Petbox privacy policy
What the game stores, and where
The game keeps one save file in its private app storage on your device. It contains your garden: your pets and the names you give them, their stats, decorations, items, progress, your settings (music, sounds, haptics, reduced motion, relaxed timing, battery saver) and the time you last played (used to let your pets rest and grow while you are away).
Next to it, in the same private storage, the game keeps a few safety copies of that same file so a crash or a damaged file can't lose your garden: a copy of the previous save, a once-a-day backup, and, only if a save is ever found damaged, a copy of the damaged file so it can still be recovered. They hold the same information as the save itself.
- This file never leaves your device through the game. The developer cannot see it.
- Uninstalling the game deletes it and all of its copies. Settings > Reset save inside the game also deletes the save and all of its copies (your sound and other settings are kept).
- Pet names are whatever you type. Please don't use real names or personal details as pet names, especially if you share Garden Postcards (below).
- Name filter. Names you type and names that reach you from others (postcards, codes, Play Together, plaza pen pals) are checked on your device against English, Spanish and Portuguese lists of blocked words. A blocked name you type is not accepted; a blocked name you receive is replaced with a made-up one. Nothing is sent anywhere for this.
Android backup
Petbox allows Android's standard app-data backup. If you have backup turned on in your Android settings, Android may copy the save file (and its safety copies) to your own Google account backup and restore it when you set up a new phone. That copy is made and stored by Google under your Google account and Google's privacy policy; the developer has no access to it. You can turn backup off in your Android settings at any time.
The game also keeps ready-made music in the app's cache folder so themes start quickly. It holds no personal data, is not part of the backup, and Android may clear it at any time (the game simply makes it again).
Garden Postcards (sharing a pet)
You can turn a pet into a short code like GLIM-XXXX-XXXX-.... The code
contains only game data about that pet: species, look, stats, accessory, heart level and its
name (up to 10 letters). It contains no device, account or location information.
- The code is created on your device. COPY puts it on your device clipboard, and on Android SHARE opens Android's own share menu with one short line of text and the code (for example "A PETBOX CODE FOR YOU! OPEN PETBOX, TAP POSTCARDS, THEN ENTER A CODE: GLIM-XXXX-..."), in the game's language. What you do with it next (sending it in a message, posting it) is up to you, through apps you choose; the game itself sends nothing.
- PASTE reads your clipboard at the moment you tap it, to fill in a code a friend sent you. A visiting pet stays in your save on your device for one day.
- Spotting a friend's code. Only within 24 hours after you last used a code (copied, shared, pasted or typed one), when you come back to Petbox the game checks whether the clipboard holds a Petbox code and, if so, asks "A friend's code! Open it?". The check happens only on your device, only when you return to the garden screen, and at most once every 2 minutes. After 24 hours without using a code the game does not look at the clipboard at all until you use a code again. The clipboard text is never stored or sent, anything that is not a Petbox code is ignored, and codes you copied yourself are never offered. Only a short fingerprint (a hash) of the last code it offered is kept on your device, so the same code is not offered twice. On Android 12 and later, Android may show a short "Petbox pasted from your clipboard" notice when this happens.
- The game never sends or receives postcards over the internet.
Play Together (local Wi-Fi, optional)
Play Together lets two phones on the same Wi-Fi network share one garden live. It only runs while the Play Together screen is open and one of you has chosen HOST MY GARDEN and the other JOIN A FRIEND.
- Direct, local only. The two phones talk to each other directly on your home network. There is no server, no account and no internet connection involved, and the developer never receives anything. The game only accepts private home-network addresses (10.x, 172.16-31.x, 192.168.x) and refuses everything else.
- What is exchanged (only between the two phones, only during the session): the look of the pets in the session (species, colors, stage, accessory and their names, the same as a Garden Postcard), the host's garden snapshot (garden, decorations and season, the same as a Garden visit code), live positions of the pets and the ball, preset emotes (no free text, no chat) and taps on trees and the shared basket. Pet stats, items, your save file and anything about your device are never sent.
- Finding each other. While hosting, the phone sends a small "a garden is here" message to the local network about once a second so nearby phones can list it. It holds only the garden's two-word nickname (such as MOSSY GLEN; many gardens share each nickname), a random room number that changes every time you host, the number of pets and a port number. A guest can also join with the host's room code, which is the host's local network address written as digits.
- Garden ID. Your garden has an ID: a random number created when you first played, which is also inside your Garden codes. It is not in the "a garden is here" messages. It is sent only to the one friend who joins your session (and theirs to you), so each phone can show the other's garden name; it is not stored.
- Nothing is kept. A friend's pets are only shown; they never enter your garden or your save. Your save changes only by your own actions (a small shard reward when you and your friend fill the fruit basket together). Leaving the screen ends the session.
Things the game uses on your device without collecting them
- Clock and time zone: for day and night, weather, daily wishes and the Saturday festival. Read locally, never sent anywhere.
- Vibration: short haptic taps (the VIBRATE permission). You can turn haptics off in Settings.
- Good-news reminders (the POST_NOTIFICATIONS permission): optional, off unless a grown-up turns them on in Settings (behind the grown-up check; Android then asks for permission). They are local notifications the phone itself shows, at most one a day and never at night (20:00-08:00), only happy news such as "Your egg hatched!". No data leaves the device, no server or push service is used, and they can be turned off at any time in the game or in the phone's settings.
- Clipboard: when you tap COPY or PASTE, and the "friend's code" check on return described above (only within 24 hours after you used a code).
- Share menu: SHARE hands the code text to Android's share menu; you choose the app.
- Local network (the INTERNET and CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE permissions): Android requires the INTERNET permission for any network connection, including one between two phones in the same home. Petbox uses it only for Play Together on your local Wi-Fi; it never connects to the internet. The Wi-Fi multicast permission lets the phone hear nearby hosts; the game turns it on only while the Play Together screen is open.
The game does not use your location, camera, microphone, contacts, photos or files, and does not read the advertising ID or other device identifiers.
Advertising, analytics and third parties
There are no ads, no analytics or crash-reporting services, and no third-party SDKs that collect data. The game is made with the open-source Godot Engine, which does not collect data. If you download the game from Google Play, Google handles the download (and any payment) under its own privacy policy.
Children
Petbox is suitable for everyone and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children: it collects no information at all. Parents can check the points above: no ads, no chat, no internet features, no data collection, and no purchases (the game shows nothing for sale; if purchases are ever added, they will sit behind a grown-up check). Play Together works only between phones on the same home Wi-Fi, uses preset emotes instead of text, and shows other players' pet names through the same name filter as Garden Postcards.
Changes to this policy
If the game ever changes in a way that affects your privacy (for example adding internet features or ads), this policy will be updated before that version is released, and the effective date above will change.
Contact
Questions about this policy: support@boxunitedgames.com