HoopSatellite

Privacy Policy

Last updated 26 October 2026

HoopSatellite is a map of basketball courts with light social features: check-ins, pickup runs, streaks and friends. It is built to collect as little as possible. There are no names, email addresses, phone numbers or passwords, no contacts, no photos, no GPS positions or location tracking, no ads and no tracking. The one record of where you've played is your passport: the courts you've checked in at, with the first and last day, which only you see and you can clear at any time.

The short version

  • Browsing the map needs no account and sends only the area of the map you're looking at.
  • Your location is read on your phone only, while the app is open: to show courts near you, to check you're within 250 m of a court when you tap "Here now" or report a court's status, and to check you out when you open the app far from the court you checked in at. It is never sent or stored, and never read in the background.
  • Court status reports ("nets torn", "lights out") never show who made them, and lose any link to you once the status's time is up.
  • Your passport (the courts you've checked in at, with the first and last day you played there, never a time) is seen only by you. If you turn on "Show to friends", friends who follow each other with you see its counts and your quest badges, never which courts. It's kept until you clear it or delete your account.
  • The first time you use something that needs an account, the app asks your birth month and year. HoopSatellite is for people 13 and older. Under 13, nothing is sent and no account is made. We learn only two yes-or-no answers: 13 or older, and 18 or older.
  • If you're 18 or older and checked in at a court, you can turn on "Looking for players": other players see that someone there wants more players, and players who have it as a favorite court get a notification. Never your name.
  • Your account is anonymous: a random id, a generated handle and a friend code.
  • We don't sell or share your data, show ads, or track you across apps or websites.
  • Notifications come only once you allow them, in the app and on your phone. They're only about your favorite courts (for example, when one gets busy or players there want more to come) and runs you're in, never ads, and you can switch each kind off in the app.
  • You can delete your account and its data in the app at any time.

Who we are

"HoopSatellite", "we" and "us" mean the people who make and run the HoopSatellite app. Questions about this policy or your data: support@hoopsatellite.com.

What stays on your phone

What we collect, and why

When you browse the map

The area of the map you're looking at
Sent to load the courts in that area. It isn't tied to an account or stored by us.
Server logs
Like any website or app, our host records requests to our servers, including your IP address, the time, the request and app or device information. Used for security, abuse prevention and fixing problems. Kept for a short time under our host's log retention (days, not months).

When you have an account

An account is made the first time you do something that needs one (review a satellite find, add a court, check in, use pickup runs, or open the You screen), and only after the age screen says you're 13 or older.

