Privacy policy · Rift Haul

Last updated: 3 October 2026

This policy explains what information Rift Haul keeps about you, why, and what you can do about it. We've tried to write it so it actually makes sense. If something doesn't, ask us at support@rifthaul.com.

The short version

You can play as a guest without giving us an email address at all.
We keep what the game needs to run: your account, your pilot and what happens to it in the game.
There are no ads, no tracking cookies and no third-party analytics in Rift Haul, and we don't sell your information to anyone.
You can delete your account yourself, from inside the game, at any time.

Who we are

Rift Haul is run by Azorius Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 12860331), whose registered office is 3 Church Street, Odiham, Hook, Hampshire, RG29 1LU. Azorius Limited is the "data controller" for your information, which means we decide how it's used and we're responsible for looking after it. We're registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under reference ZC097905.

Who Rift Haul is for

Rift Haul is made for adults. The minimum age to play is 13: we don't knowingly let anyone younger play, and if we find that a player is under 13, we'll delete their account.

Some of our players may be under 18, so we keep things simple and safe for everyone. We collect as little as we can, we don't profile you, and we don't nudge you into handing over more than the game needs.

What we keep, and why

Your account

Username. So you can sign in and other pilots can recognise you.
Email address (optional). Guests don't give one. If you register with an email, we use it only to verify the address and to send password resets. We don't send marketing emails.
Password. We never store your actual password, only a one-way scrambled version (a "hash") that can't be turned back into it.
Account details. Whether your email is verified, the avatar you chose, when the account was created and when you last signed in.

Your game

Your pilot's name, ships, cargo, credits, crew, upgrades, experience, faction standing, contracts, trades and an activity log of what happens to your pilot in the game. This is the game itself: without it there's nothing to play.

Chat

Messages you post in the galaxy chat channel. Everyone playing in that galaxy can see them, so please don't share personal details there (see our Community Rules).

Mail

Registered pilots can send in-game mail to other pilots on the same world. We keep the mail you send and receive, and when each one was read, so that it's in your inbox and your sent box. Guests can read mail but can't send it.

Your mail is private. Nobody at Rift Haul reads it, with one exception: if someone reports a mail, a moderator can read that mail and the conversation it belongs to, so they can decide what to do. They can't read any other mail.

We also keep a list of the pilots you've blocked.

Reports and moderation

To keep the game safe we keep:

Reports: who reported which chat message or mail, and when.
Moderation records: a log of what our moderators did (for example, removing a message or muting a pilot), when, and why.
Your current status: whether you're muted, suspended or banned, and until when.

Keeping your account secure

Sign-in sessions. A scrambled session token and a security token, plus when the session started, was last used and when it expires.
Password reset and email verification. Scrambled, single-use codes that expire.
Sign-in throttling. To stop people guessing passwords, we count recent sign-in attempts. We record these against a scrambled version of the IP address or username, never the raw IP address.
Server logs. Like every website, our web server keeps a log of requests it receives: the IP address, the date and time, the page or address requested and the browser type. We use these only to keep the game running and secure, for example to spot attacks and fix faults. They don't contain your email address or password.

How you found us

If you arrived through a link that said where it came from (for example, from our page on another site), we note that tag or the name of the site that sent you. We also note when you reached the first steps of the game, such as your first trade or contract. This tells us which places are worth telling people about the game. It's counted by us, on our own servers, with no third-party analytics or tracking tools involved.

Emails we've sent

A log of which type of email (for example, "password reset") was sent to an account, when, and whether it was delivered.

The legal reasons we rely on

Data protection law asks us to say why we're allowed to use your information:

To provide the game you've asked to play (performing our contract with you): your account, your game, your chat and your mail.
Our legitimate interests in keeping the game safe and working: security, server logs and sign-in throttling, reports and moderation (including reading a reported mail), the email log, and knowing which places send us new players. We've checked that these uses are proportionate and don't override your interests, taking extra care because some of our players are young.
Legal obligations, where the law requires us to keep or share something.

Who else sees your information

We don't sell your information, and we don't share it with advertisers.

