🌭 Hotdog Down a Hallway — Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 12, 2026

Short version: Hotdog Down a Hallway has no accounts and does not collect your name, email, or any personal information you'd type in. Your game progress lives on your own device. If you join the worldwide leaderboard, the 3-letter initials and score you submit are shown publicly — that's the whole point, and it's the only thing you can publish. The Android and iPhone apps show optional ads through Google AdMob. The iPhone app uses your device's advertising identifier (and asks first); the Android app does not — it removes the advertising-ID permission and requests non-personalized ads. Details below. The website may show ads through Google AdSense.

This policy covers the game everywhere it is published: this website, the Android app on Google Play, the Galaxy Store build, the iPhone app, and the Steam release.

Information we do NOT collect

We never collect your name, email, phone number, date of birth, location, contacts, photos, or any information you enter. The game has no login and no user accounts. It does not use GPS or request your location, and it collects no health or fitness data. The only device identifier involved is your advertising ID, and only for ads in the iPhone app, described below. The Android app removes the advertising-ID permission entirely.

Data stored on your device

The game saves the following on your device only — in your browser's local storage on the web, and in the app's private storage in the apps — so your progress survives between sessions. This stays on your device except for the leaderboard submission described below:

Your high scores and the 3-letter initials you enter for the scoreboard
Your best score, deepest level reached, and any in-progress run you can resume
Your hotdog count

Clearing the app's data, deleting the app, or clearing your browser's site data erases all of it permanently. We cannot recover it, because we never had a copy.

The worldwide leaderboard

When you finish a run and add your initials, the game sends your 3-letter initials, score, and level to our leaderboard server so you can be ranked among the world's top 10,000 players. Those three things are shown publicly on the board — that's what a leaderboard is — and they are all it sends: no device identifier, no location, nothing else. Each player holds exactly one slot (your single best score). Initials are chosen by you and aren't tied to your identity. Don't want to be on the board? Skip the initials entry — the game plays identically.

Please don't put anything personal in the initials field. It is a public scoreboard.

Anonymous counters

When a new game starts, the game sends a single anonymous signal to our server that increments a global "games played" counter. This message contains only the word hotdog and which event happened — it includes no personal information, no account, no device ID, no advertising ID, and nothing that could identify you or your device. We use it solely to see roughly how often the game is played in total. A completed purchase and a watched rewarded ad increment equally anonymous counters.

Crash reports

If the game hits an error, it sends a short automatic report so the bug can be fixed. The report contains the error message, the script file and line number, the error's stack trace, the level you had reached, and your browser or device's User-Agent string, which identifies the device model and operating system version. It is capped at three distinct errors per session. It contains nothing you typed and no advertising ID or account identifier.

Purchases

Hotdogs can be bought to continue a run. Payment is handled entirely by the store or payment processor, and we never see or store your card details:

Android (Google Play): Google Play Billing
Galaxy Store: Samsung In-App Purchase
iPhone: Apple In-App Purchase
Website: Stripe, on Stripe's own checkout page. We receive only a confirmation that a purchase succeeded. See Stripe's privacy policy.
Steam: the game is premium — nothing is for sale inside it.

Ads (Android and iPhone apps)

The apps show optional, opt-in "rewarded" ads through Google AdMob: when you run out of hotdogs you may choose to watch a short video ad to earn more. Ads are never forced and there are no banner ads. To serve these ads, Google's Mobile Ads SDK collects device information and your IP address, and shares them with Google and its advertising partners. Whether your advertising ID is involved differs by platform:

On Android, the app removes the Google advertising ID permission (com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID) and the Privacy Sandbox ad-targeting permissions from the shipped bundle, and turns ad personalization off for every request. Your advertising ID is not collected or used.
On iPhone, the app asks your permission to track on first launch (Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt). If you allow it, Google may use your advertising ID (IDFA) to show more relevant ads; if you decline, you'll still see ads, but non-personalized ones. You can change this under Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

Ad content is capped at a G rating on both the Android and iPhone apps. This data is handled by Google under its own policies. See Google's Privacy Policy and how Google uses information from apps that use its services.

Ads (website)

The website may show ads served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners use cookies to serve ads, including — depending on your settings and region — cookies that personalize ads based on your visits to this and other sites. You can opt out of personalized advertising at Google Ads Settings, and read how Google uses data from partner sites at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. We do not run our own trackers, analytics cookies, or ad networks beyond this. The Steam version has no ads at all.

Sharing

If you tap the "Challenge someone" button, your device's standard share sheet opens so you can send a link to the game yourself. Nothing is shared unless you choose a recipient and send it. The game does not transmit that message on its own.

Deleting your data

Because there is no account, there is nothing stored about you to delete except a leaderboard entry. If you want one removed, email Chad@happypixelcompany.com with the initials and approximate score and we will remove it. Everything else the game keeps is on your own device, and clearing the app's data or your browser's site data erases it.

Children's privacy

The game is family-friendly, but because the apps serve general-audience ads it is intended for players aged 13 and over. It is not designed or directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has submitted a leaderboard entry or provided information, contact us at the address below and we will remove it.

Changes to this policy

If this policy ever changes, the updated version will be posted at this same address with a new date.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email Chad@happypixelcompany.com.