Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 24, 2026. Effective: September 24, 2026.

Poddle is a free pickleball game that runs in your browser at poddleball.com. This Privacy Policy explains, in plain language, what information the game uses, why it is used, who can see it and how long it is kept. It also covers the Poddle Helper application for Mac. The rules for using Poddle are set out in our Terms of Use.

Summary

No accounts, cookies, advertising or analytics. We never sell your information or share it for advertising purposes.
Your webcam video remains on your computer. It is processed within your browser to determine approximately where you are standing. No video, images or face data are transmitted or saved. We do not identify anyone.
Your position and your paddle's motion are transmitted live to our game server and relayed to your opponent and anyone watching, so that the match can be played. They are not stored.
Your display name is publicly visible to other players and spectators. Please do not use your full real name.
Our server holds your IP address and display name in memory only, in order to operate the game and prevent abuse. We maintain no database, and all of this information is erased when the server restarts.
Questions or requests: hello@danielrltan.com.

For teens and parents

Use a nickname rather than your real name. It is visible to strangers.
Camera video never leaves your computer. Only an approximate position is transmitted.
There is no chat, profile or account. The game server discards your name when the match ends or the server restarts.
Anyone with a court code can watch or take an empty seat, so please share codes only with friends. Do not display your phone's pairing code on a stream.
Under 18? Please ask a parent before playing or installing Poddle Helper.
For questions or deletion requests, please contact hello@danielrltan.com.

1. Who operates Poddle

Daniel Tan, an individual based in Ontario, Canada, develops Poddle and is responsible for your information. Poddle is not a company. In this policy, "we", "us" and "Poddle" refer to Daniel Tan. He may be contacted at hello@danielrltan.com. His legal roles under Canadian, Quebec, EU and UK law are described in Jurisdiction-specific information.

2. Information we use and why

Poddle does not require registration. We do not ask for your email address, age, location, phone number or payment details. The table below sets out all of the information the game uses.

Information	Purpose
Display name that you enter (up to 12 characters)	To show who is playing: in the court list, on the scoreboard, in tournaments, and when you watch, request to play or send an emote.
IP address	To limit the number of courts that a single IP address may have open at once (up to 4), to allow one open tournament per IP address, and to limit how often someone may request to take a seat. This prevents spam and abuse and keeps the game running for everyone.
Your position on screen, derived from the webcam (only if you permit camera access)	To move your player when you step from side to side. Only a few numerical values are transmitted (see Your webcam).
Paddle motion from your phone or AirPod: the direction in which it points, how quickly it rotates and moves, and a timestamp	To swing your paddle. Phone motion is relayed live from your phone to your game tab only.
Game information: court and tournament codes, whether a court is listed, seats, score, swings, bot level, emotes you select, pause and rematch choices, and connection speed checks	To operate the match and display it to the players and spectators on that court.
Random tab ID (10 characters) and phone pairing code	To reconnect you to your court if the connection drops, and to link your phone to the correct browser tab. They are random and are not associated with your identity.
Basic connection details received by any website: IP address, browser type and requested web address	To deliver the pages. Our hosting provider, Fly.io, processes this information (see Third-party recipients).

We use your IP address only to keep a free game online without spam, flooding or attacks. We do not use it to determine your location or your identity.

A display name is required to take a seat or watch, and your IP address is necessary for any website to reach you. Without them, you cannot play online. All other information, such as camera and motion data, is optional or used only while you play.

In the background, the game's connection to our server includes your display name, tab ID, court code and score, so that you can be returned to your court after a reconnection. The link in your browser's address bar contains only the court code.

Device permissions the game may request

Camera, on your computer, only when you take a seat to play. See Your webcam.
Motion and orientation, on your phone, when you tap Start on the phone page. On an iPhone, this is the Motion & Orientation prompt. Motion is read only on the secure (https) page.
Keep screen awake, on your phone, so that it does not lock during a match. The phone may also vibrate to indicate a hit.
Microphone, only if you open Settings and choose to select a sound output (speakers). Browsers display speaker names only after this permission has been granted. The game stops the microphone immediately. No audio is listened to, recorded or transmitted.
Local network (in Chrome), if you play with an AirPod. This permission allows the page to communicate with Poddle Helper on your own Mac. If you have played before and have not chosen between phone and AirPod, or if you chose AirPod, the page may check in the background whether Poddle Helper is running on your Mac, and Chrome may ask you about local network access.

