Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This Privacy Policy is issued by Ard Labs LLC ("Ard Labs," "we," "us," or "our"), a mobile app development studio. It explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information when you visit ard-labs.com (the "Website") or use any app we publish, including Earth Corps: Homefront (each an "App," together with the Website, our "Services").

By using our Services, you agree to the collection and use of information as described here. If you don't agree, please don't use our Services.

2. Information we collect

Information you provide directly

• Contact form. The form on our Contact page opens your own email client with a pre-filled message. We only receive what you choose to send us — your name, email address, and message — and only if you actually send that email. Nothing is transmitted to us automatically when you fill out the form.
• In-game commander name and tag. If you register for Earth Corps: Homefront's online leaderboard, you choose a display name that appears publicly next to a short random tag and your scores. Names don't have to be unique — the tag is what identifies your record — and you can change your name once every 7 days; the tag never changes. Don't use your real name or other personal information as your display name if you'd rather keep it private.

Information collected automatically

• Website usage data. Like most websites, our hosting provider may log standard technical information — IP address, browser type, device type, referring page, and timestamps — for security and performance purposes.
• App and gameplay data. The App stores gameplay records tied to an anonymous, per-install identifier (created by Firebase Anonymous Authentication, never a password or email), such as difficulty settings, match results, MERIT totals, medals, unlocked units, and which Deployment Zones (city packs) you've downloaded or completed. This data powers your match history, leaderboard ranking, and progress tracking. Starting a NEW COMMANDER in the App creates a new anonymous identifier; the previous record stays on the leaderboard under its own name and tag.
• Game Center (optional). If you link Game Center in the App's Settings, we store your Game Center player identifier with your leaderboard record, solely so the same record can be restored on a new device or after a reinstall. While linked, the App also reports your MERIT total, single-deployment scores and medal completions to Apple's Game Center leaderboards and achievements under your Game Center account, governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. You can unlink at any time, which stops that reporting.
• Device and diagnostic information. The App may collect device identifiers, operating system version, crash logs, and performance diagnostics to help us fix bugs and improve stability.
• DEFEND position (Earth Corps: Homefront). With your permission, the app reads your device's position once when you select DEFEND (or press PLAY there). The position is used to pick which map tiles to download from OpenFreeMap (which receives only the tile coordinates covering roughly 5 km around you) and is interpreted on your device by Apple's geocoding service to name the battlefield. Your coordinates are never stored and never sent to us. A DEFEND match is reported like any other match, as game progress only: whether you won, and your lifetime totals (DEFEND victories, alien kills, IFVs lost, air strikes called, medal counts) for your medals and Game Center achievements, never where you played.

What we do not collect

• Location tracking. Earth Corps: Homefront lets you type in a zip code to choose a battlefield — a manual text entry, not your device's location. The one place the app uses your device's position is its DEFEND mode: once, when you select it (or press PLAY there), to load the map around you (see "Information the app uses" below). Nothing runs in the background, the position is never stored, and it is never sent to us.
• Payment card details. Any purchases (such as future Deployment Zone packs) are processed entirely by Apple's App Store. We never see or store your payment card information.

3. How we use information

We use the information above to:

• Operate, maintain, and improve the Website and our Apps
• Provide gameplay features such as leaderboards, match history, and saved progress
• Respond to messages you send us
• Diagnose technical problems and monitor performance and stability
• Detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, or security issues
• Comply with legal obligations

4. Advertising & analytics

Earth Corps: Homefront shows ads via Google AdMob (Google's mobile advertising SDK) and, when AdMob has no ad to show, Unity Ads (Unity's mobile advertising SDK) — a banner during the victory sequence, an interstitial between battlefields, and an optional rewarded video in HQ for bonus in-game Credits. The App also uses Firebase Analytics and Firebase Crashlytics (both Google) to understand basic usage patterns and diagnose crashes; this data is tied to an anonymous, per-install identifier, not your real identity, and is not used for advertising.

On first launch, the App asks for iOS App Tracking Transparency (ATT) permission, which controls whether ads can be personalized using your device's Advertising Identifier (IDFA). If you decline, or haven't been asked yet, you still see ads — they're just not personalized using your activity in other apps or websites. Declining ATT never affects gameplay, purchases, or any other part of the App. AdMob may collect device and advertising identifiers, general usage data, and approximate (non-precise) location to serve and measure ads, governed by Google's own advertising privacy practices. Unity Ads may collect device identifiers (and the advertising identifier only if you grant App Tracking Transparency permission), your IP address, general usage data, and ad interaction data to serve and measure ads, governed by Unity's own privacy practices. See Section 10 for your choices regarding this data.

5. Cookies & similar technologies

The Website does not currently use tracking or advertising cookies. Our hosting provider may set strictly necessary technical cookies to serve the site securely and reliably. The App may use on-device local storage (such as iOS's UserDefaults) to save your settings and progress directly on your device — this data stays local unless it's also synced to our backend as described in Section 2.

6. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in these limited circumstances:

• Service providers. We use third-party infrastructure providers — including Google Cloud Platform / Firebase (app backend and data storage), Google AdMob (in-app advertising, see Section 4), Unity Ads (in-app advertising when AdMob has no ad to show, see Section 4), Cloudflare (website hosting), and Apple (App Store distribution, payment processing, and — only if you link it — Game Center) — who process data on our behalf under their own security and privacy obligations. In Earth Corps: Homefront's DEFEND mode, map tiles come from OpenFreeMap (tiles.openfreemap.org), which receives only the tile coordinates being requested.
• Legal requirements. We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Ard Labs, our users, or the public.
• Business transfers. If Ard Labs is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this policy or a successor policy with equivalent protections.

7. Data retention

Leaderboard records are kept until you delete them. DELETE ACCOUNT in the App's Settings schedules deletion 7 days later — you can cancel during that window from Settings or the MERIT screen — after which the record, its name and tag, scores, medals, Credits, Game Center link and the anonymous sign-in identifier itself are permanently removed from our systems. Starting a NEW COMMANDER does not delete anything. Contact-form correspondence is retained only as long as needed to address your inquiry. For any other deletion request, see Section 10.

8. Data security

We use industry-standard safeguards — including encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS) and access controls on our backend infrastructure — to protect information from unauthorized access, alteration, or disclosure. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Children's privacy

Our Services are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

10. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, and to opt out of certain uses of it. This section summarizes those rights and how to exercise them; state-specific details follow in Sections 11–13.

For your Earth Corps: Homefront leaderboard data, the fastest path is in the App itself: Settings → DELETE ACCOUNT (see Section 7); no email or support request is needed. To exercise any other right, email us at hello@ard-labs.com with your request and enough detail for us to locate your information (such as your in-game display name or the email address you contacted us from). We will verify your request and respond within the time required by applicable law. You will not be discriminated against — denied service, charged a different price, or given a lower quality of service — for exercising any of these rights.

11. California residents (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, gives you the right to:

• Know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and (if applicable) sell or share, and to request the specific pieces of information we hold about you
• Delete personal information we've collected from you, subject to certain exceptions
• Correct inaccurate personal information
• Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and of the use of sensitive personal information beyond what's necessary to provide the Services
• Non-discrimination for exercising any of these rights
• Designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf

We do not sell personal information for money. If you allow tracking in iOS, Google AdMob and Unity Ads receive your device's Advertising Identifier and ad-related usage data to personalize and measure the ads shown in the App (see Section 4); some state privacy laws call this "sharing" or targeted advertising. You can stop it at any time: in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, turn off tracking for Earth Corps: Homefront (or choose "Ask App Not to Track" when the App asks). iOS then withholds the Advertising Identifier from both ad networks, and the App tells Unity Ads that you have opted out. The Website sets no advertising or tracking cookies (see Section 5), so there is nothing to opt out of there.

12. Nevada residents

Nevada law (NRS 603A) gives Nevada residents the right to opt out of the sale of certain covered information to third parties for monetary consideration. We do not currently sell covered information. If this changes, you may submit an opt-out request to hello@ard-labs.com, and we will honor it as required by Nevada law.

13. Other U.S. state residents

A number of other states — including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, Delaware, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Minnesota, Maryland, Kentucky, and Rhode Island, among others — have enacted comprehensive consumer privacy laws. While the details vary, these laws generally give residents the right to:

• Confirm whether we process your personal information, and access it
• Correct inaccuracies in your personal information
• Delete your personal information
• Obtain a portable copy of your personal information
• Opt out of targeted advertising, the sale of personal information, and profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects

We extend these same rights to residents of any U.S. state with an applicable privacy law, regardless of whether that state is listed above. To exercise any of them, contact us as described in Section 10. You have the right to appeal a denied request by replying to our decision; if we deny your appeal, we will provide instructions for further recourse where required by your state's law.

14. App Store & distribution

Earth Corps: Homefront is distributed through Apple's App Store, which has its own privacy practices governing account creation, payment, downloads, and the "App Privacy" nutrition label shown on the app's listing. We keep that label consistent with this policy. Please also review Apple's Privacy Policy for information about data Apple collects as the platform and distribution provider.

15. International users

Our Services are designed for and primarily directed at users in the United States. If you access our Services from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time — for example, as we add features like advertising, expand to new platforms, or as privacy laws evolve. We'll update the effective date at the top of this page when we do, and for material changes we'll provide more prominent notice, such as an in-app or on-site announcement.

17. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your personal information? Reach us at hello@ard-labs.com, or by mail at:

Ard Labs LLC
732 S 6th St STE N
Las Vegas, NV 89101