Privacy policy

Who is responsible

Uphill Outlaws: Hill Climb is a game by Veltrix Studios (owner: Iván Lozano Herrero), which is responsible for the data described here. For anything about your data, write to us at contacto@veltrixstudios.net.

Legal notice. Owner of this website and of the game: Iván Lozano Herrero, tax ID (NIF) 77836101F, Calle Flora, 4, 30626 Fortuna (Murcia). Contact: contacto@veltrixstudios.net.

What is stored on our server

The first time the game connects to our server, an anonymous account is created, with no sign-up. It holds:

• A random account identifier and the fingerprint of its key. The key is a random number your device keeps to log in to your account; the server only stores its fingerprint (a hash), never the key itself.
• Your driver name, whichever you choose (at first, “Piloto” and a number).
• Your trophies and your experience (the points your level comes from), which your device sends when it connects, for the leaderboard and the cups. The trophies you win or lose in trophy races are recorded by the server itself, and to check the ones your device sends it also keeps how many cup races you have run online.
• Your weekly event scores: the week, the distance you reached and with which vehicle.
• Dates: when your account was created, when it last connected and when you set each score.
• And, only if you choose to in the apps: the link to your Google or Apple account and the backup of your game (Saving your game), your purchases (Purchases) and the code to send you notifications (Notifications).

Saving your game with Google or Apple (apps only)

It’s optional: Settings (Ajustes) → Your game (Tu partida) → Continue with Google (or Apple). That provider confirms who you are and we only keep the identifier it gives us for your account: we don’t keep your email, your name or your photo, and we never post anything to your account. With Apple we also keep the permission it gives us, so we can revoke it when you delete your account.

Once your game is saved, the app uploads a backup of your progress to our server (vehicles, upgrades, parts, paints, drivers and outfits, coins, gems, chests, records, missions, stats, trophies and level, and the purchases already delivered), without your account key, every few minutes while you play and when you leave. That way, when you log in with the same Google or Apple account on another phone, you get your game back; if that phone already had another game, you choose which one to keep. You can remove the link at any time in the same place (the backup then stops being updated).

What is stored on your device

Your game lives on your phone (or in your browser, if you play on the web): your vehicles, upgrades, parts, paints, drivers and outfits, your coins, gems and chests, your records and missions, your settings (sound, music, vibration, smoothness, notifications) and your account key. Unless you save it with Google or Apple, it isn’t sent to our server: if you uninstall the app or clear its data, that progress is lost (depending on how your phone’s backup is set up, it may include it).

Live races

In cups and online races, your device sends the room your driver name, your trophies and what your vehicle looks like (which one, its paint, its tuning and its parts) and your driver (which one and their outfit), plus your position on the track while you race. The other players in the room can see it. The server only keeps it in memory while the room lasts: it doesn’t store it.

Your IP address and technical logs

Your connection’s IP address is used to make the connection work and to prevent abuse (limiting how many requests arrive per minute). That count stays in the server’s memory for one minute and is not stored with your account.

The technical logs of the game server and of this website (IP address, time, page requested and browser type, and server errors; in the game, also notes such as “game saved with Google” or “account deleted” with the account identifier) are kept for 30 days at most, only to fix bugs and security problems.

Advertising (Android and iOS apps only)

The web version has no ads. The apps show ads from Google AdMob and its advertising partners: rewarded videos, which you only see if you ask for them (to continue an adventure run where it ended, double what you win in a race, in a cup, on a level-up or in a mission, swap a mission, get coins, open a chest sooner or open the free chest right away), and full-screen ads between races (never during a race nor in your first games). Anyone who makes a real-money purchase stops seeing ads between races.

To serve ads, limit how often you see the same one, measure their results and prevent fraud, Google’s ads SDK collects data from your device: the advertising identifier, the IP address (from which an approximate location is derived), the device model and operating system, and ad usage data. Google processes it as explained in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the first time you open the app you are asked whether you accept personalised ads; if you say no, ads are not personalised. You can change your answer at any time in Settings → Ad privacy (Privacidad de los anuncios). On iOS, the system may also ask whether you allow cross-app tracking (you can change it in iPhone Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking). On Android you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your device’s Google settings. Ads are, at most, suitable for all audiences with parental guidance.

The reward of a video is given by the game itself on your device: we don’t tell Google anything about your account. For our statistics we count, each day and without recording who or from where, how many videos are offered and watched (and for which reward), how many times the shop is opened and how many purchases are started, completed or cancelled: only those daily figures, with nothing about any player.

Purchases (apps only)

Real-money purchases (gems and the welcome pack) are made through Google Play or the App Store: Uphill Outlaws never receives or keeps your payment details (card, account, address). With each purchase, the app sends the store a random identifier derived from your game account (not your name), so that only your account can receive it. Our server checks each purchase with the store and keeps its receipt (the store, the product, the price, the date, the transaction identifier —on Android, only its fingerprint— and, depending on the store, the country or the order number) so that you get what you bought, never twice, and for our accounting.

Anything bought with gems that involves chance (chests) shows what it contains and its odds before you pay.

