PlayKo

Privacy Policy

Effective: 10 October 2026 · Applies to the PlayKo app for iPhone and Android and the services behind it (api.playko.app).

PlayKo helps people find, organise and join sports games, clubs and groups. This policy explains which personal data we process, why, on what legal basis, who helps us, how long we keep it and what rights you have. It describes what the app actually does.

1. Controller

The controller under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:

Amit Raj
Möllendorffstraße 7
10367 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: hello@playko.app
Phone: +49 174 4789991

We have not appointed a data protection officer because we are not legally required to. For any privacy question or request, write to hello@playko.app.

2. Overview

3. Which data we process, why, and on what legal basis

3.1 Sign-in

You sign in with your phone number (verified by SMS code), with Apple or with Google. Sign-in is handled by Google Firebase Authentication. Your phone number and/or email address are stored by Firebase only; PlayKo's own database stores a technical user ID from Firebase, not your phone number or email address. Legal basis: performance of our contract with you (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

3.2 Your profile

Purpose: to create your profile, show it to others according to your settings, and match you with suitable games, clubs and players. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Optional details are only processed if you add them; you can remove them at any time.

3.3 Games, clubs and community activity

Games you create, join, decline or are wait-listed for; your RSVPs, check-ins and attendance; clubs and groups you follow, join, run or are invited to (incl. roles, membership cards, polls and tournament registrations); people you follow, close friends, mutes and blocks; "props" and level confirmations ("vouches") given and received after games.

Reliability signal. If you confirm a spot and then cancel late or do not show up, this is recorded. From it PlayKo derives a private reliability signal (green / yellow / red). You can always see your own signal and how it was calculated. The only other people who see it are the host or club admins of a game or club you ask to join, at the moment they decide on your request. It is never public and never shown on your profile. Individual flags are deleted after 12 months, and cancelling because you felt unsafe never counts. This is not a decision with legal or similarly significant effect within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR — the host decides, and open games remain open to you.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (running the games and clubs you take part in); for the reliability signal, also our and our users' legitimate interest in games that actually take place (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

3.4 Location

We store the area you choose for your profile (e.g. district, city, postcode and an approximate point) — never your exact street address. If you allow it, the app uses your device location while you use it to show nearby games and clubs and to suggest your area; PlayKo does not track your location in the background. For games, the venue address chosen by the host is stored and shown to participants.

When you search for a place or address, our server sends the search text (and, if you allowed location, approximate coordinates to rank nearby results) to a geocoding service — Photon by komoot (based on OpenStreetMap, Germany) or Google Maps Platform (Places). Your user ID, name or IP address are not sent to the provider.

Legal basis: device location — your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), which you can withdraw at any time in your phone's settings; profile area and place search — Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

3.5 Messages, media and posts

Direct, group, game and club chats (text, voice messages, photos, videos, reactions), stories, moments and posts, comments and reactions, and who has seen a story. Content is delivered only to the people or groups you choose, according to your privacy settings. Photos are re-encoded on upload, which removes embedded metadata such as GPS location. We may check uploaded images automatically and manually for illegal or prohibited content (see 3.9). Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

3.6 Voice and video calls

Calls are transmitted via Agora's real-time network. PlayKo does not record calls. We keep a call log (who called whom, when, for how long, outcome) for 30 days to run the call feature and handle problems. On iPhone, incoming calls are signalled via Apple's push service (PushKit). Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

3.7 Notifications and device data

To send push notifications we store a push token for each of your devices, together with the platform, app version, device brand and model, operating-system version, time zone and whether notifications are enabled. Push messages are delivered through Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (Android) and the Apple Push Notification service (iPhone). You can turn notifications off in the app or in your phone settings. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR; the system permission prompt is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).

3.8 Diagnostics, bug reports and usage statistics

3.9 Safety and moderation

Reports you file or that are filed about you, blocks, and the moderation decisions we take (e.g. removing content, restricting or suspending an account). Legal basis: our and our users' legitimate interest in a safe community (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) and our legal obligations as a hosting service under the EU Digital Services Act (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR).

3.10 Club membership payments

Some clubs charge membership fees. Payments are processed by Stripe on the club's own Stripe account: the club is the seller and PlayKo charges no fee. You enter your card or bank details directly in Stripe's payment form; PlayKo never sees or stores full card or account numbers. We store the payment status, amount, the Stripe reference and the resulting membership card. Stripe is an independent controller for its own payment processing (see stripe.com/privacy). Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR; legal retention duties (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR).

3.11 Contacting us

If you email us, we process your message and contact details to answer you (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR).

4. What other users can see

Depending on your settings: your name, @handle, photos, bio, sports and levels, your area (city/district — never your street address), clubs, moments you post and games you join. A private profile is visible in detail only to people you approve. Messages are visible to the members of the chat. Hosts and club admins see what they need to run their game or club (e.g. who is coming; your reliability signal when deciding on your request — see 3.3).

5. Service providers and recipients

We use the following providers. Where they act as our processors, we have data processing agreements with them (Art. 28 GDPR).

Beyond that, we only disclose data if the law requires it (e.g. to authorities on a legal order) or it is needed to establish or defend legal claims.

6. Transfers outside the EU

Some of the providers above are based in the USA or may access data from there (Google, Apple, DigitalOcean, Agora, Sentry, Stripe). Such transfers rely on the European Commission's adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, and otherwise on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR) together with additional safeguards. Agora's network may route a call through servers close to the participants, which can be outside the EU.

7. Deleting your account, and how long we keep data

Step-by-step instructions, with and without the app: Delete your account.

Delete your account in the app under Settings → Delete account. Without the app, email hello@playko.app with the phone number or email address you sign in with (or your @handle) and ask us to delete your account; we confirm that it is yours and delete it as described below.

Content you delete yourself (messages, moments, stories) is removed from the app straight away; copies in backups are overwritten in the normal backup cycle.

8. Your rights

You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18) and data portability (Art. 20), and you can withdraw any consent at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7(3)). You can view, change and delete most of your data directly in the app; for everything else, email hello@playko.app.

Getting a copy of your data (Art. 15 and Art. 20 GDPR): to request a copy of your personal data, email hello@playko.app from the email address or phone number linked to your account, or say which account it is (your @handle). We confirm it is you and answer within 30 days; where Art. 20 applies, you get the data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format (JSON). This is free of charge.

Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR): where we process data based on legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)), you can object at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation. We will then stop, unless we have compelling legitimate grounds or need the data to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Right to complain: you can lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the EU country where you live or work. The authority responsible for us is: Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Alt-Moabit 59–61, 10555 Berlin, www.datenschutz-berlin.de.

9. Do you have to provide data?

To use PlayKo you need to provide the data marked as required in 3.1 and 3.2; without it we cannot create your account. Everything else is optional. Device permissions (location, camera, microphone, photos, notifications) are only requested when you use the related feature and can be refused or withdrawn in your phone's settings.

10. Minimum age

PlayKo is only for people aged 16 and over. During sign-up you confirm that you are at least 16. If we learn that an account belongs to someone younger, we delete it. How we protect children and handle child sexual abuse material: Child Safety Standards.

11. Security

Connections to our servers are encrypted (HTTPS/TLS), access to production systems is restricted, and media is kept in access-controlled storage.

12. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when the app or the law changes. We will inform you in the app about material changes before they take effect. The current version is always available at https://api.playko.app/legal/privacy.