Rustlords — Privacy

What the game keeps, what it sends, and how to stop it. Last updated 9 November 2026.

The short version

Rustlords is made by Innocent Bystander Games. It has no accounts and never asks for your email address or anything that identifies you; the one thing you can type that others see is the name you choose for online games. Your games are saved on your own device. A few features send data to the game's server; each is listed below, with what it sends and how to turn it off. Nothing is sold or shared with anyone else, and there is no advertising.

On your device

Saved games, campaign progress, achievements and settings are kept in the browser's or app's local storage on your device. The desktop app also keeps them as files in its data folder (so Steam Cloud can back them up, if you play there). Settings › Progress exports all of it as a file you keep, and imports one.

A random device id

The game makes up a random id for your device the first time it needs one (d- and ten letters and digits). It is not tied to you or to anything else about the device, and it is what the features below use in place of an account. Clearing the site's or app's data makes a new one.

Online games

If you start or join a multiplayer game, the server keeps that game: how it was set up, every move made in it, your device id as the player in your seat, and when turns were taken. The other players see your moves and your side's name and colour, not your device id. The game stays on the server so it can be finished and replayed by its players; leaving a game (menu › Leave game) hands your side to the computer, and the game ends for good once its last player ends it.

Your name in online games. On the Multiplayer page you can give yourself a name (2–20 characters). It is shown to the other players in your games in place of your colour, and the server keeps it with the game. It isn't checked or filtered, and you only share it with people who have your join code, but don't use your real name if you don't want it seen. Change or clear it any time; games you're in show the new one.

Turn notifications (website only, if you turn them on) store a push subscription for your browser, so the server can tell it when it's your turn. Turning them off in the game deletes it.

Sync between devices

If you turn on Sync (Settings) and choose a sync id, your progress (saves, campaigns, achievements, settings) is kept on the server under that id so another device with the same id can pick it up. Anyone who knows the id can read it, so choose one you don't share. Turning Sync off stops it; the copy on the server is removed after a year.

Playtest data (off unless you turn it on)

Settings › Help has a switch for helping the game's development. When it's on, the game sends:

• Playtest logs: what happened in each session you play — turns, battles, what was built and fought, how long things took, and frame-rate figures — under your device id. Gameplay only.
• Error reports: when something in the game breaks, what broke (the error and where in the code), what screen and game you were on, your platform and graphics hardware, and the last few moves. At most six a session.

Switch it off and nothing more is sent. What was sent is kept for a year.

Feedback you send

Send feedback (Settings › Help, or the menu in a game) sends what you write, with the screen you're on, the mission and day, the game's build, your platform, and your device id. Don't put personal details in it: we have no way to reply, and it is kept for a year along with the rest. If you have a question about this page, that is the place to ask it.

Where it goes

The game's server and the data above are run by Innocent Bystander Games and hosted on Cloudflare's servers. The website uses no cookies and no third-party analytics. If you got the game from a store (Steam, Google Play, the App Store), your purchase and achievements there are under that store's own policy; the game doesn't see them.

Children

Rustlords isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone. The one thing a player types that others see is the name they choose for online games, so a child playing online should use a made-up one; a parent can change or clear it on the Multiplayer page, and clearing the browser's or app's data for the game removes everything it keeps on the device.