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 any photos or videos you attach to check-ins. Media is stored in cloud storage and visible to other participants in your challenge. If ChalPals administrators remove check-in media following a report, the file is permanently deleted from cloud storage; the check-in record itself is kept and still counts toward the 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. You can edit or delete your own messages for a short window after sending, and the challenge creator or ChalPals administrators can remove messages; removed messages are retained in our records.
• Comments you post on check-ins, including your display name, profile photo (if set), comment text, and timestamp. Comments are stored per challenge and visible to all participants in that challenge. You can edit or delete your own comments for a short window after posting, and the challenge creator or ChalPals administrators can remove comments; removed comments are retained in our records.
• Captions you add to a check-in's photo or video, including the caption text and the check-in it belongs to. Captions are optional, are stored on the check-in itself, and are visible to all participants in that challenge. A caption is removed together with the media it describes if ChalPals administrators remove that media.
• Emoji reactions you give or receive on check-ins, join events, chat messages, and comments. Reactions are stored and visible to all participants in the challenge.
• Reports you submit when flagging a message, comment, or check-in photo or video, including which content you reported (a check-in's caption, if it has one, is included so it can be reviewed alongside the media) and your account identifier. Reports of messages and comments are visible only to the challenge creator, ChalPals administrators, and you; reports of check-in photos and videos are visible only to ChalPals administrators and you. In both cases the reported author is not told who submitted the report.
• 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.
• Optional payout handles for third-party payment apps (such as Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or Zelle) that you add in Settings so ChalPals can send your challenge winnings. These are stored privately and are only visible to you, ChalPals administrators (who send the payout), and the creator of a challenge you win (for transparency into their challenge) — never to other participants.
• Challenge invitations sent to you or by you, including who sent the invite, the challenge it relates to, the invitation status (pending, accepted, or declined), and timestamps. Invitation records are only readable by the person who was invited.
• Email addresses entered by challenge creators when inviting someone who does not yet have a ChalPals account. These are stored on the challenge record solely to prevent duplicate invitations and are not used for marketing or shared with third parties.
• Referral attribution. If you sign up through another member's invite or shared challenge link, we record which member referred you so we can credit their referral count and award referral trophies. This link between your account and the referring member is visible only to you and ChalPals administrators.
• Usage analytics through Google Analytics and Amplitude to understand how you navigate and interact with our platform.
• Session recordings and heatmap data through Microsoft Clarity to help us identify usability issues. Clarity may record mouse movements, clicks, and scrolling behavior. No passwords or payment information are captured.
• 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, including challenge check-in reminders, invite notifications, and automated pre-start reminders for pending invitations.
• To link email invitations to your account when you sign up, so pending invites appear on your dashboard automatically.
• To credit referrals when someone you invited signs up and joins their first challenge, and to display referral counts and award referral trophies.

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, challenge invitations, and reminders) are delivered via Amazon Web Services Simple Email Service (AWS SES). We use Google Analytics and Amplitude for usage analytics, and Microsoft Clarity for session recording and heatmaps to improve the platform experience. 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.