Legal · Zerb Racer
Zerb Racer Privacy Policy
What the game collects, who collects it, and what you can switch off.
Zerb Racer has no accounts, and the game itself never asks for your name, email or any other personal information. Your progress stays on your device. Two outside services are built in: Google AdMob, which shows the optional reward videos, and Google Play with RevenueCat, which handle in-app purchases. This page explains exactly what each of them collects. We process personal data in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
1. Ads (Google AdMob)
The game’s only ads are optional videos you choose to watch: after a race, to double the coins you won, and once a race when the claw grabs you, to break free and keep racing. Ads never interrupt a race on their own, there are no banners or pop-up ads, and you never have to watch one.
The ad service is Google AdMob. It starts when the app opens so that an ad is ready if you ask for one, and Google collects the following, sent encrypted, for advertising, measurement and fraud prevention:
- Your device’s advertising ID (and Google’s app set ID);
- Your IP address, which can be used to estimate your general location (roughly your town or region, never your precise location);
- How you interact with ads and the app, such as ad views and taps, and app launches;
- Diagnostic information about how the app and the ad component are performing.
Google acts as an independent controller of this data. Their policy is at policies.google.com/privacy, and how Google uses data from apps that use its services is explained at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Your choices about ads
- In the UK and EEA, the game asks for your consent using Google’s consent form the first time it opens. If you do not consent, Google shows only limited, non-personalised ads, or none.
- In US states with privacy laws, you can opt out of the “sale or sharing” of your information for personalised ads: see section 8.
- Change your mind any time with Privacy settings on the game’s main menu, where it is shown.
- Reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone’s settings: on most Android phones, Settings → Privacy (or Google) → Ads.
2. In-app purchases (Google Play and RevenueCat)
Some characters can be bought, and so can Bolt Cutters, the Starter Pack and Double Coins Forever. Buying anything is optional, and the whole game is playable without spending anything. If you do buy something:
- Google Play takes the payment. We never see your card details, your address or your name. Google tells us only that a purchase succeeded;
- RevenueCat records the purchase on our behalf, so the app knows what you own and can restore it if you change phone. It stores your purchase history, your country and currency, and a random identifier it generates for your device. It is not given your name or email address, because the game never asks for either.
RevenueCat is a purchase-management service acting as our data processor. Their privacy policy is at revenuecat.com/privacy.
3. What the game stores on your device
So the game remembers where you got to, it saves the following in your device’s local app storage:
- Your coins and your race record: races, wins and escapes;
- Your stars on each level, and which parts of the lab are open;
- Which character you race as, which free trial races you have used, and what the store last told the game you own;
- The extras you have bought with coins, such as trails, and which you are wearing;
- Your best run on each level, kept so you can race against it as “Your best”;
- Your Bolt Cutters, your current escape streak, and how many coin doubles you have used today;
- The receipt numbers of packs you have bought (such as Bolt Cutters), so each purchase is added only once.
None of this is sent to us, and we have no copy of it. One exception is your own phone backup: if Android’s backup is switched on for your phone (Settings → Google → Backup), Android may include this game data in your personal Google backup, so your progress can come back when you reinstall or move to a new phone. That backup is held by Google in your own Google account; we cannot see it or use it, and you can turn it off or delete it in your phone’s backup settings. Purchases can always be restored from Google Play.
4. Who you race against
The other racers are always either the game’s own racers, labelled BOT, or a recording of a previous run, labelled as a ghost (today, only your own best run). You are never told you are racing a live player. Your runs are not sent anywhere.
5. Permissions
The game does not use your camera, microphone, precise location, contacts or files, and it asks you to grant nothing. The Android version declares these permissions, all granted automatically at install:
- Network access and network state: to load ads and to talk to Google Play for purchases;
- Vibration: the buzz when you are hit or win;
- Billing: lets the app offer in-app purchases through Google Play;
- Advertising ID, and Android’s ad services permissions: used by Google AdMob as described in section 1;
- Foreground service and wake lock: added by Google’s own ad and Play components so they can finish short background tasks. The game itself does not run in the background.
We list them because Google Play shows them, and we would rather explain them than have you find them unexplained.
6. Children
Zerb Racer is for players aged 13 and over and is not designed for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has made a purchase, contact us and we will help with a refund and delete the record.
7. Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have rights to access, correct, erase and restrict the use of your personal data.
- Game progress is on your own device and entirely under your control. We hold none of it.
- Purchases: we can give you a copy of the purchase record held for us by RevenueCat, or delete it. Email us and we will do it. Deleting it means the app can no longer restore those purchases to a new phone, so we will tell you before we do.
- Ads: use the choices in section 1. Google holds ad data as its own controller, so for that use Google’s privacy controls on your Google account.
You also have the right to complain to the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), at ico.org.uk.
8. If you live in the United States
Some US states, including California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut and Utah, give you extra rights over your personal information. Here is how they apply to Zerb Racer.
- We do not sell your personal information for money. Google AdMob uses your device’s advertising ID to show personalised ads, which some state laws call “sharing” or “targeted advertising”.
- Opt out of that sharing with Privacy settings on the game’s main menu: choose not to allow the sale or sharing of your personal information. You can also stop personalised ads on your whole phone: Settings → Privacy (or Google) → Ads → Delete advertising ID.
- Know, correct or delete: we hold only your purchase record (section 2). Email support@hackneylanegroup.com with the subject “Zerb Racer privacy request” and your Google Play order number, and we will reply within 45 days.
- No penalty: the game plays exactly the same whichever choices you make.
- Appeal: if we turn down a request, reply to our answer to appeal. If you are still unhappy, you can contact your state’s Attorney General.
Delete your Zerb Racer data
Zerb Racer has no accounts, so there is no account to close. Here is how to delete each kind of data, what is deleted, and what is kept.
- Your game progress (coins, stars, extras, best runs, settings): uninstall Zerb Racer, or go to your phone’s Settings → Apps → Zerb Racer → Storage → Clear storage. It is deleted from your phone immediately. We never had a copy. If your phone’s Android backup is on, a copy may also sit in your own Google backup: delete it in your phone’s backup settings, or in your Google account’s backups (Google Drive → Backups).
- Your purchase record (held for us by RevenueCat): email support@hackneylanegroup.com with the subject “Delete my Zerb Racer data” and your Google Play order number (it starts GPA., and is in your purchase receipt email or at play.google.com → Payments & subscriptions → Budget & history). We delete the record within 30 days and email you when it is done. After that, those purchases can no longer be restored on a new phone.
- Kept: Google keeps its own record of the payment as the seller, under Google’s retention rules; manage it in your Google account. We keep nothing else.
- Ad data (Google AdMob): reset or delete your advertising ID in your phone’s settings (Settings → Privacy or Google → Ads), and use Google’s privacy controls for data Google holds as its own controller.
9. Changes to this policy
If a future version of the game adds online features, such as racing other players’ recorded ghosts, analytics, or anything else that sends data, we will update this policy and the app’s store listing before that version is released, and say plainly what changed and what is then collected.
10. Contact us
For any questions about this policy or about the game, contact:
Hackney Lane Group Ltd
Email: support@hackneylanegroup.com
Registered office: 7 Victoria Gardens, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 5YJ.
Last updated: 18 October 2026 (your phone’s own Android backup explained; made for players aged 13 and over).
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