This policy covers the Stride League apps for iPhone and Android, the participant web interface at my.strideleague.com, the registration pages at strideleague.com, and the organizer console at organizer.strideleague.com. It lists the data each one handles and what is done with it. If a statement here stops being true, this page changes and the date above changes with it.
Health data (step counts and the figures derived from them) is also covered by the Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy, written for the consumer health data laws of Washington, Nevada and Connecticut. The practices it describes apply to every participant, wherever they live.
Health data. Daily step counts, and the identity of the app or device each count came from (for example "iPhone", "Apple Watch", or the name of a fitness app), with each source's count by hour of the day, which is how overlapping sources are told apart. On iPhone this is read from Apple HealthKit; on Android, from Health Connect. If the challenge allows it, a participant can also enter steps or activities by hand, in the app or on the web (for example minutes of cycling or swimming at a chosen effort level, or a pedometer count); we keep what was entered, when, and any note added. Step counts, their sources, and hand-entered steps and activities are the only health data collected.
Account data. First and last name (visible to the challenge organizer), display name (visible to other participants), the challenge and team joined, the date joined, consent choices, the confirmation of being 18 or older, and the settings described under Your choices. You can join more than one challenge with the same sign-in. Each organizer receives your step data only after you agree to share it with them, and sees only the challenge they run.
Registration data. For a registration on the website, or an email address entered in the app or on the web: the email address, first and last name, and the registration's status. The email address is used to deliver the invite code and the receipt, to send announcements from the challenge organizer (each carries an unsubscribe link), to confirm an address entered in the app (one link, sent to that address), to send a six-digit sign-in code on request (valid for ten minutes, once), to send password set-up and reset links for the web interface (valid for one hour, once), to send a reminder to a participant who enters steps by hand when no entry has arrived for two days (at most three reminders in a row, each with a one-click link that turns them off), and to locate the registration when the person contacts us. Online payment is processed by Stripe; card details are entered on Stripe's pages and are not sent to our servers. We receive the payment's status, amount, and receipt identifiers. Where an organizer collects payment itself, we collect no payment information.
Web interface data. A participant who uses the web interface chooses a password, which is stored as a salted hash. Signing in sets a session cookie valid for 60 days; the browser's user-agent string is recorded as the session's device. A set-up in progress is held for one hour.
Device and diagnostic data. Device model, operating system version, app version, and a record of each sync attempt: when it ran, what triggered it, whether it succeeded, the step-permission state, whether background running was allowed, and the network type, battery level, low power mode, and thermal state at the time, with an error code and description when it failed. Records of app launches and background runs. These records are used to diagnose sync failures. They contain no step counts. A troubleshooting check, run by the participant from Help or by the organizer from the console, records the phone, its system version, the step software and the wearable chosen, and which advice came back.
Push notification token. The token Apple or Google issues to the device. It is used for: a silent prompt asking the phone to sync when it has not checked in; a reminder when no steps have arrived for several days; announcements from the challenge organizer; a new message in a team thread or friend chat (named by the sender's first name or the team); personal goal notifications the participant turned on; reaching a stop or the end of a virtual walk; and one reminder on the morning after the challenge's last day. Notifications never contain step counts or message text.
Messages, friends, and photos. The app and the web interface have a team thread, friend chats, a challenge photo wall, and announcements from the organizer. We store the messages a participant sends, friend requests and friendships, blocks, photos posted with their captions and the hearts on them, and reports. Location and camera metadata embedded in a photo is removed before storage. When a participant last read each thread and the announcements is kept on the server, so the phone and the web show the same unread marks. A participant's display name and team are visible to other people in the same challenge unless the setting "Let others find me by name" is turned off. A participant can set a profile picture, chosen from a standard set or uploaded; it is shown wherever their name is shown in the challenge, and a team's picture, set by its captain, wherever the team's name is. Camera and location metadata in an uploaded picture is removed before storage. A reported message, photo or profile picture is shown to the organizer with the reporter's reason and name; the organizer can remove any message or photo and can reset any profile picture to initials.
Personal goals. A daily or weekly step goal, whether goal reminders are on, and the days and weeks on which the goal was reached. Goals are visible only to the participant; the challenge organizer can see whether a goal was met on a day, never the goal itself. A private trophy case counts the participant's own milestones and keeps the weekly awards they were named in.
Organizer accounts. The organizer's email address (the sign-in credential), name, password stored as a salted hash, sign-in times, failed sign-in attempts, sessions with the browser's user-agent string, and password reset links (valid for 30 minutes, once). Organizer accounts hold no step data.
Contact form. A message sent through the contact form on strideleague.com is kept with the name, organization, email address, phone number, event size and dates entered, the sending address and browser, and when it was read and answered. One confirmation is emailed to the sender. The form is for organizations asking about running a challenge; it holds no participant or step data.
Server logs. Requests to our servers are logged with the requesting IP address and the address requested. Logs are kept by our hosting provider for a short period and are used only to operate and troubleshoot the service.
The apps request read access to step count only, plus background read access on Android, which Android requires as a separate permission for the app to sync while closed. No other health permission is requested. The apps do not write to HealthKit or Health Connect. The apps request permission to send notifications and, on Android, to use Health Connect.
Step data is used to compute individual and team standings within the challenge the participant has joined, and the participant's progress on a virtual walk they chose to join (a route with stops the organizer drew; the steps move them along it), and for no other purpose. On a walk's map a participant is shown, by name and position, to teammates they share daily totals with and to friends if they chose to appear on challenge-wide lists; to nobody else.
The challenge organizer (the organization running the challenge) can see each participant's daily totals and whether the phone is syncing, and, once the participant has agreed to the consent wording that says so, which apps supply those totals (for example "Google Health"; a phone is never named). The team captain can see each teammate's daily average and whether the phone is syncing. Teammates can see a participant's daily totals only if the participant chose to share them; if not, the steps still count toward the team's score but the daily numbers are not shown. The sharing choice is made at setup and can be changed in Settings.
A participant who chose to appear on challenge-wide lists is shown by name with step figures on the individual standings, may be named, with weekly figures, in the organizer's announcements to the challenge, and, where the organizer has opened team pages, is shown by name with a daily average on their team's page, which anyone in the challenge can open from the standings. A participant who kept off is counted on that page, never named. That choice is asked at setup, with nothing chosen in advance, and can be changed in Settings; choosing it also shares daily totals with teammates.
Data is encrypted in transit and stored in the United States. The following providers process data on our instructions and for no other purpose: Render (server hosting and database), Cloudflare (storage of photos), Postmark (delivery of email), Apple and Google (delivery of push notifications to their devices), and Stripe (payment processing). No other party receives participant data.
Participation requires being 18 or older. The apps and the web interface ask for confirmation of age before any health data is read, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has used the service, contact us and the data will be deleted.
Changes appear at this address with an updated date. This page is the canonical location of the Stride League privacy policy.