Privacy

What we store, and why

• Your account: email, @username, a scrambled (hashed) version of your password (never the password itself) and that you said you're 16 or over. Needed to run your account.
• Your game: your character, look, progress, money, home and where you are in the game, which other players can partly see. Needed to run the game.
• What you say: private messages (kept until you or the other person deletes their account) and chat at each spot (deleted after 24 hours). Names and messages are filtered automatically for slurs, swearing and contact details.
• Safety: if you report someone, or someone reports you, we keep the report and the last few messages of that conversation so our team can review it. Our legitimate interest in keeping players safe.
• Payments: Stripe takes card payments in pounds, dollars and naira, so we never see your card details. We keep a record of each top-up or ad booking (what, how much, when) for 6 years, because tax law requires it.
• Advertisers: your email for receipts, your artwork and link, and how many players tapped "Visit".
• Security: your IP address, used briefly to stop people trying lots of passwords or sign-ups (kept for about an hour).

Cookies and your device

We use one cookie, to keep you logged in. It's strictly necessary, so we don't ask first. Your device also remembers a few settings, such as low graphics mode. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.

Who else handles it

• Our hosting provider, which runs the game and its database.
• Stripe, for payments in pounds (£), dollars ($) and naira (₦).
• Resend, which sends account emails such as password reset links.
• Cloudinary, which stores and serves advertisers' pictures.

They only use your data to do this work for us. Where any of them handle data outside the UK, it's protected by the safeguards UK law requires.

How long we keep it

• Your account, game and messages: until you delete your account.
• Spot chat: 24 hours. Password reset links: 1 hour.
• Payment records: 6 years, with your name removed if you delete your account.
• Reports: as long as needed to keep players safe.

Your rights

• Get a copy: 📱 → Settings → Download my data.
• Delete everything: 📱 → Settings → Delete my account.
• You can also ask us to correct your data, stop or limit using it, or explain anything here.

Contact: contact@welcome2london.com. If you're not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Children

Welcome to London is for people aged 16 and over. If we find out an account belongs to someone younger, we delete it.