Downdraft privacy policy

Effective 20 October 2026 (terms of use and the studio policy linked). Downdraft is a game by NimbleMyth, played in a web browser and as an Android app.

This page is the game's part of NimbleMyth's privacy policy, which covers the studio as a whole. The game's terms of use are separate.

The short version

The game has no accounts and no sign-in. Your scores and settings stay on your device. Three things leave it: anonymous play statistics (which missions get flown and where players stop; no name, no device or advertising id; you can turn them off in Options), and, in the Android app only, what Google's advertising and Google Play need. The web game has no ads; the Android app does. Each is described below.

Anonymous play statistics

So the game can be made better, it counts what happens in play and sends the counts to a statistics server run for the game (stats.nimblemyth.ca, on Cloudflare). There is no account, and nothing in a count says who you are.

What is sent. Every count carries these: a random install number made on your first launch (it is not your device id, advertising id or any store id, and it means nothing outside the game), the platform (web, Android, Steam, GOG or iOS), the game version, a random number for the current play session, the seconds since the install number was made, and the days since you last played, and, when a test of a setting is running (exp, for example how soon the first ad comes), the name of the variant your install number falls in. The country is worked out by the server from your connection; the game does not ask your device where it is. The counts themselves are:

• session_start: the game was opened.
• first_rescue: your first prisoner got home, with the seconds it took (secs) and whether you played the training first (training).
• mission_end: a mission ended, with the mission (mission), the tour (tour), the difficulty (difficulty), whether it was completed, failed or ended the run (result), how many prisoners you rescued (rescued), how long it took (secs), the medal (medal) and whether you had used a continue (continued).
• game_over: your last chopper was lost, with the mission (mission), what destroyed it, in a word such as crash or missile (cause), and whether you had already used a continue (retried).
• daily_end: you finished a daily sortie, with its number (daily), its rule of the day (modifier), your score (score), the time (secs), whether you shared it (shared) and which recorded attempt of the day it was (tries, normally 1).
• share: you shared a result, with what kind (kind) and by what route (channel); nothing you shared is sent.
• deep_link_open: you opened the game from a shared link, with what kind of link (kind) and whether the game was new to you (fresh).
• ad_shown (Android app): an ad was asked for, which kind (kind), how many missions you had completed in the session (missions), where it played (placement), how it ended (outcome: shown, closed early, could not be shown, or rewarded) and what the ad network says that one showing earned: the value in millionths of a currency unit (micros), the currency (currency) and how sure the network is of the value (precision). The ad itself, its network and its unit are not sent.
• purchase (Android app): you bought, cancelled, left pending or restored something, by the name of the item only (sku) and how it ended (outcome), with how many play sessions you had had (sessions), whether you had flown a daily sortie (daily) and the price the store showed you, in hundredths of a currency unit (cents) and its currency (currency); never a receipt, token or payment detail.
• offer_seen (Android app): the store showed you the price of the supporter pack, once a session, with the same sku, cents and currency.
• host: what the game runs on, once a session and again if one changes: the operating system (os), the Android version number (osver), a phone, tablet or desktop screen or a Steam Deck (screen, deck), where the game came from, such as Google Play, Steam (or the Steam demo) or GOG (source), the Steam build number of the game (build), the kind of game controller in use (ctrl) and the language (lang). No device model, no serial number and no Steam account.
• unlock: you unlocked something in the game, by its name (item).
• error: the game hit an error, with what kind it was, a word such as TypeError (kind), the file names and line numbers of the top three steps of the code that failed (stack, for example game_js:1234:56; never the error's message, which could hold anything), the mission (mission) and the seconds into the session (secs). At most three a session.
• frame_time: after a mission, how smoothly it ran: the percent of frames slower than 33 milliseconds (slow), the 95th percentile frame in milliseconds (p95) and how many frames (count).
• review_prompt: in the Android app, the game asked Google Play to show its own rating card, with how many missions you have completed (missions), on how many different days (days) and how many times the game has asked in all (asks). Google decides whether the card appears, and the game is never told whether it did or whether you rated; no reward is given for a rating.
• install_ref: in the Android app, once, where the install came from: the campaign tags on the Google Play link that was used (src, med and camp, each a short word such as creator, or organic when there was none, or other when it was not a plain short word) and the seconds between the click and the install (delay). The link's own text is never kept.
• session_end: how long you played in a sitting, as active seconds (secs; time with the app in the background, and stretches of more than a minute with no touch or key, are not counted), how many missions you started (missions) and why the sitting ended: the app went to the background, you left it, or you did not come back (how). It is sent when the app goes to the background.
• loss_spot: a chopper was lost, with the mission (mission), how far along the mission it was as a percent from 0 to 99 (x; a share of the mission, never a map position), the seconds into the mission (secs), the cause as a word (cause, as in game_over), how many spare choppers were left (lives) and which attempt at the mission this was in the sitting (retry). One per lost chopper.
• mission_quit: you left a mission with no result, from the pause menu or by sending the app to the background, with the mission, how far along it was (x) and the seconds into it (secs).
• settings: your difficulty (difficulty), which assists you have on (assists) whether you asked for notifications (notifications) and, in the Android app, whether the ad consent form is settled (consent: not needed, needed or given; never what you chose in it).