You may decline any of these permissions, or disable them later in your browser or phone settings. Without the camera, the game moves your player automatically (Auto). Without phone motion or an AirPod, you may still watch matches.

What we do not do

We do not sell personal information, share it for advertising purposes, build profiles or make automated decisions about you. We do not use your information to train artificial intelligence. We do not run advertisements, analytics tools, tracking pixels or social media plug-ins on Poddle.

3. Your webcam

If you play with Body movement, the game uses your computer's webcam to determine where you are standing. The process is described in detail below.

The first time you take a seat, before anything is requested, Poddle shows a screen explaining why the camera is used, and you choose Allow camera or Play without camera. Only if you choose Allow does your browser ask for permission. Camera access is requested only when you take a seat to play; spectators are never asked. The camera captures video only, without sound.
The video is analysed within your browser, on your computer, by Google's open-source MediaPipe software, which Poddle hosts itself. For each video frame, the software locates a face and a few points on it (eyes, nose, mouth and ears) or, if it cannot detect your face, points on your body such as your nose and shoulders.
From those points, the game retains only a single smoothed centre point, representing approximately where your head and shoulders are in the image. The points themselves are discarded immediately, frame by frame, and never leave your browser.
No video, photo, frame or list of face or body points is ever transmitted to our server or to anyone else, and none is saved.
We do not recognise or identify anyone. We do not create, collect or store any face template, faceprint or record of face geometry.
MediaPipe, as published by Google, can send usage statistics to Google. We have disabled this feature in our copy, so it sends nothing to Google or to anyone else.

What is transmitted: the centre point is converted into your player's position on the court. That position, together with your paddle's angle, is sent to our game server approximately 60 times per second. The server relays it to your opponent and to anyone watching that court, so that they can see you move. It is not stored.

Your choice: the webcam is not required to play. Choose Play without camera (or, when your browser asks, select Do not Allow or Block), and the game will move your player automatically (Auto). Play without camera is remembered on that browser, and the camera is not requested again unless you turn it on. Selecting Auto in Settings does not turn the camera off: once you have granted access, the camera remains on until you close the Poddle tab, although its video still never leaves your computer. You may disable camera access at any time in your browser's site settings.

4. Information visible to other players

Poddle is played with, and in view of, other people. Please choose a display name that you are comfortable with strangers seeing. Do not use your full real name, particularly if you are under 18.

Listed courts: anyone who opens the court list can see the names of both players, the score and the number of people watching.
Unlisted courts (created with a code): these do not appear in the list, but anyone who has the 4-character code or link can take an empty seat or watch. Because codes are short, a code should be treated like a room number, not a password.
Tournaments: the host's name is listed while players join. Anyone with the tournament code can see all players' names and the bracket.
On a court: players and spectators can see the players' names, scores, movements and swings. Players can also see the name of each spectator who begins watching or requests to play, and everyone on the court can see the name of any spectator who sends an emote.

Poddle has no chat feature. Emotes are limited to a fixed set of 7 emoji.

5. Browser storage and cookies

Poddle does not use cookies. It saves a small number of settings in your browser's own storage, on your device, so that the game remembers your choices. We cannot read this storage from our server. It affects only how the game works for you.

Name	Contents	Duration
`poddle.name`	The most recent display name you entered, so that you do not need to enter it again	Until you clear it
`poddle.settings`	Your display settings: whether the phone/AirPod view and your own player model are shown, the stats panel, camera range (sensitivity), whether sound is on, and the sound output you selected (a device ID provided by your browser)	Until you clear it
`poddle.camPrimer`	Whether you chose Allow camera or Play without camera, so that the camera explanation is not shown again	Until you clear it
`poddle.view`	Your preferred camera view when watching	Until you clear it
`poddle.airpod`	Whether you play with an AirPod or a phone	Until you clear it
`poddle.courts`	Your court list filter (open or full courts)	Until you clear it
`cid`	A random tab ID, which allows you to rejoin your court after a dropped connection	Until you close the tab
`pad`	Your phone pairing code for this tab	Until you close the tab

Each item is used to provide a feature you have requested, so no consent banner is required. To remove them, use your browser's "clear site data" option for poddleball.com. If we ever introduce analytics, advertising or any non-essential storage, we will ask for your consent first and update this policy.

