The short version
- You can use X-Builds without creating an account. We create an anonymous guest identity so your favourites and progress can be backed up.
- Signing in with an email address is optional. If you do, we keep that email to send you one-time sign-in codes and to link your progress and X-Builds Pro across devices and the website.
- We do not sell personal data.
- The free app shows non-personalised ads: a short full-screen ad when you open the app (never on your very first launch), one after every 20th step of a long guide (at most three per guide each time you start the app), and a video you can choose to watch to unlock a premium build. X-Builds Pro has no ads, and the website has none.
- Reminders are scheduled on your phone, only if you allow them. Nothing is sent to a server.
- Purchases are handled by Apple and Google in the app, Paddle on the website, and RevenueCat. We never see your card details.
- We use PostHog for product analytics and crash reports so we can fix what breaks.
What we store
On your device
Your preferences (edition, play style, skill, favourite categories), favourites, build progress, materials you have ticked off, your block inventory, recently opened builds for offline use, your theme choice and your X-Builds Pro status. This lives only on the device until you are online.
In our database (Supabase)
The same preferences, favourites, progress and inventory, keyed by an anonymous user id, so they survive a reinstall or a new phone. Anonymous ids are not linked to your name or email unless you later sign in. We also record anonymous build events (a build was opened, completed or shared) to rank popular builds.
Your email, if you sign in (Supabase Auth)
If you sign in, in the app or on the website, Supabase Auth stores your email address with your user id. We use it only to email you one-time sign-in codes (sent through our email delivery provider) and to link your progress and X-Builds Pro across devices. We don't send marketing email. On the website, the sign-in session is kept in your browser's local storage so you stay signed in; signing out removes it.
Analytics and error reports (PostHog)
Screen views, the onboarding funnel, build opens, step and build completions, cinematic renders, shares, paywall views and purchases, whether an ad was requested, shown, watched or failed (and which kind), whether reminders were allowed or opened, and whether the store review prompt was requested, plus crash and error reports with a stack trace and device model / OS version. Events carry the same anonymous id as the database. On the website analytics is cookieless: nothing is written to your browser.
Website page views (Vercel Web Analytics)
The website also counts page views with Vercel Web Analytics, which our host Vercel provides: the page, the referring site, the country and the browser, device and operating system type. It sets no cookies and identifies visitors only by a hash that changes every day, so it cannot follow you from one day to the next or across sites. The app does not use it.
Purchases (Apple, Google, Paddle, RevenueCat)
When you start a trial or buy X-Builds Pro in the app, the store you bought from processes the payment under its own privacy policy. On the website, Paddle.com, our reseller and Merchant of Record, processes the order and your payment and billing details under Paddle's privacy policy. RevenueCat receives the receipt and your user id so we can tell your devices that Pro is active. We receive the product bought, dates, price and, for website orders, the email used at checkout, never payment details.
Ads (Google AdMob, app only)
The free app uses Google's Mobile Ads SDK for three kinds of ad: an app open ad when you open or return to the app (not during your first session, not after only a short trip away, and not when you come back to a guide you were following), an interstitial ad after every 20th completed step of a guide (never after the last step, and at most three per guide each time the app is started), and a rewarded video when you tap Watch an ad to unlock on a premium build, which unlocks that build on the device once watched to the end. The SDK is never started for X-Builds Pro members. Every request asks for non-personalised ads only, is tagged as coming from a user under the age of consent, and is limited to content rated for general audiences. To deliver the ad, cap how often it is shown and prevent fraud, Google processes your IP address, device and app information and, on Android, the device advertising ID, under Google's own policies. We receive only aggregate ad reports, nothing that identifies you.
Update checks (app only)
When you open the app, it asks the store it came from whether a newer version is available: on Android through Google Play, on iOS by looking up the app in Apple's public App Store directory for your country. Only the app's id and your country are sent, under Google's and Apple's own policies. If a newer version is available, the app asks you to update before carrying on.
Reminders (local notifications)
If you allow notifications, the app schedules at most two reminders on your device: one when a build you started has had no progress for two days, and one two days before a free trial ends. They are created and delivered by your phone's operating system. No push token is collected and nothing is sent to our servers. Finishing the build removes its reminder, and you can turn notifications off at any time in your system settings.
What we do not do
- No personalised ads, no ad tracking and no cross-app tracking: the iOS tracking permission is never requested.
- No banner ads anywhere, no ads for X-Builds Pro members, and no ads on the website.
- No selling, renting or sharing of personal data with data brokers.
- No collection of contacts, location, photos or microphone. Saving a cinematic uses the system share sheet only when you tap it.
Children
X-Builds does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the age required in your country). The app works fully as a guest with no name, email or photo; signing in with an email is optional and meant for players 13 or older. Because many players are young, every ad is non-personalised, tagged under the age of consent and restricted to general-audience content. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Your choices
- Reset app data in Settings removes everything stored on the device.
- Email us to have your account (email included) or the data behind your anonymous id deleted from our database and analytics.
- Manage or cancel subscriptions in your App Store or Google Play account settings, or, for website purchases, from your account page or Paddle receipt.
- Turn reminders off in your phone's notification settings for X-Builds. Reset app data also cancels any scheduled reminders.
- X-Builds Pro removes every ad in the app, and the website has no ads.
Processors
Supabase (database and sign-in, hosting region chosen at project creation), our email delivery provider (sign-in codes only), PostHog (analytics and error tracking, US cloud), Vercel (website hosting and cookieless page-view analytics), RevenueCat (subscription status), Paddle (website orders and payments, as Merchant of Record), Google AdMob (ads in the free app only), Apple App Store and Google Play (app payments). Each has its own privacy policy.
Contact
X-Builds is not an official Minecraft product and is not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft.