Privacy Policy
Effective 12 November 2026. Applies to the Tennis Rivals app for iPhone and iPad and to this website.
The short version
- No ads, no tracking, no data brokers. Tennis Rivals contains no advertising code and no analytics, never asks to track you across other apps, and never sells or shares your data.
- You don't create an account with us. We never ask for your name, e-mail address, phone number, location, contacts, photos, camera or microphone.
- Your progress, items and settings are saved on your device.
- Game Center and purchases are run by Apple under Apple's Privacy Policy. We never see your Apple Account details or payment information.
- Ranked matches run through our own small server, so that results and ratings cannot be faked. It keeps your Game Center player ID, your rating and the records of your ranked matches. It never keeps your name, e-mail address, location or network address, and you can delete everything it holds from inside the app at any time.
Who we are
Tennis Rivals is made by Mark Sinistaj, an independent developer based in United States ("we", "us"). For any privacy question or request, write to support@tennisrivals.app. Where data protection law applies (for example the GDPR in the European Union or the UK GDPR), we are the controller of the limited data described below.
Data kept on your device
Tennis Rivals is built to work without sending anything about you to us. These things are stored only inside the app on your device:
- the player name you choose, your playing hand and your look (body, skin tone, hair);
- your progress: trophies, tours, events, the season pass, Credits, the items you have unlocked or bought, your trophy cabinet and match statistics;
- your online record: the Fair Play record of your recent matches (whether each opponent was a person or a bot, the result and the connection quality) and a hidden practice rating, moved by your matches against bots, that picks bots of your level and is sent as your skill rating when you look for an online match; a copy of your ranked rating, tier and rating history (our server holds the originals), and any ranked results still waiting to be sent to it;
- the players you have muted or blocked, and the reports you have made (the last 50, each with the player's Game Center player identifier, the name on their card, your reason and the time of the match);
- your settings (sound, haptics, notifications, language, accessibility).
This data is included in your device backups (iCloud Backup or a computer backup) if you have them switched on, under your Apple settings. Deleting the app deletes it from the device.
Notifications. If you allow them, reminders (for example the Daily Drill or an event moving on) are scheduled on your device by the app itself. No notification server is involved and nothing is sent to us. You can switch them off in the app's Settings or in the iPhone Settings app.
Apple services
Some features use services that Apple runs. Apple processes that data under its own privacy policy; we do not receive your Apple Account, e-mail address or payment details.
- Game Center (optional): sign-in, your Game Center nickname and avatar, friends, leaderboards (such as the weekly Rivals Open), achievements and online matches. The app receives your nickname and your Game Center player identifiers from Apple to show leaderboards and run matches (Apple scopes these identifiers to our games; they are not your Apple Account). If you allow the app to see your Game Center friends, it uses the list on your device only, to show friends on leaderboards and to let you invite them to a match; the list is never sent to us. You can manage what Game Center shares in the iPhone Settings app under Game Center. Screen Time restrictions are respected: if multiplayer games are restricted, online play is hidden; if personalized communication is restricted, invitations and quick reactions are switched off.
- In-app purchases: Apple handles payment, receipts, refunds and Restore Purchases. The app checks on your device which items you own; we never see who paid or how.
- Crash reports: if you have chosen to share analytics with app developers in the iPhone Settings app (Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements), Apple may send us crash and performance reports that do not identify you. App Store Connect also shows us aggregated download and usage statistics. We use these only to fix bugs and improve performance.
Online matches
Finding an opponent. When you look for an online match, the app sends Apple's Game Center matchmaking a few details with your request: your skill rating (the hidden practice rating kept on your device; in a ranked search made while our server cannot be reached, your ranked rating), the country or region set on your device (iPhone Settings › General › Language & Region), the court surface, the game version and the kind of match you chose. Game Center uses them to pair you with a player of a similar level, on the same game version and with a good connection, and passes them on to your opponent's device. Your opponent sees your country or region on your player card. The app never uses your location to set the region. We do not receive these details.
During the match. Online matches are played directly between the two players' devices through Apple's Game Center network. To play, your device sends your opponent's device the moves of the match (shot timing and direction, positions, the score) and the cosmetic items you wear, so that their screen shows your outfit, racket and ball trail, as well as the preset reactions you choose to send. Your card on their screen shows your Game Center nickname, which their device gets from Game Center itself, and the country or region described above. The player name you choose in Tennis Rivals, your level and your trophies are not sent. Your opponent's device uses this data only to play and show the match, and keeps only the result and the connection quality in its own Fair Play record (unless they block or report you: see the next section). Because the two devices talk to each other directly, your device's network address (IP address) can be visible to your opponent's device during the match, as with any direct internet connection; Game Center may relay the connection through Apple's servers instead. The app itself does not read, show or keep that address. We do not receive or store this match data, except for ranked matches, which are played through our server (see Our server for ranked play).