In addition to other players (see Information visible to other players), the following companies are involved:

Fly.io, Inc. (United States) hosts the game server in its Toronto, Canada region and acts as our service provider. Its network receives your IP address and the web addresses you request, which, for the game connection, include your display name, tab ID and court code. It also stores the game's activity logs (see Data retention).
Cloudflare, Inc. (United States) forwards email sent to hello@danielrltan.com to our mailbox, acting as our service provider. Through its cdnjs service, it also provides a backup copy of the three.js graphics library, which is used only if our own copy fails to load. In that event, Cloudflare receives your IP address and browser details.
Our email provider stores the messages you send us, acting as our service provider.
GitHub, Inc. (United States) hosts the source code for Poddle Helper. You connect to GitHub only if you click a GitHub link.
Apple and the manufacturer of your phone or computer display the permission prompts and provide motion sensor readings on your own device. Poddle sends nothing to them.

All other fonts, images, 3D graphics, game code and the MediaPipe files are served from poddleball.com itself.

We may also disclose information where required by law, for example in response to a valid court order, or to protect the safety of individuals. Because we keep very little information, there is usually little to disclose.

7. Data retention

Display names, IP addresses, court and tournament details: held in the game server's memory for as long as your court, tournament or anti-spam cooldown lasts, and at the latest until the server restarts. The server writes none of this information to disk. The server restarts when we update the game, or when it goes to sleep because no one is connected. If you are in the middle of a match during a restart, your own tab sends back your court code, display name and score so that the match can continue.
Motion, position and swing data: relayed live and not stored.
Webcam video: never leaves your computer and is never saved.
Activity logs: the server writes brief activity entries, such as "court joined" or "tournament started: 4 players", with court codes. Our logs do not include display names, IP addresses or tab IDs. Fly.io's own network and platform logs may record IP addresses and web addresses. We do not export, copy or archive any of these logs. Fly.io retains them for approximately 7 days, after which they are deleted automatically.
Browser storage: remains on your device until you clear it or, in the case of the tab ID and pairing code, until you close the tab.
Emails you send us: kept until your request has been resolved, and then deleted within 12 months.

8. Where information is processed

Poddle is operated from Ontario, Canada, and the game server runs in Toronto, Canada. By using Poddle, you understand that your information is handled in Canada.

Our hosting provider Fly.io, Cloudflare and our email provider are US companies or may use servers outside Canada, and may process information in the United States or elsewhere. Information handled by them may be accessed by courts, law enforcement and national security authorities in those countries under their laws. For individuals in the EU, EEA and UK, the safeguards on which we rely are described in Jurisdiction-specific information.

9. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you have the right to:

request access to the personal information we hold about you and obtain a copy of it (access, and portability under the GDPR);
request that we correct it;
request that we delete it;
object to, or request that we limit, our use of it, including uses based on our legitimate interests;
withdraw any permission you have given, such as camera access, at any time. This does not affect anything done before the withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, please email hello@danielrltan.com. We will respond within 30 days. We may need to ask you a question to confirm that the request genuinely comes from you, for example which court code or display name you used. Because we have no accounts and keep very little information, we will often hold nothing that we can link to you. In that case, we will inform you.

You may also take action yourself immediately: change your display name before each game, clear your browser storage, disable camera, motion or microphone access in your browser or phone settings, or decline camera access when your browser requests it.

Complaints. Please contact us first, and we will endeavour to resolve the matter. You may also lodge a complaint with a privacy regulator: the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec if you are in Quebec, the data protection authority where you live in the EU or EEA, or the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK.

10. Children and teens

Poddle is intended for people 13 years of age and older. If you are under 18, you must have your parent's or guardian's permission to play. If you live in Quebec and are under 14, a parent or guardian must consent to the information handling described in this policy before you play. We recommend that an adult be nearby while anyone under 18 plays, both for safety and because display names are publicly visible. See For teens and parents.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have done so, we will delete that information. If you are a parent and believe that your child under 13 has used Poddle, please email hello@danielrltan.com.

