Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2 October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains what information Fruit Merge collects, how it is used, what may be displayed publicly, and the choices available to players.

1. Information you provide

When you create a Fruit Merge account, we may collect:

• your chosen player name;
• your email address;
• your selected fruit avatar or team;
• your password in order to create a secure password hash; and
• information you submit when using account-recovery features.

You do not need to provide your real name, date of birth or other unnecessary identifying information in order to play.

Passwords are not stored in readable form. Fruit Merge stores a one-way password hash instead.

2. Account and authentication information

To keep you signed in and protect your account, Fruit Merge may store:

• secure hashes of persistent login tokens;
• session identifiers;
• account creation and login timestamps;
• password-reset token hashes and expiry times;
• session and authentication records; and
• security-related account events.

Password-reset links are temporary and single-use. The reset token itself is not stored in readable form; only a cryptographic hash is retained.

3. Gameplay information

Fruit Merge records information necessary to provide the game, calculate statistics, verify results and maintain player progress. This may include:

• game scores;
• best assisted and non-assisted scores;
• lifetime total score;
• moves and merge counts;
• fruit progression and highest fruit reached;
• games started and completed;
• active play time;
• combo records;
• movement-direction statistics;
• Shuffle, Prune and Orchard Sweep usage;
• achievements and achievement progress;
• team membership;
• game-history records; and
• other gameplay statistics introduced as the game develops.

4. Browser-side gameplay and replay verification

Ordinary Fruit Merge gameplay takes place in your browser so that moves can respond immediately without waiting for a server request after every action.

During a game, the browser may store the current game state, deterministic random state, move history, assist events and related information locally.

At the end of a game, gameplay data may be submitted to the Fruit Merge server. The server may independently replay or verify the submitted actions before recording the final score, statistics, achievements or leaderboard result.

This means Fruit Merge does not need to transmit every individual swipe to the server while you play.

5. Local browser storage

Fruit Merge may use browser storage such as localStorage to retain:

• an active game;
• temporary replay information;
• sound and volume preferences;
• motion or animation preferences;
• hint preferences; and
• other local interface settings.

Clearing your browser data may remove locally stored preferences or an unfinished locally stored game. It does not automatically delete your registered Fruit Merge account or server-side gameplay history.

6. Cookies

Fruit Merge uses essential cookies or similar browser mechanisms to provide account and security functionality.

These may include:

• a persistent authentication cookie that allows a recognised device to remain signed in;
• a session cookie used to maintain a secure website session; and
• security information used to protect requests against forgery and unauthorised account access.

Clearing these cookies may sign the browser out but does not necessarily erase the underlying player account.

Additional cookies may be used by advertising providers where advertising is enabled. More information is provided in the Cookie Policy.

7. Public player information

Fruit Merge includes public gameplay features. Depending on the current version of the site, information displayed publicly may include:

• your chosen player name;
• fruit avatar or team;
• public profile;
• scores and leaderboard positions;
• achievements;
• selected statistics;
• recent game information;
• orchard or profile progression; and
• account or join date.

Your email address, password hash, password-reset information, authentication tokens and internal security identifiers are not intended to be displayed publicly.

Because player names can appear publicly, you should avoid using a player name that reveals personal information you do not want other people to see.

8. Device and technical information

Fruit Merge may record limited technical information associated with gameplay or website use, including:

• whether the device is classified as mobile, tablet or desktop;
• browser family;
• operating-system family;
• timestamps associated with activity;
• technical error information; and
• limited operational or security records.

Fruit Merge does not intentionally store the complete raw browser user-agent string in its gameplay database.

The hosting provider may separately maintain web-server access, security or error logs. Those logs may contain technical information such as IP addresses, request information and timestamps according to the hosting provider's configuration and retention practices.

9. Security and abuse prevention

Fruit Merge may keep limited operational records to:

• protect accounts;
• prevent excessive or abusive requests;
• investigate corrupted or invalid game submissions;
• diagnose technical faults;
• verify leaderboard records; and
• maintain the reliability and security of the service.

