Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 22, 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how Four and a Half Games LLC ("we", "us") collects, uses, and shares information when you play Neighbors (the "Game") or visit playneighbors.com. We built Neighbors to collect as little personal information as possible — the Game works without an email address, without your real name, and without any cross-app tracking.

Information we collect

Account information

• Anonymous account. When you first play, we create an account using a random identifier. No email, phone number, or real name is required to play.
• Display name. The nickname you choose for your character. It is visible to other players, and it is screened by automated moderation before it can be used.
• Optional sign-in. If you choose to link your account with Sign in with Apple, Google, or an email address (to save progress across devices), we receive the account identifier — and, where you allow it, the email address — from that provider.
• Date of birth. We ask for your date of birth once, to determine whether you are under 13. It is stored privately, never shown to other players, and used only to apply the protections described in "Children's privacy" below.

Content you create

• Room and house designs, and images (previews) of them.
• Chat messages, comments, likes, room names, and friend connections.

Text you write (names, chat, comments) is screened by automated moderation systems before or as it is shared with other players.

Purchases

All payments are processed by Apple. We never see your payment card details. We receive purchase receipts from Apple (product, price tier, transaction identifier) so we can deliver what you bought and keep accurate records.

Device and usage information

• Device type, operating system version, app version, and language.
• A push notification token, only if you allow notifications.
• Gameplay analytics events (for example: levels reached, features used, ads watched, purchases made) collected through Google Firebase Analytics.
• Crash reports and performance data collected through Firebase Crashlytics, so we can find and fix bugs.

What we do not collect

• No precise location, contacts, photos, or microphone access.
• No advertising identifier (IDFA). We never request App Tracking Transparency permission because we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

How we use information

• To run the Game — saving your progress, syncing your account, and powering social features like friends, visiting, challenges, and chat.
• Safety and moderation — automated screening of display names, chat, and comments (using Google Cloud content-moderation services) and handling player reports.
• Purchases — validating receipts and delivering items.
• Improving the Game — analytics about how features are used and crash diagnostics.
• Support — responding when you contact us.
• Notifications — sending push notifications you have opted into (you can turn these off any time in the Game's settings or your device settings).

Advertising

Neighbors shows only optional rewarded ads — short videos you can choose to watch for an in-game bonus. Ads are served by Google AdMob. We never request App Tracking Transparency permission, so ads in Neighbors cannot use your device's advertising identifier (IDFA), and we have disabled ad-personalization signals in our analytics configuration. For players under 13, every ad request is additionally tagged for child-directed treatment: ads are non-personalized and the ad content rating is capped at G. Ad interactions (for example, that a rewarded ad was started or completed) are recorded so we can grant the in-game bonus.

Children's privacy (COPPA)

Neighbors is a general-audience game and is not directed to children under 13. We use a neutral age screen so that, when we know a player is under 13, we can provide additional privacy and safety protections: the Game automatically runs in a restricted mode for that player.

What we collect from children

For a player under 13, the information collected is limited to: age information (used to apply these protections), the anonymous account identifier, the display name they choose (screened by moderation), their game saves and in-game creations, gameplay analytics events and crash diagnostics, ad interactions (child-directed, non-personalized), purchase records if a purchase is made through Apple, and any text they submit that passes through moderation.

What is different for children

• Social features are disabled: a known under-13 player cannot send or receive friend requests, post comments, or chat, and is not visible to other players in public social spaces. These limits are enforced on our servers, not just hidden in the app.
• Push notifications are not registered or sent, and no push token is stored.
• Analytics are pseudonymous: events carry only an app-instance identifier — no name, email, account identifier, or advertising identifier — and identifying properties are suppressed.
• A child's app-instance identifier is not stored with their purchase records.
• Ads are always non-personalized, tagged child-directed, and capped at a G content rating.
• Their date of birth is never displayed, never shared, and the account is never publicly labeled as a child account.

How children's data is used

Data collected from known under-13 players is used only for internal operations: running the Game, saving progress, keeping players safe (moderation), security and fraud prevention, debugging, and aggregate statistical reporting (such as retention, performance, and revenue trends) to improve the Game. It is never used for behavioral advertising, to contact the child, or to build an individual profile of the child.

Parents' rights

A parent or guardian may, at any time:

• Review the personal information we have about their child;
• Request that it be deleted (in-app via Settings → Delete Account, or by emailing us);
• Revoke any consent previously given; and
• Refuse to allow any further collection or use of the child's information (which may mean the child can no longer play, since the Game cannot operate without an account).

