SWARMERS FAQ

Player questions for the iPhone game: controls, Swarm windows, scoring, runs, Game Center, purchases, and privacy.

1. The basics

What is Swarmers? An infinite arcade defender for iPhone. You are a Binder. Swarmers ride dimensional streams toward the breach; you swipe between the streams and bind them before anything gets past. Sectors last thirty seconds and there is no last one.

How does a run end? Lose every open stream in a sector and the run is over. A stream you lose stays down until the sector ends; every new sector starts with a full set. Streams start at four (sectors I–IV), then five (V–VIII), then six from sector IX on. RETRY SECTOR gives you a full set again.

What are the difficulty levels? Easy, Average, Hard, and Impossible. Higher difficulties spawn faster, move faster, open Swarm windows more often, and score more per bind (up to 4× on Impossible). Local records are kept separately per difficulty. The Game Center score leaderboards cover all difficulties on one board, so harder runs score more.

What devices does it run on? iPhone on iOS 17 or later. Android and iPad are not available in v1.

Do I need an account to play? No. Play, local records, and the tutorial all work with no sign-in. Game Center leaderboards and achievements use your Apple Game Center sign-in on the iPhone (see section 7).

2. Controls

How do I move? Swipe left or right to jump between streams. A longer or faster swipe jumps more streams at once.

How do I fire? Swipe up. One Pulse per swipe. Pulse is infinite. At the start of a run it is your only weapon unless you choose to load purchased Bindwaves (see section 8).

How do I use Bindwave? One-finger swipe down. It arms with a three-second fuse, then clears every stream at once. You carry at most four in hand during a run.

Can I change the controls? No. Gesture controls are the only scheme. Settings covers SOUND, MUSIC, HAPTICS, SMOOTHER MOTION, REDUCED EFFECTS, TELEMETRY, DELETE DATA, and FEEDBACK. The same screen documents the three swipes. REDUCED EFFECTS makes combat glow, flashes, and camera motion quieter (see section 9).

3. The Swarm rule

What does the orange ring mean? That Swarmer is in a Swarm window. You have two choices, and both are deliberate.

Choice one: hold fire. Hold all fire, including Bindwave, until the ring drains. You can still move. A clean window earns +1 Bindwave if you have room in your four-charge hand. The HUD shows HOLD ALL FIRE → +1 BINDWAVE while this is still available.

Choice two: shoot it. An actual hit on an orange Swarmer splits it into a cascade. Destroy every copy and you earn the Cascade Clear bonus, scaled by your chain. Miss one and you get nothing extra, plus a fuller field.

I fired on a different stream during a window. Did I lose the reward? Yes. Firing anywhere — Pulse or Bindwave — forfeits patience for that window (the HUD switches to FIRED · NO PATIENCE REWARD). It does not split the orange target unless you actually hit it.

Why didn't I get a Bindwave after a clean window? Your hand was full. Four is the in-run limit, so a clean window only pays out when there is a free slot (including a slot reserved for a pending refund). The HUD shows BINDWAVES FULL. Earned and loaded purchased charges share those four slots; purchased charges kept in the bank do not take up room in your hand.

4. Scoring and recognition

How does the multiplier work? Every bind grows the Containment Chain, a run-wide score multiplier that steps up every five binds (+0.25 per step, capped at 3.0). Losing any stream breaks it.

What is CLUTCH? A bind in the last 8% of a stream, before impact. Recognition only, no bonus points. Multiple clutch binds within three seconds count as one moment.

What is PERFECT SECTOR? Finishing a sector without losing a stream.

What is the HOLD FOR N countdown? You are down to one stream with five seconds left in the sector. The number counts down and the rail flashes once a second as a skill cue. There is no award for surviving it.

What is the target shown before a run? A personal goal: reach a sector, build a best chain, or beat a score record. It tracks in the HUD, and the game-over screen shows exactly how close you came. A missed target stays until you hit it. Goals grant recognition, not resources.

Why did the sector end but enemies were still on screen? After the timer hits zero you get up to three seconds of playable cleanup to finish shots, cascades, and Bindwaves already in flight. No new Swarmers spawn and no new Bindwaves can be armed. An armed Bindwave with no targets left is refunded to where it came from.

Why is there a break in the action mid-sector? Encounters are authored in short phrases, and each phrase ends with a recovery opening (the "Clear the field" callout). Swarmers already on the field keep moving, so it is an opening, not immunity.

5. Threats and layouts

What are the Swarmer types? Five identified so far.

