Privacy policy

Who we are

Melodic is a free guitar and bass game that runs in your web browser at game.playmelodic.com (and playmelodic.web.app), with this website at playmelodic.com. Melodic is made and run by Jayme Schroeder, an independent developer in Alberta, Canada, who is responsible for your information. In this policy “we”, “us” and “our” mean Jayme Schroeder.

This policy covers the game and this website. To reach us about anything in it, use the contact form.

What stays on your device

Melodic has no accounts. So that it remembers you between visits, the game saves these in your browser’s storage on your device (local storage and IndexedDB). None of it is sent to us, apart from the few numbers the anonymous stats include:

• the songs you import (their tab files), the free songs, and your scores and practice stats for each;
• your progress: the Tour, your level and experience points, achievements, drill levels, and when and how long you’ve played;
• your settings, and your guitar setup: how your guitar is connected, the name of your audio input, and the levels and timing the setup measured;
• a few small things: how you like the library laid out, your anonymous stats choice and random number (see below), and when you last sent us messages, so a double-tap doesn’t send one twice.

Because it’s in your browser, it stays in that browser on that device, and each web address keeps its own: game.playmelodic.com and playmelodic.web.app don’t share. You can erase it at any time by clearing this site’s data in your browser’s settings. That erases your progress and songs for good: we have no copy to restore them from. (Settings → Career → Reset career clears only your progress.)

Melodic doesn’t use cookies, and neither does this website. The website saves just one thing in your browser: when you last sent a message from its contact page, for the same reason as the game.

Your guitar and microphone

To hear what you play, Melodic asks your browser for an audio input: a guitar interface, a guitar cable, or a microphone. You can say no, and change your mind in your browser’s settings; the game still plays, but can’t score your playing.

When you allow it, the sound is analysed live, on your device, to tune your guitar, hear your notes, and play your guitar back through the game’s amps. Melodic never records it, keeps it or sends it anywhere. The name of your input (for example, the model of your audio interface) is kept on your device only, to remember its levels.

Anonymous play stats

Unless you turn them off, the game sends us a few numbers about how it’s played, so we know how many people play, which parts of Melodic they use, and where it needs work. The first time the game runs, it makes up a random number for your browser, and the stats are sent under that number: not your name, your email or anything else that says who you are. They are:

• when you started and when you last played, how many days you’ve played, and how many visits;
• how long you’ve played, and how much of that was in songs and in drills;
• how many songs and drills you’ve played, how many songs you finished and how many you imported (not which songs, and nothing from their files);
• your level, experience points, gigs passed and number of achievements;
• whether you’re on a computer, phone or tablet; whether your guitar comes in through a cable, a microphone or not at all; whether note detection is on; and your browser’s language setting (such as “en-CA”).

We also add them into totals for each day and for all time. The stats never include your IP address, your songs or their files, recordings, or anything you type. We use them only to understand how Melodic is played and to make it better, and never to target, advertise to or profile anyone.

Turning them off. Go to Settings → Privacy & help → Anonymous play stats. Off stops them at once, deletes the record we have under your random number, and forgets the number. The day and all-time totals it was counted in stay, since they don’t say whose numbers they were. If your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, the stats start off.

How long we keep them. Each record is deleted automatically two years after the game last sent anything for it, so a record lasts only as long as you keep playing (or until you turn the stats off). The totals, which don’t belong to anyone, are kept.

When you write to us

The contact form, in the game (Settings → Privacy & help) and at playmelodic.com/contact, sends us:

• your message, and what it’s about (a question, feedback, a bug, an idea or something else);
• your email address, only if you give it, so we can reply;
• where you sent it from (the game’s screen, or the website), and when;
• technical details, only if you leave that box ticked. From the game: its version, your browser’s identification (its “user agent”), your screen size and language, whether you’re on a computer, phone or tablet, how your guitar is connected and the name of its input, and your note detection and timing settings. From the website: your browser, screen size and language. You can see exactly what will be sent before you send it.

Only the developer reads messages. We use them to reply to you and to fix and improve Melodic, and for nothing else: your email address is never added to a mailing list, used for marketing or shared.

How long we keep them. Each message is deleted automatically a year after it’s sent. If you’d like one deleted sooner, ask us, and tell us the email address you used, or roughly when you sent it and what it said, so we can find it.

Please don’t put sensitive information (such as health details or passwords) or other people’s personal information in a message.

Who else handles it

Melodic runs on Google’s Firebase. Firebase Hosting serves the game and this website, and Cloud Firestore stores the play stats and messages, on Google Cloud servers in the United States. Google handles this data for us as our service provider, under its data processing terms.

Like any web server, Google’s servers receive your IP address and basic browser details whenever your browser connects, to deliver the pages and protect them from abuse. We don’t store IP addresses in our database or use them to identify anyone. You can read Google’s privacy policy and how Firebase handles privacy.

Everything else Melodic needs (its code, fonts, sounds and songs) comes from our own hosting, not from other companies’ servers. If you live outside the United States, the stats and messages are transferred there; Google protects international transfers with legal safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

We don’t sell your information or share it for advertising. We would only disclose it if the law required us to, or if it were needed to protect Melodic’s players or the service from fraud or abuse.

Links to other sites

The game’s Get songs screen links to websites where you can find tab files. If you search from it, your search words go to the site you picked when you open it. Those sites, and any other site we link to, are run by others and have their own privacy policies; we don’t control what they collect.

Children

Melodic is for players of all ages, and it has no accounts. The only personal information it can receive from anyone is what they type into a message. If you’re under 13 (or under the age where you live at which you can agree to this on your own), ask a parent or guardian before you write to us, and please don’t include personal details such as your full name or where you live.

If we learn that we’ve received personal information from a child without a parent’s permission, we’ll delete it. Parents and guardians can ask us to delete a child’s message.

Your choices and rights

• Turn the stats off at any time in Settings → Privacy & help. That deletes the record we have for your browser.
• Erase what Melodic saved on your device by clearing the site’s data in your browser.
• See, correct or delete a message you sent, or ask anything about your information, through the contact form.

Depending on where you live (for example in Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom or California), the law gives you rights over your personal information, such as to see it, correct it, have it deleted, and object to how it’s used. We answer requests within 30 days, and don’t charge for them. Since Melodic has no accounts and the stats carry no name, we can’t look up your stats by your name or email: turning them off in Settings is how to delete them.

For people in the European Union and the United Kingdom: we keep your data on your device to give you the game you asked for; we rely on our legitimate interest in understanding and improving Melodic for the anonymous stats (which you can turn off at any time), and in answering you for messages.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to a privacy regulator: in Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner; in the EU or UK, the data protection authority where you live.

Keeping it safe

Melodic is served only over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Our database lets the game add stats and messages, but not read anyone else’s: only the developer can read messages, after signing in. We collect as little as we can, and delete it on a schedule. No system is perfectly secure, but we’ll tell you and the authorities if a breach puts your information at real risk, as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

If Melodic changes what it collects, we’ll update this policy and the date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll also say so in the game or on this website before it takes effect, and we won’t use information we already have in a new way without telling you first.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your information: write to Jayme Schroeder through the contact form, or in the game at Settings → Privacy & help → Write to us.