3D Ball Smack — Privacy Policy
Last updated: 28 July 2026
1. Who we are
3D Ball Smack is operated by Ponotech LLC, a limited liability company established in Hawaii, United States. For the purposes of the UK and EU General Data Protection Regulation, Ponotech LLC is the data controller for the information described here.
Contact us about anything in this policy at ballsmack@ponotechhi.com. That address also reaches us for reports of objectionable content or abusive behaviour.
2. Minimum age
3D Ball Smack includes chat with other players, so there is an age floor:
- If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you must be at least 16.
- Everywhere else, you must be at least 13.
We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone below these ages. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will delete it.
3. What we collect, and why
We only collect what the game needs to work. There is no advertising, no advertising or marketing analytics, and no third-party tracking of any kind. We do keep our own crash and stall diagnostics, described in the table below, purely to find and fix faults in the game — that data is never sold, shared, or used to build a profile of you.
| Data | Why we have it | Legal basis (UK/EU GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Email address | Identifies your account, sends your verification code, lets you recover access | Performance of a contract |
| Name and profile photo from Google | Pre-fills your display name and avatar, only if you sign in with Google | Performance of a contract |
| Password, stored only as a bcrypt hash — never the password itself | Authenticates email and password accounts | Performance of a contract |
| Display name and avatar image | Shown to other players in lobbies, matches and chat | Performance of a contract |
| Game statistics — wins, games played, smacks delivered and received | Your career profile and per-mode records | Performance of a contract |
| Friends list, friend code, pending requests, blocked players | Powers the friends and blocking features | Performance of a contract |
| Chat messages | Delivers chat, and lets us act on reports of abuse | Performance of a contract, and our legitimate interest in keeping the game safe |
| Abuse reports you send, or that name you | Lets us investigate and act on harmful behaviour | Legitimate interests (player safety), and compliance with app store rules |
| Session tokens | Keeps you signed in without re-entering your credentials | Performance of a contract |
| Cosmetic items you own and have equipped | Renders your marbles, dice and board | Performance of a contract |
| Diagnostic and crash data — the error message, where in our code it happened, which match you were in, and your device's browser, graphics chip, screen size and memory | Lets us find and fix crashes, freezes and stalled games. Players reported games hanging and we had no way to see why | Legitimate interests (keeping the game working) |
| Match records — when a game started and ended, who was in it, and how it finished | Tells us whether games are completing normally or breaking, which is how we spot a fault affecting lots of players | Legitimate interests (keeping the game working) |
Diagnostic and match data is kept for up to 30 days and then deleted automatically. If you delete your account, your name, player ID and device details are removed from these records immediately — we keep only the anonymous fault itself, which no longer identifies you.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed those against your rights and concluded that protecting players from harassment cannot reasonably be achieved another way. You can object to that processing — see section 8.
Storage on your device
We store your session token and your settings (sound, profanity filter, confirmation prompts) in your device's local storage. These are strictly necessary for the game to work and are not used for tracking or advertising, so no cookie consent banner is required. Signing out or clearing your browser data removes them.
4. What other players can see
Other players see your display name, avatar, game statistics, whether you are online, and anything you type in chat. Your email address, real name, password hash, friends list, blocklist and friend code are never shown to other players.
5. Who else is involved
We keep third parties to a minimum. Fonts and default avatars are served by us and generated on your own device, so playing 3D Ball Smack does not disclose your IP address to any font or avatar provider.
- Render — hosts the game server and stores the data above, as our processor.
- Namecheap Private Email — delivers verification emails, as our processor.
- Google Sign-In — only if you choose to sign in with Google. Google is an independent controller for what it collects; see Google's own privacy policy.
- Apple and Google — process in-app purchases. We never receive your payment details.
6. International transfers
Our servers are in the United States, so if you are in the UK or EEA your information is transferred outside your country. We rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum where applicable, as the safeguard for those transfers. Email us for a copy of the relevant terms.
7. How long we keep it
| Data | Retained |
|---|---|
| Your profile, statistics, friends and cosmetics | Until you delete your account |
| Session tokens | 90 days, or until you sign out or delete your account |
| In-match chat | For the life of the match only |
| Global chat | The 50 most recent messages; older ones are discarded automatically |
| Abuse reports and moderation records | 12 months, so repeat behaviour can be recognised |
| Saved games | Until deleted by a participant |
| Diagnostic, crash and match records | Up to 30 days, then deleted automatically. Your identifying details are removed sooner if you delete your account |
| Backups | Deleted data may persist in backups for up to 30 days before being overwritten |
8. Your rights
If you are in the UK or EEA you have the right to access your personal data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to our processing of it, and to receive it in a portable format. We honour these requests from everyone who asks, wherever you live — we do not run a two-tier system.
Exercise any of them by emailing ballsmack@ponotechhi.com. We respond within one month. We will not charge you, and we will not degrade the game because you asked.
You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority. In the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk); in the EEA it is the supervisory authority where you live or work.
9. Deleting your account
You can delete your account at any time from Settings → Delete Account inside the game. That removes your profile, statistics, cosmetics, friends list and friend code, removes you from other players' friends and request lists, and signs out every device. It cannot be undone.
It also strips your name, player ID and device details out of our crash and match diagnostics. We keep the anonymous fault record itself — the error and where in our code it happened — because that is what lets us fix the bug for everyone else, and once your details are gone it no longer identifies you.
You can also request deletion by emailing ballsmack@ponotechhi.com from the address on the account. We action those within 30 days.
10. Automated processing
The game automatically filters certain words from chat and display names, and limits how fast messages can be sent. Decisions that affect your account — suspensions and bans — are made by a person, not automatically. If your account is actioned you can appeal to ballsmack@ponotechhi.com.
11. Security
Passwords are stored only as bcrypt hashes. Traffic between your device and our servers is encrypted in transit. Sign-in credentials are verified on our servers, and session tokens are revoked when you sign out, delete your account, or are banned. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
12. Changes
If we change this policy in a way that materially affects you, we will update the date above and show a notice in the game before the change takes effect.
13. Contact
Ponotech LLC — ballsmack@ponotechhi.com