How Thwok uses your personal data when you play, run a club, coach, or bring your child to an academy. Short on purpose; every line is true of the app today.
1. Who we are
Thwok is run by SIMPLIFY HCS LIMITED, which is the data controller for everything on this page. Questions about your data, or anything here you do not understand: privacy@thwok.app.
If you are under 13, you must not use Thwok without your parent or guardian — a child's place at an academy is held through their parent's account, not one of their own.
2. Who this notice applies to
- players who book courts, join games and clubs, or enter tournaments
- club admins and treasurers, and the members on their rosters
- parents and guardians, and the children they enrol at an academy
- academy staff, coaches and venue teams using the consoles
- anyone who joins the waiting list, asks an academy a question, or emails us
3. What personal data we hold
| What | Why we have it |
|---|---|
| Name, email, phone and sign-in | So a booking, a roster, a game or a course has a person on it, and so we can reach you |
| Playing profile and ratings | Level, home area, availability and a win/loss record — this is what matches you to fair games |
| Bookings, games, club nights | Court, time, who organised, who played, scores |
| Club membership and money | Your club rows, check-ins, statements and settlements |
| A child's academy record | Name, date of birth, group, attendance and progress; an emergency contact; a medical note only if the parent gave explicit consent; photo choices, each its own tick |
| A coach's certificates | What the coach uploads to their own file (DBS, safeguarding, first aid, qualifications), and each academy's record of who checked it and when. Only the academies the coach works for can open a certificate |
| Payments | What you paid and when. Card details go to Stripe; we never see or store them |
| Messages | Inquiries to an academy, replies, and the notifications the app shows you |
| Technical | Your session token, and server logs for 30 days |
There is no analytics SDK, no advertising pixel and no tracker in the website or the app — a test fails the build if one is added.
4. Why we use it, and on what basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Running your account, bookings, games, clubs and courses | Performance of a contract with you |
| Club and academy money, statements and receipts | Contract, and our legal obligation to keep financial records |
| A child's medical note | Your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time |
| Photos of a child | Your consent — private feedback, group photos and public promotion are each asked separately |
| A coach's certificates and the checks on them | Legal obligation and substantial public interest: safeguarding children |
| Ratings and matchmaking | Legitimate interests: fair games. You can opt out |
| Security, abuse prevention and audit | Legitimate interests |
| Waiting list, invitations and messages about other badminton near you | Consent, asked for separately and stoppable any time |
5. Who else sees it
Your data is stored in London. A short list of companies process it for us — Google Cloud for hosting and sign-in, Stripe for payments, Zoho for email, Google for the one-time codes that verify a phone — each under a written contract. The current list, with what each one does and where, is at thwok.app/legal/sub-processors. We never sell your data.
A club sees its own members; an academy sees the children enrolled with it; a coach sees the names and progress of the children on their session and nothing else. Nobody sees another club's or academy's people.
6. How long we keep it
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account and profile | While the account exists |
| Bookings, games and club nights | 24 months, then stripped of who you are |
| Ratings | 24 months after your last match |
| A child's academy record | While the child is enrolled, then 90 days |
| An unclaimed register invitation | 60 days, then deleted |
| Club and academy money records | 6 full years plus the current one — tax law |
| Email we send you | 30 days |
| Server logs and backups | 30 days |
Money is the one thing deleting your account does not erase: we remove your name, the amounts stay, because they are part of a record other people are entitled to.
7. Cookies and your device
There is no cookie banner because there is nothing to consent to. We store one thing on your device: the session token that keeps you signed in. No analytics cookie, no advertising cookie.
8. How we protect it
Encrypted in transit and at rest; a child's medical note and contact details are encrypted a second time with a key only the server holds. Every read is checked against who you are; a coach's phone can lose signal courtside without a child's details ever having been on it.
9. Your rights
- a copy of everything we hold about you or your child — from your profile, no request needed
- correction of anything wrong
- deletion — from your profile, or by asking us
- withdrawal of any consent, including a medical note or a photo choice, at any time
- objection to ratings and matchmaking
- a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk — we would rather you told us first
Anything you cannot do from the app, email privacy@thwok.app. We answer within one month.
10. Children
You need to be 13 or over for an account of your own. A younger child is enrolled by a parent or guardian, who sees and controls everything held about them; we ask the parent nearer the time whether the child should get a login at 13.
11. Changes
This page is versioned with the app. If we change something that matters we tell you in the app rather than swap the text quietly.
Also worth reading: our terms
SIMPLIFY HCS LIMITED trading as Thwok · Company 13667511 · ICO ZB235652 · 4 Henley Gardens, Pinner, HA5 2DE, England