Notifications (apps only)

If you turn them on (the game asks you the first time a chest starts unlocking; later, in Settings → Notifications (Avisos)), your phone lets you know when a chest or the free chest can be opened: those alerts are scheduled by the phone itself and never leave it.

By turning them on you also agree to receive the game’s news (events and offers) as push notifications. For that we keep the code the system gives us to send notifications to that phone (the Google Firebase Cloud Messaging “token” on Android or Apple’s push notification service token on iOS), along with its operating system, its language and whether you accept the news. Those Google and Apple services deliver them. You can stop receiving the news in Settings → News (Novedades) (chest alerts keep working); if you turn notifications off, we delete the code, and also when you delete your account.

Achievements in Game Center and Google Play Games (apps only)

If your device has a Game Center (iOS) or Google Play Games (Android) account, the app records there the achievements you unlock (for example, kilometres driven or cups won). We only tell those services which achievements you have unlocked; what Apple or Google do with your games account is explained in their own policies.

Game updates (apps only)

When they open, the apps ask our server whether there is a newer version of the game and, if there is, download it from it (the game’s code, art and sounds). To do so they send the version they have; nothing about your account. They may also tell you there is a new version in the store: the system checks that with Google Play or the App Store.

What we don’t do

• We don’t ask for or keep your real name, email, phone number, photos, contacts or location (nor those of your Google or Apple account).
• We don’t use third-party analytics or tracking cookies, neither in the game nor on this website (apart from the ads in the apps, as explained above).
• There is no chat: other players only see your driver name, your trophies and your vehicle.
• We don’t sell, rent or share your data.

What it is used for

• Playing cups and online races with other players and matching you with rivals from your league.
• The leaderboards: the weekly event one and the trophies one.
• Saving your game so you can continue on another device, if you save it with Google or Apple.
• Delivering what you buy and notifying you, if you turn notifications on.
• Showing ads in the apps, which pay for the free game.

We do it to provide the service you ask for when you play (article 6.1.b GDPR). News notifications and personalised ads, only with your consent (article 6.1.a), which you can withdraw in Settings; non-personalised ads, IP limits and technical logs are based on our legitimate interest in offering the game for free and keeping it working securely (article 6.1.f). Purchase receipts are also kept for accounting and tax obligations (article 6.1.c).

Who can see what

• The server’s leaderboards are public: the weekly event one (the one shown in the game) shows the driver name and distance of the 50 best scores; the trophies one, the driver name and trophies of the top 50.
• In live races, the other players in the room see your name, your trophies, your vehicle and your driver.
• No other player can see your game backup, your purchases or your notification codes.
• Choose a driver name that doesn’t identify you: don’t use your full name or contact details.

Where it is stored

On our server, hosted by IONOS SE, en Alemania (Unión Europea). Apart from what is described in Saving your game, Advertising, Purchases, Notifications and Achievements (Google and Apple services), no other service receives your data. Connections are encrypted (HTTPS and WSS).

How long

• The account, its scores, your game backup and your notification codes are kept for as long as the account exists: accounts don’t expire on their own. If you stop playing, delete it from the game.
• Event scores are deleted earlier if the map layouts change (they no longer count for the leaderboard).
• Purchase receipts are kept, no longer linked to your account, for as long as tax law requires.
• Server backups are deleted after 30 days.

How to delete your account

1. In the game, open Settings (Ajustes) (the gear in the garage).
2. Tap Delete my account (Borrar mi cuenta) and confirm.

This immediately deletes, on our server, your account, your scores, your game backup, your notification codes and the link to your Google or Apple account if there was one (the “Sign in with Apple” permission is revoked); and, on your device, all your progress. The game starts from scratch with a new account. Only the server backups remain, deleted automatically after 30 days, and the purchase receipts, no longer linked to your account, for as long as tax law requires. It needs a connection.

Settings → Delete progress (Borrar progreso) only deletes the progress on your device. If your game is saved with Google or Apple, that game and its backup are left untouched (you can recover them any time with “Continue with Google” or Apple) and the device starts from scratch with a new account; otherwise it keeps the same account. If you no longer have the game installed, see how to delete your account without the app: just write to us.

Children

Uphill Outlaws doesn’t ask anyone for their age or any personal data. If you are under 14, play with your parents’ or guardians’ permission, ask them before buying anything and don’t put personal data in your driver name. The game’s coins and gems have no value outside it and can’t be exchanged for money. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child has given us data, write to us at contacto@veltrixstudios.net and we will delete it.

Your rights

You can change your driver name at any time in Settings, remove the link to Google or Apple, stop receiving the news or turn off notifications in Settings, change your answer about ads in Settings → Ad privacy and delete your account from Settings. You can also ask us to see your data, correct it, delete it, take it with you or object to its use by writing to contacto@veltrixstudios.net. Since we don’t keep anything that identifies you, to know which account you mean we will ask for your driver name, your trophies and your level.

If you think we haven’t handled your request properly, you can complain to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (aepd.es).

If we change this policy, we will say so here with the date of the new version.