✦ Lanterns — Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 7, 2026 — applies to Lanterns on iOS and Android

Lanterns is a daily logic-puzzle game. Each day you solve one puzzle: place a lantern in every row, column, and colored region without letting any two touch. This policy explains what the app does — and does not do — with your information, on both the iOS and Android versions.

The short version

Lanterns is built to need essentially none of your data. There are no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, no tracking, and no third-party data collection. The app has no servers and makes no network requests at all — your puzzles are generated on your device, and your streak, solve history, and settings live entirely on your device. Nothing about your play is sent to the developer or anyone else.

Information Lanterns uses

On-device data. Your streak, solve history, daily completion, and app preferences are stored locally on your device, using each platform's standard local storage (UserDefaults on iOS, SharedPreferences on Android). This information never leaves your device and is not transmitted to the developer or anyone else.

Notifications (optional, off until you allow them; iOS and Android). If you turn on the daily reminder — or, on Android, the streak warning — Lanterns schedules a local notification on your device to nudge you about the day's puzzle. These reminders are generated on your phone, are not sent through any server, and involve no personal data leaving your device. You can turn them off at any time.

Sharing your result. When you tap Share, Lanterns hands a spoiler-free emoji grid and your solve time to your device's native share sheet so that you can post it wherever you choose. This happens only when you ask for it, and the result you share contains no personal information — and nothing is sent to the developer.

What Lanterns does not do

• It does not make any network requests or talk to any server.
• It does not require an account or sign-in.
• It does not collect analytics or usage statistics.
• It does not contain advertising or ad-tracking.
• It does not track you across apps or websites.
• It does not include third-party SDKs that collect your data.
• It does not request your location, contacts, photos, or health data.
• It does not sell or share your personal information.

Third-party services

Lanterns integrates no third-party services. The only exception is during beta testing:

• Apple TestFlight (iOS beta only) — while Lanterns is distributed as a TestFlight beta, Apple may collect crash logs and basic usage information from the beta build to help diagnose problems, governed by the Apple Privacy Policy. The developer does not receive your personal information through this.
• Google Play (Android beta/closed testing only) — while Lanterns is distributed through Google Play's testing tracks, Google may collect crash logs and basic usage information from the test build to help diagnose problems, governed by the Google Privacy Policy. The developer does not receive your personal information through this.

Data retention and deletion

Because your data is stored only on your device, deleting the Lanterns app removes your streak, solve history, and preferences from your device. There is no server-side copy, because there is no server.

Permissions and your choices

You're always in control. On iOS, the only permission Lanterns may ask for is Notifications, for the optional daily reminder — you can grant or revoke it at any time in the iOS Settings app, and turning it off disables the reminder without affecting anything else. On Android, Lanterns asks for Notifications only when you switch on the daily reminder or the streak warning — never at launch — and it declares one further permission so those reminders can be re-scheduled after your phone restarts. Nothing else. Like iOS, the Android version makes no network requests.

Children's privacy

Lanterns does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children. The app collects no personal data on the developer's behalf.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your privacy in Lanterns? Contact David Price at david@ddprice.com.