GolfTracker Privacy Policy

01No accounts; limited personal data

GolfTracker does not have user accounts. You do not sign up, sign in, or give us a name or email address to use the App, and we do not build a profile of you. The golf data you create — your scores and rounds, your statistics, and your bag — stays on your device.

There are only two situations in which you may choose to provide personal information:

• Contacting support. If you use the in-app “Contact support” form, the email address and message you enter are sent to our support records so we can reply (see §17). You don’t have to use the in-app form — you can email us instead.
• GHIN handicap lookup. You may optionally enter your GHIN number (a golf-handicap identifier) in Settings to look up your handicap. It is stored on your device and is sent to the USGA’s GHIN service only to read your handicap index (see §4). The App does not post scores to GHIN.

Other than these, the only information that reaches our backend is general golf-course information (§4), which is not personal to you.

02Information stored on your device

The following is created or entered by you and stored locally on your device. It is not transmitted to Syllable Digital LLC.

Scorecards and rounds you choose to share are generated on your device and handed to your operating system’s standard share sheet (for example, to a messaging app of your choice), or exported as a CSV/JSON file you share the same way. Sharing with a cart partner uses an in-app deep link that resolves locally on the devices involved. GolfTracker does not publish your scorecards to a public web page or send them to us.

03Location and GPS

With your permission, GolfTracker uses your device’s precise GPS location for three purposes:

• Live distances and positioning. While you are playing a hole, your position and the distances to the green, hazards, and other points are calculated on your device using map geometry already downloaded for that course. This calculation is not stored and is not transmitted.
• Passive shot detection (background). So you don’t have to touch your phone during play, the App tracks your location in the background during an active round to detect where your shots come to rest. This runs only while a round is in progress; it shows a persistent “GolfTracker is tracking your round” notification (and, on iOS, the system’s blue background-location indicator), and it stops when you end the round. The shot locations it detects are stored on your device and can be edited or deleted by you. We do not receive this data.
• Finding courses and loading maps. When you use “Near me,” or when the App loads a course’s map and terrain, your GPS coordinates are sent to map-data services to locate nearby courses and retrieve hole and terrain geometry (see §4).

The requests in the third case are anonymous — they are not linked to any account or identity, because GolfTracker has none. Your location is never sent to our course-name provider, GolfCourseAPI; a search by course name sends only the text you type. We do not use your GPS location for advertising.

You control location access — including background access — in your device’s settings, and can grant or revoke it at any time. If you turn location off, the “Near me,” map, on-course distance, and passive shot-detection features will not work, but you can still keep score and search for courses by name.

04Course data and maps

Searching for a course. When you search by name, only the text you type is sent to GolfCourseAPI (golfcourseapi.com), our course-name provider, which returns matching courses. Your location is not sent.

Maps, holes, and terrain. Hole and terrain geometry comes from map-data services — OpenStreetMap, via its Overpass API (openstreetmap.org/copyright), and an elevation-data service. As described in §3, the App retrieves this geometry using your GPS coordinates, either directly from your device or relayed through our caching backend, which we host on Supabase (supabase.com/privacy). This course, map, and terrain information is general reference data about golf courses and is not personal to you.

Handicap lookup. If you enter a GHIN number (§1), the App makes a read-only request to the USGA’s GHIN service (api.ghin.com) to display your handicap index. It sends the GHIN number you entered; it does not send your scores and does not post rounds to GHIN.

Any internet request involves ordinary network information (such as the IP address it comes from), which these providers and our hosting handle under their own policies to deliver responses and keep the service secure. Because GolfTracker has no accounts, none of this is tied to your identity or used to build a profile of you.

Course, map, and terrain information is provided for convenience and may be incomplete or inaccurate; see the Terms of Use regarding reliance on course data and distances.

05App store billing (Apple / Google)

The GolfTracker Pro subscription ($4.99 per month or $49.99 per year) is processed by the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Syllable Digital LLC never sees your payment card, billing address, or other payment information. We receive only a store-signed receipt confirming that an active subscription exists; if our backend verifies that receipt, it handles only the store’s receipt token and the product purchased, never payment details.

To manage or cancel a subscription, use your device’s App Store or Google Play subscription settings.

06Analytics (anonymous; on by default)

GolfTracker uses Google Firebase Analytics so we can understand which features are used and diagnose performance problems. Analytics are anonymous and are on by default. You can turn them off at any time in Settings → Privacy → “Opt out of analytics.” That single switch also controls diagnostic reporting (§7).

• What we send: product events (for example, “round started,” “round saved,” “paywall viewed,” “subscription purchased,” “ad shown”), basic device and app context (OS version, device model, app version), and technical round telemetry such as how long GPS spent in each tracking mode and approximate battery drain.
• What we do not send: your scores, rounds, statistics, handicap, bag, your GPS coordinates or any map location, your name, your email, or your GHIN number.
• How you are identified: Firebase assigns its own anonymous app-instance identifier. We additionally set a randomly generated identifier only if you purchase a subscription. Neither is tied to your name, email, or any account.