Contact us at [email protected]. To protect children, we take reasonable steps to verify that a requester is the child's parent or guardian — for example, by confirming details of the account and device the request concerns before acting on it.

How we share information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own advertising. We share information only with the service providers that run the Game, and only what each one needs:

• Firebase Authentication (Google) — receives your anonymous account identifier and, if you link an account, the identifier/email from Apple, Google, or your email provider. Used to sign you in.
• Firebase databases & storage (Google) — store your game saves, rooms, social connections, messages, and room preview images. Used to run and sync the Game.
• Firebase Analytics (Google) — receives gameplay events, device/app information, and a pseudonymous app-instance identifier. Used to understand how the Game is played and improve it. For children this data is de-identified as described above.
• Firebase Crashlytics (Google) — receives crash reports and device state at the time of a crash. Used to find and fix bugs.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google) — receives a push token, only if you allow notifications (never for children). Used to deliver push notifications.
• Google Cloud moderation services (DLP and Natural Language) — text you write in the Game (display names, chat messages, comments, room names) is transmitted to Google for automated safety screening before or as it is shared with other players. Used solely for moderation.
• Google AdMob — receives ad requests (device and app information, without your advertising identifier) when you choose to watch a rewarded ad. Child requests are tagged child-directed and non-personalized.
• Apple — processes payments and distributes the app under its own terms and privacy policy. We receive purchase receipts, never payment details.

These service providers are required to protect your information in a manner consistent with this policy and applicable law, and may not use it for their own independent purposes except as described in their own policies for the services above. We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights and safety of our players and our company.

Data retention and deletion

How long we keep information depends on what it is:

• Account and game data (saves, rooms, inventory, social connections, messages, display name) — kept while your account exists; deleted when you delete your account.
• Date of birth / age status — kept while your account exists so the protections above stay applied; deleted with the account.
• Analytics events — retained by Firebase Analytics under its retention settings; user-level analytics data expires automatically and is kept no longer than 14 months.
• Crash reports — retained by Crashlytics for 90 days.
• Moderation screening — text is checked in real time; the moderation services do not keep it for their own use. The underlying messages/names live with your game data until deleted.
• Purchase and audit records — retained as required for tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, and legal purposes, even after account deletion.
• Support emails — kept as long as needed to resolve your request and for a reasonable period after.
• Backups and server logs — age out automatically on a rolling basis.

You can delete your account at any time in the Game (Settings → Delete Account) — this works for guest accounts too. Deletion erases your game data, social connections, profile, stored age information, and sign-in record from our systems. You can also email us at [email protected] and we will delete your account for you. What survives deletion: purchase/audit records where the law requires them, information already in rotating backups until those backups age out, and aggregated statistics that cannot identify you.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit, stored with access controls on Google Cloud infrastructure, and writable only through our game servers — clients cannot write directly to other players' data.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete your personal information, or to object to or restrict certain processing. You can exercise these rights through the in-app deletion flow or by emailing [email protected]; we will verify and respond to requests as required by applicable law.

California (CCPA/CPRA & CalOPPA)

We do not "sell" or "share" personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Because we do not track players across other companies' apps or websites, we do not respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals — there is no tracking to turn off. The third parties listed above collect information only to provide their services to us and do not collect your activity across other services on our behalf.

Europe / United Kingdom (GDPR)

If you are in the EEA or UK, Four and a Half Games LLC (2108 N ST #10889, Sacramento, CA 95816, USA) is the data controller for the information described in this policy. Our legal bases are: performance of a contract (running the Game and your account), legitimate interests (analytics, security, moderation, fraud prevention), consent (optional push notifications, optional account linking), and legal obligation (purchase records). Data is processed on Google Cloud and Apple infrastructure in the United States; transfers rely on the providers' standard contractual clauses and equivalent safeguards. You additionally have the rights to data portability and to restriction of processing, and the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. Contact us first and we will do our best to resolve any concern.

Cookies and the website

playneighbors.com is a static informational site. It does not use analytics, advertising, or tracking cookies, and it sets no cookies of its own — which is why you don't see a cookie consent banner here. Our hosting provider (Cloudflare) may serve a small script that protects our email address from spam bots, and may set strictly necessary security cookies when defending the site from abuse; strictly necessary cookies are exempt from consent requirements.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will update this page and the effective date above, and where appropriate notify you in the Game.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your (or your child's) information: