HEARTWOOD
Privacy policy · effective 19 October 2026
Heartwood is a tree-growing game for the web, iPhone, iPad and Mac. This page explains what the game stores about you and why. There are no ads, no tracking across other apps or websites, no analytics, and nothing is sold.
What is stored
- An account ID. When you start the game you are signed in as a guest with a random ID, so your worlds can be saved. You can also sign in with Apple (in the apps and on the website) or with Google (on the website); then that account's ID is linked to it, so your progress is kept (your email is not shown to other players).
- Your profile: the player name you choose and your favourite tree species.
- Your saved worlds and your best results in challenges.
- On online servers: your tree and what you do with it, your player name, and the chat messages you send. Messages are passed on to the players on that server and kept only briefly (the most recent public lines while the server is running).
- The all-time leaderboard: your player name, your tallest tree and the server it grew on.
- The daily challenge board: for each day you play the daily challenge, your player name, your best score that day (with your tree's height and leaf count) and how your tree looks. Your best scores are also kept on your device until the board has them.
- Game Center (in the iPhone, iPad and Mac apps, if you are signed in to Game Center): your milestones are sent as achievements, and your tallest tree and daily challenge scores as leaderboard scores. Game Center is run by Apple under Apple's privacy policy; the game does not receive your Game Center details.
- Reports you send about other players, with the messages they posted, their player name and account ID, and how their tree looks.
- Moderation: if a player breaks the rules for online play, their account may be banned from online play or their player name cleared. For a ban we keep the account ID, the reason, when it happened and which moderator made it, until the ban is lifted. A cleared name is kept with the account ID until a moderator allows that name again. The device that was used also remembers a ban for up to 30 days, even if its data is deleted. Values changed outside the game count as strikes: we keep the account ID with how many strikes, when the last one was, how long its ban lasts and which check found it; strikes stop counting after 30 days without a new one. The device keeps the same, along with which accounts have played on it and when each was first seen, so a ban carries over to a fresh guest account made to get round it but not to another player's own account.
Where it is kept
The game uses Google Firebase (Authentication, Realtime Database and Hosting) to store this data and to run online play. Google's privacy policy applies to their services: policies.google.com/privacy. During online play, game updates may also travel directly between players' devices.
Your saved worlds and profile can only be read by your own account. Your player name, chat messages and leaderboard and daily challenge lines are visible to other players.
Apple Intelligence, translation and Siri
In the iPhone, iPad and Mac apps, on devices that support Apple Intelligence, you can ask the Arborist about your tree, get a name for a Skin Studio species and see a short recap of a season. These use Apple's on-device model: the question and a short summary of your tree (season, size, stores, weather) stay on your device and are never sent to us or to any other AI service. Chat translation on online servers uses Apple's Translation framework, which translates on the device after downloading a language from Apple. If you use Siri or Shortcuts with Heartwood, Apple handles the request under its own privacy policy and the game only receives which action to open. None of this is needed to play, and none of it is stored by us.
Keeping and deleting it
Your data stays until you delete it. In the game, open Profile and choose Delete data (click or tap twice): your saved worlds, profile, leaderboard line, daily challenge lines and account are deleted. If you signed in with Apple, you are asked to confirm with Apple first, and the game's Sign in with Apple link to your Apple ID is ended too; with Google, you confirm with Google. Game Center achievements and scores are kept by Apple and can be managed in your device's Game Center settings. You can also email us and we will delete everything for you.
Children
Heartwood is not directed at children under 13. Online play includes chat with other players; parents can keep play offline (solo, sandbox and challenges need no online features).