Privacy Policy

Parly is built for junior golfers and the parents and coaches who track their progress. This policy explains what data the app handles, where it lives, and who can see it. It's written in plain language on purpose — if anything is unclear, email us.

The short version

• Parly has no company servers and no Parly user accounts. Data is stored in your own private iCloud account, the same way Photos or Notes works.

• We don't run ads, sell data, or use analytics/advertising trackers.

• Nobody at Parly can see your rounds, stats, or player profiles — there's nowhere for us to look. We do not have a copy of your data.

What data the app stores

To do its job, Parly stores information you and your family enter directly:

• Player profiles — name, birthdate, gender, skill level, and other details you choose to enter (like average driving distance or preferred round length), used to personalize scoring fields and recommend age-appropriate tees.

• Rounds — scores, putts, fairways/greens hit, course and tee played, notes, and optional photos.

• Practice, goals, achievements, tournaments, and equipment — whatever you choose to log in those areas of the app, including tournament details like host organization, division, and format if you enter them.

• Opponent and teammate names for match play and scrambles (these are whatever the user types).

• Rounds that end early, with the reason.

• Season Export: reports are created on the device and go only where the user shares them.

This data is created and stored entirely by the app on your device and in your private iCloud database (via Apple's CloudKit). It is not transmitted to Parly or any Parly-operated server, because none exists. A round in progress can also show its live score on your Lock Screen or in the Dynamic Island (a Live Activity) — this stays entirely on-device and disappears when the round ends.

How syncing works

Parly uses your device's existing iCloud sign-in — there's no separate Parly account, username, or password to create. Data syncs automatically between your own devices signed into the same iCloud account, using Apple's private CloudKit database. Apple's own privacy practices govern that layer; see Apple's Privacy Policy.

Sharing a player (new in 1.2)

You can share a player with people you invite: a co-parent, a grandparent or other family member, a coach, or the player on their own phone. Sharing works through Apple's iCloud sharing. Parly has no server in the middle.

• Who sees it. Only the people you invite, and only after they accept. You choose each person's role before you invite them: Parent, Player, Coach, or Supporter (view only). You can change someone's role, or stop sharing, at any time.

• What they see. The shared player's profile, rounds, goals, practice, equipment, tournaments and photos. Anyone with a role other than Supporter can add or change things for that player, according to their role.

• A copy in their iCloud. While a player is shared, the player's data is also stored in the invited person's own iCloud account, so it is available on their devices. It is removed from their devices when you stop sharing or when they leave, unless you choose to let them keep a copy.

• Names. If you choose a name for yourself (for example "Sam"), the people you share with see it, for example "Sam is scoring". If you don't, they may see a name from iCloud or none.

• Following a round. When one parent scores a round, the others can see a live scorecard, and can ask for a heads-up when a round starts. That notification is created on their phone from the synced data. Parly sendsnothing through its own server.

• Stopping. The Captain (the person who shared the player) can stop sharing, which removes the player from the other people's devices. Anyone else can leave a shared player, which removes it from their devices; the Captain's copy is not affected.

Siri and Shortcuts (new in 1.2)

Parly works with Siri and the Shortcuts app so you can score a round or ask for a result by voice. Siri handles your requests under Apple's privacy terms. Parly gives Siri your players’ and courses' names so Siri can recognize them and answer on your device using the data it already has. Nothing is sent to Parly.

Third-party services we use

• Apple WeatherKit — fetches weather for the course's location at the time of a round, so it can attach conditions to a round automatically. This uses the course's stored coordinates, not your device's location, and does not require location permission.

• Apple Maps (MapKit) — shows the satellite hole map. Apple provides the imagery, and its privacy practices apply to the map requests.

• OpenGolfAPI (opengolfapi.org) — receives what you type when you search for a course, and, if you use Courses Near Me, a rounded position (about a kilometer) to list courses nearby. It does not receive player names, scores or any other personal data. Course data comes from OpenGolfAPI under the ODbL licence, credited in the app under More.

None of these services receive player names, scores, or any other personal data from Parly — only what's needed to fulfill the specific request (a location for weather, a search term for course lookup).

Location (Hole Maps)

Hole maps. The hole map in Live Round can use your device’s location, only while that screen is open, to show the distance from where you’re standing. Location is never stored, sent to Parly, or shared. The map works without it. Weather still uses the course’s stored coordinates, not your device’s location.

Courses Near Me (new in 1.2). When you tap Courses Near Me, Parly asks for permission to use your location while the app is in use, takes a single approximate position, and then lets go. It is not stored. Only a rounded position (about a kilometer) is sent to OpenGolfAPI to find courses. You can use Parly without it by searching for a course by name.

Children's privacy

Parly is designed to be used by a parent, coach, or guardian on behalf of a junior golfer, not by a child creating their own account. There is no registration, no chat or social features, no advertising, and no data collection by Parly directly from children. Player information (like a child's name or birthdate) is entered by the adult using the app and stored only in that adult's own private iCloud account — it is never collected by or sent to Parly.

Your choices and deleting your data

You can remove a person, change their role, or stop sharing at any time (Player Profile → Sharing).

You can delete a player, or everything, at any time: More → Danger Zone → Delete All Data. This removes your data from your device and from your private iCloud. Parly has no server copy to delete.

Data you shared stays in the other person's iCloud only while the player is shared, unless you let them keep a copy. After that, it is theirs to delete, like a printed scorecard.

No ads, no tracking, no selling data

Parly does not display advertising, does not include third-party analytics or advertising SDKs, and does not sell or share your data with data brokers or advertisers.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes — for example, as new features are added — this page will be updated and the "last updated" date above will change accordingly.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email help@parly.golf