Privacy Policy
Last updated: September 16, 2026
This policy explains which personal data we process when you use Game Buddy, why we process it, and what your rights are.
1Data Controller
Your personal data is processed by Bora Deniz Uğur. For privacy and data requests, write to gamebuddydestek@gmail.com; a postal address is provided on request.
2Data We Process
Data you give us directly:
- Account information: email address, password (stored in encrypted form in Firebase Authentication)
- Profile information: nickname, age, gender, bio, slogan, profile photo
- Game preferences: games you play, rank, in-game nickname, roles, platforms, available hours, spoken language, play style and goals
- Social media usernames (Kick, TikTok, Twitch, Discord) — only if you entered them
- Your messages and the invites you send
- Your reports and ratings
Data created automatically as you use the app:
- Last seen time and online status
- Like, pass and match records
- Profile visit records
- App preferences (language, theme, notification and privacy settings)
- Advertising data: your device's advertising identifier (on iPhone, only if you allow it), device model, operating system, approximate country- and city-level location derived from your IP address, and your interactions with ads. This data is collected by Google AdMob.
- Crash reports: device model, operating system and app version, and a technical record of the error. This data is collected by Firebase Crashlytics.
We do not use your device's location services (GPS). We do not access your contacts, your whole photo library or other apps on your device; for your profile photo we only access the image you select.
3Why We Process Your Data
- To create your account and keep you signed in
- To show you suitable players and make matches (compatibility score, filters)
- To let you message the people you match with
- To track Premium membership benefits and usage limits
- To show ads so the app can be offered for free
- To detect and fix crashes and errors
- To review abuse, fake accounts and harassment reports
- To meet our legal obligations
4Who Your Data Is Shared With
Other users: your profile information, game preferences and photo are shown to other users on the swipe screen. Your in-game nickname is visible only to people you have matched with. Your social media accounts are visible to users who view your profile. Your email address and password are never shared with any user.
Service providers:
- Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore) — hosting of account and app data
- Cloudinary — hosting of profile photos
- Google AdMob — showing and measuring ads
- Firebase Crashlytics — collecting crash reports
These providers process your data only on our behalf and for the purposes described in this policy. Servers may be located outside your country; in that case data is transferred in accordance with applicable law.
Legal requests: we may be required to share your data in response to a lawful request from competent authorities.
We never sell your data.
5Ads and Tracking
The free version of Game Buddy shows ads provided by Google AdMob. Premium members do not see ads.
To show and measure ads, AdMob processes your device's advertising identifier and the device information listed above under its own privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
Your profile information, messages, photo and game preferences are not shared with advertising partners.
On iPhone: the app asks for your permission before using your advertising identifier. If you do not allow it, ads are shown without personalization and no feature of the app is restricted. You can change this choice at any time in your iPhone's Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.
In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland: your consent is requested before ads are shown. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time in the app under Settings > Privacy > Ad permissions.
6Retention
We keep your data for as long as your account is open. When you delete your account, your profile, matches, messages, likes and visit records are permanently deleted. Reports may be kept longer in de-identified form to prevent abuse.
Crash reports are deleted automatically after 90 days. Data collected by AdMob is subject to Google's retention policy.
7Your Privacy Settings
In Settings you can hide your online status, change your notification preferences and manage the users you have blocked. To prevent abuse, gender can only be changed once.
8Your Rights
Under the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK), you have the right to learn whether your personal data is processed, to access it, to request its correction or deletion, to object to processing and to request a copy of your data. To exercise these rights, write to gamebuddydestek@gmail.com. We respond to requests within 30 days at the latest.
If you live in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, you also have these rights under the GDPR. In addition, you have the right to data portability, to withdraw your consent at any time, and to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority of your country.
We process your data on the following legal bases:
- Account, matching and messaging: to provide the service to you (performance of a contract)
- Personalized ads: your consent (consent message and iPhone tracking permission)
- Crash reports, security and abuse prevention: legitimate interests
- Requests from competent authorities: legal obligation
You can edit most of your profile information directly in the app and delete your account yourself in Settings.
9Security
We take industry-standard measures to protect your data against unauthorized access: passwords are stored hashed, database access is restricted by rules, and communication happens over encrypted connections. Even so, no system is one hundred percent secure.
10Children's Data
The app is not available to anyone under 18. If we learn that we are processing data belonging to someone under 18, we close the account and delete the data.
11Changes
We may update this policy. We announce significant changes in the app.
12Contact
Send privacy questions to gamebuddydestek@gmail.com.