Privacy Policy · Caddie Games

About this policy

This policy covers the Caddie Games iOS app and the caddie-games.ai website. It does not cover any third-party service you reach through Caddie Games (for example, your GHIN account, Apple's App Store, or a course website you click through to); each of those has its own privacy practices and policies.

We update this policy when what we do materially changes. The effective date at the top of this page tells you which version is in force. Material changes get an in-app notice; smaller clarifications get a new effective date only.

What Caddie Games is, in one paragraph

Caddie Games is a scoring utility for group golf. You use it to run any combination of common golf scoring formats — Stroke, Stableford, Match, Nassau, Skins, Junk, Wolf, Nine Points, Golf Poker, Baseball — during a live round, either by tapping scores in or by speaking to the AI caddie. Scores and standings sync live to every player's phone in the round.

Information we collect

Account information

When you create an account we collect your email address and (if you sign in with Apple or Google) whatever name that provider chooses to share. If you sign up with an email and password, we never see your password in the clear — it is hashed by our authentication provider and stored in that hashed form.

Profile information

Inside the app you can add optional profile details: a display nickname, a phone number (used only if another player wants to find you to add to a round), a gender, a country/state, and a GHIN member number. All of these fields are optional and can be edited or removed at any time from Settings.

Golf round data

The core of what Caddie Games stores: the rounds you play. This includes the course, the date, the tees, the group of players, the hole-by-hole scores, the game formats you ran during the round, the group-specific settings for those formats, and the running standings.

Course library and roster

The courses you mark as favorites, the courses you have played, and the other players you have added to rounds (their name, optionally their phone or email if you entered it, optionally their GHIN handicap if they linked it). Players you add appear in your personal roster so you can bring them into future rounds without re-entering their details.

Voice recordings and the AI caddie

When you tap the microphone and speak to the caddie, Caddie Games records a short audio buffer of what you said, sends it to OpenAI's Whisper service for transcription, and sends the resulting transcript to Anthropic's Claude for interpretation. Both calls happen server-side, through our backend's server-side functions that hold the API keys — no AI-provider keys ever travel to your device. The audio buffer itself is transient — discarded after transcription — but the transcript is stored briefly with the round's context so the caddie can follow up on what was just said.

OpenAI and Anthropic each have their own privacy and data retention policies covering the transcripts we send them. Caddie Games does not enable those providers' long-term training on your data where the option to opt out is available to us.

Location

With your permission, Caddie Games uses your device's location only while the app is open to suggest which course you are about to play. Your location is not stored beyond the session, is not shared with third parties, and is never tracked in the background.

GHIN link

If you choose to link your GHIN account, we open a secure webview to GHIN's own sign-in page. Caddie Games never sees or stores your GHIN password. After you sign in, GHIN provides us with your member number and your current handicap index, which we store on your profile and refresh before each round so net-score games (Match, Skins, Nassau) can compute correctly.

Purchase and subscription information

When you subscribe or buy in-app currency (“Tees”), the purchase itself is processed by Apple through the App Store — Caddie Games does not see or store your payment card. Our subscription management provider receives Apple's purchase receipt and shares the resulting subscription state (active or not, plan, next renewal date, family-sharing status) with our backend so we can grant the right entitlements. We store the subscription state, the balance of your in-app Tees, and a ledger of Tees credited or spent.

Device and technical information

We collect standard technical details needed to run the app: your device model, operating system version, app version, timezone, and a session identifier. This is used for support, crash triage, and product analytics.

Analytics events

The app emits usage events (a round was started, a game was chosen, a voice command was issued) to our backend, which forwards aggregated event data to a product analytics provider. Analytics events are keyed to your user ID so we can understand how features are actually used; individual event records are rotated after 90 days.

Website

On caddie-games.ai we run a lightweight email waitlist for the Android launch. If you submit that form we store your email address, a hashed form of your IP address, your user-agent string, and the referrer that brought you to the form. We store this to send you the notification email you asked for and to protect the form from abuse. Nothing else about your visit is tracked — no advertising pixels, no cross-site cookies.

