Privacy Policy
Last updated: 7 November 2026
The short version. We collect what Play Onside needs to plan games with your crew: who you are, what you play, roughly where, and what you do in your circles. We don't sell it, we don't show you targeted ads, and we don't track you across other apps or websites. You can delete your account in the app at any time.
Introduction
This policy is from Virtuous Solutions Pty Ltd (ABN 93 632 168 355), which makes and runs Play Onside (“we”, “us”, “our”). It covers personal information handled through the Play Onside app, our website at playonsideapp.com, and anything you send us.
We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If we change this policy we'll post the new version here, and tell you in the app before a big change takes effect.
Play Onside is for adults
Play Onside is only for people aged 18 and over, and you confirm you're 18+ when you sign up. We don't knowingly collect information about anyone under 18. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 18, we delete it.
What we collect
Your account
- your name and email address;
- your password, which we only ever store as a one-way scrambled “hash”, never the password itself;
- if you use Sign in with Apple, an account identifier and email from Apple (which may be Apple's private relay address);
- if you use Sign in with Google, an account identifier, your name and your email from Google;
- the date you confirmed you're 18 or over, and one-time codes we email you to confirm your address.
Your profile
- the sports you play and your level in each;
- your home suburb, and an approximate map point for that suburb (not your street or exact location);
- how far you're happy to travel and when you like to play;
- your colour theme, notification settings and whether you're “Open to play”.
What you do in Play Onside
- Circles: the circles you start or join, your role (captain or player), invites and requests to join.
- Chat: messages, replies, reactions, polls and votes, and messages you report or people you mute.
- Games: games you plan (day, time, ground name and pin, notes), your answers (in, maybe, out, waitlist), check-ins (on my way, running late and by how long, here), whether you turned up, results, votes for player of the match and duck of the day, and team sheets that include you (your role and, for cricket, your fielding spot).
- Booked grounds: booking details someone adds to a game: pitch or court, umpire or ref, cost each, and who booked it. Play Onside doesn't take payments.
- Away dates: days you mark as away (up to 26 weeks ahead). Players in your circles can see them. Past days are deleted.
- Match fees: whether the captain marked you as paid for a game, and who marked it. No amounts or payment details: Play Onside doesn't handle money.
- After the game: whether you're keen, places suggested and votes.
- Find a partner: requests you send and receive, people you block, and reports you make.
- Stats and badges worked out from the above (for example, how often you turn up).
Your device
- a notification token for your phone, if you turn notifications on;
- your phone's location, only at the moment you tap “Use where I am” (to name a suburb or pin a ground). We keep the suburb or ground pin you choose, not a history of where you've been. Play Onside never tracks your location in the background.
- On my way (only if you choose to share): on a game you said you're in, from 2 hours before kick-off, you can tap “I'm on my way” to share where you are while that game's screen is open. Your phone sends its position about once a minute. We keep only your latest position (no trail) and delete it as soon as sharing stops: when you tap “I'm here”, say you can't make it, tap Stop, turn sharing off in Settings, or 15 minutes after kick-off at the latest (positions not updated for 30 minutes are deleted too). You agree to this in the app before the first time, and can switch it off for good in Me.
Sensitive information
We don't ask for sensitive information (such as health, religion or political views). Please don't put it in chats or notes.
How we collect it
Mostly from you, when you use the app. Some comes from Apple or Google if you sign in with them, and some from other players: for example, when a captain marks who turned up, puts you on a team sheet, or someone votes for you.
How we use it
- to run Play Onside: your account, circles, chat, games, check-ins, team sheets, debriefs, after-game plans, Find a circle and Find a partner;
- to email you sign-in and confirmation codes, and send the notifications you've turned on;
- to keep people safe: handling reports, blocks and misuse, limiting how often things can be tried, and enforcing our Terms;
- to fix problems and make Play Onside better;
- to answer you when you contact us, and to meet our legal obligations.
We don't sell your information, we don't use it for targeted advertising, and we don't share it with data brokers.
