Privacy policy
Rangebird works without an account. Sign in to sync your rounds, choose what you share, and manage your data in Settings.
The short version
- You can use every on-course feature without creating an account. Rounds, scores and shot positions stay on your device.
- Location is used only while the app is open, to measure distances. We never sell it and we never build a profile from it.
- If you sign in, your rounds sync to your account so you can use another device and share with friends. You can delete your account and everything in it from Settings at any time.
- Optional app diagnostics help us fix bugs. You control them in Settings › Privacy & safety.
- We do not show ads and we do not sell personal data.
What we collect
What we collect depends on how you use the app.
- Without an account: individual rounds stay on your device. If you choose to join a shared round as a guest, your player name and shared scores are stored for that round and shown to its host and admitted players. Course and nearby-search requests may include your rough position. If you open a friend’s invitation link, we record that their link was opened, with a random installation id. Our hosting services receive standard network information such as your IP address when you connect.
- With an account: your phone number (the only way to sign in), a display name, and the rounds you play (course, scores, tees, notes, shot positions). We never ask for a password or an email address to sign in.
- Social features: friend requests and accepted friendships, likes, comments, invitations (including whose invitation link you joined through, and whether your account was new then), group rounds you join, and reports you file about other users or map errors.
- Sharing: when you share your friend link, a round or course picture, or a round’s join or scorecard link, we record which one you shared, when, and whether your phone said it was sent. We also record when someone opens your friend link in the app. Never the message, the picture or who you sent it to.
- Setup answers: if you tell us how you heard about Rangebird when you set up the app, the answer is saved with your account. Without an account it is counted only in the optional diagnostics below.
- The Early Birds newsletter, only if you join it: the email address you enter, when you joined, and your account if you were signed in. It is never used to sign in.
- Map corrections you send us: the position you were standing at when you reported the problem, if you chose to attach it.
- Feedback you send us from the app (a course request, a map report or your answer to the after-round question): your note, a screenshot of the screen if you include one, which screen you were on, the course and hole, your app version and device model, and a random installation id. Read only by the Rangebird team to fix what you reported.
- Optional diagnostics: filtered app error reports, screen names and usage counts with a random diagnostic identifier. We do not attach your account ID, email, name, location, scores, notes or invite codes. Session recordings and advertising profiles are disabled. Diagnostics start off. Turn diagnostics on or off in Settings › Privacy & safety.
- Push notifications: a device token, if you allow notifications.
How we use it
- To run the app: show distances, keep your scorecards, sync between your devices, and show your friends the rounds you share.
- To improve course maps: map error reports and corrections may be used to fix the shared map for everyone, and contributed back to open datasets in aggregate, without anything that identifies you.
- To keep the community safe: reports about users and content are reviewed by us.
- To send the Early Birds newsletter to the address you gave, and nothing else. Leave the list by replying "unsubscribe" to any issue or by emailing us; deleting your account also removes an address you joined with while signed in.
- To fix bugs and understand which features matter, using the anonymous diagnostics above.
- We do not use your data to train AI models, and we do not share it with data brokers or advertisers.
Location
Rangebird asks for "while using the app" location permission. It is read while a round is open, to measure distances to the green and hazards and to record where your shots were played, and briefly when you search for courses near you.
The app does not track your location in the background and does not keep a location history outside of the shots you record in your rounds.
Contacts and finding friends
Contacts access is optional and requested when you choose to find playing partners. We read only the names and phone numbers you authorize. Contact names stay on your device. Selected phone numbers are securely sent to our matching service to compare with verified accounts that have opted into discovery; we do not retain your uploaded address book or unmatched numbers, or use them for advertising.
To use phone discovery, verify a number on your existing account. Letting other people find you by that number is a separate, optional choice. We retain your account’s verified number and discovery preference, with a protected matching index. You can turn discovery off in Privacy & safety. We limit matching requests to prevent abuse; a contact match does not make anyone your friend.
Invitations are individual. You choose a recipient and review the message in your device’s message or sharing app before sending. We never automatically message your contacts. You can use personal invitation links and shared-round codes without granting contact access. Revoking access clears contact discovery data from the app; accepted friendships remain until you remove them.
Who else sees your data
- Supabase hosts our database and authentication in the United States.
- Our configured SMS provider delivers sign-in and phone-verification codes. A number verified for discovery is also used for the optional matching described above, never for marketing.
- Open-Meteo provides the weather: the app asks it for the forecast at the course you are playing, so it receives that course's position and standard network information, nothing about you or your account.
- Expo delivers notifications if you enable them. Sentry processes filtered app errors and PostHog processes usage counts if you enable diagnostics. These providers receive standard network information when your device connects to them.
- People with an accepted friendship, a permitted discovery match or an explicit invitation can see the profile information needed to connect. There is no platform-wide people search. Rounds shared with Friends are visible to accepted friends; public rounds remain visible to other signed-in users through permitted sharing features. Private notes and guest names are not part of the social feed.
- When you join a shared round, its host and admitted players can see your chosen player name and shared scores. A guest can join with round-scoped access without an account. Invitation links, temporary join codes and guest access expire or can be revoked. Joining a round does not create a friendship or expose your other rounds. Shared-device scorecards can be claimed privately after you prove access to the participant record.
- Nobody else, unless the law requires it.
Your choices and rights
- Delete your account in Settings › Account › Delete account. Verify that it is your account, review what will be removed, then confirm in the app. You do not need to email or call us. The app shows the result and lets you retry an interrupted request.
- Account deletion removes your account data, any uploaded avatar and account-linked feedback files, and clears that account’s private data from this device after server confirmation. Other players keep their own independent records. Shared course downloads may remain on the device.
- Choose Only me, Friends or Everyone for each round. New accounts default to Only me. A live round you explicitly join shares its score with that group even when it is excluded from the social feed. Change the default in Settings › Privacy & safety. Existing one-way follows do not become accepted friendships automatically.
- Turn off diagnostics in Settings › Privacy & safety. Control push notifications in Settings › Notifications or in device Settings. Block or report another user from their profile.
- Ask for a copy of your data, or for it to be corrected or deleted, by emailing hello@rangebirdgolf.com. We answer within 30 days.
- California residents: we do not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA/CPRA, and the rights above apply to you.
- If you are in the EU or UK, our legal basis is performance of the service you asked for, and consent for optional diagnostics. You may complain to your local data protection authority.
Children
Rangebird is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has an account, email hello@rangebirdgolf.com and we will delete it.
Retention and security
Synced data is kept while your account exists. A confirmed deletion immediately restricts account access while removal completes. Failed cleanup is retried; we complete deletion within 30 days, with backup expiry within 90 days. Backups are not used to restore deleted accounts. Diagnostics are retained for no longer than 90 days.
Accounts created before sign-in became phone-only may hold a Sign in with Apple credential; we revoke it as part of deletion, retrying if Apple is temporarily unavailable. You may also remove Rangebird in your Apple Account settings.
We retain a deletion receipt for 30 days and a restricted account identifier with its erasure date for up to 90 days to prevent a backup restore from bringing back a deleted account. It contains no name, email, rounds or profile content. Other security records are limited to what is needed to handle abuse or meet a legal obligation. Data in transit is encrypted, and production access is limited to the people who run the service.
Changes
We will post changes here and, for anything material, tell you in the app. Questions: hello@rangebirdgolf.com.