HealthKit and the Apple Watch companion

Apple requires apps that use HealthKit to disclose exactly how they use it, in the privacy policy itself. This section is that disclosure. It applies only if you install and use the Caddie Games companion app on Apple Watch — the iPhone app on its own does not read or write any HealthKit data.

What Caddie Games reads from and writes to HealthKit

When you start a round with the Apple Watch companion, Caddie Games starts a golf workout session on your Watch. The workout session is a standard HKWorkoutof activity type “golf,” and it is what allows the Watch to stay awake, display the round screen, and record the duration of your round. To do this Caddie Games:

Writesone workout record per round — the start time, the end time, the activity type (“golf”), and the duration.
Reads the workout state (is a Caddie Games workout currently in progress) so the Watch and iPhone stay in sync if you switch between them mid-round.

Caddie Games does not read or write heart rate, calories, steps, distance, or any other health or fitness metric. Caddie Games does not access Clinical Health Records under any circumstances — the iOS system exposes that permission by default on the HealthKit entitlement, but Caddie Games makes no such request.

Where HealthKit data goes

HealthKit data stays on your device. Caddie Games does not upload the workout record to our backend, does not send it to any AI provider, does not send it to any analytics provider, and never shares it with any third party. The record lives in Apple's Health app on your iPhone, alongside every other workout you have recorded, under your control.

Advertising, marketing, and research — none

We never use HealthKit data for advertising, marketing, product recommendations, or research. We never sell it. We never let a third party use it for those purposes. Apple's HealthKit rules forbid all of these, and so does our policy independently.

Turning HealthKit off

You can revoke Caddie Games’ HealthKit access at any time in iOS Settings → Health → Data Access & Devices → Caddie Games. If you revoke access, the Watch companion's workout session will no longer start with the round; scoring on your iPhone and the other players' phones is unaffected. Workout records Caddie Games previously wrote to Health remain in the Health app until you delete them there.

How we use your information

To provide the app: score rounds, run the game formats you select, sync scores to every phone in your round in real time.
To power voice-controlled scoring: send your voice commands to our AI providers so they can transcribe and interpret them, and send the caddie's response back to you.
To keep handicaps current: pull your handicap index from GHIN before each round if you have linked your GHIN account.
To look up courses: query the GHIN course catalog and other public and licensed course databases when you are choosing where to play.
To process purchases: verify Apple receipts and manage subscription state through our subscription management provider so the right features are available to the right accounts.
To improve the app: understand which features are used, diagnose crashes, decide what to build next.
To communicate with you about your account: password resets, material changes to these policies, security incidents. We do not send marketing email unless you have explicitly opted in (for example, the Android launch waitlist).
To comply with legal obligations: tax and financial record-keeping for purchases, response to lawful requests.

We share information only with the service providers we need to run the app, and only what those providers need to do their job. Each provider is contractually bound to use that information only to serve Caddie Games.

Providers you interact with directly, by name

These are named because you either see them in the app (a Sign-in button, an App Store purchase dialog) or opt into them yourself (linking your GHIN account, choosing the AI voice).

Apple, Inc.: Processes Sign in with Apple, App Store purchases, Family Sharing, and (if you use the Apple Watch companion) Watch messaging. Also handles App Store review and distribution.
Google LLC: Processes Sign in with Google when you choose that sign-in method.
Anthropic, PBC: The Claude AI model interprets your voice command transcripts and figures out what you meant (score, press, standings request, setup change). Called server-side.
OpenAI, L.L.C.: The Whisper model transcribes voice audio. If you have chosen the Enhanced Voice for spoken responses, OpenAI generates the audio that is played back to you. Called server-side.
USGA (GHIN): If you link your GHIN account, GHIN provides your member number and handicap index directly to our backend. Your GHIN password is entered in a secure GHIN-hosted webview; we never see it.

Categories of behind-the-scenes service providers

These are the categories of vendors we rely on for infrastructure the user never touches directly. We describe them by category rather than by name so we can change providers when better options exist without republishing this policy for a non-user-facing swap.

