Privacy policy

Last updated: 2026-10-10

This policy covers hold-short.app, the game at play.hold-short.app, the sign-in at auth.hold-short.app and our API at api.hold-short.app. The only cookie is the session cookie described below; there is no analytics or tracking.

1. Controller

Email: hi@hold-short.app

2. Hosting and server logs

Our server is operated by ProHosting24 in Germany, which processes data on our behalf under a data processing agreement. For every request the web server logs your IP address, the date and time, the requested address, the HTTP status, the transferred bytes, the referring page and your browser's user agent. We use these logs to run the service, find errors and defend against abuse. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a secure and working service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The logs are deleted after 7 days at the latest.

3. Your account

If you create an account, we store your email address, your username, your access status, where you came from if a link told us (for example ?src=), how you signed in, and when you agreed to news if you did. We need this to provide your account and the game (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and keep it until you delete your account in the account menu on play.hold-short.app, which removes your account and its sessions at once.

Hold Short is in early access. New accounts start on the waitlist. We store whether and when your account was unlocked and whether we unlocked it or an invite code did; if you redeem an invite code, we store which code and when. We need this to run the early access (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and delete it with your account.

When we unlock, block or unblock an account, reset its username, resend its email, correct a wallet, or add, change or delete a note on it, we log the account ID, the time, the sign-up times when we unlock several accounts at once, for a block the reason, and for a wallet correction the amounts, but not the note. This lets us trace our own changes (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We delete these entries after 12 months, also if you delete your account earlier; they then hold only random IDs that no longer point to anyone. We write block reasons without personal data and never log the text of a note.

We may keep internal notes on an account, for example how we got in touch or why we unlocked it, to run the early access (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Only we see them in the admin area. They are deleted with your account.

While you are signed in with an unlocked account, we store your profile: your sound volumes, which map layers you show, your last airport and time of day, which updates you have read in the hub, and which announcements you have seen or dismissed in the hub. For every shift that ends with a game over, or that you leave after at least one minute of play, we store a session result: the airport, start and end time, the played time, your money and counters such as landings, departures and go-arounds, the incidents with the callsigns involved, how the shift ended, and the game version. We use this to keep your settings and statistics across devices and to show your record (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). We keep your profile and session results until you delete your account, which removes them at once.

For your progress in the game we store per account your wallet as a journal of bookings (each with its kind, amount, experience points, the shift and airport it belongs to, and its time), the resulting balance, experience and rank, and the airports you own with how and when you got them and what you paid. If we correct a wallet, for example after a support request, the booking also holds our note and which admin made it. We need this to provide the game's progression (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and keep it until you delete your account, which removes it at once.

If we block an account for abuse, we keep it with its email address and the reason so that the address cannot sign up again (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The block is permanent. You can ask us to review it or to delete the account by writing to support@hold-short.app.

For each sign-in session we store your IP address, your browser's user agent and the session's times to keep accounts secure and trace abuse (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR); we delete a session within 8 days after it expires. When you ask for a sign-in code, we store your email address and a hashed code, which is valid for 15 minutes and deleted within 8 days after that. To limit abuse, the API keeps the email address and IP address of code requests in memory for at most one hour.

4. Support tickets

If you open a support ticket, we store its number, subject, category, your messages and ours, its state and times, and, if it concerns a bug we track, a link to our GitHub issue. With a ticket your app sends technical context that you do not see: the app version, browser and operating system, screen size, whether you use touch or a pointer, and whether you wrote from the hub or the game; from a running game also the airport, sim time, difficulty, number of aircraft and the last radio messages. We need this to answer you and fix problems (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Only we see tickets and context in the admin area. Deleting your account deletes your tickets at once; we delete a closed ticket 12 months after it was closed. We may also open a ticket ourselves to ask you about a suggestion you made. It shows that suggestion and otherwise works like any other ticket (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

When we reply to, close or reopen a ticket, change its category or link it to a GitHub issue, we log the ticket ID and number, the time, and for these changes the old and new category or the link. We never log the text of a message. We delete these entries after 12 months (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

