Privacy Notice

• Your phone number, so we can verify it is yours and identify your account.
• Your name, so other players can recognise you.
• Your email address, for account recovery and for emails about your account and payments.
• Your date of birth, which powers age-based rankings and tournament eligibility.
• Your gender, which powers gender-specific rankings and sessions.
• Your chosen username and password. Passwords are stored only as a secure hash — never as text.

When you request a verification code we record the time, your IP address and your browser's user agent. When a sign-in fails, or you reset your password, we record the attempt and your IP address. We also keep an identifier for your device in a cookie. These are used to limit repeated attempts, detect abuse and enforce bans. When you accept these documents we record that you did, and when.

Verification codes are sent by SMS through our messaging provider. We store only a cryptographic hash of each code, never the code itself, and codes expire a few minutes after they are sent.

If you join through someone's referral link, we record that they referred you. They can see that you joined and your name; they cannot see your phone number, email address or date of birth. You are not shown who referred you.

Your phone number, email address and date of birth are not visible to other players. Your name, username, avatar and founding status are. Courtmate staff can access account information where necessary to run the service and investigate abuse.

If you are one of the Founding 100, your founding number and name appear on a public page that anyone can view without an account. Your username and avatar are not shown there, and nothing else about you is either.

• Matches you play, their scores, and the rating, level and ranking that come from them. Rankings are shown to other players.
• Matches you record or join, court bookings you make, who you play with, and tournaments you enter. Matches are visible to other players.
• Anything you choose to add to your profile, such as a photo, a short bio, the side of the court you play and your club. These are shown to other players.
• Posts, photos, comments and likes you share, and the players and clubs you follow.
• Shop orders you place and the collection point you choose.
• Posts, comments and messages you report, and players you block. Courtmate staff review reports and can see the reported content.

Payments are by mobile money only, through Airtel Money or TNM Mpamba, and are processed by PayChangu. Courtmate does not take card payments. To take a payment we send PayChangu the amount and the mobile money number. To pay you out or refund you we send the amount, the number and your name.

Courtmate records the amount, what it was for, whether it went through, and the mobile money number used, so a payment can be matched to your match, entry, booking or order and refunded if needed. A refund goes back to the number that paid. We never see your mobile money PIN. If you save a payment number or a number to be paid out to, we keep it until you remove it.

A club that takes payment for its own courts through its own system handles that payment itself, under its own terms.

When you book a court at a club that runs its own bookings, we pass the club your name, phone number and email address so it can hold the booking for you. A club also sees who is booked on its courts and when.

• If you allow it, your location is used on your device to show the nearest clubs. It is not sent to us or stored.
• The camera and your photos are used only when you choose a picture to upload.
• If you turn notifications on, we store a notification address for your device so we can send them. Apple delivers notifications to iPhones, Google delivers them to Android phones, and your browser's provider delivers them on the web.
• We also email you about your account and your payments, and send verification codes by text message.

Account data is stored with Supabase, our database and authentication provider. The application is hosted on Vercel. Emails are sent through our email provider, text messages through our SMS provider, and payments are processed by PayChangu. Notifications are delivered by Apple and Google.

Tournament news articles are written with Google's Gemini. It receives the tournament's results, including the names of the players in them, and nothing else: never your messages, contact details or payments.

When something goes wrong on our servers, an error report is sent to Sentry so we can fix it. A report can include technical details of the request that failed.

Most of these operate outside Malawi, so your information is stored and processed abroad. We do not sell your information or use it for advertising.

You can ask us for a copy of your information, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete your account and the data attached to it. Write to courtmate.mw@gmail.com and we will action it.

You can also delete your account yourself, from inside the app or by asking us — how to delete your account sets out the steps and exactly what is removed.

Deleting your account erases your personal details, posts, comments, messages and saved payment numbers. Your match, booking and payment records are kept under the name "Deleted player", with no personal details, so that other players' match history and ratings stay correct and the payment records we are required to keep are not lost.