Cloud database, authentication, and real-time sync infrastructure. Stores your account, rounds, scores, roster, and every other durable piece of your Caddie Games data. Hosted in the United States.
Subscription management provider.Receives Apple's purchase receipts and tells our backend what entitlements each account has (subscription active or not, plan, next renewal date, family-sharing status).
Third-party golf course data providers. Queried server-side to fetch course data — hole yardages, par, stroke index, tee ratings — for courses not already in our catalog.
Product analytics provider. Receives aggregated usage events keyed to your user ID so we can understand how features are actually used.
Mobile app update provider. Delivers over-the-air JavaScript updates between full App Store releases.

We also share information in two other narrow circumstances:

With other players in your round: live scores and standings from a round you are actively playing sync in real time to every phone in that round. That is the entire point of the app.
When legally required: in response to a valid subpoena, court order, or other lawful request. We attempt to notify you when we can do so lawfully.

We do not sell your data

Caddie Games does not sell your personal information, and does not share it with advertisers, data brokers, or third parties for their own marketing purposes. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we have not sold or shared personal information in the preceding twelve months and have no plans to do so.

Data retention

We keep your data for as long as you have an account with us, and for a limited period after account deletion in case you change your mind or we need it for legal or accounting reasons.

Account data: Retained until you delete your account.
Round history: Retained until you delete individual rounds or your account.
Voice audio: Transient. The audio buffer is discarded after transcription.
Voice command transcripts: Retained briefly with the round context so the caddie can follow up on what was just said, then aged out.
Analytics events: Individual event records rotated after 90 days. Aggregated counts kept indefinitely.
Purchase records: Retained per tax and audit requirements (typically seven years).
Waitlist email address: Retained until Android ships and the notification email has been sent, or until you ask us to remove it — whichever comes first.

Your rights and choices

Regardless of where you live, you can do all of the following at any time:

Access — see what data we have on you. Most of it is visible in the app; ask us for anything that is not.
Correct— edit your profile, your roster, and your round data directly in the app. For anything you can't edit yourself, email us.
Delete— delete individual rounds in the app, or delete your entire account. Account deletion removes your profile, your rounds, your roster, and your Caddie Games purchase state. Apple's subscription state is managed on your Apple ID and must be cancelled through your Apple account separately.
Export — request a copy of your data in a machine-readable format.
Withdraw consent — turn off microphone, location, contacts, camera, or photo access in your device settings at any time. The features that need those permissions will stop working; the rest of the app continues to work.

To exercise any of these rights, email hi@caddie-games.ai with a subject line that names the request. We will respond within 30 days.

California residents (CCPA)

In addition to the rights above, California residents have the right to know the specific categories of personal information we have collected about them, and to opt out of any sale or sharing of that information (we do not sell or share). We do not use personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

EU / UK residents (GDPR / UK GDPR)

In addition to the rights above, you have the right to rectification, erasure, portability, restriction of processing, and to object to processing. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

The lawful bases we rely on: contract (to provide the app you have signed up for), consent (for microphone, location, and marketing communications where applicable), and legitimate interest (for analytics, security, and product improvement, balanced against your rights).

Children

Caddie Games is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If we learn that we have collected such information, we will delete it. If you believe a child has provided information to us, email hi@caddie-games.ai.

Security

Every table in our database is protected by row-level security keyed to your account, so you can only read and write your own data. Your session token is stored in your device's secure enclave (the iOS Keychain). All network traffic is TLS-encrypted. Our AI-provider API keys never leave our backend — the app itself only holds the anonymous public key needed to reach our own servers.

No security posture is perfect. If you notice a vulnerability, please report it to hi@caddie-games.ai with “Security report” in the subject.

International transfers

Our backend, and all of the service providers described above, are hosted in the United States. If you access Caddie Games from outside the United States, your data will be transferred to the United States for processing. For transfers of personal data from the EU, UK, or Switzerland, we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses as our transfer mechanism.

Changes to this policy

When we make material changes we will post the updated policy here with a new effective date, and notify active users in-app before the changes take effect. Smaller clarifications may be made without notice, but the effective date at the top of the page will always reflect the current version.

Contact

Questions, requests, or corrections: hi@caddie-games.ai. Postal contact available on request.