1. Overview & Introduction
Welcome to Rākete ("we", "our", or "us"). Rākete is a dedicated pickleball tournament management platform designed to organize brackets, assign courts, manage match scoring, display live tournament standings, and coordinate players and organizers.
This Privacy Policy describes how Rākete collects, uses, protects, and discloses your information when you use our mobile applications (iOS and Android), our backend application programming interfaces (APIs), and related web services (collectively, the "Service").
Summary: We collect only the information necessary to organize pickleball tournaments, calculate standings, and deliver match notifications. We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
2. Information We Collect
We collect information you provide directly, information generated through tournament competition, and technical data necessary to operate the application securely:
A. Account & Profile Information
- Identity Data: First name, last name, and email address provided during account registration.
- Pickleball Ratings: Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) rating scores (0.0 to 8.0) used for competitive skill division and seeding.
- Gender Identity: Optional gender identity selections (including custom values) used for appropriate tournament event categorization (e.g., Men's, Women's, Mixed Doubles).
- Authentication Credentials: Secure user identifiers (UIDs) managed through Firebase Authentication.
B. Tournament & Match Data
- Registrations & Rosters: Tournament entry records, division selections, partner invitations, and check-in statuses.
- Team Names: Custom team or partner designations submitted for tournament brackets.
- Match & Score Records: Court assignments, match start times, individual game point scores, match results, and round-by-round progressions.
- Standings & Performance: Win/loss records, point differentials, and computed tournament standings.
C. Venue & Organizer Data
- Venues: Facility names, physical addresses, court counts, and local IANA timezones configured by tournament organizers.
- Roles & Permissions: Role assignments (e.g., Tournament Organizer, Admin) for tournament configuration.
D. Device & Communication Data
- Push Notification Tokens: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) device registration tokens used to deliver match reminders, court call-outs, and tournament announcements.
- Technical Diagnostics: App version, operating system, network connection type, and crash log diagnostics.
3. How We Use Your Information
We process your data strictly to fulfill tournament operations and improve your experience:
Tournament Operations
Generate brackets, schedule matches, allocate courts dynamically, verify game scores, and determine tournament winners.
Partner & Invitation Linking
Automatically link partner invitations and team rosters when an invited player signs up with their matching email address.
Notifications & Alerts
Send real-time match reminders, court assignment notifications, schedule adjustments, and organizer broadcasts.
Fair Play & Safety
Apply automated content filtering (such as team-naming profanity checks) and verify user roles and authorization.
4. Public & Tournament Visibility
Pickleball tournaments are inherently social and competitive public events. By participating in a tournament on Rākete, certain information is made visible to organizers, fellow participants, and spectators:
- Visible on Brackets & Schedules: Your name (or team name), match times, assigned court numbers, and opponents.
- Visible on Standings: Game scores, wins, losses, point differentials, and tournament rankings.
- Organizer Access: Tournament organizers have visibility into check-in status and registration lists to manage event logistics.
Note: Your private contact details (such as your password, specific device tokens, or private notes) are never published publicly on brackets or standings.
5. Third-Party Service Providers
We rely on reputable infrastructure and service providers to support the platform. These providers are bound by strict data protection agreements:
- Google Firebase & Google Cloud Platform:
- Firebase Authentication: Secure user sign-up, sign-in, and session management.
- Cloud Firestore: Real-time tournament database storage with strict server-side security rules.
- Cloud Functions: Serverless backend computation and business logic.
- Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM): Device push notification delivery.
- Firebase Hosting: Secure, encrypted static asset and web hosting.
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): Transactional email service provider used to send tournament invitations, partner alerts, and essential tournament communications.
- Apple App Store & Google Play Store: Mobile application binary distribution and update management.
No Sale of Personal Information: We do not sell, rent, or lease your personal information to third-party data brokers or advertisers.
6. Data Security & Retention
Data Security
We implement industry-standard administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your personal data. All network communication between the Rākete app and our backend occurs over encrypted HTTPS (TLS 1.3/1.2). Database access is restricted using fine-grained Firestore security rules and role-based permissions.
Data Retention
We retain your profile data for as long as your account remains active. Tournament historical data (scores and tournament results) are retained to preserve historical brackets, club records, and competitive statistics.
7. Account Deletion & Your Privacy Rights
In-App Account Deletion
You have the right to delete your Rākete account at any time. You can initiate account deletion directly from the mobile app settings (Profile > Account Settings > Delete Account) or by emailing us at rallypointteam@gmail.com.
When your account is deleted via our automated account deletion workflow:
- Your personal profile data (name, email, gender, DUPR rating) is permanently scrubbed from our active user directories.
- Your authentication credentials and device push tokens are permanently removed.
- In completed historical tournaments, your player record is anonymized to ensure tournament bracket integrity remains intact for other participants.
Your Rights Under GDPR & CCPA/CPRA
Depending on your jurisdiction (such as the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or California), you may have the following rights:
- Right of Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
- Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): Request the permanent deletion of your data.
- Right to Data Portability: Request an export of your personal data in a structured, machine-readable format.
- Right to Non-Discrimination: We will never discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights.
8. Children's Privacy
Rākete is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or 16 in certain jurisdictions), and we do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children without appropriate parental or legal guardian consent. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information without parental consent, please contact us immediately at rallypointteam@gmail.com, and we will take prompt steps to delete such data.
9. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, or legal obligations. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy and notify users via in-app notification or email when appropriate.
10. Contact Us & Data Requests
If you have questions, comments, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, please reach out to our privacy team:
Rākete Privacy Team
We are dedicated to safeguarding your privacy and resolving any questions promptly.
Email: rallypointteam@gmail.com
Send Data Privacy Request