Who we are
9 to Fiver (the game) and games.mlabs.ng/9tofiver (the website) are made by MayR Labs (“we”, “us”). This policy explains what information we handle when you play the game or visit the website, and why. We wrote it to be read, not skimmed past.
If you have any question about your information, email hello@mlabs.ng.
The short version
- You can play the whole game without an account, without signing in and without internet.
- Your life, your choices and your settings stay on your phone. We never receive them.
- The game shows ads. They are provided by Google AdMob, which receives some information from your phone to do that. See “Ads” below.
- We don’t sell your information, and we don’t use the game to build a profile of you.
- 9 to Fiver is for people aged 16 and over.
Information that stays on your phone
To work, the game saves things on your device only. We don’t receive any of it:
- Your life: the name, birthday, country and choices you picked, your jobs, money, people, health and everything that happened.
- Your settings: theme, text size, speed, content settings (how harassment and illness scenes are shown), sound and music, and whether reminders, personalised ads or the biometric lock are on.
- Your past lives and achievements progress.
Deleting the game removes all of this. Be aware that your phone’s own backup (such as iCloud or Google backup) may copy the game’s data to your own account with Apple or Google. That is your phone’s feature, not ours.
Phone features the game may use
The game only asks for a permission when you turn on the feature that needs it. You can refuse or switch any of them off in your phone’s settings, and the rest of the game keeps working.
- Notifications: for the optional evening reminder and a gentle nudge if you leave the game in the middle of a decision. These are scheduled on your phone. Nothing is sent from a server.
- Face ID, fingerprint or device lock: only if you switch on “Lock my life”. Your phone does the check. The game is told yes or no and never receives your biometric data.
- Speech: the optional “Read Moments aloud” uses your phone’s own voice. Nothing is sent anywhere.
- Tracking permission (iPhone): only asked if you turn on “Personalised ads” in Settings. See “Ads”.
- Sharing and export: the life summary card and the save export are created on your phone and go only where you choose to send them, through your phone’s share sheet or clipboard.
Ads
9 to Fiver is free and is supported by ads from Google AdMob (Google LLC). To show ads, measure them and prevent fraud, AdMob collects information from your device, such as your advertising ID, IP address and approximate location, device and app details, and how you interact with ads. We do not receive this information in a form that identifies you.
- Personalised ads are off by default. Until you turn them on in Settings, the game asks for non-personalised ads. These are based on the game and general context, not on your interests. Even then, AdMob may use device identifiers for things like limiting how often you see an ad, fraud prevention and measuring results.
- If you turn personalised ads on, AdMob may use your advertising ID to show ads based on your interests. On iPhone the game first asks for your permission through Apple’s tracking prompt, and you can change your mind in Settings at any time.
- You can also reset or limit your advertising ID in your phone’s settings.
- Ads appear only at natural pauses (for example at a birthday or between lives), or when you choose to watch one for a small in-game reward.
Google’s own explanation of how it uses information from apps that use its services is at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Google Play Games
On Android the game can use Google Play Games Services for achievements and the “longest life” leaderboard. When it does, Google handles sign-in and shares your Play Games profile with the game under Google’s own terms and privacy policy. We receive the achievements and scores you earn, as Google presents them, and nothing else about you.
Updates
The game can receive updates to its content (new Moments, countries, jobs and fixes) over the air, without you reinstalling it. To do that, the game contacts the update service of Expo (Expo Application Services) and sends technical details such as the game and update version, your phone’s platform, and your IP address, which any connection reveals. We use this only to deliver updates.
Our website
The website at games.mlabs.ng/9tofiver doesn’t use advertising or tracking cookies, and you don’t need an account to use it. Like most websites, our hosting provider keeps short-lived technical logs (such as IP addresses and the pages requested) to keep the site running and secure.
Waitlist. Before the game is out, the website lets you leave your email address to be told when it launches. We keep your email address and which game you’re waiting for, send you a confirmation and one email when the game is released, and use it for nothing else. To limit abuse, we briefly keep a scrambled (hashed) version of your network address that can’t be turned back into the address. You can ask us to remove your email at any time.
Who helps us run the service
We use a few trusted providers for the website and the waitlist. They process information only on our instructions:
- Our hosting provider and database, where the waitlist is stored.
- Resend, to send the waitlist emails.
- Clerk, which signs in the members of our team who manage the waitlist. Players never sign in.
The game itself involves Google (AdMob and Play Games), Apple (on iPhone, for the tracking prompt and app store) and Expo (updates), as described above. Some of these providers are outside Nigeria. When your information is transferred abroad, we rely on providers that protect it with appropriate safeguards, as the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 requires.
How long we keep it
Waitlist emails are kept until the game launches and a reasonable time afterwards, or until you ask us to remove them. Technical logs are short-lived. What the ad and update providers keep is governed by their own policies. Everything else stays on your phone, under your control.
Your rights
Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, and similar laws where you live (such as the GDPR in Europe and the UK), you can ask us to:
- tell you what information we hold about you and give you a copy;
- correct it if it is wrong;
- delete it;
- stop using it, or object to how we use it.
Email hello@mlabs.ng from the address you used and we’ll respond within 30 days. Because the game keeps your life on your phone, most of what you might want deleted can be removed by deleting the game. For ad data held by Google, use the controls in your Google account and phone settings. You can also complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, or the data authority where you live.
Children
9 to Fiver deals with adult themes such as workplace harassment, debt, illness, loss and death, and is rated for players aged 16 and over. It is not meant for anyone younger and we don’t knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has joined our waitlist or used the game, contact us and we’ll remove what we hold.
Security
The waitlist and our website use encrypted connections (HTTPS), and only invited team members can see the waitlist. Because your life is saved on your phone, keeping your phone locked and backed up is the best protection for it.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll update the date at the top and, where it makes sense, tell you in the game.