Operational records may include request receipts, authentication records, session information, rate-limit information, game validation information and security audit events.

Some short-lived operational records are periodically removed once they are no longer required.

10. Advertising

Fruit Merge may display advertising supplied by third-party advertising providers, including Google AdSense.

Advertising providers may use cookies, device identifiers or similar technologies to provide, measure and personalise advertising, subject to applicable law, consent requirements and the provider's own privacy policies.

Fruit Merge does not control the information independently collected by third-party advertising providers after their services are loaded or when you interact with an advertisement.

Where required, advertising cookies or personalised advertising technologies should only be used in accordance with applicable consent requirements.

11. Google advertising

Google may use cookies or other technologies in connection with advertisements displayed through Google AdSense.

Google's use of advertising information is governed by Google's own policies and settings. Depending on your location and applicable consent choices, Google may use information to provide personalised or non-personalised advertising and to measure advertising performance.

You can learn more about Google's advertising and privacy practices through Google's own privacy and advertising-control resources.

12. Social sharing

Fruit Merge may provide buttons that allow you to share the game using services such as Facebook, X, WhatsApp, Reddit or your device's native sharing interface.

Fruit Merge does not need to load social-network software simply to display these buttons. Information is generally sent to the selected third-party service only when you choose to use that sharing feature.

Once you interact with a third-party platform, that platform's own privacy policy applies.

13. How information is used

Information collected through Fruit Merge may be used to:

• create and maintain player accounts;
• authenticate returning players;
• provide password recovery;
• save and verify gameplay results;
• calculate statistics and achievements;
• operate leaderboards and teams;
• display public player profiles;
• maintain active or resumable games;
• detect invalid or corrupted game results;
• maintain security and prevent abuse;
• diagnose errors and performance problems;
• improve the game and website; and
• comply with legal obligations where applicable.

14. Information we do not sell

Fruit Merge does not sell player account information to advertisers or other third parties.

Advertising providers may independently process information through their advertising technologies as described above and in their own privacy policies.

15. Data retention

Different categories of information are retained for different periods depending on their purpose.

Player account details, game history, statistics and achievements may be retained while an account remains active or while they are reasonably required to provide Fruit Merge.

Short-lived operational records such as authentication tokens, request receipts, rate-limit records and some diagnostic records may be automatically deleted after shorter retention periods.

Password-reset tokens expire after a limited period and are not retained indefinitely.

16. Resetting progress and deleting information

Fruit Merge may provide controls for resetting or deleting gameplay progress.

A gameplay reset may remove some or all game history, statistics, achievements or progress while leaving the underlying player account intact.

Account deletion or complete erasure may require a separate account deletion process so that account credentials and associated records can also be removed or anonymised where appropriate.

Certain limited information may need to be retained where required for security, fraud prevention, legal compliance or the integrity of historical records.

17. Keeping your information secure

Reasonable technical measures are used to protect Fruit Merge accounts and stored information. These include password hashing, hashed authentication tokens, temporary password-reset tokens, session protections and server-side validation of submitted game results.

No online service can guarantee absolute security. You should use a strong, unique password and keep access to your associated email account secure.

18. Children and personal information

Fruit Merge is a general-audience puzzle game and is not designed to require children to provide unnecessary personal information.

Players should avoid placing real names, contact information or other sensitive personal information in public player names or profiles.

19. Third-party websites and services

Fruit Merge may contain advertisements, links or sharing features that lead to third-party websites or services.

This Privacy Policy applies to Fruit Merge and does not govern how independent third parties collect or process information. You should review the privacy information provided by those services where relevant.

20. Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated as Fruit Merge changes, new features are introduced, third-party services change or legal and technical requirements develop.

The current version will be published on this page together with an updated date.

21. Contact

Questions about privacy, account information, correction or deletion requests can be submitted through the contact details published on Play2048.com.au.