Privacy policy
This policy explains what data GigaRetro handles, why, and how to delete it. The app runs on your phone: your games, saved games and settings never leave it. Data only leaves your phone for the community chat, the player account and online play, in-app purchases and the ads in the free version, as explained below.
Chat: what we store
- A random identifier created by your phone and a key we give you the first time (we only store a hashed fingerprint of the key). They are not linked to your name, your email or your phone number.
- If you connect your Play Games account (chat › «i» › Account), instead of that identifier we use the player identifier that Unity Authentication gives your account, so your nickname, your channels and your tournaments follow you to another phone. The first time, whatever belonged to your phone's identifier moves to that account. We do not receive your email, your Google name or your Play Games name.
- Your nickname in the chat, your phone's language (for the «My language» filter) and when you first joined and how many messages you have written, in total and in Global (the latter, to slow down spam accounts).
- Your messages and cards (recommendations, rooms, pads and macros you share). The latest 200 of each channel are kept; older ones are deleted automatically.
- Private channels: the ones you create or belong to (name, description, members and their role), the codes and invitations you create or receive, and whether you accept invitations.
- Channel tournaments: entrants, bracket, rooms for each match and the results you report.
- Clans and weekly challenges: if you wear a clan's tag, which channel it belongs to and since when; the tournament points you add to your clan each season; the challenges you sign up for and the results of your tournament matches that count for them (against whom, who won and the score). The tag is shown next to your nickname.
- Your profile, if you fill it in (chat › «i» › Account › «MY PROFILE»): a short bio, up to three favorite games, your favorite system and, if you want, your country (only the country, never your city or location). Next to it we show data we already have: since when you are in the chat, how many messages you have written, your badge and nickname color, whether you are online and your tournament and challenge showcase (how many you played and won, podiums; with Plus, your recent tournaments). If someone reports your profile, we keep who reported it and why until it is reviewed.
- What you're playing now, only if you turn on «Show what I'm playing» (off by default; chat › «i» › My invites, or your own profile): the name of the game you have open and its system. Chat users see it on your profile and in the member lists of your channels. It is not stored: it travels with your connection and is removed when you close the game, turn the option off, disconnect or after 10 minutes without playing.
- Invitations to play you send from someone's profile: your nickname, the game and the room code reach only that person (if they accept invitations) and expire after 5 minutes; they are not stored.
- Your game ratings, if you rate any (library › press and hold a game): the game (its name, without the region), the stars you gave it and when. Others only see each game's average and how many people rated it, never who voted or how; the average is not shown until there are at least 3 votes.
- Reports, moderation blocks and mutes, to moderate the chat.
Your IP address is used while you are connected to limit abuse (connections per address) and we do not store it. Only when you report a message, a short fingerprint of the IP, from which the address cannot be recovered, is stored with the report so that several accounts from the same connection count as one; it is deleted when the report is resolved or the message leaves the history. The service runs on Cloudflare, which may process technical connection data under its own policy.
We do not use chat data for advertising, and we do not sell it or share it with anyone.
In-app purchases
GigaRetro Plus and the style packs are bought through Google Play: Google handles the payment and we never see your card, your name or your email. To check that a purchase is genuine and give you what you bought on all your phones, our server stores, linked to your player identifier: the product, the Google order number, a hashed summary (fingerprint) of the purchase token, its status (valid, pending or refunded) and the date. With the purchase token we ask Google whether the purchase is valid and whether it has been refunded.
We keep this data while the purchase remains active, because you need it to restore what you bought. If you delete your data (see below), your purchases are no longer linked to that account; Google Play restores them when you sign in again.
Ads
The free version shows at most one ad per day, when you return to the library after playing. GigaRetro Plus removes them. Ads are served by Google AdMob, which may collect your phone's advertising ID, device and connection data (model, system, language, IP address) and how you interact with the ad, in order to show it, measure it and prevent fraud, according to Google's policy.