Firebase is operated by Google; see firebase.google.com/support/privacy.

07Diagnostics

Basic crash and error diagnostics are collected as part of Firebase Analytics’ automatic event collection (Google) so we can find and fix bugs. Diagnostics are governed by the same single switch as product analytics — turning analytics off in Settings → Privacy also stops diagnostic collection.

• What we send: error and crash events, the app version, the OS version, and the device model.
• What we do not send: your scores, rounds, statistics, handicap, bag, GPS location, or any other content you have entered into the App.

08Advertising

The free version of GolfTracker is ad-supported and shows ads through Google AdMob. Ads appear in places such as the post-hole summary, round summary, and history screens, and between holes; you can also choose to watch an optional rewarded ad to unlock certain features. No ads are shown to GolfTracker Pro subscribers, and no ads appear during active play on the course.

To select and measure ads, AdMob may use your device’s advertising identifier and ad-interaction data under Google’s advertising policies. We do not share your golf data, scores, or precise GPS location with advertisers.

• On iOS, we ask through Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt before the advertising identifier is used; you can decline, and the App still works.
• On Android, you can reset or delete your advertising ID in your device’s settings to limit ad personalization.
• Remove ads entirely by subscribing to GolfTracker Pro.

09Permissions the App requests

The App does not request access to your contacts, calendar, SMS/messages, microphone, camera, or photos and files outside its own storage. Sharing a scorecard uses your operating system’s standard share sheet and does not require additional permissions.

10Your choices

• Turn analytics and diagnostics off: Settings → Privacy → “Opt out of analytics” (one switch covers both).
• Limit ad tracking: decline the iOS App Tracking prompt, or reset/delete your advertising ID in your device settings — or remove ads entirely by subscribing to GolfTracker Pro.
• Turn off location: revoke location access (including background access) in your device settings — “Near me,” maps, on-course distances, and passive shot detection will stop working, but you can still keep score and search by name.
• Remove your GHIN number: Settings → GHIN → clear it.
• Delete all on-device data: use Settings → “Delete all my data,” or uninstall the App / use your device’s “Clear app data” function. This deletes your rounds, statistics, and bag.
• Manage your subscription: App Store → Subscriptions (iOS) or Google Play → Subscriptions (Android).

11Data retention

Because GolfTracker stores your scoring data on your device, retention is in your hands; uninstalling the App removes it (subject to your device’s backup settings). If analytics are enabled, Google Firebase retains event data according to its own retention policies. If you contact support, the email address and message you provide are kept in our support records (hosted on Google) for as long as needed to handle your request; you can ask us to delete them by emailing syllable.support@gmail.com.

12Security

Your scoring data is kept in app-private storage and is not accessible to other apps unless you explicitly share it. Connections to our backend and to the third-party services described here use encrypted TLS. Because we hold no personal account about you on our servers, there is no personal account for an attacker to compromise. No system is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

13International users

The App runs locally on your device wherever you use it. Course searches, map and terrain requests, handicap lookups, advertising, and (unless you opt out) analytics and diagnostics are handled by third-party services and our hosting provider — including Apple, Google (Firebase and AdMob), GolfCourseAPI, Supabase, the USGA’s GHIN service, and the map-data services named in §3–§4. These operate on infrastructure in the United States and, in the case of some map-data services such as OpenStreetMap’s Overpass API, may operate elsewhere. By using these features you consent to that processing.

14Your rights under GDPR, CCPA, and similar laws

Where applicable law gives you the right to access, correct, export, restrict, or delete personal information, you can contact us at syllable.support@gmail.com. Because GolfTracker has no accounts, the records we may hold are limited to anonymized analytics and diagnostics (unless you opted out) and any support correspondence you sent us.

We do not sell your personal information. The free version does show ads through Google AdMob using your device’s advertising identifier; under some privacy laws (for example, the CCPA) this may be considered “sharing” for targeted advertising. You can limit it through Apple’s App Tracking Transparency prompt (iOS) or your device’s ad settings (Android), or remove ads by subscribing. To act on data held by Apple, Google (Firebase and AdMob), Supabase, GolfCourseAPI, the USGA’s GHIN service, or the map-data services named in §3–§4, contact those providers directly.

15Children

GolfTracker is a general-audience app and is not directed to children under 13 (or the equivalent age of digital consent in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

16Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when the App’s data practices change. The “Last updated” date above reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be surfaced in the App on next launch.

17Contact

Questions, or to reach support: syllable.support@gmail.com. If you use the in-app “Contact support” form, the email address and message you enter are sent to our support records (hosted on Google) so we can reply.