Privacy Policy
Effective date: 2026-06-22
Nightbranch ("the app", "we", "us") is an interactive illustrated gamebook app: a library of choose-your-path story books for children and families. This policy explains what data the app processes, where it goes, and the choices you have. Because Nightbranch is made for children, we hold ourselves to the children's privacy standards described below.
The short version: the app has no accounts and does not collect personal information about you. Your reading happens on your device. The only data that leaves your device is anonymized crash reports (used to fix bugs), the network requests needed to download new story books you add to your library, and purchase data handled by Google when you buy a book.
1. Who we are
Nightbranch is developed by Joseph Griffin (privacy@nightbranch.app), based in Okinawa, Japan. There is no company behind the app, no employees, and no marketing or data team. The app is intended for a general audience that includes children, so we follow the United States Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Google Play's Families policy.
2. Data that stays on your device
Everything below is processed locally on your device and is never transmitted off-device:
- Reading progress: which story you are reading, which page you are on, and which choices and endings you have unlocked.
- App settings and preferences, such as your sound setting, stored using the standard per-app storage provided by Android.
- Downloaded books once they are on your device, so they can be read offline.
There is no sign-up and no user account. The app does not ask for your name, email address, phone number, location, photos, or contacts. When you uninstall the app, this data is removed by your operating system along with the app.
3. Data that leaves your device
The following limited data may leave your device:
Downloaded books
Nightbranch is a library of story books, and new books can be added to your library over time. Unlocking or purchasing a book downloads that book's text, art, and sound to your device. When the app downloads a book, it makes a standard network request to the service that hosts the book files. As with any download on the internet, the hosting service automatically receives the technical details needed to deliver the file, such as your device's IP address and the name of the file requested. This information is used only to deliver the content you asked for and to keep the service secure and working. We do not use it to build a profile of you, to advertise, or to track you across other apps, and it is not linked to any identity, because the app has no accounts.
Crash reports (Sentry)
If the app crashes, it may send a technical crash report to Sentry, a third-party error tracking service, so we can fix bugs. These reports are configured to exclude personal information.
Crash reports contain:
- Stack traces (where in the code the crash happened)
- App version and build mode
- Device model and operating system version
Crash reports do NOT contain:
- What you are reading, or any story content
- Your IP address or device identifiers (we turn these off)
- Personal identifiers such as your name or email
- Screenshots
- Location data
Sentry's privacy policy is at https://sentry.io/privacy/. You can prevent crash reports from being sent by using your operating system's privacy controls (for example, restricting network access for the app) or by uninstalling the app.
Purchase data (Google)
Nightbranch is free to download and offers optional in-app purchases to unlock additional books. When you make a purchase, the transaction is handled entirely by Google Play Billing. Nightbranch does not see or store your payment details. We receive only a confirmation that you own the purchase, which is used to unlock the corresponding book. Children should always ask a parent or guardian before making a purchase. See Google's privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.
4. Permissions
The app requests only one operating system permission:
- Internet access: required to download new books and to send crash reports. The stories already on your device are read offline.
The app does not request the camera, microphone, location, contacts, or photo library.
5. Children
The app is built for children and does not knowingly collect any personal information from children (or anyone). It contains no advertising, no chat, no social features, no third-party trackers, no user-generated content, and no user accounts. The crash reports described above contain no information that identifies a specific person.
If you are a parent or guardian and you believe a child has somehow provided us with personal information, contact us at the email below and we will address it promptly.
6. Your rights
Because Nightbranch stores your reading progress and library entirely on your device, you control them directly through the app and through your operating system:
- Deletion: clear the app's storage in your device settings, or uninstall the app to remove all locally stored data.
If you live in the European Economic Area (GDPR), the United Kingdom (UK GDPR), California (CCPA / CPRA), or Japan (APPI), you have specific rights regarding the limited data that does leave your device (crash reports and book download requests). To exercise these rights, contact us at the email below. Note that this data is not linked to your personal identity, so in practice we may not be able to identify which records came from your device.
7. International data transfers
Crash reports sent to Sentry, and the requests made to download books, may be processed on servers located outside your country of residence, including in the United States or the European Union.
8. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the effective date at the top and, where reasonable, surface a notice in the app's store listing. Continued use of the app after a change indicates acceptance of the updated policy.
9. Contact
Questions about this policy or about how Nightbranch handles your data: privacy@nightbranch.app