Help

Support

EMBER for iOS · Last updated 28 September 2026 (version 1.1)

Playing

How the game works

You orbit whatever you last landed on. One tap releases you along the tangent, so the moment you tap decides where you go — there is no aiming and no steering in flight. Land close to the centre of the next body and it counts as a perfect landing, which builds a streak worth up to ten shards a landing. Any non-perfect landing resets that streak to nothing.

The dark underneath you only falls back when you gain height. Landing repeatedly on the same level will not buy you time.

I keep dying immediately

Tap earlier than feels right. You leave along the tangent of your orbit, not toward whatever you are looking at, so the release point matters more than the target. The sky is infinite sideways as well as upward, so a wide, safe arc is usually better than a heroic one.

What are the power-ups?

Two, bought from the store and banked between runs, one of each per run. The guide curves your flight toward a body, but only ever one above you. The shield saves you once from a death, at the cost of your streak and any active guide. A black hole is true death and the shield does not save you from it.

Leaderboard

How do I get on the leaderboard?

Sign in to Game Center in iOS Settings > Game Center. Once you are signed in, every run you finish is sent to the global leaderboard, and the leaderboard keeps your best. Signing in is optional; everything else in the game works without it.

Where do I see it?

Tap your BEST score at the bottom of the title screen, open Settings > Leaderboard, or tap Leaderboard on the new high score screen. The list covers every player, loading more as you scroll. Tap your own rank in the bronze box at the bottom to jump straight to where you stand. The Game Center button underneath opens Apple's own leaderboard, where you can see how you compare with your Game Center friends.

My score is not on the leaderboard

Check that you are signed in to Game Center on the same iPhone. A new score can take a moment to appear. Your best is sent again every time you open the game while signed in, so a record set offline, or set before you signed in, arrives the next time you open EMBER with a connection.

Changing the name other players see

The leaderboard shows your Game Center nickname. Change it, or your profile visibility, in iOS Settings > Game Center.

Ads and the age question

Why does the game ask my age?

The answer decides what advertising EMBER is allowed to request. Younger answers restrict ad content, and an under-13 answer switches personalised ads off entirely. It changes nothing about the game itself. The number you enter stays on your device and is never sent anywhere; see the privacy policy for exactly what travels with an ad request.

Where do ads appear?

Three places. A short interstitial after a run ends, a rewarded video you can choose to watch for one more life when you die, and a rewarded video in the shop for a shard bonus every few hours. The two rewarded ads never play unless you ask for them.

The reward ad did nothing

If no ad is available at that moment, EMBER grants the second life anyway rather than leaving you stuck. The shard bonus needs a completed video, so if none loaded, wait a moment and try again. A weak connection is the usual cause.

Getting rid of ads

Buy Remove Ads from the shop. It is a one-time purchase, it applies permanently, and the second life and the shard bonus are granted on the spot without a video. If you change phones, restore it from Settings as described below.

Changing your privacy choices

If iOS asked whether EMBER may track you, you can change that answer in iOS Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking. If you are in the EEA, UK or Switzerland and saw Google's consent form, you can reopen it from Settings > Privacy options inside the game.

Purchases

What can I buy?

Two shard packs, 1,000 and 5,000, and the one-time Remove Ads. Shards buy skins and power-ups. Nothing in the game is locked behind a purchase; everything can be earned by climbing.

Restoring a purchase

Open Settings from the title screen and tap Restore Purchases. This asks Apple which purchases your Apple Account already owns and re-enables them. Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you bought with. Only Remove Ads can be restored; shard packs are consumed the moment they are bought, which is how Apple treats consumable items, so they cannot be restored after a reinstall.

I paid and nothing happened

Close the app fully and reopen it. Interrupted purchases are completed by Apple on the next launch, and EMBER grants them automatically. If it still has not arrived after a few minutes, email me with the approximate time of purchase and I will look into it.

Refunds

All purchases are handled by Apple, so refunds go through Apple rather than through me. Use reportaproblem.apple.com and sign in with your Apple Account. I cannot issue a refund directly, but if a purchase failed to deliver what it promised, email me and I will help you make the case.

Sound and haptics

I hear nothing

Open settings, either from the title screen or from the gear in the pause menu, and check that Sound is on. EMBER deliberately plays through the ring/silent switch, so silencing your phone will not silence the game — use the in-game toggle instead. If sound stops after a phone call or after using Siri, closing the app fully and reopening it restarts the audio session.

Turning off vibration

Settings has a separate Haptics toggle. Turning it off silences every vibration in the game without affecting sound.

Progress and data

Where is my progress stored?

On your iPhone, inside the app's own storage. There is no EMBER account, no cloud save, and no server. (Your leaderboard scores are the exception: if you are signed in, Game Center keeps those with Apple.) That means progress does not transfer to a new phone and is not recoverable after the app is deleted. The one exception is Remove Ads, which Apple records against your Apple Account and which you can bring back from Settings > Restore Purchases.

How do I delete everything?

Delete the app. That removes everything EMBER stores on your iPhone. Leaderboard scores live with Apple's Game Center rather than in the app, so they stay on the board; they belong to your Game Center account. See the privacy policy for the full list of what is stored.

Reporting a problem

A useful bug report gets fixed much faster than a vague one. Include what you can:

• Your iPhone model and iOS version, from Settings > General > About
• What you were doing when it happened, including which formation you were in if you noticed — the sun, a black hole, a pulsar, the nebula, starfall, or a void crossing
• A screen recording, if you can catch it happening

Send it to support@emberthegame.com. Feature requests are welcome at the same address.

Accessibility

EMBER is a one-thumb portrait game with no timed multi-touch input and no reliance on colour alone to signal danger. If something about it does not work for you, tell me what and I will look at it for the next version.