Last updated: August 23, 2026
You Are a Geologist is an educational website and iOS and Android application that lets users explore Sierra Nevada sequoia groves as field geologists. It is developed and operated by YouAreAGeologist, owned by Stephen and Brooklyn Oni. We are committed to protecting the privacy of our users, including students and educators who use this application for classroom and research purposes.
On the website, when you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and Google account ID. This information is used solely to save and sync your game progress across devices via Google Firebase Firestore. We do not access your Google Drive, contacts, or any other Google account data beyond the information provided during sign-in.
In the iOS and Android apps, we create a private anonymous Firebase account identifier. The apps do not ask for your name or email address. This identifier is used for authentication, saved progress, account deletion, and multiplayer grove challenges.
We also collect and store your in-game activity data, including: groves visited, story nodes completed, quiz scores, exploration time, specimens collected, and character customisation choices. This data is stored in Google Firebase Firestore under your account and is used to deliver the game experience.
If you use Community challenges, we store invitation and match records, specimen and quiz scores, wins, losses, ties, and ladder points. The leaderboard shows only an automatically generated public alias such as “Geologist A1B2C”; it does not show your name, email address, avatar name, or contact details. The app does not provide public chat.
We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties, except as described in this policy (advertising services, payment processing, and analytics).
Our website uses Google AdSense to display advertisements. The iOS and Android apps do not display these web advertisements. Google AdSense uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to serve personalised ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your browsing history.
Premium subscribers do not see advertisements. Ads are shown only to free-tier users on pages where ad banners are present.
You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of interest-based advertising from participating third-party vendors by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out page.
On our website, we use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how visitors use the site — for example, which pages are visited, how long users spend on each page, and which devices and browsers are used. GA4 collects this information using cookies and may associate data with your Google account if you are signed in to Google. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
We use the following types of cookies:
By using this site, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with this policy.
Website purchases are processed securely by Stripe. Digital purchases in the iOS app are processed by Apple through the App Store, and digital purchases in the Android app are processed by Google through Google Play. We do not store your payment card information on our servers. All payment data is handled directly by Stripe in accordance with PCI DSS standards. Please review Stripe's Privacy Policy and Apple’s and Google’s privacy information for details on how payment data is handled by those providers.
You Are a Geologist is intended for users of all ages, including students in middle school and high school. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 without verified parental consent. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at the address below and we will delete that information promptly.
Schools and educational institutions using our platform under an institutional licence are responsible for obtaining appropriate consents from students and parents in accordance with applicable law, including COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) in the United States.
Your game data is stored in Google Firebase Firestore and is retained for as long as your account is active. If you have not signed in for 24 months, we may delete your account data.
You may permanently delete your account and associated saved progress, challenge history, and leaderboard profile immediately from Settings in the app. This action cannot be undone. If you cannot access a web account, you may contact us at the email below with the subject line "Data Deletion Request" and include the email address associated with your Google account. We process support-based deletion requests within 30 days.
We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When we make changes, we will update the "last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the site after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.
For privacy-related questions, data deletion requests, or any other enquiries, please contact:
Stephen and Brooklyn Oni
YouAreAGeologist
magma@youareageologist.com