Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 4, 2026

1. Scope

This policy explains how PKLS Studio Inc., doing business as Pickles ("we", "us", "our"), handles personal information across playpickles.ca, the Pickles app, and related services, communications and features (together, the "Services"). Many public website pages — courts, Learn articles and other directory pages — work without an account. The app's social and play features require one.

2. Privacy at a glance

We do not sell or rent your personal information.
Private messages, private notes, relationship history and imported health or fitness metrics are not public.
Location and health permissions are optional and used only for the features you choose.
You can ask to access, correct or delete your information, and you can delete your account through the account controls available in the app.

3. Information we collect

Account and sign-in: your email, the sign-in method you use (Apple, Google or email), account identifiers, and the display and profile information you provide.
Profile and play context: home city, region and country, skill or experience, paddle and game preferences, and other profile choices you make.
Location: your home city, any temporary or travel location you set, and precise device location only when you turn on location-enabled features. We use it to show nearby courts, games and events and other relevant context.
Social and play activity: friends and crews, games, RSVPs, check-ins, results, events, saved or watched tournaments, messages, group chats, notifications and similar participation data.
Content you provide: profile images, court and community contributions, game and event details, reports, messages, Coach Dinkwell conversations, private notes and other content you choose to share with us.
Device and technical data: IP address, device, browser and app version, diagnostics, security logs, push-notification identifiers and similar operational data.
Transactions: if paid features are offered, the purchase status and billing details needed to provide them. Card details are handled by the app store or payment processor; we do not intend to store them ourselves.

Launch waitlist: if you join the Pickles waitlist on our website, we collect your email address, when you joined, where on the site you signed up and the consent wording you agreed to. We use it only to send launch, early-access, product and news emails from PKLS Studio Inc. (Pickles). We keep it until you unsubscribe or it is no longer needed for that purpose. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any of these emails or by contacting support@playpickles.ca. Waitlist emails are kept separate from Android beta requests.

4. Health and fitness data

Today, the supported health integration is Apple Health on iOS, and only if you choose to connect it. If we add other health integrations, we'll enable and disclose them first and update this policy.

Access is read-only. Pickles does not write to Apple Health.
With your permission, we may import completed workouts and limited metrics such as workout timing and duration, heart-rate summaries, active energy, steps, and walking or running distance.
Reads happen only during the feature flows you use — such as Connect, Sync Now or opening Activity. We don't run background health sync.
We keep only the fields the activity feature needs and discard the raw data we receive from the provider.
Imported health metrics are visible only to you. They are not shown on public profiles, to friends or crews, or on leaderboards, and they are not included in Coach Dinkwell context, analytics or logs.
Health data is never used for advertising and is never sold.
You can delete imported fitness data separately from disconnecting. Disconnecting in Pickles does not by itself revoke Apple Health permission — you control that in your device settings.

5. Coach Dinkwell and AI features

When you use AI-powered features such as Coach Dinkwell, your prompt and a limited amount of relevant context needed to answer may be sent to AI service providers to generate a response. We limit what we share to what the feature needs and apply service-provider and privacy safeguards. Provider retention practices vary; we don't promise more than our agreements support. Under our current design, health metrics are not included in Coach Dinkwell context.

6. How we use information

Provide your account and the features you use
Organize games, events, crews, messaging and other social features
Show location-aware results when you allow it
Personalize the app experience you've asked for
Respond to your questions and requests
Keep Pickles safe: moderation, security and fraud prevention
Send notifications you've turned on
Keep the Services reliable and diagnose problems
Meet legal obligations
Improve Pickles using aggregated, de-identified or appropriately protected data

7. When information is shared

With other users: only what's designed to be shared — such as your profile, public contributions or game participation — according to your settings.
With service providers: hosting, database and sign-in, maps and location, push notifications, email, AI processing, payment processing, and error and security tools — only as needed to run the Services.
For legal and safety reasons: when required by law or reasonably necessary to protect people's rights, safety or security.
In a business change: if Pickles' ownership or business changes, subject to appropriate protections.
With your consent or at your direction.

We do not sell or rent personal information.

8. Public directory and Living Record information

Pickles publishes factual public information about courts, facilities, tournaments, organizations and professional coaches, drawn from public or authorized sources. For coaches, information imported from professional directories is limited to public professional facts such as name, location, credential or accreditation, the source, and the date we last verified it. Anything a coach adds themselves is labeled as self-declared.

Public sources can be wrong or out of date. To report an inaccuracy or ask us to correct or remove a personal professional listing, contact support@playpickles.ca.

9. Cookies, local storage and analytics

We use essential browser and device storage for sign-in, security, preferences and basic functionality. We don't use advertising cookies. If we introduce analytics or measurement tools, we'll update this policy and offer consent choices where required.

10. International processing

Our service providers may process or store information in Canada, the United States or other countries, where local laws may apply. We remain responsible for using appropriate contractual and technical safeguards with the providers we work with.

11. Retention

We keep personal information only as long as reasonably needed for the purposes above, including running your account, meeting legal and security obligations, resolving disputes and maintaining backups. After deletion, some information may remain for a limited time in backups or where legally or security necessary. Imported fitness data has its own delete action.

When you delete your Pickles account, your account, profile, profile photos, messages, Coach conversations, notifications, badges and personal rating records are deleted. Completed matches that involved other registered players keep the game scores and a reference to who played, so those players' histories and ratings stay accurate. Photos and files you uploaded, including your avatar and any court, event or private-court photos you added, are removed, while the court or event listing itself, photos uploaded by other players and photos from independent sources or providers stay in place.

A former player is displayed as "Former player" by default, or by first name and last initial only if the deleting player explicitly chooses that during deletion. Match histories may still let people who played together recognize each other, and the optional name label is not anonymous. For games detached from a deleted host, historical titles, notes and location are scrubbed and typically shown as "Past game". Open result disputes may remain held for integrity review.

We can't promise complete or immediate erasure — some information may remain in backups for a limited time, and we don't guarantee full anonymization of past play. If you have questions or requests about any of this, please contact support@playpickles.ca.

12. Your choices and rights

Ask to access, correct or delete your personal information
Withdraw optional consents and permissions
Manage notification, location and health permissions
Delete your Pickles account using the available account controls, or request deletion without the app

Some permissions also need to be changed in your device or platform settings. Send requests to support@playpickles.ca. Your rights may vary depending on where you live.

13. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical and organizational safeguards suited to the sensitivity of the information. No service can guarantee absolute security.

14. Young people

If you aren't legally able to consent or enter agreements on your own, please use Pickles only with the involvement and permission of a parent or legal guardian where required. If you believe a minor has given us personal information without appropriate consent, contact support@playpickles.ca.

15. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we'll let you know in a reasonable way and update the date at the top of this page.

16. Contact

Privacy Lead, PKLS Studio Inc. d/b/a Pickles — support@playpickles.ca. See also our Terms of Service.