Anonymous account id
A random id from an anonymous sign-in, kept on your phone so you stay the same player. So your reviews, courts, check-ins and progress stay yours. No email, phone number or password is involved.
Handle and friend code
A generated handle like "Hooper4821" (you can change it) and a 6-character friend code. Other players see your handle. Your friend code lets people you give it to follow you; it's never shown to anyone else.
Age band
That you're 13 or older, and when that was confirmed, and whether you're 18 or older (yes or no). Social features are for 13 and older, and "Looking for players" for 18 and older. We never collect your birth date.
Time zone offset and state
Your phone's offset from UTC, and the state you pick (or the state of the court of your first check-in). So streaks and weekly XP follow your local day, and for the state leaderboard.
Check-ins
The court, "here now" or a planned time, and when, and whether you turned on "Looking for players". Never coordinates. To show how many players are at a court or coming, to tell players who have it as a favorite court when it gets busy or when players there want more to come (a count, never who), and for streaks and XP. Check-ins also add to an anonymous count of how busy each court is by weekday and hour. That count holds no account ids or dates and is shown only once several different players have been counted. The time of the newest "here now" at each court is kept too, with no account id, so the court card can say "Last check-in 25 min ago".
Answers about a court
When you're checked in at a court and answer a quick question about it (how many hoops, lights, the surface): the court, the question and your answer. Once two or more players give the same answer, it shows on the court for everyone, as a fact confirmed by players, never with who answered. Kept until you delete your account.
Pickup runs and RSVPs
Runs you post (court, format, tag such as "women's" or "40+", skill level, player limits, start time), who's in, who's on a full run's waitlist and in what order, whether you've been told you moved up from a waitlist, the preset quick replies players send in a run, and a private record of how often you showed up to runs you joined (counters only, seen only by you). To organize pickup games.
Court status reports
A status you pick from a fixed list (for example "nets torn", "lights out", "packed right now", "court removed") while you're at a court, and your "Still true" or "Not anymore" on other players' reports. So players know what shape a court is in before they go. Other players see the status and when it was reported and last confirmed, never who. Your account id stays with a report only for that status's time (2 hours for "packed" up to 90 days), so you can't report the same thing twice and can take it back; after that the report stays in the court's history with nothing linking it to you. Your votes are deleted when the status ends. A record of how many reports and votes you made in the last day (to limit abuse) is deleted after a day.
Your favorite courts
Which courts you marked as favorites (court ids only). So you can see them on the map and the You screen, and get notifications about them, if you allow notifications.
Notification settings and push token
Only if you allow notifications: which kinds are on (all of them when you first allow notifications: your favorite courts, such as one getting busy; and, while organized runs are available, a spot opening up in a run you're waiting for, run reminders and updates on runs you're in; you can switch each off), your phone's push token (an address Apple or Google gives this app on this phone, through Expo) and whether it's an iPhone or an Android phone. To send these notifications, and nothing else: no ads or marketing. Your time zone offset (above) puts the times in them in your local time.
Notifications
Each notification we send you: its kind, its text (for example "Warner Park is live: 3 players here now."), and when and whether it was delivered. To send each one once, keep to the limits (at most one alert about the same favorite court every 2 hours), and fix delivery problems. A notification names another player only if the two of you follow each other.
Invite links
When you share a run, your phone's share sheet sends a link with the run's and the court's ids and a short description, to whoever you choose. So friends can open the run in the app. We don't see who you share it with.
XP, streaks, badges and quests
Points, streak counters, badges, how many different courts you've checked in at, and the quest tiers and weekly quests you've completed, with when. Quest progress is worked out from your check-ins, reviews and court status reports. Worked out by the server so they can't be faked.
Your passport (courts you've played)
Each court you've done "Here now" at: the court, and the first and last day you checked in there (your local date, never a time or a position, and not each visit). For school courts, also whether a check-in there was outside school hours (for the school quest), never when. If you were the first player ever to check in at a newly found court (a satellite find or a school gym), that is recorded too. For your passport map, the counts of courts, cities and states, and the quests. Only you can see it. If you turn on "Show to friends" (off unless you do), friends who follow each other with you see its counts (courts, cities, states) and your quest badges, never which courts. You can clear it on the You screen at any time.
Follows and blocks
Who you follow, who follows you, and who you've blocked. For friends, the friends leaderboard, and to keep blocked players apart.
Reports
A preset reason and the player or run you reported, and whether a moderator has dealt with it, when, and a short note of what was done. Seen only by moderators, to deal with abuse.
Moderation
If a moderator bans an account for breaking the Terms, the account records when and a short reason. While it's banned, its check-ins, runs, handle and leaderboard spot are hidden from other players and it can't use social features. To keep players safe. Lifting the ban shows them again. When you turn on "Looking for players", we also record your account, the court and the time. Seen only by moderators, so a complaint about it can be traced to an account.
Reviews and added courts
Your answer on a satellite find ("it's a court", "not a court", "someone's home court"), and courts you add: name, number of hoops, lights, surface, notes and where you placed the pin. To improve the map. Added courts are checked before they appear for everyone.
Sign-in session records
Our sign-in service keeps a record of your session, which can include an IP address and device or app information. To keep you signed in and secure. Removed when you delete your account.
Supporter purchase (optional)
If you buy Supporter, a one-time purchase that adds a badge, app icons and passport colours: that you're a supporter, the product, the purchase date and whether your badge shows. Apple or Google take the payment, so we never see your card or billing details. To give you the perks and show your badge. Kept until you delete your account; Apple or Google keep their own purchase records under their policies. Your app icon and passport colour choices stay on your phone.
Crash and diagnostic data
None today. If we add crash reporting later, we'll update this policy first. It would cover things like the app version, device model, OS version and the error, never your location or contacts.

What other players see

Who processes your data

We don't send anything about you to the open-data sources behind the map (OpenStreetMap, park lists and others).

No selling, no ads, no tracking

We don't sell or share your personal information, we don't show ads, and we don't track you across other companies' apps or websites. The app has no advertising or analytics SDKs and doesn't read your advertising id.

How long we keep it

Deleting your data

Children

HoopSatellite is for people 13 and older. Before anything is sent, the app asks your birth month and year. If you're under 13, no account is made and nothing leaves your phone: reviews and courts you add stay on the phone, and social features are off. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, contact us and we'll delete it.

Your choices and rights

You can see most of your data on the You screen (your passport and favorite courts too), change your handle and state, remove favorite courts, unfollow and unblock players, choose whether friends see your passport counts, clear your passport, turn notifications on or off, and delete your account. You can also ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, or to delete it, by writing to support@hoopsatellite.com. Because accounts are anonymous, we'll ask for your handle and friend code to confirm the account is yours. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under local law, and you can complain to your local data protection authority.

Security

Data travels over encrypted connections. Database rules let each player read and change only their own rows, and other players are only ever shown by handle. No system is perfectly secure, so we keep as little as we can.

Changes

If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects what we collect, we'll say so in the app before it takes effect.

Contact

support@hoopsatellite.com