Where the law requires it (for example in the European Union and the United Kingdom), before any ad the app asks for your consent with Google's form, and you can change it at any time in Pause › Help › GigaRetro Plus › Ad privacy. If you do not give consent, ads are not personalized. You can reset or turn off the advertising ID in Android's settings.
To enforce the limit of one ad per day, our server stores, linked to your player identifier, when you first used the app, when you saw the last ad and how many you have seen. It stores nothing about the ad or what you did with it.
Player account and online play
When you open the app, for online play over the Internet and the account, a session is started with Unity Authentication (Unity Technologies), anonymous at first: Unity creates a player identifier for your installation. Online play goes through Unity Relay servers while you play. If you sign in with Google Play Games, Google confirms to Unity that it is you and that session is linked to your Play Games account, so your player identifier is the same on all your phones. Unity and Google handle that data under their own policies; we only receive the player identifier.
Cloud backup (GigaRetro Plus)
Only if you turn it on (pause › State › «Cloud backup»), with GigaRetro Plus and a Play Games sign-in. We store, compressed and linked to your player ID: each game's save-state slots (with their thumbnail and name), the game save (its memory) and, once the app supports them, the emulators' own saves, your macros, your pad layout and some settings (controls, filters and language); for each item, the phone model that uploaded it and when. Games, disc images, BIOS files and covers are never uploaded.
- It is stored on Cloudflare R2, encrypted at rest and in transit; only your account can read it.
- The previous version of each item is also kept for 7 days. Each account has 512 MB.
- If you stop having Plus, the backup becomes read-only for 90 days (you can download and delete it) and is then deleted. It is also deleted if you don't open the app signed in for 24 months.
- You can delete it at any time from that same screen («Delete my cloud backup»); «Delete my chat data» deletes it too. Nothing is deleted on your phone.
Notifications
If you turn them on, the app tells you about messages in your private channels, mentions, invitations and tournaments when it is not open, and about GigaRetro announcements. For this we use Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google): our server stores, linked to your account, a notification identifier for each phone (token), its language and the categories you chose. The text of each notification (the sender's nickname, the channel name and up to 100 characters of the message) goes through Google to reach your phone. You can turn them off in the app or in Android settings, and «Delete my chat data» deletes those tokens.
Who can see what
What you write in a channel is seen by the people in that channel: in Global, everyone; in a private channel, its members. Private channels are not encrypted: if someone reports them, GigaRetro moderators can read them. Moderators can hide and delete messages and mute accounts. Blocking someone only affects your phone.
Your profile is public within the chat: anyone using the chat can see it by tapping your nickname, even if they are not in your channels. Don't add personal details. Moderators can clear the bio and games of a profile that breaks the rules, and it goes in the moderation log.
Third-party services
We use Cloudflare (chat, purchases and ads server), Unity Technologies (player account, online play and the app's engine), Google (Play Games, Google Play, AdMob and its consent form, and Firebase Cloud Messaging for notifications) and, to download game covers, the public libretro-thumbnails repository on GitHub (only the game's name is sent). Each of them handles data under its own policy.
Minimum age
You must be at least 13 years old to write in the chat (16 if you live in the European Union). The app asks before letting you write.
How to delete your data
In the app: chat › «i» button › «Delete my chat data». Your account, your messages, your profile, your game ratings, the channels you created (and their clans), your clan, your clan points, your challenges and their results (in your rivals' tables you remain as a deleted account, with no name) the ad and purchase records linked to it, your notification tokens and your cloud backup are deleted from the server immediately (if your account uses Play Games, on all your phones). Your purchases are not lost: Google Play restores them. Uninstalling the app deletes everything it stores on your phone. You can also request it by email at privacidad@bandsoft.dev.
Contact
For any question about your data: privacidad@bandsoft.dev.
If something in the chat or in GigaRetro uses your work without permission: copyright and content removal (in Spanish).
The chat rules, purchases and everything else you agree to when using GigaRetro are in the terms of use.