Phial support

Phial — A cozy alchemy puzzle game

iPhone · requires iOS 18.0 or later

Email support

Contact

Write to support@markolana.com.

What to include in a bug report

• Which iPhone, and which version of iOS (Settings → General → About).
• The level name or number, or the date of the Daily Order.
• What you did, what you expected, and what happened instead.
• A screenshot or a screen recording, if you can.

That detail matters more than it would for most apps, because Phial ships no crash-reporting or analytics service of its own - and that is a deliberate choice rather than a gap. Adding one would mean putting a third-party SDK into an app whose whole proposition is that it contains none, and creating a store of data about players that does not currently exist.

So there is nothing to install and no diagnostics to send. If you have "Share with App Developers" turned on in iOS privacy settings, Apple passes on anonymised crash reports, and that is the only automatic signal there is. Everything else about a bug is known only because somebody described it.

Common questions

I bought the full game but it is still locked

Open the menu, then Settings, then Restore Purchases - or tap any locked chapter and choose Restore on the purchase screen. Make sure the device is signed in to the same Apple Account that made the purchase. If it is still locked after that, write to support with the date of the purchase.

How do I get a refund?

Apple handles all purchases and all refunds for App Store apps, so a refund has to come from Apple: go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in, and choose the purchase. We never see your payment details and cannot issue a refund on Apple’s behalf. If the reason is something broken, tell us as well.

I got a new phone. Where is my progress?

Stars, discoveries, your current level, trials and the Daily Order streak sync through your own iCloud account. Sign the new phone in to the same Apple Account, make sure iCloud Drive is on, install Phial and open it - progress merges on first launch. Your purchase restores the same way.

How do I start the game over?

Menu, then Settings, then Reset game progress. It clears every star, discovery and lesson from the device and from iCloud. Your settings and your full-game purchase are not affected - a reset never costs you something you paid for. There is a confirmation step because it cannot be undone.

I am stuck on a level

Tap Hint. Hints are unlimited and free, and come from the solver running on your own phone - the provably best move when it can finish the search, a strong one when the board is too dense. Undo is unlimited too, and Reset gives you the same board again rather than a new shuffle. If a board reaches a state that can no longer be won, the game tells you and offers to rewind to the last winnable position.

Can a level be impossible?

No. Every board shipped in Phial - including each day’s Daily Order - was proved solvable by the same solver that ships inside the app, and the par shown to you is that solver’s optimum. If you believe you have found an unsolvable board, please tell us: it would be a bug worth reporting.

The music or sound effects are too loud

Menu, then Settings, then Sound: there are separate sliders for Music and Effects, and either can go to silent. Phial mixes with whatever you are already listening to and respects the silent switch, so it never interrupts your own audio.

The animation is too much

Menu, then Settings, then Feel, then Reduced motion. It keeps everything the game needs to tell you and drops the flourish. Phial also follows the system Reduce Motion setting in iOS Accessibility settings without you having to do anything.

Does Phial work with VoiceOver?

Yes, throughout, including the board itself - each vial reads out what is in it. Every liquid also carries its own symbol so colour is never the only way to tell two apart, and the layout supports Dynamic Type up to the largest accessibility sizes. If you hit something that does not read correctly, that is a bug worth reporting.

Why is my Daily Order the same as my friend’s?

By design. The daily puzzle is a pure function of the date and how far you have got, so everyone at the same stage plays the same board on the same day - and it works entirely offline, with no server involved. Your streak is yours and lives on your device and in your iCloud.

Is there an iPad or Android version?

Not yet. Phial is an iPhone app today. An iPad version is planned as its own release, and Android is intended after that. Neither has a date. Buying on iPhone does not carry across to Android when it arrives - the stores are separate.

What data does Phial collect?

None. There is no analytics, no advertising, no tracking and no third-party code in the app. Progress lives on your device and in your own iCloud, where the developer cannot reach it. The full detail is in the privacy policy.

How do I delete my data?

Reset game progress in Settings removes your gameplay data from the device and from iCloud. Deleting the app removes the rest of the local data, including settings. There is no account and no server-side copy, so there is nothing left for us to delete on your behalf - and nothing we could delete even if you asked.

Licence, purchases and refunds

Phial is licensed under Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement, unmodified - there is no separate or custom licence.

Purchases, receipts, Family Sharing, restoring a purchase and refunds are all handled by Apple under your agreement with them, and we never see your payment details. A refund has to come from Apple’s Report a Problem; we cannot issue one on Apple’s behalf. If the reason is something broken, tell us as well.

Privacy and your data

Phial collects nothing. The complete statement - what is stored, where, who can reach it, and how to remove it - is in the Phial privacy policy. For anything else, write to privacy@markolana.com.