HACKER ASCENSION

Hacker Ascension // Legal

Privacy policy

Last updated: 28 September 2026 · Hacker Ascension for Android (com.mani.hackerascension)

The short version

  • There is no sign-up and no profile. Your progress, settings and statistics are stored on your device (and in Android's own backup of it, if you have backup switched on).
  • The only ads are optional rewarded videos from Google AdMob. The app asks Google for an ad only when you tap to watch one; Google's ad software in the app collects the data described in section 3.
  • After you finish watching an ad, or unlock an expansion, the app adds one to an anonymous counter in Google Firebase, through an anonymous sign-in. The counters hold nothing about you.
  • Every payment goes through Google Play. We never see your payment details.

1. Who we are

Hacker Ascension (com.mani.hackerascension) is a single-player hacking game for Android, published on Google Play by A Byte of Everything (Mads Kristensen), the data controller for the app. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean the developer.

For anything about your data or this policy, email appsbyabyteofeverything@gmail.com.

2. Data kept on your device

The app keeps these in its own storage on your phone (the local storage of the app's WebView):

None of it is sent to us. If backup is switched on for your phone, Android may include the app's data in your own Google account backup and restore it when you reinstall the app or set up a new phone; we cannot see that backup. Reset progress in Settings wipes your game progress on the device and keeps your settings.

Clearing the app's storage in Android settings (usually Settings > Apps > Hacker Ascension > Storage > Clear data; the names vary by phone) or uninstalling the app removes everything the app keeps on your device. Purchased expansions can be brought back afterwards with Restore purchases in Settings; progress and expansions unlocked with ads come back only if Android restores them from your backup.

3. Advertising

Hacker Ascension contains ads, but only rewarded video ads that you choose to watch. On a locked expansion you can tap the button to watch an ad; 25 completed ads unlock that expansion. There are no banner ads, nothing interrupts a mission and nothing plays between missions.

Ads are served by Google AdMob. Google's advertising software, the Google Mobile Ads SDK, is built into the app. The app asks it for an ad, and runs Google's consent check, only when you tap to watch one or open Ad privacy in Settings; Google documents that the SDK can also start its own measurement when the app opens, before any ad is requested. To show and measure ads, it may collect your device's advertising ID and app set ID, your IP address and an approximate location derived from it, general information about your device, how you interact with the ads and the app, and diagnostic information about how the app and the ads perform. Google uses this data for advertising, analytics and fraud prevention, under Google's Privacy Policy; see also how Google uses information from apps that use its services.

If you are in a region where the law requires consent, such as the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the app checks with Google's consent tool (the User Messaging Platform) before it requests an ad, and shows Google's consent form when one is needed. Your answer decides whether Google may personalise the ads you see.

You can withdraw or change your consent at any time. From version 2.51.0, Settings > Ad privacy reopens Google's consent form. In older versions, clearing the app's storage resets your answer (and your progress, see section 2), and Google asks again before the next ad. You can also reset your advertising ID or turn off ad personalisation in your phone's settings at any time.

4. Anonymous counters

To see how players unlock expansions, the app keeps two shared tallies in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore): how many rewarded ads have been completed for each expansion, and how many times each expansion has been unlocked with ads, by purchase or with the bundle. After you finish watching a rewarded ad, or unlock an expansion, the app adds one to the matching number. The tallies are totals for all players together: they hold an expansion's name and a count, and nothing about you or your device.

Before its first update, the app signs in to Firebase Authentication anonymously. That creates an anonymous sign-in record in our Firebase project: a random identifier for this installation of the app, with the dates it was created and last used. It is not linked to your name, email address or Google account, and the app never writes it into the tallies. Like any connection, Google's servers see your IP address when the app sends an update. The app sends these updates only after you watch an ad or unlock an expansion. Google handles this data under Google's Privacy Policy.

5. Purchases

Every payment for Hacker Ascension goes through Google Play, including its seven optional one-time in-app products: each of the six expansions on its own, and a bundle of five. Google Play Billing handles the payment, and we never receive your card or other payment details. The app remembers on your device which expansions you own, and Google Play keeps its own record of your purchases under your Google account, which the app checks each time it starts and when you tap Restore purchases.

6. Other connections

The game plays with no connection. Besides the ads and the counters above (and the anonymous sign-in the counters use), the app connects only to Google Play: to Google Play Billing each time it starts, to load the expansions' store details and check which ones you own; for purchases and restores; and to open the game's Play Store page if you choose to rate it. Once the app has signed in anonymously, Firebase may also refresh that sign-in in the background while the app is open.

7. Sharing and selling

We do not sell your personal information. Apart from any email you send us, the only thing we hold is the anonymous sign-in record of an installation that has sent a counter update (section 4). There is no sign-up and no profile. Google's ad software sends the ad data described in section 3 to Google. Nothing else is shared with anyone.

In the terms of Google Play's Data safety section, the app collects and shares, through Google's AdMob software: device or other IDs, approximate location, app interactions and diagnostics. They are used for advertising, analytics and fraud prevention.

8. Security and retention

The app talks to Google over encrypted connections. Everything the game stores stays on your device (and in Android's backup, if you use one) until you clear it. The anonymous tallies are kept as running totals. The anonymous sign-in records stay in our Firebase project until they are deleted. We keep your emails only as long as we need them to answer you.

9. Your choices and your rights

There is no sign-up account to delete. The anonymous sign-in record (section 4) is not linked to your name, email address or Google account, so an email cannot tell us which record is yours; clearing the app's storage disconnects your phone from it. Your purchase records stay with Google Play.

Under the GDPR (Article 6(1)), we rely on your consent for personalised ads where the law requires it, which you give or refuse in Google's consent form (section 3). We rely on our legitimate interest in funding the game with optional rewarded ads for the other data Google's ad software collects to show, measure and protect those ads, including any measurement it starts when the app opens (section 3), and for ad personalisation where no consent is required. We also rely on our legitimate interest in counting how expansions are unlocked, for the anonymous counters and the anonymous sign-in they use (section 4), and in answering the emails you send us; and on the performance of our contract with you for purchases (section 5).

You have the right to access, rectify and erase your personal data, to restrict or object to its processing, and to data portability, and where the app asks for your consent (section 3), to withdraw it at any time. Email us to use any of these rights. You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority: the Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet), or the authority where you live.

10. Children

Hacker Ascension is made for players aged 13 and over. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

11. Changes to this policy

If the way Hacker Ascension handles data changes, we will update this page and the "Last updated" date at the top.

12. Contact

Questions about this policy or about the app: email appsbyabyteofeverything@gmail.com. If you email us, we receive your email address and what you write, and we use them only to answer you.

In versions of the app that have Help & feedback in Settings, an email started there is pre-filled with the app version, your phone model, Android version and WebView version. You can edit or remove them before sending, and we use them only to answer you.

In those versions, the Discord row in Help & feedback opens our Discord server at its Hacker Ascension channel, through an address on this website that forwards you to Discord. Discord is an external service run by Discord Inc. under its own privacy policy. The app sends Discord nothing.