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Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 16, 2026

Pikel is a pickleball app: you join a club, RSVP to games, keep score, and message the people you play with. This page says what we hold, who else touches it, how long we keep it, and how you get rid of it. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.

1. Information we collect

  • Account information: Name, email address, profile photo (optional). If you give us a phone number we store it too; no other member can read it.
  • Profile: Username, bio, skill level, play style, which hand you play with, your home area, your direct-message preference, and — if you add them — your Instagram handle and Strava link.
  • How you want to play: If you tell us whether you play the women's side, the men's side or either, we store it. It is optional and you can change or remove it at any time.
  • Location: A home area you save yourself, and — only if you turn on the nearby map and grant permission — your device's approximate location while the app is open, so we can show courts and games near you. The app works without it.
  • Usage data: Game participation, RSVPs, attendance, scores, standings, and club and group memberships.
  • Messages: Chat messages you send within clubs and games.
  • Photos, camera and microphone: Profile and club photos and images you send in chat. The camera is used to scan a payment card if you choose that instead of typing it in — the card goes straight to Stripe and we never see or store it. The microphone is used only when you dictate to Pikel AI.
  • Device information: Device type, OS version, app build, and push notification tokens.
  • Analytics and diagnostics: Screens you open, actions you take, and errors and crashes. This is linked to your account — it is not anonymous. On a real device (not the simulator) the app also records a masked replay of your screen: text you type and images are masked before anything is stored. You can turn all of this off — see §5.
  • DUPR: If you connect a DUPR account we store your DUPR id, your doubles and singles ratings, reliability, entitlements and subscription tier. Your DUPR sign-in tokens are held as encrypted vault references, never in plain text.
  • Payments: If you take payments we store your Stripe account id, country, and whether Stripe has cleared you to charge and to be paid out. Card numbers and bank details live with Stripe, never with us.
  • Guest records: An organizer can add someone to a game as a guest before that person has an account, which creates a record carrying the name the organizer typed. When that person signs up they can claim the record, and the two are merged.
  • Sign-in provider information: If you sign in with Apple or Google, that provider sends us your name, email address, and profile picture so we can create your account. We receive nothing else: we do not read your friends, posts, photos, or contacts, and we never post anything on your behalf.

2. How we use your information

  • To provide and maintain the app's features
  • To send push notifications about games, RSVPs, and messages
  • To display your profile and game history to other club members
  • To improve the app and fix crashes, using the account-linked analytics and diagnostics described in §1
  • To build balanced courts in mixed doubles, and to work out which competition divisions and team lineups you are eligible for, using how you want to play. It is not used for advertising or profiling.

3. How we sign you in

You sign in with Apple, with Google, or with an email address and password. That is the whole list. We do not store your password — authentication is handled by Supabase Auth.

Pikel does not offer Facebook sign-in. An earlier version of this policy said we did; that was wrong.

4. Who else touches your data

We do not sell your personal information and we do not share it for advertising. These are the companies that process it so the app can work:

  • Supabase — our database, sign-in and file storage. It holds everything in §1.
  • Apple — push tokens and notification text on iPhone; your Apple sign-in. If your iPhone cannot transcribe your dictation on-device, Apple's speech service transcribes it. You can always type instead.
  • Google and Firebase — push tokens and notification text on Android (Firebase Cloud Messaging); your Google sign-in; app usage events on Android (Firebase Analytics); and the remote settings that decide which features are switched on.
  • PostHog — usage events linked to your account, and the masked screen replays described in §1. PostHog is the analytics on iPhone; Android uses both PostHog and Firebase Analytics.
  • Sentry — crashes and errors, carrying your account id so we can tell whether a bug is yours. On Android a crash also carries the identifier of the PostHog recording of that moment, which lets us watch what led to it.
  • Stripe — your payment details, name and email when you pay an entry fee or get paid out.
  • Anthropic — your message to Pikel AI and its recent conversation context, so it can reply. See §5.
  • Resend — your email address and the message body, for invites, receipts and reminders.
  • Upstash — short-lived counters keyed to your account id, for rate limits and fair RSVP ordering.
  • Google Places — what you type into court search and, when your device has a location fix, roughly where you are, so we can suggest nearby courts. The request is made by our servers, not your device.
  • Google Maps — map tiles and the area of the map you are looking at.
  • DUPR — your DUPR id and the results of matches you play, if you connect DUPR, so your rating stays current.
  • Other members — members of clubs you join see your name, photo, profile and game history. They do not see your email address, your phone number, or how you answered the "how you want to play" question: those columns are blocked at the database level and reachable only through named functions that enforce their own rules.

5. pikel AI

Pikel AI is an assistant inside the app. We ask before it appears, and you can turn it off.

