Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Account information: Signing in is optional. If you sign in with Google on Android, we receive a unique user identifier, your email address, and your Google display name. If you sign in with Apple on iOS, we receive a unique user identifier and, optionally, the name you choose to share. If you do not sign in, the App uses an anonymous identifier only.
• Profile data: The display name and optional group image you add to your profile and groups.
• Gameplay data: Your scorecard entries - birdies, pars, eagles, rounds played, course names, and goals you set.
• Group data: Group names, invite codes, membership, and activity entries generated by your gameplay.
• Chat messages: Text you send in a group chat.
• Activity reactions: When you react to a group activity (👍 Like or 👊 Knucks), we record your user ID and the reaction type.
• Activity comments: Text comments (up to 500 characters) you post on group activity entries, visible to all members of that group.
• Course layouts: Per-hole par data for a course you choose to publish to the shared course library. No personally identifiable information is attached to a course submission.

Information We Receive Automatically

• Device identifier: A unique anonymous ID generated by Firebase Authentication when you first launch the App.
• Approximate location: Only when you tap Start Round and grant permission, the App reads your device location to find golf courses near you. Location is optional, and you can decline and still enter a course name manually. See Section 5.
• Advertising identifier: On the free tier, Google AdMob accesses your device advertising identifier to serve ads.
• App usage: Diagnostic information for reliability and crash reporting (via Google Firebase).

2. How We Use Your Information

• Provide, maintain, and improve the App.
• Sync your stats across your devices.
• Enable you to join groups and compete on leaderboards with friends.
• Deliver milestone activity updates, reactions, comments, and group chat messages to other members of your groups.
• Populate the shared course library with layouts you choose to submit.
• Enforce our Terms of Service and community guidelines.
• Respond to reports of objectionable content.

3. How Your Information Is Shared

• Within groups you join: Your display name, gameplay stats, activity milestones, reactions, comments, chat messages, and any custom group image are visible to all members of groups you've joined.
• Course library: Course layouts you choose to publish are shared with all App users as part of the shared course library. These submissions contain no personally identifiable information.
• Service providers: We use Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore) for data storage and sync, RevenueCat for subscription management, and Google AdMob for advertising. These services process data on our behalf under their own privacy policies.
• OpenStreetMap: When you search for nearby courses, your approximate coordinates are sent to the OpenStreetMap Overpass API so it can return golf courses in your area. This request is not linked to your account, and we do not store your location.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose information to comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal process, or governmental requests.

We do not sell your personal information.

4. Signing In

Signing in is optional and is used to back up your data and sync it across devices. On Android you sign in with Google, which shares your email address and Google display name with us. On iOS you sign in with Apple, where you may share your real name or use Apple's "Hide My Email" feature. Neither Google nor Apple shares your password with us. You can revoke access at any time from your Google Account permissions page, or via iOS Settings → Apple Account → Sign-In & Security → Sign in with Apple.

5. Location

Location is used for one purpose only: finding golf courses near you when you start a round.

• When it is read: Only after you tap Start Round and grant permission. The App does not track your location in the background.
• Where it goes: Your approximate coordinates are sent to the OpenStreetMap Overpass API, which returns a list of golf courses within roughly ten kilometres.
• What we store: Nothing. We never save your location. When a course layout is published to the shared library, only the coordinates of the golf course itself are stored, never yours.
• If you decline: Every other feature continues to work. You can type a course name manually and confirm its layout yourself.

6. User-Generated Content and Moderation

Birdie Tracker includes features where users can post content visible to others (group chat, activity comments, reactions, group names, group images, display names). We do not tolerate objectionable content, harassment, or abuse. We provide tools to:

• Filter offensive language before messages are sent.
• Report inappropriate content directly from the chat or activity interface.
• Block users so their messages and comments are no longer visible to you.
• Delete your own messages and comments at any time.
• Auto-hide content that receives 3 or more reports while it is under review.

Reported content is reviewed within 24 hours and offending content or users will be removed from the service.

7. Children's Privacy

Birdie Tracker is rated 12+ and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that a child under 13 has provided us personal information, we will delete it.

8. Data Retention and Deletion

• You can delete your account at any time from Profile → Delete Account in the App. This permanently removes your account identity, profile, synced stats, goals, and blocked-users list, and removes you from every group you belong to.
• Content you contributed to shared spaces, including group chat messages, activity entries, comments, and reactions, is retained after deletion so conversations remain coherent for the other members. Email us if you would like that removed as well. Full details are on our account deletion page.
• Backup copies of deleted data may persist in our service providers' backups for up to 30 days before being purged.
• Course layout submissions you have published to the shared library are anonymized and will remain in the library after your account is deleted, as they contain no personally identifiable information.

9. Advertising

Free users see interstitial ads provided by Google AdMob. AdMob may use device identifiers and usage information to personalize ads. On Android you can reset or delete your advertising ID via Settings → Privacy → Ads. On iOS you can limit tracking via Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking. Birdie Tracker Pro subscribers see no ads.

10. In-App Purchases

Subscriptions are processed by Google Play on Android and by Apple on iOS. We use RevenueCat to manage entitlements. Your payment information is never sent to us.

11. Security

We use industry-standard safeguards (encryption in transit, Firebase security rules, per-user access controls) to protect your data. No internet service is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have rights to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct or delete your data.
• Object to or restrict certain processing.
• Data portability.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at 218Cultivation@gmail.com.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be announced within the App and the "Last updated" date above will be revised. Continued use of the App after changes means you accept the updated policy.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data:

Email: 218Cultivation@gmail.com
Website: www.birdie-tracker.com