We use a small number of service providers, who handle it only on our instructions:

Provider	What they do	What they receive	Where
IONOS	Hosts the game's servers	Everything the game stores	United Kingdom (London)
SendGrid (part of Twilio)	Sends verification and password-reset emails	Your email address and the email itself	United States

Sending emails through SendGrid means your email address is transferred to the United States. We only do this with the protection UK law requires: Twilio is certified under the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (the "UK-US data bridge"), and its data processing terms also include the UK's International Data Transfer Agreement.

The game's fonts are stored on our own servers, so loading the game sends nothing to any font provider.

We may also share information where the law requires it, for example if the police make a valid legal request.

What other players can see

Your pilot name, your public pilot profile and your ships in space.
Your chat messages in the galaxy channel.
Mail you send, which only the pilot you sent it to can read (and a moderator, if it's reported).
In-game events involving you, such as a fight, which appear in the other pilot's own log.

Your email address is never shown to other players.

How long we keep it

Guest pilots last 7 days from when they're created, however much you play. Register before then to keep yours; otherwise it's deleted at the end of day 7.
Sessions, password-reset codes and verification codes expire on their own.
Mail: your inbox holds your latest 200 mails; past that, the oldest mail you've already read goes first (unread mail is never removed this way). A mail is deleted for good once both you and the other pilot have deleted it, or 180 days after you've both read it.
Reports are kept until a moderator has dealt with them. A reported mail is kept until then even if both pilots delete it.
Moderation records are kept while they're needed to deal fairly with repeat problems and appeals.
Everything else is kept for as long as you have an account, and deleted when you delete it.
Server logs are kept for up to six weeks, including in backups.
Backups: we back up the game every night to protect against loss. All our backups are held in the UK. A deleted account stays in those backups until they're replaced, and is gone from all of them within 30 days. We never restore a deleted account from a backup.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself, at any time, from inside the game:

Registered pilots: go to the Change password screen and choose Delete my account. You'll be asked for your password and your pilot's name.
Guests: go to the Claim your pilot screen and choose Delete this pilot, then type your pilot's name.

Deletion is immediate and permanent. There's no grace period and it can't be undone. The screen lists everything that will go before you confirm.

What's deleted: your account (username, email address and password), your sessions and codes, every pilot you have on that world, and everything they owned or did: ships, cargo, credits, crew, upgrades, experience, standing, contracts, trade records and activity log. Your chat messages are deleted too, and disappear from everyone else's chat. So does your inbox and your list of blocked pilots.

What stays, and why:

Your name in other pilots' logs. If you attacked someone, their log may still say so. That's part of their game history, not yours.
Anonymous counts. The "how you found us" and first-steps counts stay, but with nothing attached that could identify you: no account, no name.
Our email log keeps a line saying an email of a particular type was sent at a particular time, with no address and no account attached.
Mail you sent stays in the inboxes of the pilots you sent it to, because it's theirs too, but it shows as from "a former pilot". They can delete it whenever they like.
Reports you made stay, with your name taken off. Reports about your messages go with them.
A line in our server log recording that an account (by its internal number) was deleted and how much went with it. It contains no email address, no password and nothing you typed, and it's deleted along with the server logs.
Systems you charted stay on the map for everyone, but your name is removed from them.

Each world is separate. Every world in Rift Haul keeps its own records, so deleting your account on one world doesn't affect an account you might have on another. If you play on more than one world, delete each one.

If you can't get into your account, email support@rifthaul.com and we'll help.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

see the information we hold about you, and get a copy;
correct anything that's wrong;
have it deleted (you can do this yourself, as above);
ask us to limit how we use it, or object to how we use it;
get it in a form you can take elsewhere.

To use any of these rights, email support@rifthaul.com from the email address on your account, or tell us your pilot name and world. We'll reply within one month. It's free.

If you're under 18, a parent or carer can contact us on your behalf.

If you're not happy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We'd appreciate the chance to sort it out first, though.

Cookies

We use two cookies, both needed to keep you signed in and secure, and no tracking cookies at all. See our Cookie Notice for details.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll say so in the game before the change takes effect. The date at the top shows when it last changed.