.

Children and safety

Hearth is for players aged 13 and over and is not aimed at children under 13. Children under 13 should not use Google sign-in (Google's own age rules also apply). Without signing in, Hearth collects no personal information from anyone. Hearth has no adult (18+) content, no ads, no public profiles, no chat, no voice and no location features. Live games only connect people the GM accepts with a join code.

We do not knowingly take payments tied to accounts for children under 13. Google’s own age and family rules also apply on Google Play.

If you're a parent or guardian and think your child has given us personal data, email info@castlegatestudios.co.uk and we'll delete it promptly.

Changes

We'll post any update here with a new date.

Contact

Privacy questions, rights and deletion requests: info@castlegatestudios.co.uk. Help with the app or web billing: support@castlegatestudios.co.uk. See also the Terms of Use, Terms of Sale, Refunds policy and legal notices.

Hearth is unofficial, fan-made software and is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Wizards of the Coast.

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