11. Security

We protect information by keeping as little of it as possible. The website and the game connection use encrypted connections (HTTPS). Game data is held in memory rather than in a database. Webcam video never leaves your device. Phone motion data is validated and relayed only to the single tab that paired with that phone.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach of security involving personal information creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify the privacy regulators as required by law (within 72 hours where the GDPR applies), including the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Because we hold no contact details for players, we will also post a notice on the Poddle home page. We will keep a record of every breach.

12. Poddle Helper for Mac

Poddle Helper is an optional, free and open-source Mac application that allows an AirPod to serve as your paddle.

It reads only the motion of your headphones, using Apple's motion framework: the direction in which the AirPod points, how quickly it rotates and moves, and which earbud it is. macOS requests your permission (Motion & Fitness) first.
It passes that motion data only to other programs on the same Mac (it is never transmitted over the internet), and only while a page is connected to it. It accepts connections from web pages at Poddle's own addresses (poddleball.com and its earlier poddle.fly.dev address), pages served from your own Mac, and local applications on your Mac.
It makes no internet connections of its own and collects no information. It contains no analytics. Its menu links simply open web pages in your browser.
Once the motion data reaches Poddle in your browser, it is used in the same way as phone motion, as described above.

Its source code is available on GitHub under the MIT license.

13. Jurisdiction-specific information

Canada

Daniel Tan is the individual accountable for your personal information, and we handle it in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). In Quebec, Daniel Tan is the person in charge of the protection of personal information, and we collect only the information the game requires. This policy is intentionally written in plain language.

European Union, EEA and UK

Daniel Tan is the "controller" of your personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR and UK GDPR). Our legal bases for processing are as follows:

Information	Legal basis
Display name, webcam position, paddle motion, game information, tab ID and pairing code	Necessary to provide the game you requested (contract, Art. 6(1)(b))
IP address for abuse limits, and basic connection details	Our legitimate interest in keeping a free service safe and operational (Art. 6(1)(f))
Emails you send us	Our legitimate interest in responding to you (Art. 6(1)(f)), or a legal obligation when you exercise a privacy right (Art. 6(1)(c))

Canada has an adequacy decision from the European Commission (and a corresponding UK decision) for organisations subject to PIPEDA, and we handle your information in accordance with PIPEDA. Where Fly.io processes information outside Canada, we rely on Fly.io's data processing agreement, which incorporates the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK addendum). Cloudflare, Inc. participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. A copy of the safeguards is available upon request.

We have not appointed a representative in the EU or UK, because Poddle's processing is occasional, small in scale and low risk. You may contact us directly at hello@danielrltan.com.

United States, including California

We do not sell or share personal information, as those terms are defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act, and we have not done so in the past 12 months. We do not use personal information for targeted advertising. You may review your information and request that we correct it, as described in Your rights and choices. We do not discriminate against anyone for exercising their privacy rights.

Biometric laws

Poddle does not identify anyone. It does not create, collect, receive, store or share any face template, faceprint, scan of face geometry or other biometric identifier. Webcam video is processed only on your own device and only to determine your approximate position. The face and body points detected in each frame exist only momentarily in your browser's memory, are not stored and are not used to recognise anyone.

14. Do Not Track

Poddle does not track you across other websites and does not permit anyone else to do so on Poddle. Accordingly, "Do Not Track" and Global Privacy Control signals sent by your browser do not change how Poddle operates. We treat all users as though they had enabled these signals.

15. Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when Poddle changes how it handles information. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will change accordingly. For important changes, we will also post a notice on the Poddle home page before or when the change takes effect. If a change requires your consent, we will request it. Previous versions are available upon request.

If we add sign-in (for example, with a Google account), we will update this policy before that feature launches to set out exactly what we receive from the sign-in provider, how long we keep it and how you can delete your account. Signing in will remain optional where possible.

16. Contact

Daniel Tan
Ontario, Canada
hello@danielrltan.com

For privacy questions, requests and complaints, please email us and include "Privacy" in the subject line.