Throttle Hills — Privacy Policy

Last updated: 29 September 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Innovatek Software (Innovatek di Cafaro Carmelina, VAT IT06424410659), publisher of the Throttle Hills driving game for Android, handles information in connection with the game.

1. Information stored on your device

You do not need an account to play. Your progress — coins, unlocked vehicles and levels, upgrades, vehicle customisation (including the text of your personal sticker), best times, the “ghost” of your best run on each track, missions, daily reward streak and settings such as language, units and sound — is saved on your device, in the game's private storage. If you sign in with Google Play Games, a copy of this progress is also kept in your Play Games cloud save (section 2). If you use online Challenges, some data reaches our servers as described in section 3; without Challenges no game data is sent to us.

If Android device backup is turned on, the operating system may include the game's data in your Google backup, according to the settings you have chosen. That backup is managed by Google, not by us.

2. Google Play Games (optional)

The game supports Google Play Games Services. Signing in is optional: the game can be played in full without it. If you have a Play Games profile on your device, the game may sign you in automatically with it, and you can also sign in from the garage. When you are signed in:

Cloud save: your progress (the data in section 1, including the sticker text and, if you use Challenges, the credentials of your Challenges profile) is synced through Play Games saved games, so it can be restored on another device signed in with the same account.
Leaderboards: your best endless-mode distance, your total stars and your number of wins are submitted to three online Play Games leaderboards, where they are shown with your Play Games profile according to your visibility settings.
Profile: while you are signed in the game receives your Play Games display name and player ID from Google. The name is only used as a suggested nickname when you open Challenges; the player ID is sent to our servers only if you use Challenges, to suggest Play Games friends who play (section 3).

This data is stored and processed by Google under the Google Privacy Policy. You can manage or delete your Play Games profile, saved games and leaderboard entries from the Google Play Games settings on your device or in your Google account.

3. Online Challenges with friends (optional)

Challenges let you race against other players' “ghosts”. They are optional: they are only turned on when you open the Challenges panel and choose a nickname. The game then creates a Challenges profile on our servers and, while you use it, processes the following data:

Profile: the nickname you choose, a randomly generated friend code, the vehicle and colour you picked (used as your avatar), the number of challenges won and lost, the time you were last active (to show friends whether you are online) and, if you are signed in to Play Games, your Play Games player ID. The profile is protected by a secret generated by the server: on the server we keep only a cryptographic hash of it.
Friends: friend requests sent and received, accepted friends, blocked players and the head-to-head score between you and each friend.
Runs: when you send or accept a challenge, or set a new personal best, the game uploads the recording of the run (position and tilt of the vehicle 15 times a second), the track, the mode, the vehicle and colour, the distance and the time. Your personal sticker (photo or text) is never uploaded.
Challenges: who challenged whom, the results, the ready-made reactions sent, and the creation and expiry dates.
Reports: if you report a nickname, we keep the report in order to review it.
Technical data: to run the service and prevent abuse the server receives your device's IP address, used to limit the number of requests and kept only temporarily in the hosting provider's technical logs.

Who sees what: your friends see your nickname, avatar, whether you are online, your head-to-head score and results. Your nickname, avatar and personal bests also appear in the Challenges leaderboards and can be served as a random rival to other players, who race against the recording of your run. If you share a challenge by link, anyone who opens the link sees your nickname, the track and your result. There is no chat: players can only exchange ready-made reactions.

Why we process it: to provide the service you chose to use (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and, for anti-cheating and anti-abuse checks and for reports, our legitimate interest in keeping the service fair and safe (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Where: Challenges data is stored on Microsoft Azure, in a data centre in the European Union (West Europe), which processes it on our behalf as a data processor.

How long: challenge recordings are deleted after 30 days; Challenges inbox entries 30 days after their last update. Your profile, friends and personal bests are kept until you delete your profile.

Deleting your profile: in the game open Challenges and tap Delete challenge profile. Your profile, friend code, friendships, inbox and online records are deleted immediately; in challenges already played by others your name is replaced by “—”. You can also request it without the game by following the instructions on the Delete your Challenges profile page. Your in-game progress on the device is not affected.

4. Personal sticker photo

You can put a photo of your choice on your vehicle. The photo is selected with the Android system photo picker, which gives the game access only to the single image you pick: the game requests no storage or media permission and cannot see the rest of your gallery. The chosen image is cropped and copied into the game's private storage on your device. It is never uploaded anywhere, is not part of the Play Games cloud save or of Challenges and is not shared with us or with third parties. Choosing another photo replaces it; uninstalling the game or clearing its data deletes it.

5. Advertising (Google AdMob)

The free version of the game shows ads provided by Google AdMob: optional rewarded videos (for example to double the coins of a race, continue with a full tank or try a locked vehicle) and, occasionally, a full-screen ad between races. To serve and measure ads, Google may collect and process information such as the device's advertising ID, IP address, device and app information, approximate location derived from the IP address, and interactions with ads. This processing is performed by Google as described in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and in the Google Privacy Policy.

In the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland the game asks for your consent through Google's consent message (User Messaging Platform) before personalised ads are shown. You can change your choice at any time from the Privacy button in the game's Premium screen. You can also reset or delete your advertising ID, or opt out of ads personalisation, in your Android device settings (Settings › Google › Ads). The content of ads is limited to a general-audience rating.

6. In-app purchase

The game offers an optional one-time Premium purchase that unlocks all content, removes the full-screen ads between races and grants video bonuses without watching. Payments are processed entirely by Google Play; we never receive your payment details. The game only receives confirmation from Google Play that the purchase has been made, so that it can restore it on your devices.

7. Device permissions

The game requests only these Android permissions: internet and network state (to load ads, verify purchases, use Play Games and Challenges), vibration (short haptic feedback when the pedals are pressed, disabled when sound is turned off), wake lock and foreground service (used internally by the Google libraries included in the game), billing (Google Play purchases) and the advertising ID (AdMob, section 5). It requests no access to your storage, photos, camera, microphone, contacts or location. It reads the device's language and region only locally, to pick the default language and measurement units (metric or imperial).

8. Data sharing

We do not sell or rent any data. Challenges data is visible to other players only as described in section 3 and is stored on Microsoft Azure, which processes it on our behalf. The other third parties involved are Google services, each under Google's own privacy policy: Google AdMob (advertising, section 5), Google Play Games (only if you sign in, section 2) and Google Play (downloads, updates and payments).

9. Data retention, deletion and children

Game data stored on the device, including the sticker photo, is permanently removed by uninstalling Throttle Hills or clearing the app's data. Challenges data follows the retention periods in section 3 and is deleted when you delete your Challenges profile. Play Games saved games and leaderboard entries are kept by Google until you delete them from your Play Games settings. Advertising data is retained by Google according to its own policies. Throttle Hills is a general-audience game and is not directed at children under 13.

10. Your rights and contact

You can ask us at any time to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of the data in your Challenges profile, or to object to its processing, by writing to info@innovateksoftware.com and including your friend code. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your data protection authority (in Italy, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali). Data controller: Innovatek di Cafaro Carmelina — VAT IT06424410659.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date above always reflects the current version.