Privacy Policy

Safety reports and blocked players

Safety & support lets signed-in players report profiles, round names and custom chips. Reports store the reporter and subject identifiers, reason, optional details, a snapshot of the reported text or profile metadata, and a receipt identifier. Reports are private to the app operator and are not readable by other players. Receipt confirms storage, not completion of review. Contact luke.j.pilk@gmail.com with the receipt for follow-up.

Blocking removes the friendship, prevents new friend requests and invitations between the pair, and prevents joining new rounds together. Existing shared-round membership, scoring and history remain. The app hides blocked profiles and conservatively hides chip text while a block exists because older chips do not identify their author. Unblocking does not restore friendship or unhide separately reported content. Blocking cannot erase prior downloads, cached data or previously shared photo links.

Basic server text checks reject a limited set of prohibited terms and threats. They do not comprehensively detect abuse. Reports remain available for operator review until removed; account deletion removes reports submitted by or attributed to the deleted account. Private blocked-player and hidden-content preferences are removed with that account. Initial connected access requires loading safety settings from the service.

About this policy

This policy describes Duff’d Golf, operated by Luke Pilkington, and its website and mobile apps. It does not replace the policies for other LukePilkApps products. For privacy questions or requests, contact luke.j.pilk@gmail.com.

Accounts and sign-in

Connected play uses Firebase Authentication. When you register with email, Firebase processes your email address and password. When you choose Google or Apple, that provider handles your sign-in and supplies authentication credentials and available account information, such as your email address and display name, to authenticate your Firebase account. Apple may supply a relay email address. The app does not ask for your Google or Apple password.

We use your account identifier, email, player name and chosen username to provide sign-in, account recovery, connected rounds and friend features. Signed-in players can search for usernames and send friend requests. We do not request access to your Google email messages, contacts or files.

Rounds, scores and friends

Connected rounds store participant identifiers, usernames and available first names, game modes and cart-team assignments, course or round names, chosen course tees and pars, hole progress, scores, readiness, chips and their rules and points, awards, and timestamps. These records are available to other members of that round. Anyone who receives a valid invite link or join code can attempt to join an open round, so share invitations only with intended players.

We also store your saved chip library, friendships, friend requests, round invitations, inbox notifications and hidden-round preferences. Friends and request recipients see the names or usernames needed to recognize you. Hiding a finished round changes your own list; it does not delete the shared round.

Built-in avatars

You receive a built-in avatar and can choose another from the available options. The app stores your avatar selection. This version does not upload or display personal photos and does not request camera or photo-library access.

Built-in avatar selections are visible to signed-in players. Photos uploaded in earlier versions are no longer displayed in this version. Legacy files remain stored until account deletion or an authorized removal request; changing your built-in avatar does not delete those files. Previously downloaded copies cannot be recalled.

Course search and location

Find nearby courses requests foreground location permission only when you use that feature. Coordinates are rounded to two decimal places before being sent through our Firebase service to Geoapify to find nearby golf courses. The app does not track location in the background or save these search coordinates in round records. It stores search counts to limit abuse. You can decline location permission and enter a course name manually.

When scorekeeping is enabled, entering or selecting a course name of at least three characters triggers a scorecard lookup through GolfCore. The course-name query, possible simplified query variants, and selected course identifier are sent directly from your device to api.golfcore.org; the provider also receives the connection information needed to answer the request, such as your IP address. Avoid putting personal information in a course-name query. Selected course details and pars become part of the shared round.

Notifications and device storage

In-app notifications show round updates, invitations and friend requests. If you enable phone notifications, we associate an Expo push token with your account and send notification content through Expo and the Apple or Android notification service. Content can include player names, round information and account or round identifiers. Your device may show notifications on its lock screen. You can disable phone alerts in the app or device settings.

The app uses local device or browser storage for sign-in persistence, appearance and notification preferences, and local-prototype games. Local games do not require an account and their game records are saved on that device. Deleting your online account does not clear local games or appearance settings; remove those through the app or your device/browser storage controls.

For offline connected play, the app also saves account-specific copies of round data and pending score, chip, hole and readiness actions on your device. These changes are queued for synchronization when the app can connect and the same account is signed in. These local copies can include information about other members of your rounds. The current implementation does not clear this offline round cache when you sign out or delete your account; clearing app or browser data removes local copies, but also removes unsynchronized changes.

Why data is processed and who receives it

We process this information to provide authentication, gameplay, synchronization, social features, optional course lookups and notifications, support, and protection against abuse. Google/Firebase hosts authentication, database records, retained legacy photos and backend functions. Expo and device-platform services deliver optional notifications. Geoapify and GolfCore process the course requests described above. These services may process technical connection and operational records to run and secure their services.

The current app has no advertising SDK or dedicated analytics SDK. It does not use Google account information for advertising. Information supplied by Google sign-in is used for account authentication and the connected app features described here.

Retention and account deletion

Account and connected game records remain available while needed for the app’s features; the current implementation does not automatically expire completed rounds or all social and operational records. You can request account deletion from Account in the app or from the Delete account page linked below. Sign-in verification and an explicit deletion confirmation are required.

Accepted deletion requests start server-side cleanup that can continue after the app closes and retries failed work. Cleanup removes the authentication account, profile, uploaded avatar, username, saved chip library, friendships, requests and invitations, and associated device and notification records. Rounds you hosted are deleted for all participants. In rounds hosted by others, your player membership, cart-team membership and awards involving you are removed; the other participants’ round remains.

Account deletion does not remove score entries and readiness identifiers from rounds hosted by other people; these entries can retain your account identifier. Account-specific offline round caches also remain on the device until app or browser data is cleared. Contact us if you have questions about information that remains after deletion.

After cleanup completes, a minimal receipt keyed by the deleted account identifier blocks old sessions. It becomes eligible for removal after 24 hours and is processed by a daily cleanup job, subject to job availability and backlog. Account deletion does not guarantee immediate removal from service-provider logs or backups. Those records are managed separately from the app’s active records, and we do not promise a fixed deletion period for them. Contact us for information about a specific retention or deletion request.

Your choices and questions

You can edit your player name and username, replace your avatar, remove friendships, control notification and location permissions, and request account deletion. For access, correction or deletion questions, contact luke.j.pilk@gmail.com. We may need to verify account ownership before acting on a request.

Duff’d Golf is intended for people aged 13 and older. Children under 13 should not use the service or provide personal information. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact luke.j.pilk@gmail.com so we can review the information and address the request.