In the app
- Open Maatjie Arena and tap Me.
- Open Settings.
- Tap Delete my account.
- A grown-up holds the button for 3 seconds and answers a quick sum.
- Read the list of what goes, then tap Delete.
The account is deleted straight away, the app signs out, and it goes back to the welcome screen. This is the quickest way, and needs no check by us.
Without the app
If the pet was saved to Google, you can bring it back first: install the game, tap Already have a maatjie? on the welcome screen and follow the steps on our Save to Google page. Then delete the account in the app as above.
Otherwise, email us and we will delete the account for you:
Other players can see nicknames, so a nickname alone does not show that the account is yours. Deleting cannot be undone, so we check first. Please put in the email:
- the nickname (shown at the top of the Me screen; it is the name your friends see)
- things strangers cannot see: the pet's name, what kind of pet it is, and roughly when the game was first played. Friends can see a pet's name and kind, so we may also ask for the names of past pets in the Pet Album, which nobody else sees
If a swap safety code is set up, we may ask for a code from the authenticator app. We do not keep the email address of a Google account the pet was saved to, so an email from it does not show us which account is yours. If the details do not match, or there are not enough of them, we will not delete the account, and we will tell you why.
What is deleted
Everything the game keeps for the account, for good. It cannot be undone or brought back.
- the account itself, and its sign-in (the device links, the record of the devices on the account, and the Google link if there is one)
- the nickname, the reports about it and about the pet's name, and the reports the account made
- the pet, its care history, levels and moves
- the Pet Album, which keeps the names and stories of past pets
- every item in the bag, the outfit it is wearing, and any crates
- badges, titles, the chosen arena and room
- places on the season leaderboards
- the friends list, on both sides: the account drops off its friends' lists too
- the friend code, friend requests sent and received, blocks, friendly battle challenges, the online setting, when the account was last playing and the day it was last played; the nickname and pet's name are taken off friends' copies of friendly battles
- the friends and leaderboards setting, and the players the account hid
- holiday mode
- swap offers still waiting (they are called off), and the swap notes and friend requests it sent
- every message the account received in the game
- the grown-up safety code used for swaps
- any battle in progress, and any search for an Arena match (a match against another player ends as if the account ran away, so the other player wins)
- anything bought for the account, such as the Supporter Pack: it cannot be moved to a new account (ask Google Play for a refund instead)
A Google account the pet was saved to is not touched: only the game account is deleted.
What is kept, and for how long
Two records are kept, with no nickname or name in them, for 6 years from the swap or the purchase, to check for fraud and for tax records. Then they are deleted too.
The first is the swap record. When two friends swapped items, the game keeps a note of which items changed hands and when, so a stolen item can be traced and returned. It can never be changed. After deletion it keeps only the old account number, which no longer belongs to any account, and the other player still sees the swap in their own history, without the name.
The second is the game server's record of each Google Play purchase: the product, Google's order number and purchase token, and Google's answer, which includes the country the purchase was billed in and a one-way code made from the old account number. Its account number is cleared. It is used only to make sure one purchase is never given twice, so the same purchase cannot be given to a new account, and as a record of the sale. Google keeps its own order records.
Backups of our database are deleted after 30 days, so the account is gone from them within 30 days too. An account nobody plays for 24 months is deleted in the same way. The privacy policy says more about what we keep and why.