Privacy Policy

Section 01

Who we are

Choyens is a mobile app that helps people organize and join in-person, recreational sports meet-ups. The app is provided by the Choyens team. You can reach us at support@choyens.com.

Section 02

Information we collect

We only collect what we need to run the App. Concretely:

2.1 Information you give us

• Sign-in identity. When you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive your provider’s stable user ID and (when the provider returns it) your email address, name, and profile picture URL. Apple users may use Apple’s “Hide My Email” relay; we accept and store the relay address if that’s what Apple sends.
• Profile content. Your display name, short bio (up to 160 characters), the list of sports you play, and any profile picture you upload. You can edit or remove any of these at any time.
• Events and groups. When you create an event or group, we store its title, description, sport, schedule, location (venue name, city, country, and pinned coordinates), recurrence settings, and roster.
• Match records. When you finish a match, we store the team rosters, scores, and who entered the result.
• Chat messages and chat photos. When you send a message in an event chat or group chat, we store the message body, the sender, the recipient session, and any photo attached to it. Photos are stored at unpredictable, non-enumerable URLs.
• Reports and blocks. If you report another user, message, or event, we store the report (target, reason, timestamp, the reporter’s user ID for dedup). If you block a user, we store that block on your account.

2.2 Information generated by your use of the App

• Points and skill level. As you participate in events, we compute and store your point totals and tier (e.g., beginner / pro / elite) per sport. These power leaderboards and matchmaking.
• Read receipts and chat session state. We track which messages you have read in each chat so the Chat tab’s unread badge stays accurate.
• Sign-in timestamps and account age. We store the date of your most recent sign-in and the date your account was created. Account age is used to apply a new-user grace period before any ad banners can appear (see Section 6).
• Notification feed. We store a record of in-app and push notifications sent to you (e.g., “Your RSVP was approved”) so the Notifications tab can show your history.
• Push notification token. When you enable notifications, your device provides a token (an Apple Push Notification service token on iOS, a Firebase Cloud Messaging token on Android). We store the token, your device’s platform, and a stable device identifier so we can deliver notifications to the right device. We never store the device’s hardware advertising ID.
• Approximate location. When you grant location permission, we store your most recent latitude and longitude on your account so we can: (a) show you events happening near you on the Discover tab without re-asking the operating system every render, and (b) notify you when a new event is posted within roughly 10 km of you and matches a sport you play. Coordinates are read in foreground only — we never run background location. You can revoke permission at any time in your device’s Settings, and your stored coordinates are cleared when you delete your account.

2.3 Information we deliberately do not collect

• Photo Library & Camera. We access them only when you tap to pick or take a photo — for your avatar or a chat attachment. We never scan your library in the background, never read EXIF metadata, and never upload anything without your explicit selection.

Section 03

How we use your information

We use the information described above only to:

• Create, secure, and operate your account.
• Show you relevant events and groups, including the Nearby filter on Discover.
• Notify you when a new event is posted within roughly 10 km of your most recent location and matches a sport you play.
• Coordinate match queues, scoring, and leaderboards.
• Deliver chat messages between you and other members of an event or group.
• Send the in-app and push notifications listed in Section 5.
• Investigate reports of abuse and enforce our Terms of Service.
• Diagnose bugs and improve reliability (using server logs that are kept short-term and never include passwords or full message bodies).

We do not use your data to train any third-party machine learning models.

Section 04

How we share your information

We share information only when one of the following applies:

• With other users you choose to interact with. Your profile (name, avatar, bio, sport tags, points, level) is visible to other users on screens like the player profile, event roster, and group member list. Events and groups you create are visible according to the visibility setting you choose. Chat messages and chat photos are visible only to members of the event or group chat you posted them in.
• With service providers we rely on to deliver the App.
  • Apple Inc. — Sign in with Apple, and Apple Push Notification service (“APNs”) for iOS push delivery.
  • Google LLC — Sign in with Google, Firebase Cloud Messaging (“FCM”) for Android push delivery, and Google AdMob for banner advertising (see Section 6).
  • These providers receive only what is technically needed to perform their function (an authentication assertion at sign-in, a device token plus the message payload at push time, a non-personalized ad request at render time). Their handling of that data is governed by their own privacy policies.
• For legal or safety reasons. We may disclose information when we reasonably believe it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, enforce our Terms, prevent fraud or abuse, or protect the rights, property, or safety of users and the public.
• In connection with a corporate transaction. If Choyens is acquired or merged, your information may transfer as part of that transaction. We will notify you and continue to honor this Privacy Policy or notify you of the change.

We do not share your information with advertising networks, data brokers, or any third party for personalized-marketing purposes. The AdMob integration described in Section 6 serves non-personalized ads only.

