Rowch Privacy Policy

Last updated: 7 November 2026

Rowch ("we", "the app") is a rowing training app for athletes, coaches and clubs. This policy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. It applies to the Rowch Android, iOS and web apps and the Rowch websites.

What we collect

• Account information: your email address and display name, and a profile picture if you add one. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive the name and email address that provider shares with us.
• Profile details you choose to enter: role, weight, height, birth year, preferred side, clubs you have rowed for, and personal bests. You can change or clear these at any time in the app.
• Sessions you record: for water sessions, your GPS track, speed, splits, stroke rate and timing; for erg sessions, the figures your Concept2 PM5 reports (split, rate, watts, distance, force curve). If you connect a heart rate strap or watch, your heart rate during the session is recorded with it. Sessions you log by hand contain only what you enter.
• Live tracking: if you choose "Go live", your position and current figures are shared in real time with the people you invite (or publicly, if you choose public) until the session ends. In squad erg mode, your live erg figures (and heart rate, if connected) are shared with the squad members and coaches following that session.
• Squads and clubs: your membership, role, RSVPs and attendance, and the posts, comments and reactions you write. These are visible to members of that squad or club.
• Your rowing CV: regatta results you add to your profile.
• Pictures you upload: profile, squad and club pictures, and cheat-sheet PDFs you save to a squad.
• Notifications: a device token so we can send you the notifications you have turned on, and a copy of each notification in your in-app inbox.
• Reports and blocking: if you report a post or comment, we keep the report (what was reported, the reason and who reported it). The people you block and the items you have reported are kept privately on your account; nobody else can see them.
• Feedback you send us from the app.
• Crash reports: if the app crashes, Firebase Crashlytics records technical details (device model, operating system version and where in the app the crash happened) so we can fix it.

Permissions the app uses

• Location: to record your GPS track during a water session, including while the screen is locked if a session is running. Location is not used outside a session.
• Motion sensors: to detect strokes and work out your stroke rate.
• Bluetooth: to connect to a Concept2 PM5 rowing monitor, and to a heart rate strap or watch, if you use one.
• Camera: to photograph a PM5 results screen. The photo is read on your device and is not uploaded. The camera is also used if you film a session with the data overlay.
• Microphone: only while you film a session, to record audio with the video. Videos are saved to your device, not uploaded.
• Photos: to save share cards and videos to your photo library when you choose to, and to pick a picture you want to upload.
• Apple Health (iOS) and Health Connect (Android): if you choose to import workouts, we read your rowing workouts and heart rate from Apple Health or Health Connect and add them to your training log. Data read from them is used only to show your own training in the app, and never for advertising.
• Notifications: to tell you about squad sessions, programme changes and regatta results you follow.

What we don't do

• We don't sell or rent your data, and we don't share it for advertising.
• We don't use advertising or third-party analytics.
• We don't read your contacts or calendar.

Who can see your data

• You can see everything we hold for your account.
• Other signed-in users can see your display name and the profile details you have made visible. A private profile hides your personal bests and body measurements.
• Members of your squads and clubs can see your name, role, attendance and the posts and comments you share there.
• Your sessions are seen by the people you choose in Profile → Who can see my sessions: members and coaches of your squads (the default), only you, or every signed-in Rowch user. You can change it for a single session from its share menu. What they see is the session itself: its route, splits, stroke rate and charts.
• Your coaches (the managers of squads you belong to) can see the sessions you share with your squads and manage the squad’s programme.
• The Rowch team can access data where needed to run the app, to handle reports and to answer your requests.

Services we use

• Google Firebase (Google Cloud): sign-in, database, file storage, server functions, notifications and crash reports. Firebase stores and processes data on our behalf.
• Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple, if you choose them.
• Map tiles from Esri and OpenStreetMap, to draw maps. Your device requests map images for the area shown.
• Google Sheets and Google's Gemini AI, only if a coach links a Google Sheet to a squad's programme. Rowch reads the sheet the coach has shared with it (it never changes it). If Rowch can't work out the sheet's layout by itself, it sends Gemini a sketch of the layout once (dates, day names and training words, never people's names). If Rowch still can't read it, it keeps that sketch to improve how it reads sheets. The app says so before the first link.
• Strava, only if you connect your Strava account. Rowch then uploads the sessions you send (or choose to send automatically): time, distance, stroke rate, heart rate and, for water sessions, the route. Rowch keeps the connection to your account until you disconnect it.
• Open-Meteo, for weather on training programmes. Only the location of the programme's venue is sent.
• regattaresults.co.za: public regatta draws and results are read from this site and kept in our database. No personal data is sent to it.

How long we keep data

• While your account exists, we keep your profile, recorded sessions, squad and club membership, your posts and comments, your rowing CV, your uploaded pictures and your notifications, so the app can show them to you. You can delete individual sessions, posts and comments at any time.
• When you delete your account, everything tied to it is deleted immediately: your sign-in, profile, recorded sessions, personal bests, rowing CV, squad and club memberships, posts, comments and pictures (see "Deleting your account" below).
• Live tracking positions are kept only for the live session.
• Crash reports are kept by Firebase Crashlytics for 90 days and then deleted automatically.
• Reports of objectionable content are kept only as long as needed to review them and act on them.
• Feedback is kept until we have dealt with it.
• Regatta draws and results are public information and are kept as a results archive.
• Data stored on your device, such as cached results and your settings, is removed when you uninstall the app.

We don't delete inactive accounts automatically. You can delete your account at any time.

Deleting your account

In the app, go to Profile, then Delete account. This immediately deletes your account and everything tied to it, as listed above. If you can't use the app, email support@rowch.co.za from the address on your account and we will delete it within 30 days. See also how to delete your account.

Security

Data is sent over encrypted connections and stored with Google Cloud's security controls. Access is limited by sign-in and by rules that let each person see only what this policy describes.

Children

You must be at least 13 to use Rowch, and if you are under 18 a parent or guardian must agree to your use of the app (see our Terms of Use). Parents can ask us to delete a child's account by emailing support@rowch.co.za.

Contact

Questions, requests to see or delete your data, or anything else: email support@rowch.co.za.

Changes to this policy

If we make important changes, we will say so in the app and update the date at the top of this page.