In this data protection statement, we, Goethe-Institut e.V. (hereinafter referred to as “Goethe-Institut”), wish to inform you about which personal data (hereinafter referred to as the “Data”) will be collected for the use of the Goethe-Institut City Rally App (hereinafter referred to as the “App” or the “City Rally App”) and how this Data will be processed or used, as well as which technical and organisational protection measures will be taken. You can also download this data protection statement as a PDF here..

Goethe-Institut e.V., Oskar-von-Miller-Ring 18, 80333 Munich is the controller as per the German Data Protection Act (BDSG), as well as the service provider as per the German Telemedia Act (TMG). In this regard, see also the Imprint section of the App.

Please send questions or comments regarding this data protection statement or regarding data protection in general to the following email address: lernplattform@goethe.de

You can learn about what information is collected when the City Rally App is downloaded from an app store, and for what purposes, by referring to the relevant data protection notices of the app store. This information usually includes your user name, email address and customer number associated with the account you have registered with the app store, the date and time of the download, and the individual identification number of your device. The app store processes this data if this is required in order to download the App to your device.

We will not receive any notice from the app store in this regard

You can use the downloaded City Rally App either without logging in or by registering and creating a user account.

If you choose to use an account without registering, a random, non-existent email address will be generated and saved as your user account. However, you will unfortunately not be able to retrieve your progress in the game after logging out of the App. This is only possible if you register and create a personal user account. Your number of points is limited to 3,000 if you do not use a personal user account to log in to the App. Beyond this limit, you will no longer be able to play any puzzles. If you wish to continue playing, you must register.

The option of an account without registration is only possible once prior to your first login. Later, this option will no longer be available.

If you want to use the City Rally App via your own personal user account, you must first register in the App with your email address, a password of your choosing, and a user name (the “Login Information”). You are free to choose any user name you want but it must not be your real name.

We use the double opt-in procedure for registration. This means that your registration will only be finalised when you confirm a link contained in a confirmation email sent to you for this purpose prior to your registration. In this way, we ensure that only you, the owner of the email address, can register.

After successful registration, we will create a personal user account for you through which your progress in the game and other information connected with the use of the App can be saved on our servers.

With the login information submitted by you, you can then also be identified by other devices and use your user account via the City Rally App installed on those devices.

You can log off on a device at any time in the App.

After logging off, access to the information saved in your user account will only be possible by entering your password.

If you forget your password, you can use your email address to have your password sent to you. To do this, click on the “?” on the login screen and follow the instructions.

As long as you do not log off, your login information will be saved in a “token” on your device, through which you can be identified so that you do not have to register again every time you use the App.

You can make changes to your personal user account by adding additional information within the account. Thus, you can, for example, enter your name, address or sex, select a team name or add a team photo in your user account. We use this data if we contact you and when you use the app as described below. The data will be saved on another server until you change the saved data or delete your user account.

When you use the City Rally App, we collect and use the following data for the purposes described:

For you to be able to use the game fully, it is necessary to determine and use your current location. Your location will only be collected, in accordance with the consent you submitted at the time of registration, if you have activated the location function of your device and have allowed the City Rally App to process your location data. We collect and use your location data as follows:

While you are playing, the City Rally App will transmit your current location via GPS and/or device ID location in short intervals of approximately 15 to 25 seconds, usually to the nearest metre.

The most recently transmitted location will be saved and used by your device to show you your current location on the map and to check if you are close to a Rally task.

Your current location will also be transmitted to our servers and saved there in accordance with the consent you submitted. This is to allow the Rally organisers of the Goethe Institut to determine where individual participants of a Rally are so that they can offer them support if necessary.

If you reach the location of a task, we save your location as well as the date and time when you reached the location of the task and when you completed the task. The purpose of this is to determine how much time you needed for the Rally and each of the tasks, including in comparison with other players.

We save the location data transmitted to our servers until the Rally event is over. This data is then deleted from our servers. The most recent transmitted position on your device will remain saved in the App until a new position can be transmitted or the App is uninstalled.

Provided it is allowed by the rally organisers, your current location will also be shared with fellow players of the rally in your vicinity and shown together with your user name, team name and team photo on the map. Similarly, you can also see the locations of your fellow players on the map during a rally and, for example, work together to solve a task.

