Connect Garden — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-10-21

Connect Garden is a puzzle game by The Next Beacon. You never need an account. This page explains everything the game sends anywhere, and how to switch each part off.

Your photos stay on your phone

When you make a tile pack from your photos, you choose the pictures with the system photo picker. The game gets only the pictures you pick, never your whole library. It shrinks each one, finds a face to centre the tile on (this runs on the phone itself), and saves small tile images inside the game's private storage. Photos are never uploaded, shared, backed up or analysed anywhere else. If you delete a photo pack or uninstall the game, those images are gone.

Anonymous gameplay statistics (you can turn them off)

To learn which levels are too hard and whether the game runs smoothly, the game sends anonymous statistics to our own server (t.thenextbeacon.com). They are not sent to anyone else:

• what happens in the game: levels started and finished, moves, boosters used, which screens and buttons are used, and how long sessions last;
• how well the game runs: frame rate, loading times and errors;
• crash reports: if the game closes because of a fault, a short report (which screen was open, the app version and where in our code it stopped) is sent at the next start;
• technical context: app version, operating system and version, phone or tablet, language, time-zone offset, and two random identifiers, one created by the game and one per-vendor identifier on iOS, so that sessions from the same install can be counted together.

We never collect your name, email, contacts, location, photos, photo names, or anything you type into the game. The statistics are not linked to your identity, not used for advertising, not sold, and not combined with data from other companies.

You can switch statistics off in the first-start dialog or at any time in Settings → Share anonymous game statistics. Switching off stops sending immediately and deletes anything still waiting on the phone, including an unsent crash report.

Cloud backup of your progress (optional)

Settings → Your garden can keep a copy of your progress on our own server so that it survives a lost or new phone. The backup holds your stars, coins, boosters, unlocked packs and purchases, streaks, records and settings, under a random garden code. It does not hold photos, photo packs or anything that identifies you. Your garden code is shown only to you; anyone who has it can restore that garden, so keep it like a key.

Switch Cloud backup off to stop uploading. To have a backup deleted, write to us from Settings → Help and we remove it.

Messages you write to us

Settings → Help → Write to us sends the message you type to our support inbox, together with the app version, operating system, phone model, language and level, so we can help. Our answers appear in Messages. Messages are kept only to answer you and improve the game.

Purchases

Purchases go through the App Store or Google Play. We never see your payment details. The game only learns which items you own, so it can unlock them, and keeps that in your progress (and in the cloud backup, if switched on).

Ads

From level 12 the game may show a short ad between boards, never during one. Ads come from Google AdMob. Before any ad is requested, Google's consent form asks you where the law requires it, and you can change that choice at any time in Settings → Ad privacy choices. Google's use of data is described at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. The game does not ask to track you across other companies' apps. Buying Remove ads (or the Garden Pass) switches ads off; bonus videos that you choose to watch stay available.

Content updates

The game can download new levels, pictures, sounds and translations from content.thenextbeacon.com. These requests carry no identifiers, only the app's channel and build number. As with any download, the server sees your IP address.

Children

The game is made for adults and is not directed at children.

Retention and your rights

Statistics are kept to improve the game. They cannot be traced back to you, so we cannot pick out "your" statistics. Backups are kept while you use the game; feedback messages while the conversation is useful. Under the GDPR you can ask us what we hold about your garden, and ask for it to be corrected or deleted.

Contact

The Next Beacon, hello@thenextbeacon.com