When you send it a message, that message and up to twenty recent messages from the same conversation are sent to Anthropic so it can reply. If you attach a screenshot, that image is sent too — only when you attach it deliberately, and you see a preview of exactly what will be sent first. A screenshot is raw pixels of whatever was on screen, so check the preview before you send it. The assistant can look up the names of people in your clubs to answer you, and those names go with the request.

We keep a record that a turn happened — which route it took, which model, how long it took, whether it worked. We do not keep the content of your message in that record. Your email address and phone number are never sent: the assistant cannot read those columns.

6. This website

pikel.app loads PostHog to count page views and measure how the site is used, which stores identifiers in your browser. PostHog also records a replay of your visit on the website — the pages you open and how you move through them. We remove the part of a web address after the ? or # before anything reaches PostHog, so a one-time sign-in link or an unsubscribe address is never sent with it. The site stores your light or dark theme choice, and — while you are hosting a game — an unfinished draft, in your browser's own storage; neither leaves your device. Map pages load Google Maps, and the checkout page loads Stripe. If you sign in on the website, Supabase Auth issues the session.

7. Data storage and security

Your data is stored using Supabase with row-level security policies, and all data is transmitted over HTTPS. Columns that no other member may read — your email address, your phone number, and how you want to play — are blocked from direct reads at the database level, not only hidden in the app.

8. Your rights

  • Access: You can view all your data within the app
  • Deletion: Tap your avatar on Home to open your profile, scroll to the account rows at the bottom, and tap Delete Account, then confirm. This permanently removes your account, your personal data, your profile and chat images, and your membership of every club and group. It cannot be undone. If you signed in with Apple, we also revoke the Sign in with Apple credential at the same time. If you signed in with Google, deleting your Pikel account removes your data from our systems, but Pikel may still appear in Google's list of connected apps until you remove it there. If you cannot reach the app, email support@pikel.app from your account's email address and we will delete it for you. See §9 for how long residual copies persist in backups.
  • Data export: Open your profile and use Download My Data in the Privacy group, or contact us
  • Analytics opt-out: In the iPhone app, open your profile and turn off Usage Analytics in the Privacy group. It stops the events we send and the analytics SDK's own automatic capture, including screen replay, and it unlinks the events from you. That switch is kept on the device you set it on: it is not an account setting, so it does not follow you to another phone. The Android app and the website do not offer this switch — analytics runs there for everyone, and on the website it runs before you sign in, so turning it off in the iPhone app does not turn it off on pikel.app. On the website, your browser's tracker blocking or a private window stops it. If you want your website analytics deleted, email support@pikel.app and we will remove them.
  • Change or withdraw how you want to play: Open your profile and use Gender in the Game Play group. Removing it cancels your RSVPs for any upcoming Mixed Doubles games but leaves your past games and standings unchanged.
  • Lawful basis (EEA, UK, Switzerland): Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we process your account information, game data, and messages on the basis of Article 6(1)(b) (performance of the contract you accept by using the app). How you want to play, and the Pikel AI assistant, are processed on the basis of Article 6(1)(a) consent, which you can withdraw at any time using the options above. Analytics and crash reporting rely on Article 6(1)(f) legitimate interest in keeping the app working and improving it, and you can opt out as described above. You can also contact support@pikel.app to exercise your rights to access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, or to object, and to lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority.
  • California residents: The California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA) gives you the right to know what personal information we collect, to delete personal information, to correct inaccurate personal information, to opt out of any "sale" or "sharing" of personal information, and to limit use of sensitive personal information. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Information about how you want to play is "sensitive personal information" under the CPRA; we use it only for the limited purposes described in §2 and you can change or remove it at any time. To exercise any of these rights, email support@pikel.app; we will not discriminate against you for doing so.

9. Data retention

Account data (name, email, profile photo, game history, messages) is retained for the lifetime of your account. When you delete your account through app settings, we initiate deletion of your personal data from our active systems. Deletion from active databases occurs promptly, including your profile and chat images; residual copies in backups are purged within 90 days. Aggregated, de-identified analytics data (which cannot identify you) may be retained indefinitely to improve the service.

10. International data transfers

Your data is processed in the United States by the service providers named in §4. For users in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, these transfers are protected by Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission, and by our service providers' data processing agreements. You can learn more about these safeguards by contacting us at support@pikel.app.

11. Children's Privacy and the 13+ Age Requirement

Pikel is intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. By creating an account or using the app, you confirm you are at least 13 years old, as required by our Terms of Service.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child under 13 has provided personal information to us, please contact us at support@pikel.app. Upon verification, we will delete the account and all associated personal information in accordance with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and any other applicable laws.

For users between 13 and the age of majority in their jurisdiction, we recommend that a parent or guardian review our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service together with the user before account creation.

12. IDFA and tracking

We do not collect the Apple Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA). We do not track users across other apps or websites. No App Tracking Transparency prompt is shown because we do not perform tracking.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes through the app.

14. Contact

For privacy questions or data requests, contact us at support@pikel.app.

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