Ranked matches. A ranked search goes to our own server, which pairs you with a player of a similar rating and carries the match between the two devices (see Our server for ranked play). If no player is found quickly, you play a computer opponent at your level instead; that match is played on your device. If our server cannot be reached, the app looks for a ranked opponent through Game Center as described above, and that match is played directly between the two devices. In both cases the app sends our server only the result afterwards, marked as a match the server did not see.
Online play never includes voice or free-text chat. Quick reactions are a fixed set of preset messages, and you can mute your opponent's.
Blocking and reporting players
During or after an online match you can mute or block your opponent from their player card. The players you block are kept only on your device, under each player's Game Center player identifier (scoped by Apple to our games), with the name and region their card showed, so that you can find them again in Settings › Blocked players and unblock them; the players you mute are kept the same way. None of this is sent to us. In the same way, if another player blocks you, their device keeps your Game Center player identifier, the name on your card and your region, on their device only.
Reporting a player (for example for cheating or an offensive name) opens a pre-filled e-mail to support@tennisrivals.app, sent from your own e-mail account. It contains the name shown on your opponent's card, the date and time of the match, the app version and the reason you pick. You can read and change it, and nothing is sent unless you send it. The app also keeps your last 50 reports on your device (see Data kept on your device). We use a report only to look into it and act on it (our legitimate interest in keeping online play fair and safe), and keep it like any other support e-mail (see How long data is kept). If someone reports you, their device keeps that record, and we receive from them the name shown on your card and the time of the match, and use it only to review that report.
When you e-mail us
If you write to us (for help, a privacy request or a player report), we receive your e-mail address, your message and anything it contains or you attach. We use them only to answer you and deal with what you ask: for a privacy request, because data protection law requires it; otherwise because you asked us to (taking the steps you request) and in our legitimate interest in answering the people who write to us and keeping the game fair. We never use your e-mail for marketing or add you to a mailing list. Our mailbox is hosted by Google LLC (USA), which stores and delivers the messages on our behalf; no one else receives them unless the law requires it. If messages are stored outside the European Economic Area or the UK, the transfer is protected as data protection law requires (for example by an adequacy decision or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses). We keep e-mails as described in How long data is kept, and you can ask us to delete yours at any time.
Our server for ranked play
Ranked matches need a neutral referee, so that a result or a rating cannot be faked by changing one phone. For this we run one small server (hosted by Cloudflare, Inc.). In a ranked match both devices talk only to this server, never to each other: it pairs the two players, passes the moves of the match from one device to the other, decides the result, and keeps the ratings and the ranked leaderboard. The other online matches (friendly matches and matches with friends) do not use it. The app contacts the server only while you are signed in to Game Center.
| What the server receives | Why |
|---|---|
| Your Game Center team player ID (an identifier Apple scopes to our games, not your Apple Account) and a signature from Apple proving it is yours | To know whose rating to update, and so that your rank follows you to any device signed in to the same Game Center account |
| The ranked rating and match counts kept on your device, once, the first time the app reaches the server | So that the rank you already had is not lost. The server limits how high a rating carried from a phone can start |
| The moves of each ranked match played through it (shot timing and direction, positions, the score), the cosmetic items both players wear, the preset reactions sent, the game version and the times they arrived | To carry the match to your opponent's device, and to decide the result when a player leaves or the two devices disagree |
| The record of each ranked match played through it: both players' IDs, the game versions, the times, the score and the result | To update ratings and the leaderboard, and to stop the same two players from trading wins |
| Whether you won or lost a ranked match played on your device without the server (against a computer opponent when no player was found quickly, or through Game Center while the server could not be reached) | To keep your rating in one place. The server did not see these matches, so it marks them as such, lets them move a rating only a little, and never lets them alone put a player on the leaderboard |
| Your rating, tier, match counts, and any strikes or pauses on your account | To pair you with players of your level, to run the leaderboard and to keep ranked play fair |
What other players see. Your opponent in a ranked match played through the server, and anyone who opens the ranked leaderboard, sees a made-up nickname that the server works out from a code, together with your rating and tier; your opponent also sees your outfit, racket and ball trail. They never see your Game Center nickname, your Game Center player ID, your region or your network address. A player who already has your Game Center player ID (for example a Game Center friend's app) can ask the server for your rating and tier.
