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Privacy policy

Last updated [FILL: date]. In force from [FILL: date].

Lob is a daily golf game. We keep what the boards and the game need, we use a few services to understand how Lob is played and to fix crashes, and free players see a few ads. This page says what goes where, for how long, and how to stop it or delete it.

Who we are

Lob Golf ("Lob", "we") is run by Bark & Olive LLC, United States. We decide what Lob collects and why (in EU and UK terms, we are the controller). Write to us at support@lob.golf.

What we keep on our own server

Lob's server runs on Supabase, in the United States (US East). It keeps:

• A hidden account id, made the first time you open Lob. It's a random number, not your name.
• Your board name, the one Lob makes for you or one you choose. Other players see it on the boards.
• Your scores for each day's counted round, shown on the boards.
• Your handicap. Our server works it out from your counted scores and how hard each day's nine played (Lob rates each day before anyone plays it). You see it in My game. Other players see your score with handicap (your score with your handicap strokes taken off) and how many strokes you were given, beside your board name when they turn on With handicap. It's used only for the handicap board and My game. It's never sent to PostHog, Firebase or any ad network. It's kept with your scores and deleted with your account.
• Each counted round's swings: the club, aim and strength of every shot. Our server replays them to check the score is real before it goes on a board.
• Your friends, if you add any by their friend code, and your own friend code.
• What you've bought: from Apple's signed record of each purchase, we keep which product, when, until when for Lob Club, and whether it renewed, lapsed or was refunded. It's linked to your account so Lob Club's Tour boards know you're a member.
• Reports you make about a board name (the name and the reason you picked), so we can change names that break the rules.
• Records that keep Lob fair: which version of Lob each round came from; how often you've changed your name, sent a round or made a report (kept 31 days); and whether a board name was hidden after a report.
• An email address, only if you sign in with one (Settings, Sign in with email), so you can keep your account on a new phone. We use it to send you a sign-in code and to sign you in. Never for marketing.

Like most servers, ours logs the IP address of each request for a short time, to keep it secure.

We use this to run the boards, check scores, keep your purchases and keep your account. In EU and UK terms, the basis is that we need it to provide the game you asked for (performance of a contract).

What stays on your phone only

Your kept rounds, the details of each stroke (such as its distance and whether it was a putt), My game's stats (all but your handicap, which our server works out), Lob Club's stats and your settings are kept on your phone. While analytics is on, a summary of each round goes to PostHog: your score on each hole, your putts, and whether the ball met water, sand, trees or out of bounds. Lob also reads what your phone keeps to decide, on the phone, when a full-screen ad, the daily reminder or Apple's rating sheet shows; what it reads stays on your phone. Deleting the app deletes what is kept on your phone. When you save a round's picture, Lob only adds it to Photos; it can't see your other photos. When you share your card, your iPhone's share sheet sends it where you choose; Lob sends nothing.

If you write to us

Emails to support@lob.golf arrive in our Google Workspace mailbox. We keep your message and your email address so we can answer you and keep a record of what we did, for two years after we last hear from you, then delete them. The basis is our legitimate interest in helping you and running Lob.

Analytics: PostHog and Firebase

DRAFT note: this section and the Crashlytics one apply only to an app version built to send analytics (the store build made with LOB_ANALYTICS=live, after this page is approved). If Lob launches without it, cut them (and their rows below) until the version that sends.

PostHog (hosted in the EU) is our analytics service. It receives: screens opened; rounds started, left or finished, with your score on each hole; settings changed; your answers to Lob's own questions (the daily reminder, Apple's tracking question, "Help improve Lob?"); which ads and cards you saw, and what you tapped; purchases, and whether one began a free month; shares; signing in and adding friends; each step of the practice hole; what showed after each round; how smoothly the game runs; your phone's model and system; Lob's version, whether you've paid, and how many days since you started; and roughly which country you're in, from your IP address (the address itself is not kept). It is linked to your hidden account id, never your board name or email. PostHog works only for us and doesn't sell or share the data. We don't record your screen. While "Share usage data" is off, and in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway until you say yes, Lob does not contact PostHog at all.

Google Firebase Analytics counts sessions, purchases and a few game events (finishing the practice hole, and each round you finish or leave, with its score). It follows the same switch, and waits for the same yes in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Its advertising signals are switched off for players who have paid, for everyone in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the UK and Switzerland and in US states with privacy laws, and for everyone until Lob's ad code first runs. Elsewhere, for free players, Lob's Firebase is linked to its Google AdMob account, so Google may also use these sessions, purchases and game events for Lob's ads: to count and pay for them and, if you allow tracking, to choose them.

Why. We use analytics to learn which holes are too hard, where new players get stuck, whether the game runs well on your phone, how often people come back, and how our ads, reminders and shop affect that. Nothing we learn this way changes a shot, a score, a board or a price.