5. Suggestions

If you submit a suggestion, we store its title, description, state and times, where they apply our reason for not taking it, the suggestion it duplicates or the version it shipped in, and your votes on suggestions. We review every suggestion before other players see it and may edit its title and description. Once it is public, your username is shown with it and others see its score. If you asked us to, we may create a suggestion in your name; it then counts as yours. When the state of your suggestion changes or we create one in your name, you get a notification in the bell. It keeps the reason or version it was sent with and is deleted with the suggestion or your account. Internally we may link a suggestion to support tickets and to our GitHub issue and record that we created it in your name; only we see this in the admin area, except that a ticket we open about your suggestion shows it to you. We need this to run suggestions and votes in the game (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

To keep votes fair, we see how many of a suggestion's votes come from waitlisted accounts, and votes of blocked accounts do not count while the block lasts. When we change a suggestion, we log the suggestion ID, the time, the old and new state, the version, the original suggestion, the ticket number or link, and for a suggestion we created in your name your account ID, but never their text. We delete these entries after 12 months, also if you delete your account earlier (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

When you delete your account, we delete your votes and your suggestions that are not public at once. Your public suggestions stay so the votes of others keep their meaning; they then show “Deleted player” instead of your username. A suggestion you withdraw is deleted with its votes.

6. Session cookie

When you sign in, we set one cookie for hold-short.app and its subdomains that keeps you signed in. It is valid for 30 days and extended while you use Hold Short. It is strictly necessary for the sign-in you asked for (§ 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG), so we ask for no consent. Signing out or deleting your account removes it.

7. Emails from us

We send the sign-in code through Scaleway Transactional Email, operated by Scaleway SAS in France, as our processor (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). When we unlock your account, we email you once through the same service to tell you your tower is open (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). For this email we keep a delivery record (which email, when, delivery attempts and errors) for 12 months or until you delete your account. We email you news and the Kickstarter launch only if you agree in the account menu (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR); you can withdraw your consent there at any time.

When we reply to your support ticket, we email you the conversation up to that reply with a link to the ticket. We also email you when we open a ticket to ask about your suggestion. New tickets and messages are mailed to our own support@hold-short.app mailbox with the ticket number, subject, category, your username and the start of your message. Both serve answering your ticket (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and go out through Scaleway Transactional Email like the emails above; the support@ mailbox is hosted as described in section 8. We keep a delivery record for these emails for 12 months or until deleting the ticket or your account removes it. We delete the copies in the support@ mailbox once your request is settled.

8. Contacting us by email

If you write to hi@hold-short.app or to support@hold-short.app, we process your address and message to answer you (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR for requests about the game, otherwise Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The mailboxes are hosted by Hetzner Online GmbH in Germany as our processor. We delete the messages once your request is settled, unless we must keep them by law.

9. Storage in your browser

The game keeps your settings, voice choices and save game in your browser's localStorage, including which updates you have read in the hub, which announcements you have seen or dismissed there and which week of the airport shop you have opened, and the voice model and voices in the browser cache so they do not download again. Without an account this data stays on your device. With an unlocked account, the settings in your profile (section 3) are also stored on our server, and a session result that could not be sent waits in localStorage (ats_pending_results, at most 20) until the next start. It is strictly necessary to provide the game you asked for (§ 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG), so we ask for no consent. The session cookie is described in section 6. You can delete everything by clearing the site data for play.hold-short.app in your browser.

10. Map tiles

The game map loads map tiles directly from the tile servers of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, St John's Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, United Kingdom. Your browser sends them your IP address, the requested tile, the referring page and your user agent. The United Kingdom has an adequacy decision of the European Commission. We use the tiles because the game needs a map (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). See the OpenStreetMap Foundation's privacy policy.

11. Voice model

The pilot voices run in your browser. The voice model and the software that runs it are loaded from our own server; no third party is involved and no text you type leaves your device for speech.

12. Your rights

You have the right to access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and to object to processing based on legitimate interests (Art. 21). Write to hi@hold-short.app. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the EU member state where you live or work.

13. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when Hold Short changes how it processes data.