When does each show up? Sector I introduces Alpha and Beta. Gamma joins in II, Delta in III, Phantom in IV. From then on the game draws from all five patterns in a shuffled bag.

What are the stream layouts? Six named layouts: Parallel, Chevron, Crossing, Crossfire, Confluence, and Drift. The layout rebuilds every sector along with the spawn pressure.

Where do I re-read this in the game? Main menu → TUTORIAL. That is the swipeable handbook, including the Swarm Window and Cascade Clear pages, plus a safe practice arena. The first-run lesson can be skipped with SKIP TUTORIAL.

6. Runs, retries, and Save & Exit

What are runs? Your attempt budget. You hold up to 5 free run charges. Starting a run costs 1. After game over, RETRY SECTOR costs 1. Quitting to the menu costs nothing. The tutorial run is free. With Unlimited Runs, nothing costs a run (see section 8).

How do runs refill? +1 every hour while you are below 5, so empty to full takes five hours. The clock keeps counting while the app is closed. Free refill never takes you above 5; purchased packs can. With Unlimited Runs the menu shows ∞ and there is nothing to wait for.

What does RETRY SECTOR do? Restarts the same sector with its streams rebuilt. You keep your score, run time, and Bindwaves in hand. The attempt that just ended is already in your records, and its score still counts on Game Center. The retry is a separate continued result: it is not CLEAN and does not count toward Game Center.

What are the pause options? CONTINUE resumes the live run. SAVE & EXIT freezes it on this device. QUIT & DISCARD throws the run away. Discard does not refund the run charge you already spent to start.

Can I stop mid-run and come back later? Yes. Pause and choose SAVE & EXIT. One saved run per device, no time limit, and resuming costs nothing. It reopens paused so you can get your bearings.

I force-closed the app and my run is gone. Only SAVE & EXIT creates a checkpoint. Force-closing during an unsaved run does not. Switching apps pauses the game and music, so that is safe; closing is not.

What if I start a new run while one is saved? The game asks whether to discard the saved run first. It never quietly spends a run charge over a saved run.

Does a saved run survive uninstall or DELETE DATA? Uninstalling wipes it. DELETE DATA does not: it leaves a SAVE & EXIT file on the device. See section 10 for what DELETE DATA actually removes.

7. Game Center

How do I see the leaderboards and achievements? Sign in to Game Center in the iOS Settings app (Settings → Game Center). Then open RANKS in Swarmers and tap the Game Center button to open the leaderboards and achievements. If you are not signed in, Swarmers plays exactly the same and nothing is sent to Game Center. The full list is also on the homepage.

What are the leaderboards? Five boards:

What are the achievements? Fifteen, covering sectors reached, Containment Chains, held Swarm windows, earned Bindwaves, CLUTCH, PERFECT SECTOR, Hard mode, and playing on different days. The homepage lists each one and how to earn it.

Which runs count? A run counts while all of these hold:

When do the boards reset? Daily Best resets every day at 00:00 UTC. Swarm Discipline resets every Monday at 00:00 UTC. High Score, Longest Chain, and Daily Streak do not reset.

How does Daily Streak work? It counts consecutive days, by your local calendar, on which you finished at least one run that counts. Miss a day and the streak starts over at 1. The board shows your longest streak, not your current one.

Does Game Center share my identity with Swarmers? No. Apple handles Game Center sign-in. Scores and achievements go to Apple under Apple's privacy policy. Your Game Center player ID and name stay on the device and are never sent to our servers. See the Privacy Policy.

8. Purchases

What can I buy? Main menu → STORE. Unlimited Runs, a one-time purchase, plus four consumables: 5 runs, 15 runs, 5 Bindwaves, 15 Bindwaves. The 15-packs save 33% per unit. Prices show in your local currency on the STORE page.

What does Unlimited Runs do? Buy it once and starting a run or using RETRY SECTOR never costs a run charge again. Any run charges you already have are left alone, and the run packs leave the STORE page because you no longer need them. It buys attempts, not a different game: Game Center still stops counting a run once it takes a Continue.

How do purchased Bindwaves work? Purchased Bindwaves go into a bank with no cap and no expiry, and it carries across runs and app launches. The default is KEEP BANKED: buying a pack does not load your hand or change your loadout choice.

To equip them, tap BINDWAVE BANK on the main menu and choose the LOAD option. The button shows how many purchased charges will load, up to four. Choose KEEP BANKED to leave room for earned Swarm rewards. Your choice is remembered for new runs; it does not change an active run, RETRY SECTOR, or a SAVE & EXIT hand. The tutorial never loads purchased stock.

