Cube Solver – Privacy Policy

1. Solving Happens On Your Device

Cube Solver reads the colours of a scrambled 3x3 cube, works out a solution and shows you the moves in 3D. Every part of that — reading the colours, checking the cube is valid, computing the solution, animating it, the step-by-step method, the lessons and the timer — runs on your phone. Nothing about your cube is sent anywhere, and the app works with no internet connection at all.

There is no Cube Solver account and no sign-up. The app does not ask who you are. The only things that leave your phone are the ads data in section 3, the usage counts in section 5a and the messages you choose to send us in section 5b.

2. The Camera

When you choose to scan, the app asks for camera permission and shows a live preview. It samples the colour at nine points on the face in front of the lens to decide which sticker is which. Those samples are a handful of colour values; the frames themselves are never written to storage, never attached to anything, and never uploaded. The preview stops the moment you leave the scanner.

You do not have to use the camera. Every face can be entered by tapping colours into a grid, and the app never asks for the permission until you tap the scan button.

3. Advertising

The free version of Cube Solver shows advertisements: a banner along the bottom of the screen, a full-screen ad at certain moments (for example after a solve finishes), and occasionally an ad when the app is opened. They are served by Google AdMob, part of Google LLC, through the Google Mobile Ads SDK included in the app.

To serve and measure ads, that SDK sends data to Google. Google’s own disclosure lists the categories; in summary they are:

• Your device’s advertising ID (Android) or, with your permission, the identifier for advertisers (iOS). This is a resettable identifier that lets Google limit how often you see the same ad and, where you have consented, personalise ads.
• Ad interactions — which ads were shown, viewed or tapped, and on which screens of the app they were requested.
• Device and network information — device model, operating system version, language, screen size, IP address (from which Google may infer a coarse location), and the SDK’s own crash and diagnostic reports.

This data goes to Google, not to RiekApps. We have no server that receives it, and we do not see it in an identifiable form. Google’s use of it is governed by the Google Privacy Policy and How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services. The app does not pass your location, name or any other information of its own to the ads SDK.

The app contains no other ad network, no mediation partner and no third-party tracker.

4. Your Ad Choices And Consent

• In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the app shows Google’s consent form before requesting any ad, and honours your choice. You can reopen it from Settings → Privacy options in the app.
• Everywhere, you can opt out of ad personalisation or reset your advertising ID in your phone’s settings (Android: Settings → Google → Ads; iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, and → Apple Advertising).
• Remove ads entirely with the one-time purchase in section 7. Once bought, the app stops loading the ads SDK’s ads, and nothing described in section 3 is sent.

5. What Is Stored On Your Device

In the app’s private storage, which other apps cannot read:

• The cube colours you last entered, so you can pick up where you left off.
• Your solve times from the timer, with the date of each.
• Which lesson cards you have marked as learned.
• Your settings — theme, haptics — and whether the welcome screens have been shown.
• Whether the remove-ads purchase has been unlocked on this device, and the timing of the last full-screen ad so the app does not show them too often.

That is the complete list. Clearing the app’s data or uninstalling it removes all of it.

5a. Usage Analytics

Cube Solver uses Google’s Firebase Analytics to count how the app is used: that a solve finished (with the input mode and how many solves you have done), that a cube could not be solved and why, that “Fix it for me” ran, that the remove-ads screen opened or a purchase was attempted, completed or cancelled, and how many stars you gave when asked to rate the app. Firebase also records the app version, device model, OS version, language and approximate country, with an app-instance identifier it creates. It never receives your cube’s colours, camera frames or solve times, and RiekApps does not use it for advertising. It is processed by Google under the Firebase privacy terms.

5b. Contact Us, Feature Requests And Ratings

When you use Contact us or Request a feature inside Cube Solver, we receive what you type, the topics you tick and, if you attach one, the screenshot you choose. To help us answer, the request also carries the app version, your device model and OS version, your language and country setting, whether you have removed ads, and an identifier for this app on your device so we can tell that several messages came from the same person (on Android it is made from Android’s app-specific device ID and scrambled one way; it is not your advertising ID and it is not linked to your name). If you give us an email address, we use it only to reply to you.

Requests go over an encrypted connection to our own server and are stored in our support system, which only RiekApps staff can access. Our replies come back inside the app and, if you allow notifications, as a push notification through Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging, which gives your phone a push token that is stored with your request. We do not sell or share this information and do not use it for advertising. Requests are kept for up to 24 months so we can follow up on recurring problems, then deleted; you can ask us to delete yours earlier at riekapps@gmail.com.

When Cube Solver asks you to rate it, the number of stars you pick is recorded in our app analytics. If you pick 1 to 3 stars and choose to tell us what went wrong, that message is sent and kept like a Contact us request above. If you pick 4 or 5, we open the store’s own rating page, which Google Play or the App Store provides under their terms.

6. What RiekApps Never Collects

• No photos or video. Camera frames are read for colour on the device and discarded.
• No record of your cubes, solutions, solve times or progress — those stay on your phone (section 5).
• No name, phone number, contacts or account information, and no email address unless you type one into Contact us (section 5b).
• No location. The app holds no location permission.
• No crash-reporting service. The only third-party code that reports anything is the ads SDK in section 3, and Firebase Analytics and Cloud Messaging in sections 5a and 5b.

7. Removing Ads: Purchases

“Remove ads” is a single one-time purchase, billed by Google Play on Android and by Apple on iOS. They handle the payment and RiekApps never sees your card, billing address or account details. The app asks the store whether your account owns the purchase and stores only the answer, locally. Restoring purchases asks the same question again. There is no subscription and no third-party billing service. See Google’s Privacy Policy and Apple’s Privacy Policy.

8. Device Backup

Your phone’s own backup may copy the app’s data in section 5 to your Google or Apple account and restore it to a new phone. That is a feature of your device operating on your own account, not a RiekApps service, and RiekApps has no access to those backups. You can turn it off in Android Settings under Google → Backup, or in iOS Settings under your name → iCloud.

9. Permissions

• Camera — scanning the cube. Asked for only when you tap the scan button; the grid works without it.
• Internet and network state — ads, the store purchase, usage analytics and sending messages to us. Scanning, solving, lessons and the timer all work offline.
• Advertising ID (Android) — declared by the ads SDK, used as described in section 3.
• Vibration — haptic feedback, which you can switch off in Settings.
• Notifications — only to tell you when we reply to a message you sent us (section 5b). You can turn them off in your phone’s settings.

The app asks for no access to your location, microphone, contacts, photos or files. Attaching a screenshot to a message uses your phone’s own photo picker, which gives the app only the one image you choose.

10. Your Choices And Rights

RiekApps holds no profile of you. The only things on our side are the messages you send us (section 5b), which we delete on request, and the anonymous usage counts in section 5a. The data on your phone is under your control: delete solve times in the app, or clear the app’s data or uninstall it to remove everything. Choices about advertising data are in section 4; requests about data Google holds go to Google under its policy. If you have a question or a request under a privacy law that applies to you — for example the GDPR or the Indian Digital Personal Data Protection Act — write to riekapps@gmail.com and we will answer it.

11. Children

The app is a general-audience puzzle tool and is not directed at children under 13. It does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, of any age. If you believe a child has used the app in a way that concerns you, write to us and we will help.

12. Changes

If this policy changes, the revised version is published on this page with a new effective date. A change that broadens what the app collects will be announced in the app before it takes effect, not applied quietly.

13. Contact

RiekApps — riekapps@gmail.com. Questions about this policy are answered at that address. See also the Terms of Use and the Support page.