Who can see what
| Who | What they see |
|---|---|
| Players in your circles | Your name, sports and level, your messages, and what you do in that circle's games (answers, check-ins, turning up, team sheets, votes once announced, after-game plans). |
| People searching for circles | For circles set to Findable or Open: the circle's name, sport, level, rough area and number of players. Not who's in it. Private circles never show. |
| Find a partner | Only if you switch on Open to play: your first name, sports, level, suburb and roughly how far away you are. People you've blocked, or who blocked you, don't see each other. |
| Players in the same game (On my way) | Only while you're sharing on the way to a game: your dot on that game's map and roughly how far away you are. Only players who are in that game, and its captain or organiser, see it. Nobody else in the circle. |
| Nobody else | Your email address and your password are never shown to other players, and your location is never shown outside On my way as described above. |
A ground's pin is only seen by people in that circle.
Services we use
We use a small number of trusted providers to run Play Onside. They only get what they need to do their job.
| Provider | What for | What they get | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services | Hosting the app's servers and database, and sending emails | The information described above | Sydney, Australia |
| Apple | Sign in with Apple, and delivering notifications to iPhones | Your Apple sign-in details; a notification token and the notification's text | United States |
| Sign in with Google | Your Google sign-in details (account identifier, name and email) | United States | |
| Geoapify, and the public OpenStreetMap search servers | Suburb and place search; finding pubs, food and cafés near a ground (After the game); drawing the On my way map | What you type in a search box; the ground's map point; for the On my way map, the map points of the players sharing (shown as letters). No names or emails. | Germany (European Union) |
| Open-Meteo | The game-day weather forecast | The ground's map point. No names or emails. | Switzerland |
| Your maps app | When you tap Directions | The place you're going, under that app's own privacy policy | Varies |
| Google Fonts (website only) | Showing our website's typefaces | Your browser's IP address, when a page loads | United States |
Because some of these providers are overseas, using Play Onside means some information is handled outside Australia. We choose providers with strong privacy and security practices.
If you live outside Australia
Play Onside is run from Australia. If you use it from another country (for example New Zealand, India or the United States), the information you give us is sent to and stored on our servers in Sydney, Australia, and handled under this policy and Australian law. By using the app, you understand that your information will be transferred to Australia.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety.
Cookies and tracking
Our website doesn't set cookies and doesn't use analytics or advertising trackers. The app doesn't use advertising identifiers and doesn't track you across other apps. It keeps your sign-in on your phone in the phone's secure storage.
Security
Information travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Passwords are stored as hashes. Access to our systems is limited to the people who run Play Onside. You can sign out of every device at once by resetting your password (Forgot password, on the log-in screen). No system is perfect: if a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we'll tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as the law requires.
Keeping and deleting information
We keep your information while you have an account. You can delete your account yourself, at any time, in the app: Me → Delete my account. See Delete your account for exactly what's deleted and what stays.
- Deleting your account removes your name, email, password, Apple sign-in, suburb and map point, sports, notification tokens, partner requests, blocks and mutes, takes you out of every circle and every game still to come, and signs you out everywhere.
- Games already played and chat messages stay for the rest of the circle, so their history and stats still add up. They show as “Deleted player” and are no longer linked to you.
- Our database backups are kept for no more than 30 days, so deleted information can remain in a backup until then.
- A message someone reported may be kept until we've reviewed the report.
Seeing and correcting your information
You can see and change most of your information in the app (Me → Edit profile). To ask for a copy of what we hold, or for a correction you can't make yourself, email playonsideapp@gmail.com from the address you sign in with.
Complaints
If you think we've mishandled your information, email us at playonsideapp@gmail.com. We'll reply within 30 days. If you're not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au. If you live outside Australia, you can also contact the privacy or data protection authority in your own country.
Contact us
Virtuous Solutions Pty Ltd (ABN 93 632 168 355), Sydney, Australia
Email: playonsideapp@gmail.com