Privacy policy

RefCoach is an iPad app and a website (refcoach.io) for referee coaches. It records what match officials do during a game, so the coach can review it and write their report. Those records name real people, so they are personal data, and this policy explains how they are handled. It covers the website, RefCoach Cloud (the sync service behind it) and the iPad app when you sign in.

RefCoach is run by Jamie Waters in England ("we", "us"). For anything about your data, email support@refcoach.io.

We are the controller for your account and for how the service runs. For the match records you create, you decide what is recorded and why; we store and process them for you, to provide the service, and for nothing else except the anonymised statistics described below.

• Your account: email address, name, how you sign in (email code, Apple or Google), when you accepted these terms, and when you last used the service. If you sign in with Apple and choose to hide your email, we only see Apple's relay address.
• Match records: teams, competitions, venues and dates; officials' names and roles; the events, notes, ratings, competencies, photos and pitch drawings you log.
• Your devices: an identifier created by the app on each iPad, its name, the app version and when it last synced.
• Security records: your IP address against sign-in attempts, to stop people guessing codes, and our hosting provider's request logs.
• Website visits: pages viewed on the public pages only (see Analytics and cookies).

We do not collect payment details. We never ask for special category data, and you should not log any.

• To provide the service (contract): your account, sign-in, syncing your matches between your iPad and the website, exports, and emails about your account such as sign-in codes and deletion notices.
• To keep it secure and working (legitimate interests): rate limits, logs and fixing faults.
• To understand the service as a whole (legitimate interests): we look at aggregate statistics across all accounts, such as how often each competency is rated positive or for development. These never include notes, events or officials' names, and no individual official, coach or match can be identified from them.
• To count website visits (legitimate interests): cookieless analytics on the public pages.

No advertising, no selling of data, no profiling of individuals.

If you are a match official and a coach has recorded you in RefCoach, the coach is responsible for that record. Ask them first; if you cannot, email us and we will pass your request on or help directly. Coaches agree in our terms that they are entitled to record the officials they assess, for example because an association appointed them, and that they will follow their association's safeguarding rules where an official is under 18.

• Fly.io: hosting, in London
• Neon: the database, in London
• Cloudflare: photo and drawing storage (R2), DNS and network protection
• Resend: sending emails, from Ireland
• Google: website analytics, and sign-in if you choose Google
• Apple: sign-in if you choose Apple, and the App Store

Some of these companies are based in the United States. Where data leaves the UK, it is protected by UK adequacy regulations (including the UK–US data bridge) or the ICO's international data transfer agreement or addendum. We share match records with no one else, unless you link an association to your account, and then only what you have agreed to share with it.

• Your account and matches: while your account exists.
• Deleting your account closes it at once. Everything stored in RefCoach Cloud (matches, photos, drawings and account details) is permanently deleted 30 days later; until then you can ask us to restore it. We keep only a record that an account existed and when it was deleted.
• If paid plans are introduced, a free account's cloud matches will be removed after 30 days without use, with an email warning 7 days before. The account itself stays. We will say here when this starts.
• Sign-in attempt records with IP addresses: 24 hours.
• Sign-in codes: 10 minutes.

Matches on your iPad are not affected by anything above; they stay on the iPad until you delete them there.

The website sets one cookie when you sign in, to keep you signed in. It is strictly necessary, so it needs no consent. Your appearance choice (light, dark or system) is kept in your browser, not sent to us.

The public pages (home, privacy, terms, support and sign-in) use Google Analytics with all storage switched off, so it sets no cookies and only counts page views. It never runs once you are signed in.

Under UK data protection law you can:

• see the personal data we hold about you, and get a copy
• have it corrected
• have it deleted: on the website (Settings, Delete account) or by emailing us
• take your match records elsewhere: each match exports as Markdown or text on the website
• object to, or ask us to restrict, how we use it

Email support@refcoach.io and we will reply within a month. If you are unhappy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Everything travels over encrypted connections. Sign-in uses one-time codes or Apple and Google, so there are no passwords to steal. Each account can only reach its own matches.

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect, and the date at the top will change.