Last Updated: October 2, 2026
This policy covers one app: Notebird, the game for learning to read music notes, on Android, iPhone and iPad. Birds land on a five-line staff and you name each note they sit on. Our other apps are covered by the general Illumination Development privacy policy, which does not apply here. That policy describes reward balances and redemption records that this app does not have.
The short version
There is no account and no sign-in. Your progress is stored on the phone and nowhere else. We never receive it.
The app does not use the microphone, the camera, your location or your contacts, and there is nothing to buy.
What does leave the phone is advertising, usage analytics and crash reports, described in full below. Every advertisement request is marked as child-directed, rated G and not personalized, and there is never an advertisement during a round.
What stays on the phone
Your game record: the stars earned on each stage, how well you know each note, your game options (how notes are named, which answer pad you use, whether the keys are labeled and whether sound is on), your day streak, and counts of the rounds you have played and the notes you have named. It is kept in one database in the app's private storage, and it is removed if you use Delete my data or uninstall the app.
What the app sends
None of what follows includes a name, an email address or anything you type.
Usage analytics
The app reports a small set of events to Google Analytics, each with only the details listed here:
- which screen is open (the splash screen, the map, a round, or practice);
- how long the app took to start, in milliseconds;
- that a round was finished, with the stage it was on (a stage name such as t3, or practice), the stars it earned (0 to 3) and its best run of correct answers in a row, rounded into a range (0–4, 5–9, 10–19 or 20 and over);
- that a stage was cleared for the first time, and which stage;
- that a round was left before the end, and which stage;
- that the introduction was finished;
- that a game option was changed, which one (answer pad, note naming, key labels or sound) and its new value;
- that the privacy policy was opened.
The app also records which kind of build it is (for example, a release build) as a property. Alongside those, Google Analytics collects its own app-instance identifier, coarse device information such as the model, the operating system version and the app version, and an approximate location that Google derives from the IP address. The app itself never asks for location. We use analytics to see which parts of the app are used, and for nothing else.
Crash and diagnostic reports
If the app crashes or hits a handled error, Google Crashlytics sends a report: the stack trace, the app version, the device model and operating system, and Crashlytics' own installation identifier. This is how bugs get found. Analytics and crash reporting are both switched off in development builds.
Advertising
The app is free and carries advertising from Google AdMob and no one else. There is one placement: a banner under the map screen. There is never an advertisement during a round, there are no full-screen or rewarded advertisements, and there is nothing to buy.
Notebird is designed so that children can play it, so every advertisement request is marked as child-directed (Google's treatment for child-directed content), limited to content rated G, and not personalized. The app does not show Apple's tracking prompt and does not request Apple's Identifier for Advertisers. To serve a banner, the Google Mobile Ads SDK contacts Google and may collect device information, an approximate location derived from the IP address, and the request, impression and click themselves, under Google's own privacy policy. We never see any of it, and none of it is connected to your game record.
On Android, the app removes the advertising-ID permission, so neither the Google Mobile Ads SDK nor Google Analytics can read your advertising ID. On both platforms, Google Analytics is set not to allow ad personalization, and on Android it is also set not to collect the advertising ID.
In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland
Where a consent regime applies, Google's consent message is shown before any advertisement is requested, and the app asks as if the user may be under the age of consent. Ad privacy options, under Help, privacy and your data in the app's options, reopens the same choices at any time; that entry appears only where a consent regime applies.
Rating prompt
After the 6th and the 30th finished round, if that round earned a star, the app may ask the App Store or Google Play to show its own rating prompt. The store decides whether it actually appears, and the app is never told whether you rated it or what you said.
Contacting support
Contact support, under Help, privacy and your data in the app's options, opens your own email app, addressed to support@illuminationdevelopment.com. The app attaches nothing: what we receive is exactly what you write, from the address you send it from, and we use that address only to reply.
Delete my data
Delete my data, under Help, privacy and your data in the app's options, immediately erases your game record from the phone (every star, every bird, how well you know each note, your game options, your streak and your counts) and resets the Google Analytics identifiers held on the phone. The app then starts again as if it had just been installed. There is nothing on a server for us to delete.
Analytics events and crash reports already sent to Google before you pressed it are kept by Google under its own retention periods, keyed to identifiers that no longer lead back to this installation. To ask about those, write to privacy@illuminationdevelopment.com.
What the app does not do
- No account, no sign-in, and no upload of your game record.
- No in-app purchases, no rewards and nothing for sale.
- No microphone and no camera.
- No location permission, and no access to contacts.
- No chat, no sharing with other users, and no way to reach another person through the app.
- No advertising during a round, no advertising network other than Google AdMob, and no personalized advertising.
- We do not sell personal information.
Children
Notebird is designed to be usable by children. It is not in the App Store's Kids Category, and because children may play it, every advertisement in it is child-directed, rated G and non-personalized as described above. The game asks for no name or other personal information, and the only information that leaves the phone is the advertising, analytics and crash reporting described here. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, for example in an email, write to privacy@illuminationdevelopment.com and we will delete it.
Your rights
Under the GDPR, the UK GDPR, the CCPA and CPRA, and comparable laws elsewhere, you have rights to access, correct, port and delete personal information held about you. Your game record is on your phone, where you can erase it with Delete my data. For anything else, including a support email or data Google holds from analytics, crash reports or advertising, write to privacy@illuminationdevelopment.com. Information Google holds from running those services is subject to Google's privacy policy.
A note about this web page
The app does not display this page; tapping Privacy Policy in the app's options opens it in the phone's browser, and this website uses Google Analytics to see which pages people find useful. That is described in the general policy and applies to your visit to this page, not to your use of the app. The app is available in English, German, Spanish and French; this policy is in English.
Changes to this policy
If any of this stops being true, this page changes before the version that changes it reaches either store, and the App Store privacy label and Google Play Data safety form change with it. Revisions are posted here with an updated date.
Contact
Email: privacy@illuminationdevelopment.com
You can also reach us through our contact and support page.