What the server does not keep. It stores no name, no e-mail address, no device details, no location and no IP address. Cloudflare uses your IP address to deliver the connection and to protect the service. While you wait for an opponent, the server uses it in memory only, to pair you with a nearby player and never with someone on your own network, and then drops it.
We use this data only to run ranked play and to keep it fair (our legitimate interest in a fair game, and the service you ask for when you choose ranked play). We never use it for advertising, profiling or marketing. Cloudflare processes the data for us under a data processing agreement and may handle it outside your country under the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
Diagnostics
Tennis Rivals contains no analytics. If we ever add optional anonymous diagnostics (for example frame rate and crash counts), they will be switched off until you switch them on in Settings, they will never identify you, and we will update this policy before that version ships.
This website
This website is a set of plain pages: no cookies, no scripts, no analytics, no forms and no fonts or files loaded from other sites. It is hosted on GitHub Pages by GitHub, Inc. When you visit, GitHub logs your IP address for security purposes under the GitHub General Privacy Statement. We do not receive those logs.
What we never do
- Sell or share your data, or use it for advertising or tracking, including "sale" and "sharing" as defined by California law.
- Include advertising, ad-measurement or data-broker code, or use the advertising identifier.
- Ask for your location, contacts, photos, camera, microphone or health data.
- Build a profile of you or make automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. (A rating going up or down after a match is the game's score, and you can ask us to review a disputed result.)
- Run prize draws or collect postal addresses. If we ever offer physical prizes, we will update this policy first.
Children
Tennis Rivals is a general-audience game, made to be safe for players of every age. It needs no account and does not ask for anyone's age, name or contact details. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The only identifier our server handles is the Game Center player ID that Apple scopes to our games, and only to support the game itself (running and securing ranked matches), as children's privacy laws such as COPPA allow. Parents can control online play, Game Center and purchases with Apple's Screen Time and Ask to Buy. If you are a parent and believe your child has sent us personal information (for example in a support e-mail), write to support@tennisrivals.app and we will delete it.
Your choices and rights
- On your device: deleting the app deletes its data from the device.
- Online data: in the app, Online › Leaderboard › Delete my online data removes everything our server holds about you (your rating, its history, your match counts and your sign-in record) and takes your player ID out of the records of your ranked matches. It happens at once; if one of your ranked matches is still being decided, it happens as soon as that match is decided, at the latest after 30 days. Your ranked record on the device is cleared too. For 90 days the server keeps a coded marker that the account was deleted, with its last rating, so that deleting and starting again cannot be used to reset a rating or escape a pause; the marker cannot be turned back into your player ID without our secret key. If you come back within those 90 days, you start again as a new player, at or below the starting rating. Your Game Center leaderboard scores are held by Apple; you can remove them in Game Center.
- Game Center: you can sign out, hide your profile, or delete your Game Center data with Apple at privacy.apple.com.
- Your rights: depending on where you live (for example under the GDPR, UK GDPR, or California, Brazilian or Japanese law), you can ask to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of personal data we hold about you, to restrict or object to its use, and to withdraw consent. Write to support@tennisrivals.app; we answer within 30 days and never charge for it. To protect you, we may ask you to prove the data is yours (for example from inside the app).
- Complaints: you can complain to your local data protection authority. We would like the chance to fix the problem first.
How long data is kept
| Data | Kept |
|---|---|
| Progress, items and settings on your device | Until you delete the app |
| The moves of a ranked match played through our server | 7 days after the result is decided (while a result is being checked: until it is decided, at most 180 days) |
| Ranked match records and rating history | 24 months, or until you delete your online data |
| Your rating and sign-in record | Until you delete your online data, or automatically when you have not played online for 24 months |
| Strikes and pauses | A strike 90 days; a pause until it ends |
| The marker left when you delete your online data | 90 days |
| Support e-mails and player reports you send us | As long as needed to help you, then at most 24 months |
Security
Data on your device stays inside the app's sandbox, protected by iOS. Everything the app sends to our server travels encrypted (TLS), every request is tied to your Game Center sign-in by Apple's signature, and the server stores the smallest set of fields we need; access is limited to the developer. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach ever affected your data, we would tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page whenever the app's use of data changes, before the change ships, and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will also say so on the home page of this website and in the App Store release notes of the version that brings it. Earlier versions are available on request.
Contact
Mark Sinistaj, United States · support@tennisrivals.app. We reply in English within 3 business days; you may write in any language the app supports.