Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

ChalPals is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information.

2. Data We Collect

• Your name, email, and optional phone number when you sign up.
• Your notification preferences (email, SMS, and push reminder settings).
• Challenge rules defined by its creator.
• Check-in dates and photos uploaded to challenges. Photos are stored in cloud storage and visible to other participants in your challenge.
• An optional profile photo uploaded in Settings. It is stored in cloud storage and displayed to other participants in your challenges.
• Chat messages you send in a challenge, including your display name, profile photo (if set), message text, and timestamp. Messages are stored per challenge and visible to all participants in that challenge.
• Emoji reactions you give or receive on check-ins and join events. Reactions are stored and visible to all participants in the challenge.
• Payment method information (last 4 digits of card and billing details) stored securely by Stripe when you add a payment method. ChalPals does not store full card numbers. Stripe's privacy policy governs how payment data is handled.
• Payment records including penalty charges, give-up fees, and payout amounts for challenges with payments enabled. These records are stored securely and only accessible to you and ChalPals administrators.
• Usage analytics through Google Analytics to understand how you navigate our platform.
• Push notification tokens if you enable notifications.

3. How We Use Your Data

• To store account information for authentication.
• To manage challenges and check-in records.
• To track and process penalty charges and payouts for challenges with payments enabled.
• To send reminders and notifications.

4. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. Your data is stored securely using Google Firebase (Firestore and Firebase Storage). Payment processing is handled by Stripe — we share only the information necessary to process charges and payouts. Transactional emails (welcome, verification, payment notices) are delivered via Amazon Web Services Simple Email Service (AWS SES). We use Google Analytics to understand usage patterns. We only share necessary details with essential third-party services to operate the platform.

5. Data Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your data but cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Your Rights

• You can request access to your data.
• You can request deletion of your account and associated data.

7. Changes to This Policy

ChalPals may update this policy. Continued use of our service means you accept the changes.