On what basis. In the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, Lob asks first ("Help improve Lob?") and starts analytics only after a yes. The basis is your consent, and you can withdraw it at any time by turning off "Share usage data" in Settings. Everywhere else, analytics is on until you turn it off. In the UK and Switzerland we rely on our legitimate interest in keeping the game working and making it better, balanced by that off switch. You can object at any time: turn it off, or write to us.

Decided on your phone. Some things Lob does depend on how you play on this phone: when a full-screen ad shows (never in your first week of play, at most one a day, none on a day you chose an ad to open yesterday's course, and none on some other days, such as the day you come back after a week away), when the daily reminder comes, and when Apple's rating sheet may appear. Lob works these out on the phone from what it keeps there, whether analytics is on or off. No answer you give, to Lob's questions or to Apple's or Google's, changes anything beyond what that question is about. Nothing decided this way changes a shot, a score, a board or a price.

Crash reports: Firebase Crashlytics

When Lob crashes or hits an error, Google's Crashlytics receives a report (what went wrong in the code, where in the game it happened, the phone model, the iOS version, Lob's version and whether you've paid, and, while analytics is on, the last few steps Firebase Analytics recorded) with an id for the app on your phone. It goes for every player, even with analytics turned off, so crashes get fixed. The basis is our legitimate interest in a working game.

Purchases: Apple

Purchases are made and paid through Apple. Apple tells us what you bought and when it renews, lapses or is refunded. We never see your card or your Apple Account's details. Apple handles your payment under Apple's privacy policy.

Ads: Google AdMob (free players only)

Free players see a few ads, never during a round. They come from Google AdMob, whose code on your phone collects device data to show and count ads: your IP address (and roughly which country it suggests you're in), phone model and system, and which ads were shown and tapped.

• The advertising id goes to Google only if you allow tracking. Lob asks once, after a round from your third day of play, with a short note first; then your iPhone asks ("Allow" or "Ask App not to Track"). Your answer changes nothing in the game, and Lob itself never reads the id. If you allow it, Google may use what Lob's ads and Firebase see with what it knows from other apps, to choose ads. Change it any time in your iPhone's Settings, under Privacy & Security, then Tracking.
• In the EU, the UK and Switzerland, Google's consent form asks you before personalised ads. You can change your answer in Lob's Settings (Ad choices).
• In US states with privacy laws, Lob's Settings has "Do not sell or share my data", which stops ads being personalised from your data.
• Ads are capped at "G", Google's rating for general audiences.
• If you've paid (no ads, or Lob Club), Lob never starts Google's ads, so nothing about you is sent to AdMob. Google's ad code is part of the app, and when the app opens it looks up google.com's address; nothing about you is sent.

Google uses this under Google's privacy policy; see also how Google uses information from apps that use its services.

Who else sees it

Supabase, PostHog, Google, and the email service that sends sign-in codes process data for us under data-processing terms. We may also disclose data if the law requires it. We never sell your data to anyone. Some of these services store data in the United States; where data leaves the EU or UK, they protect it with the safeguards the law requires, such as the EU's standard contractual clauses.

How long we keep it

Deleting your account

In Lob, open Settings and tap Delete my account. Lob deletes your account, board name, scores, handicap, swings, friends, purchase records and email from our server, and asks PostHog and Google Firebase to delete what they hold under your ids (PostHog clears it within about a week). Your phone's copies go when you delete the app. It can't be undone. Deleting your account doesn't cancel a Lob Club membership; cancel that in your iPhone's Settings (see Support).

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us what we hold about you, ask for a copy, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to how we use it. Write to support@lob.golf with your board name or friend code so we can find your account. We may ask you to show the account is yours (usually from the app itself). We answer within a month, and we won't treat you differently for asking.

In the EU, the UK and Switzerland

Under the GDPR (and the UK GDPR) you have the right to access your data, to correct it, to have it deleted, to restrict how we use it, to take it with you (portability), and to object to uses based on our legitimate interest, analytics among them. Where we rely on your consent (analytics in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), you can withdraw it at any time, without losing anything in the game, by turning off "Share usage data" in Settings. You can also complain to your country's data protection authority (in the UK, the ICO), though we'd like the chance to put it right first.

In US states with privacy laws

If you live in California or another US state with a consumer privacy law, you have the right to know what we collect and why, to get a copy, to correct it, to delete it, and to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of your data for targeted ads. We don't sell data for money. For free players, letting Google's ads use your data may count as "sharing" under some state laws, so you can stop it with "Do not sell or share my data" in Lob's Settings, or by choosing "Ask App not to Track". If we turn down a request, you can appeal by writing to us again. An authorised agent can ask for you.

Children

Lob is a game for everyone, but it isn't directed at young children, and we don't knowingly collect data from children under 13 (or the older age your country sets). Ads in Lob are capped at Google's "G" rating, for general audiences. If you believe a child has given us data, write to us and we'll delete it.

Security

Data travels encrypted, and our server lets each player see only their own private data. No system is perfect; if something goes wrong that affects you, we'll tell you as the law requires.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top, and for big changes we'll say so in the app first.

Contact

Bark & Olive LLC, United States. Email support@lob.golf.