Privacy Policy — Brain Dead Brandon
Effective
Brain Dead Brandon is a maths, grammar and logic game for phones and tablets. It is made by one person, Brandon Lusk.
This page explains what the game keeps, where, and how to delete it. It is written so a grown-up can read it in a few minutes.
Cloud save, and which versions have it
Brain Dead Brandon is gaining cloud save: a copy of the game’s progress kept online, so a child’s pets can follow them to a new phone or tablet. This policy describes the game with cloud save switched on.
Versions of the game without cloud save keep everything on the device and send nothing anywhere. For those versions, nothing below about the cloud happens.
The short version
- The game makes an anonymous account for its cloud copy. It does not ask for a name, an email address or a phone number.
- The cloud copy is the game save: pets and the names the player gives them, Ash Nuts, levels, streaks, answer statistics and settings.
- A grown-up can choose to link a Google account (Android) or an Apple Account (iPhone and iPad), behind a grown-up check, so the save can be restored on another device.
- It is stored by Firebase, a Google service, on the game’s behalf.
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking. Nothing is sold or shared.
- A grown-up can delete the cloud copy from Settings at any time (see Deleting your cloud copy).
What the game keeps in the cloud
When the game is online it keeps one cloud copy per account. The first time it goes online it makes an anonymous Firebase account by itself. Nobody signs in for that, and no personal details are asked for. That copy holds:
- An account identifier. A random string Firebase makes up (a “user ID”). It is how the game finds its own copy. It is not shown anywhere in the game.
- The game save. This is the same save the game keeps on the device, as one block of data: the pets, the names the player typed for them and their colours, Ash Nuts earned and spent, unlocked levels and extras such as hats, the daily streak, how many runs were played, how well each subject is going (answer statistics and recent results), and the game’s settings (sound, vibration, which hand the answer buttons sit under, and so on). It also holds a time stamp from the device’s clock for when it was last saved.
- Pet names are typed by the player. A name is 1 to 12 letters and spaces, and it is saved with the pet, so it goes into the cloud copy too. A child could type their own name, or someone else’s. If you would rather that did not happen, help them choose a pet-ish name.
- A random install code. The game makes up a random code when it is installed, and uses it only to keep pet ids from clashing between devices. It is not your device’s serial number or advertising ID, and the game does not read either of those.
The game keeps a small key on the device so it can reach its own cloud copy again. That key never goes anywhere except to Firebase.
When a grown-up links an account
Linking is optional and sits behind a grown-up check (a question a young child cannot answer), at Restore my stable in the game’s stable. It is what lets the save come back on a new or wiped device. On Android it uses Sign in with Google; on iPhone and iPad it uses Sign in with Apple.
- Google. The game passes Google’s sign-in token straight to Firebase and keeps nothing from it. Firebase then holds which Google account is linked, and it also stores that Google account’s email address, display name and profile-photo address (a link to the picture, not the picture itself) on the account record. The game never reads them. They stay there until the cloud account is deleted.
- Apple. Apple gives Firebase an identifier for your Apple Account. The game does not send your name.
Linking does not change anything in your Google or Apple account itself.
What the game does not do
- no advertising and no advertising networks;
- no analytics or telemetry;
- no crash or usage reporting;
- no tracking of any kind. Nothing is sold or shared with anyone, and Google stores the cloud copy only as the game’s service provider (see below);
- no social features, chat, or user-to-user contact. No player can see another player’s anything.
Who stores it, and who can see it
The cloud copy is kept by Firebase (Firebase Authentication for the account, Cloud Firestore for the save), which is run by Google. Google acts as the game’s service provider: it stores the data for the game and does not use it for its own purposes. No other company receives anything.
- Everything travels encrypted (HTTPS) between the device and Google.
- Only the account that made a cloud copy can read it, change it or delete it, and the game only ever asks for its own.
- The developer can see the cloud copies in Firebase’s console.
How long it is kept
The cloud copy is kept until it is deleted. Nothing expires on its own, and the game does not delete old copies on a schedule.
There are two ways a cloud copy can end up somewhere the game can no longer reach:
- The device was wiped or the game was deleted before a grown-up linked an account. The device’s key to the anonymous account went with it, so that cloud copy stays online with no way for the game to open it.
- A restore replaced it. When a grown-up restores a linked account onto a device, the game adds that device’s progress into the linked copy and switches over to it. The device’s old anonymous copy stays online, unused.
The game cannot delete either of those itself.
If you plan to delete the game or reset the device and want the cloud copy gone too, use Delete my cloud account (below) first.
Deleting your cloud copy
This section is for Brain Dead Brandon (Android and iOS), by Brandon Lusk.
In the game. Open Settings from the main menu and tap Delete my cloud account. A grown-up check comes first. Then confirm with Delete the cloud copy. This:
- deletes the cloud copy of the save, then the cloud account that holds it, including any Google or Apple link and the email, name and photo address stored with it;
- leaves the game on this device exactly as it was. The pets, their names, the Ash Nuts, the hats and the streak all stay, and the game carries on;
- stops the device sending anything to the cloud until a grown-up chooses Restore my stable or links an account again.
It cannot be undone, and a new device would start fresh. If the screen says the device has lost its key to the cloud copy, the game cannot delete it itself.
Deleting the cloud account does not remove Brain Dead Brandon from your Google or Apple account’s list of connected apps. You can remove it there yourself (in your Google Account’s security settings, or in iPhone or iPad Settings under your Apple Account → Sign in with Apple).
Children
The game is designed for all ages and is rated 4+. Children play it, so it is built to need nothing personal from them: the cloud account is anonymous, the game asks for no name, email, photo or contact details, and there are no ads and no tracking. The only free text is a pet’s name. Anything that involves a real identity, which means linking a Google or Apple account, sits behind a grown-up check, so a grown-up makes that choice. So does deleting the cloud copy.
It is not enrolled in Apple’s Kids Category or Google Play’s Designed for Families programme.
Purchases
This version contains no purchases. If a future version adds them, they are handled entirely by Apple or Google; this app never sees a payment card or a billing address.
Changes
The earlier version of this policy, effective from 2026-09-25, said the game collected nothing, because no version then had cloud save. That version promised that any change would be described here rather than made quietly. This is that description: cloud save adds the anonymous account, the cloud copy of the game save, optional Google or Apple linking by a grown-up, Firebase as the service that stores them, and the ways to delete them.
If a future version keeps anything more, for example purchase history once real purchases exist, this policy will be updated before that version ships, and the change will be described here.