BonsaiSimby Shining Muffin LLC
Privacy
Last updated 2 September 2026
There is no account, no password, and no server of ours. BonsaiSim runs entirely inside your browser or your phone. We never see your tree.
We measure how the app is used — which tools people pick up, how far a tree gets — so we know what to build next. Those measurements are about the tree, never about you.
Your tree never leaves your device
Everything you grow — the tree, its history, the timeline you can scrub back through — is saved on the device you are using, in the browser's own storage. It is never uploaded, never backed up by us, and never visible to us. That has a consequence worth knowing: if you clear your browser data or delete the app, the tree is gone and we cannot get it back, because we never had a copy.
What we measure
BonsaiSim reports a short list of things that happen in the simulator, so we can tell which parts of it work. Each report says what happened, not who did it:
- that the app opened, and how old the tree it opened was;
- that the app failed to start, and at which stage;
- which tool was picked up, and which action was applied to the tree;
- the playback speed, ages the tree reached, whether it died, and when a new tree was started.
That is the whole list. There is no free text in any of it, so nothing you type can end up in a report — and nothing you type is asked for anywhere in the simulator.
Who processes it
In the iPhone and iPad app: those events are processed by Amplitude, which is the only third party the app talks to. Amplitude keeps a random identifier on your device so that two events from the same session can be counted as one session, and receives your IP address as any web request does.
On the website: the same Amplitude events, plus Google Analytics, which counts visits and where they came from. Google Analytics uses cookies; Amplitude does not, it uses the browser's local storage.
The app does not use Google Analytics at all.
If you give us your email
If the website offers you a way to hear about updates and you choose to use it, your email address goes to Kit, which is what we use to send those messages. You confirm the subscription from your inbox, we use the address for nothing else, and every message carries an unsubscribe link. Nothing else on the site asks for your email.
Links that leave
The website may link to Patreon. Following that link takes you to a company we do not control, with its own privacy policy. Nothing about you is passed along by us when you go.
Children
BonsaiSim is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect anything from them. There is nothing in it to sign up for, and nothing to type.
How to opt out
Any content blocker or tracking blocker stops the measurements described above, and the simulator works exactly the same without them — nothing in the tree depends on them. Clearing your browser's site data, or deleting the app, removes the local identifier along with everything else stored on the device.
You can also write to us and ask what we have and to delete it. Because none of it is tied to a name, an account, or an email address, the honest answer is usually that there is nothing we can link back to you — but ask, and we will tell you exactly that in your case.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Meaningful changes will be announced on the site rather than made quietly.
Contact
Shining Muffin LLC — info@shiningmuffin.com