Privacy

Privacy Policy

Effective: May 2, 2026

Sides Golf ("Sides," "we," "us") makes an app for running your friend group's recurring golf tournament. This policy explains what we collect, why, who else touches it, and what you can do about it. We tried to keep it short.

1. Who we are

Sides Golf is operated by an independent developer. Contact: support@sides.golf. Throughout this policy, "the app" refers to Sides Golf on iOS and Android, and "the service" refers to the app together with its backend hosted on Google Cloud (Firebase).

2. What we collect

Account information

  • Email address and password — used to create and authenticate your account via Firebase Authentication. Passwords are hashed and stored by Firebase; we never see your plaintext password.

Profile information

  • Display name shown to other members of your club.
  • Avatar image, if you choose to upload one.
  • Handicap index and, optionally, your GHIN number, used to compute strokes given and received in match play.
  • Club and tournament memberships — which clubs and tournaments you belong to.

Content you create

  • Chat messages in your club's channels, including text, emoji reactions, and @-mentions.
  • Scoring data — the score you record per hole, optional qualifier tags ("3-putt", "great approach", etc.), and any free-text notes you attach.
  • Tournament records — rounds played, match results, draft picks, captain decisions.
  • Tips ("chirps") to the AI caster — short prompts you submit to influence the in-app AI commentary.

Technical information

  • Push notification tokens issued by Apple (APNs) and Google (FCM), so we can deliver match alerts and chat notifications to your device.
  • Standard server logs from Firebase (timestamps, request paths, error traces) for diagnostics and abuse prevention.

What we do not collect

  • We do not collect precise location, contacts, photos beyond what you explicitly upload, microphone, or health data.
  • We do not use third-party advertising or analytics SDKs in the app.
  • We do not track your activity across other apps or websites.

3. How we use this information

  • To create and maintain your account.
  • To run your club, tournaments, and matches.
  • To compute scoring, standings, and handicap-adjusted results.
  • To deliver in-app chat and push notifications.
  • To generate AI caster commentary (see Service Providers below).
  • To respond to support requests and prevent abuse.

4. Service providers

We rely on a small number of vendors to operate the service. Each one only receives the minimum data needed for its job. We do not sell, rent, or otherwise share your information with anyone else.

  • Google Cloud / Firebase — hosts our database, authentication, server functions, and push notification delivery. Subject to Google's privacy practices.
  • Anthropic — the AI caster sends tournament context (scores, match state, player display names, and chat tips) to Anthropic's Claude API to generate commentary. Anthropic processes these requests under its privacy policy and does not use API inputs for model training.
  • Apple and Google — push notification tokens are exchanged with APNs (Apple) and FCM (Google) to deliver alerts to your device.

5. Data retention

We keep your account and content for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account at any time inside the app: open My Profile and tap Delete Account. Deletion takes effect immediately — your profile, club memberships, push notification tokens, and personal preferences are removed from our servers. Your scoring entries and match results remain as part of your club's historical tournament records so other members' standings stay intact; your name in those records is replaced with "Former player."

If you cannot access the app to delete your account (for example, you are locked out), email support@sides.golf and we will process the deletion manually within 30 days.

6. Your rights and choices

  • Access and correction — most profile fields are editable in the app.
  • Deletion — open My Profile in the app and tap Delete Account.
  • Notifications — you can disable push notifications in your device settings at any time.
  • EEA, UK, and California residents have additional rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, and the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to request a copy of your data and to object to certain processing. Email us to exercise these rights.

7. Children

Sides Golf is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA/UK), and we do not knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.

8. Security

Data in transit is encrypted with TLS. Stored data lives in Firebase's managed infrastructure. We follow the principle of least privilege for backend access. No system is perfectly secure; if we ever detect a breach affecting your data, we will notify you as required by law.

9. International transfers

Our backend runs on Google Cloud regions in the United States. If you use Sides from outside the U.S., your data will be transferred to and processed there.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. Material changes will be announced in-app or by email. The "Effective" date at the top of this page always reflects the latest revision.

11. Contact

Questions, requests, or complaints: support@sides.golf.