This collection and use is only possible if you have given your data protection consent separately. You can read the consent statement below.

You can stop the collection of your location data temporarily or permanently at any time by deactivating the location function in your device’s settings or withdrawing your permission for the processing of your location from the City Rally App. Please note that you can only participate in City Rallies to a very limited extent via the City Rally App because most of the tasks can only be solved if you are in the location and if this can be tracked.

The solutions submitted by you in response to a task will either be compared with the model solution on your device or transmitted to our servers and saved and checked there. We will use the result of this check to calculate your points, which will be displayed in the high score list.

We collect and use the speed of your device’s internet connection to optimise your use of the App, particularly in connection with the download of event data. We also use the information about your connection speed for statistical analyses of the network coverage in the area of a Rally event in order to transfer tasks in future Rallies to other areas should any problems occur.

We collect and save your current battery status so that we can inform you if your remaining battery life will not be sufficient for the entire Rally.

If devices of the Goethe Institut are used, we will also use the battery status to inform players to exchange the device in good time.

If you participate in a rally event via the App that is organised by a local Goethe Institut, the employees of this Goethe Institut can, for the purpose of carrying out the rally and providing support, access your data as described above and your data saved on our servers, and contact you during your participation in a rally by means of in-app push notifications. This is only possible if you have submitted your consent.

If you are one of the top ten best players of a rally, your rank, team name and statistics related to the tasks you have completed in the high score list will be shown to the other players of the event.

To be able to use the City Rally App with all the aforementioned functions, the App requires the following permissions on your mobile device.

You can restrict the individual permissions in your device settings in accordance with your preferences, but the City Rally App might then only function to a limited extent.

The following permissions will be required by the App for the purposes described:

You can delete the information saved on your device at any time by uninstalling the App via your operating system. If you have activated a cloud solution to synchronise your device (e.g. Samsung Cloud or Apple iCloud), it may be necessary for you to delete the safeguard saved in the cloud to delete the data saved in the cloud.

The information saved on our servers under your user account can be deleted at any time upon your request. Please write an email with your request to lernplattform@goethe.de.

Your information will be shared with technical service providers (e.g. the App developer, server hosting, etc.) who support us in order to prepare the App and for the aforementioned purposes. They are chosen carefully by us and their engagement is formalised in writing. These service providers are obligated to follow our instructions and are controlled by us regularly.

To collect and use your location data, as well as for a local Goethe Institut to possibly contact you, we require your consent, which we will ask you to submit during your registration.

This consent is as follows/reproduced here:

“I consent to the continuous transmission of my current location to the Goethe Institut in connection with my participation in a rally via the City Rally App for technical operational purposes, as well as transmission to other participants of the rally for the purpose of joint play. My user name, my team name and team photo can also be shown on the map.

I also accept that the local Goethe Institut organising the rally can access the information transmitted from me to the servers for the purpose of carrying out the rally as well as for support purposes, and it can contact me on this basis during my participation in the form of in-app push notifications.

I can withdraw this consent at any time with effect for the future.”

If you want to withdraw your consent, please send your withdrawal request, if possible, to the email address lernplattform@goethe.de.

Following withdrawal of consent, you can unfortunately no longer take part in rallies via the City Rally App because the App relies on the collection and use of your location data, and we will delete the user account concerned.

However, you can register in the App again at any time and resubmit your consent.

Once we receive your withdrawal request, we will delete any location data concerning you on our server. If you wish, please delete information on your device as per paragraph 8 above because we are unable to do this.

We use technical and organisational security measures to protect saved or collected personal information, particularly from accidental or deliberate manipulation, loss, destruction or attack from unauthorised persons. Our security measures are continuously improved in accordance with developments in technology. In particular, data transmission between the App and our servers is always encrypted in order to prevent access by authorised third parties.

The data saved on your device will be protected from unauthorised access by the technical security measures of your device’s system, particularly by means of encryption. Please note that we do not have any possibility of control or access that can enable us to check that these measures used by your device, operating system and any security software you have installed provide sufficient protection in any individual case.

Current as at: January 2024