Support

None of this is required — send a one-line message if that is what you have time for. But a bug is much easier to find with these four things than without them:

• Your phone and its Android version. In Android's Settings, under About phone.
• The app version. Android Settings → Apps → Time Travel Heist shows it at the bottom. The game does not display its own version number anywhere, so this is the only place to find it.
• Which level, by the name on the level-select screen.
• What you did and what happened instead. "I tapped a square three away and the main character walked into the bot" is worth more than "the movement is broken", because we can replay it.

If the game crashed, say what you were doing in the few seconds before — a crash on the board and a crash while a story card is open are usually different faults.

Where is my progress kept?

On your phone, in the app's own private storage — not on any server, because the game has no server. It records which levels you have attempted, which you have completed, your best turn count for each, your saved solutions, and your settings. Nothing else, and nothing about you.

Will it survive a new phone?

Usually, yes. The game lets Android's standard backup service include its saved data, so if you have device backup switched on, your progress travels with your Google account to a new phone. It is Android's mechanism rather than ours, so we cannot recover a save for you if it does not — there is no copy of it anywhere we can reach.

My progress has disappeared

Usually one of three things, in order of likelihood:

• The app's data was cleared — by you, by a cleaner app, or by "Clear storage" in Android's app settings. This erases the save completely and it cannot be recovered.
• It was reinstalled without a backup, on a device with backup switched off.
• Reset campaign was tapped on the main menu. It asks first and warns that it cannot be undone, but it is next to the other menu buttons and it has been hit by accident before.

If none of those fits, please do write in — a save that vanishes on its own is a bug we want to see, and knowing your phone and Android version is most of finding it.

How do I start the campaign over?

Main menu → Reset campaign. It asks for confirmation first. It erases every completion, every best-turns score and every saved solution, re-locks the campaign, and lets the story explain itself from the beginning again. Your settings are kept — sound, haptics, walking speed — because those are preferences about the app rather than progress through it. It cannot be undone.

Why is the next level locked?

Three rules are working at once, and it is almost always the second one that surprises people:

• A level opens once the one before it has been attempted — attempted, not completed. One honest try is enough to open the next.
• Levels open in small groups. A group opens when all but one of the previous group are complete. So a single unsolved level does not stop you, but two in the same group will.
• A chapter opens when every level in the current one has been attempted, at most one of them is unfinished, and at most two are unfinished across the whole campaign.

The short version: you may leave levels behind, but only two in the whole game. Carry two and the current chapter has to be cleared perfectly before the next one opens. That is deliberate — the pressure is meant to rise exactly when you are getting away with things — and it is designed so there is always a way through inside the chapter you are on. You will never be sent back to an earlier one.

I genuinely cannot solve a level

Leave it. That is a supported way to play, not a failure state: attempting a level opens the next one, and the campaign expects you to be carrying one or two unsolved levels. Come back later — these puzzles are much easier the second time you meet them, when you have seen the trick that a later level teaches.

I have forgotten how the controls work

There is a How to play card in the game, and a Legend that names every piece on the board. Both are reachable from the sheet on the play screen.

I turned the story off and want the explanations back

Options → Text → Show everything again. That brings back every one-off explanation and story card, including the ones you have already dismissed. Resetting the campaign does the same thing as a side effect.

Nothing buzzes when I press and hold

Check your phone's vibration settings first. The game asks Android for a short buzz, but Android silently ignores that request when the system's own touch haptics are switched off — so the game can be set to Strong and still do nothing. This is the single commonest report we get, and it is almost never the game.

If system haptics are on and you still feel nothing, try Options → Haptics and tap through the four settings: each one buzzes as you select it, so you can feel the difference directly. The steps are deliberately far apart — a weak buzz and a slightly less weak buzz feel identical on most phones, which is a mistake this game has already made once.

There is no sound

Sound effects and music are separate channels, each with its own switch and volume in Options. Check that the channel's switch is on, not just that its volume is up. Then check the phone is not in silent mode, and that the media volume — not the ringer — is turned up.

The main character walks too fast to follow

Options → Travel speed, anywhere from one to five squares a second. Slower is easier to abandon partway through, which matters more than it sounds when you have tapped the wrong square.

I keep collapsing the timeline by accident

There is a warning for exactly this: Options → Warn when the timeline collapses, which is on by default. If it is on and you are still being caught out, that is useful feedback — tell us which level and what you were doing.

Does it need an internet connection?

No — and it never uses one. Every level, image and sound is inside the app. It plays exactly the same in aeroplane mode, on a train, or with the SIM taken out. It uses no mobile data at all, and there is nothing in it that phones home. See the privacy policy for the detail.

Why does it ask for the Internet permission, then?

It does not ask you for anything — there is no prompt — but the permission is declared, and a careful reader will spot it in the store listing. The game is built on a framework that needs it to load the game's own files inside its display component. No request ever leaves your phone. The only other permission is Vibrate, for the confirming buzz.

Refunds

Purchases are handled by Google Play, not by us, so refunds go through Google. Play offers a self-service refund shortly after purchase from your order history; after that window, request one through Google Play support. We have no access to your payment details and cannot process a refund ourselves — but if something about the game is broken for you, please tell us anyway, because that is a bug we would rather fix than lose you over.

What is not here yet

• Other languages. The game is English-only today. Translation is planned, and the game was built with it in mind — every line of text in it is already a translatable record rather than a string buried in the code.
• An in-app version number. Until there is one, Android's app settings are where to find it.

Write in. Bug reports, questions, a level you think is unfair, or a level you are proud of beating — all welcome, and all read.

support@timetravelheist.co.uk

For anything about data, tracking or your privacy, the privacy policy answers most of it, and privacy@timetravelheist.co.uk reaches the same person.