Privacy Policy for the Strike Zone App

1. General Information

This Privacy Policy informs users about the nature, scope, and purpose of the collection and use of personal data by the provider, Sérgio Tavares, within the mobile application “Strike Zone” (hereinafter referred to as the “App”).

2. Access Permissions and Data Collection

To ensure the App functions properly, it requires access to specific features on your device:

• Camera: Access to the camera is strictly necessary to provide the core functions of the App (scanning bowling balls, oil patterns, and — as part of the optional Plus subscription — scorecards). The image data is transmitted temporarily to our cloud services (Google Cloud / Google Vertex AI / Google Firebase) for analysis, processed there, and is not permanently stored, unless the user actively submits an error report. Photos of oil pattern sheets and scorecards are processed exclusively within the European Union. Photos of bowling balls are transmitted to a model located in the USA for image recognition (see Section 4).
• Network Access: An internet connection is required to synchronize the database, perform image analysis, process in-app purchases, and use the optional Strike Zone Plus AI features.
• Push Notifications: If you enable push notifications, an anonymized device token (Expo Push Token) is stored on our servers in order to deliver notifications about challenge results and invitations. Push notifications can be disabled at any time in your device settings or within the App.

3. Personal Data

The App is generally designed to be used without registration (“Offline-First”).

• Profile Data: Information such as your name, bowling hand, rev rate, or ball speed is stored exclusively locally on your device.
• Public Profile (optional): If you publish a public profile, the following data is stored on our servers and visible to other users: display name, club, country, profile picture, bowling statistics, and game history. You can unpublish your profile at any time. Published profiles are used in the community directory and for the Challenge feature.
• Challenge Data: If you participate in Challenges, your game score, the name of the ball used, and your profile information are stored on our servers (Google Firebase) and shared with other challenge participants. This data is automatically deleted after the challenge expires (after 24 hours to 7 days).
• Push Tokens: An anonymized device token is stored on our servers solely for the delivery of challenge notifications. It is not used for advertising purposes and is not shared with third parties.
• Device Identifiers: To process in-app purchases and restore licenses, we use the service provider RevenueCat. An anonymized user ID is transmitted to RevenueCat to validate your purchase status (Free, Pro, or Plus).
• Image Data: When you use a scan function (bowling ball, oil pattern, or scorecard), the captured image is transmitted to our cloud services for analysis (see Section 4).
• Usage Analytics: We use Firebase Analytics by Google to evaluate the use of our App anonymously and improve the product. No personal data such as name, email address, or location is collected. We only record anonymized usage data, e.g., which features are used, how often games are tracked, and which skill level has been selected. Data collection can be disabled at any time in the App settings under “Usage Analytics”. Collected data is automatically deleted after 14 months. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in product improvement). Further information about Firebase Analytics can be found at: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy

Strike Zone Plus (optional subscription features):

If you subscribe to Strike Zone Plus, you gain access to AI-powered coaching features. These currently include:

• Weekly Recap — a weekly summary of your last 7 days
• Pattern Strategy — on-demand strategy advice for a specific oil pattern
• Ball Advisor — ball recommendations across multiple modes (gap analysis, ball evaluation, dormant balls, player-type matching)
• Training Focus — analysis of your current weaknesses with training suggestions
• Season Recap — automatically generated award cards for a completed season
• Coach Chat — interactive Q&A with the AI coach on bowling-related topics
• Scorecard Scanner — automatic recognition of game results from a photo of the lane monitor

Shared data processing for all Plus features:

• Relevant context data — depending on the function: your ball arsenal, player profile, oil pattern data, anonymized game statistics, and in the case of Coach Chat the history of the current conversation — is transmitted from your device via our cloud functions to Google Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform). Processing takes place exclusively within the European Union via an EU multi-region endpoint with a data residency commitment; no transfer to third countries occurs in this process. The AI generates a text response, which is returned to your device.
• No names, email addresses, or location data are transmitted with these AI requests. Your identity towards the AI service is represented exclusively by an anonymized device hash.
• Generated text is briefly cached in our database (Google Firestore, EU servers) (typically between 2 and 14 days, depending on the feature) to avoid redundant generations and reduce costs. Caches are automatically invalidated when the underlying data changes substantially.
• Anonymized usage counters per feature (daily and/or monthly) are stored to enforce the usage limits associated with the Plus subscription and to monitor processing costs. These counters are linked to your anonymized RevenueCat user ID and contain no chat content or AI responses.
• The Coach Chat history is stored exclusively locally on your device (in the App’s local storage). It is not permanently stored on our servers; only the snapshot required for a single request is transmitted at the moment of sending. We recommend not entering sensitive personal information into the chat.
• Image data from the Scorecard Scanner is transmitted temporarily for recognition and is not permanently stored.

The legal basis for the processing of data within the Strike Zone Plus features is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of the contract for the paid subscription).

4. Third-Party Providers and Services

We use the following services to provide the App’s features:

• Google Firebase: Used for the backend, database updates, push notifications, hosting of public profiles, and management of anonymized usage counters for Plus features. Server location: EU. Provider: Google Ireland Limited.
• Google Vertex AI: Used for the visual recognition of bowling balls and — within the optional Plus subscription — for the generation of coaching responses, weekly summaries, pattern strategies, ball recommendations, training focus, season recaps, as well as the planned scorecard recognition. Processing region for all Plus features: EU multi-region with data residency within the European Union. The specific model versions in use may change as part of ongoing product maintenance; processing remains within the EU. Provider: Google Ireland Limited. The visual recognition of bowling balls is performed by a multimodal embedding model in the region us-central1 (USA). Only the captured ball photo is transmitted, without additional personal data. The transfer is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses under our data processing agreement with Google.
• RevenueCat: Used for managing in-app purchases (Strike Zone Pro, one-time purchase) and subscriptions (Strike Zone Plus, monthly/yearly). An anonymized user ID is transmitted to validate your purchase status (Free, Pro, Plus) and — for Plus — the billing period and renewal status. Provider: RevenueCat Inc., USA.
• Expo Push Notifications: Used to deliver push notifications for challenge events. Push tokens are transmitted to Expo’s servers. Provider: Expo (650 Industries, Inc.), USA. Privacy Policy: https://expo.dev/privacy
• WordPress (strike-zone-bowling.de): Used as a backend for public profiles and challenge landing pages. Servers are located in the EU.

5. Your Rights

You have the right to request information about your stored data or demand its deletion at any time. Because we do not maintain centralized user accounts, deleting the App and the local data on your device is generally sufficient to remove your locally stored data — including the Coach Chat history.

If you have published a public profile or participated in Challenges, data may be stored on our servers. You can request deletion of this data at any time by contacting us at the address below, or by unpublishing your profile within the App.

For Strike Zone Plus, the temporary AI caches and anonymized usage counters described in Section 3 are linked to a device hash and your anonymized RevenueCat user ID. They expire automatically and can additionally be deleted on request via the contact address below.

6. Contact

If you have any questions regarding data protection, you can reach us at: strike.zone.de (at) gmail.com