What is never sent. No name, no player name, no email, no IP address stored with the counts, no device or advertising id, no location, no controller or key presses, nothing recorded frame by frame, and no text you typed.

How long. The server keeps the counts for about 90 days and the service then deletes them. They are used in totals and averages, never to look at one person.

How to turn it off. The statistics are on by default; you opt out. Options, ANONYMOUS PLAY STATISTICS: OFF. When it is off nothing is recorded at all, and anything not yet sent is thrown away. Turning it on again starts a new play session. Where the law asks for your consent first (the EEA, the UK and some other places), the game asks once, on a card of its own, and records nothing until you say yes; this is separate from the ad consent below. The game plays the same with the statistics off, and the same with no connection at all.

The boards (optional)

The daily and weekly sorties have a board where you can see where your score stands. It is off until you press JOIN THE BOARD on a sortie's board screen. Once you have joined, each recorded daily or weekly result is sent to the same studio server (stats.nimblemyth.ca) with: your random install number, the name you chose (or PILOT- and four characters if you did not choose one), the score, the time and whether you finished, the game version, the chopper's path in that run (about 10 to 40 KB, a few points a second, kept only for the top ten) and, so the server can check that a top score was really flown, the stick and button inputs of that run. No IP address is stored with them. Names are filtered, and a name three different players report is hidden. Leave the board on the same screen to stop sending; ask for a name or result to be removed at support@nimblemyth.ca, naming the board and the name. Results are deleted after 90 days. The Steam version uses Steam's own leaderboards instead.

What the game keeps on your device

• Your high-score table (the player names, scores, missions reached), your options and your key bindings.
• The random install number and the statistics not yet sent, kept in the same storage.
• That you bought "remove ads", if you did (Android app).

These are stored in your browser's or app's own storage. The developer never receives the table, options or bindings; the statistics above, and the board results if you join the boards, are the only things the game sends. Clearing the site's data, or uninstalling the app, deletes them.

The web version

The game is served by Cloudflare, which keeps the ordinary logs of a web host (your IP address and the pages requested) to run and protect the service. The game sets no cookies and loads no ads or third-party scripts (other than the statistics above, which are the game's own), other than the Bangers web font from Google Fonts, which Google serves to your device (the Android app loads it too, when it is online).

The Android app: ads

The free version of the Android app shows ads through Google AdMob: a short ad between some missions, and an optional ad you can watch to continue after losing your last chopper. To show and measure ads, Google and its ad partners may collect your device's advertising ID, IP address, and information about the device and how you interact with ads. We do not receive this, and we do not combine it with anything else.

• Consent. Where the law requires it (the EEA, the UK and some other places), the app asks for your consent with Google's consent form before it requests any ad. You can change your choice at any time under Options, PRIVACY OPTIONS. If you refuse, no ads are shown to you.
• Ad content. The app asks for ads suitable for teens at most.
• Your device controls. You can reset or delete your advertising ID, and opt out of ad personalisation, in your Android settings.
• More from Google. How Google uses data from sites and apps that use its services and AdMob's data disclosure.

The Android app: the purchase

The PILOT'S LICENCE (the supporter pack, first sold as REMOVE ADS) is a one-time purchase handled entirely by Google Play. We never see your payment details. The app learns only whether Google Play says you own it, so that the ads stay off, also after a reinstall. Someone who buys it is not shown ads, and is not asked for ad consent; it also unlocks a paintjob and the season paintjobs, which change nothing in play.

Children

Downdraft is not designed for children under 13, and is not directed to them. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The anonymous play statistics above hold no personal information from anyone.

Retention and deletion

The developer holds no personal data about you: the play statistics are anonymous, are kept for about 90 days, and cannot be traced back to you, so there is nothing to retrieve. You can stop them in Options, and deleting the site's data or the app deletes your install number. What is on your device is yours to clear, as above. Data held by Google (advertising, Google Play) is governed by Google's own policies and the controls in your Google account and Android settings.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version is published here with a new effective date, and the game's changelog says so.

Contact

Questions about this policy: support@nimblemyth.ca. Terms of use: terms. The studio: NimbleMyth.