Section 05

Notifications

We send two kinds of notifications:

• In-app feed entries appear on the Notifications tab inside the App. Examples: “Your RSVP was approved”, “You earned MVP”, “You were removed from a group”.
• Push notifications appear on your device’s lock screen when something time-sensitive happens. Examples: “New event in your group”, “Your match starts in 30 minutes”, “You are up next on Court 2”, “New chat message in [event/group]”.

You can turn off push notifications at any time in your device’s Settings app. The in-app feed continues regardless. In-app feed entries are automatically deleted after 3 months.

Section 06

Advertising

The App may display banner ads served by Google AdMob. When ads are shown:

• They are non-personalized. We pass Google the flag requestNonPersonalizedAdsOnly: true on every ad request. Google may use a small amount of non-personalized context (coarse device characteristics and your current screen context inside the App) to choose which ad to render, but does not receive any of the personal information from your Choyens profile.
• We do not present an App Tracking Transparency prompt because we do not track you across other apps. We do not request or pass the device’s advertising identifier.
• New accounts are ad-free for the first 30 days. Ads do not display for users whose accounts are younger than 30 days. This grace period is set on our server and may be tuned (raised, lowered, or set to zero) without an app update.
• Ads can be turned off globally. The App fetches an ads-enabled flag on each launch; we can disable banners across all installations at any time without shipping a new app version.

We do not currently use any third-party analytics SDK (Firebase Analytics, Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Segment, etc.). If that ever changes, we will update this Policy and notify users in the App before the change takes effect.

Section 07

Permissions the App requests

We request a permission only when we use it, and we explain why during onboarding:

• Notifications. Used to deliver the push notifications described in Section 5.
• Location (foreground only). Used to show you nearby events on Discover, to notify you about new events near you, and to power features like the venue picker and optional check-in confirmation. Coordinates are read from the operating system in foreground and stored on your account. We never request background location.
• Photo Library. Requested only when you tap “Pick a photo” — to attach an image to a chat message, set a profile picture, set a group cover photo, or set an event banner. We never browse the library in the background.
• Camera. Requested only when you tap “Take a photo” for the same purposes above. We never open the camera in the background.

You can revoke any permission at any time from the device’s Settings app.

Section 08

Data retention

• Your account and profile. Kept until you delete your account.
• Last known location. Updated when you use a location-aware feature; cleared when you delete your account or revoke location permission.
• Events, groups, attendance, and match records. Kept for as long as your account is active, and retained in an anonymized form (your name replaced with “Former player”) after account deletion so leaderboards and historical records remain coherent for the players who played alongside you.
• Chat messages and chat photos. Automatically deleted after 6 months by a server-side cleanup job. They are also deleted earlier if the message sender deletes them or if you delete your account.
• Notifications feed. Auto-deleted after 3 months.
• Reports. Kept while we investigate and for a reasonable period afterward to prevent repeat abuse.
• Push tokens. Deactivated automatically when the OS reports them invalid; otherwise refreshed each time you sign in on a device.

Section 09

Account deletion and your rights

Account deletion:

• Renames your profile to “Former player” on historical event and match records.
• Erases your email, phone, bio, sport selections, point totals, level, last-known location, and personal blocklist.
• Deletes your chat messages and any chat photos you sent.
• Removes you from the read-receipt records on chats you participated in.
• Scrubs your user ID from any moderation flagger lists (so reports you filed remain counted, but no longer point back to you).
• Deactivates your push notification tokens.
• Excludes your account from search results.

In addition, you can:

• Access the personal information we hold about you by contacting us at support@choyens.com.
• Correct any of your profile information directly inside the App.
• Export a machine-readable copy of your data (account, points, group memberships) by using the in-app export action or contacting us.
• Withdraw consent to push notifications or location access by changing the corresponding device permission, or to all processing by deleting your account.

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, or another jurisdiction with similar rights, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.

Section 10

Security

We use HTTPS for all client-server traffic, sign requests with an app-level HMAC, and store passwords nowhere because we don’t use passwords (Apple and Google handle the credentials). Chat photos are stored at unpredictable, non-enumerable URLs. Database access is restricted, push and ads provider keys are stored as environment variables and never checked into source. No system is perfectly secure, but we apply the controls that are reasonable for the kind of service this is.

Section 11

Children’s privacy

Choyens is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected such information, we will delete it. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at support@choyens.com.

Section 12

International users

The App is operated from the Republic of the Philippines, and your information will be stored on servers that may be located outside your country. By using the App you consent to the transfer and processing of your information in those locations. We protect your information regardless of where it is processed.

Section 13

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If the changes are material, we will notify you in the App, by email, or through another reasonable channel before the changes take effect. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Section 14

Contact

For privacy questions, requests, or concerns, email support@choyens.com.