Earned and loaded purchased charges share the four-charge hand. A full hand has no room for a Swarm reward. Earned charges are spent first. Loading does not spend anything from the bank; arming a purchased charge does. If sector cleanup refunds that charge unused, it returns to the bank. Charges you never arm stay banked. Loading alone is fine for Game Center, but firing purchased stock stops that run from counting (see section 7).

Is Swarmers pay-to-win? You can buy more attempts (or unlimited attempts) and more Bindwaves. You cannot buy a different game. Nothing you buy changes enemy behaviour, point tables, the multiplier, or the Swarm decision, and nothing lets you skip the orange ring. Paid runs and banked Bindwaves do help you survive longer, which is why Game Center stops counting a run once it takes a Continue or fires a purchased Bindwave (see section 7).

Are there ads? No ads in v1.

Loot boxes, battle pass, subscriptions? None. Unlimited Runs is a one-time purchase, not a subscription, and the Terms forbid loot boxes.

Where is Restore Purchases? STORE → RESTORE PURCHASES, under the price list. It brings back Unlimited Runs on a new device or after reinstalling, using the Apple Account that bought it; the game also checks for it on every launch. Family Sharing is on, so members of your Apple family group get it too. Run packs and Bindwave packs are consumables: they are added to this device the moment the purchase completes and can't be restored. If a purchase completes and the count doesn't move, restart the app; the game re-applies finished transactions on launch. Refunds go through Apple, and a refunded Unlimited Runs is removed.

Why do I see purchase options on the game-over screen sometimes and not others? They only appear when you have zero run charges: Unlimited Runs and the 5-run pack. With charges left, or with Unlimited Runs, game over offers RETRY SECTOR and NEW GAME only.

9. Settings, battery, and performance

What is REDUCED EFFECTS? Settings → REDUCED EFFECTS lowers combat glow and flashes, quiets the rails, and removes camera shake and zoom. It is off by default, and your choice is remembered. Enemy bodies, Swarm countdowns, landing markers, and cascade cues remain visible; timing, damage, and scoring stay the same. It is separate from SOUND, MUSIC, HAPTICS, and SMOOTHER MOTION, so you can choose each one independently. It does not remove all animation.

What is SMOOTHER MOTION? Off by default. The game runs at 60 FPS in play and 30 FPS in menus and pause to save battery. SMOOTHER MOTION allows up to 120 FPS during play on phones that support it.

Why does the game pause when I switch apps? By design. Music pauses in place and combat waits for Continue.

The game is stuttering or hot. Turn off SMOOTHER MOTION, close background apps, and update iOS. Send details through in-game FEEDBACK — that is not Telemetry, and it does not require Telemetry to be on.

10. Data, privacy, and deletion

What data do you collect? A device-bound game identity (a key, not your Apple ID or Game Center account). It reaches our server only when you send feedback or use DELETE DATA. Gameplay analytics through Google Analytics for Firebase while TELEMETRY is on: it is on by default, and you can turn it off in Settings anytime. Crash and error reports through Firebase Crashlytics, always on and associated with this install (they are not controlled by TELEMETRY). No advertising identifier and no cross-app tracking. Feedback you choose to send, with an optional reply email. App Store purchase history for in-app purchases. There is no sign-in and we never ask for your name. Full details in the Privacy Policy.

How do I delete everything? Settings → DELETE DATA. Type DELETE, then YES. That permanently removes:

It also turns TELEMETRY off. Purchased run charges, banked Bindwaves and Unlimited Runs are kept. Tutorial completion stays. A SAVE & EXIT run is not removed. Game Center scores and achievements belong to Apple and are not affected.

Turning off TELEMETRY isn't deletion, right? Correct. That stops collection; analytics already sent stay until Google's retention period ends. DELETE DATA is the deletion. In-game FEEDBACK is separate from TELEMETRY; turning Telemetry off does not stop feedback you send yourself.

Can I request deletion by email? Yes, [email protected]. Profiles are anonymous and hold no email, so we usually can't match an email request to one. Use the in-game control where possible.

How old do I have to be? 13+ to use Swarmers. There is no separate age check in the game.

11. Support and studio

How do I report a bug or send feedback? Settings → FEEDBACK (an email address is optional, for replies only), or [email protected].

Who makes Swarmers? Marbir Digital, LLC.

Is Android coming? Planned, no date.

Any health notes? Don't play while walking or driving. If you or anyone in your family has a history of seizures, read the health section in the Terms before you play.