🔒 Privacy

Bested is a small app made by Emily, an independent developer in Canada. This page explains what information Bested collects, why, and what you can do about it. Questions? Email hello@bested.app.

What we collect

• Your email address — so you can sign in (we email you a link and a code; there are no passwords).
• Your profile — the name, title, epithet, emoji avatar and colour you choose.
• What you record — games and results, scores, notes, the dates you played, rivalries you create or join, and the teams you set up.
• What you send — chat messages, brags and nudges.
• Names of guests you add — just the name you type, for one-off games.
• Basic technical logs our hosting providers keep to run and protect the service (like IP addresses and browser type).

How we use it

• To run Bested: sign you in, show your scoreboards, streaks, stats and memories.
• To show your games, profile and messages to the people in your rivalries.
• To send the emails you'd expect: sign-in codes, and brags or nudges from your rivals (you can mute those anytime from the Me page or the link in any email).
• To keep Bested safe and working.

We don't sell your information, we don't show ads, and we don't send marketing email unless you've clearly said yes.

Who can see what

• People in a rivalry can see its members' profiles, games, notes, scores and chat.
• One-off games are visible to the people who played in them and whoever logged them.
• If someone leaves or is removed from a rivalry, the games they played stay in that rivalry's history.
• You choose who can find you by name and challenge you (Settings → Who can find & challenge you): only your rivals, friends of your rivals (the default), or everyone on Bested. Search only ever shows a name and avatar — never an email.
• The nickname and label you give a rival (like "the Sore Loser") can be seen by that rival.

How your chats and memories are kept private

• Locked to your rivalry: chat messages, results, notes and lines can only be read by the people in that rivalry (one-off games: the people who played). This is enforced by the database itself (row-level security), not just by the app's screens — someone outside the rivalry gets nothing, even with a link.
• Encrypted on the way and at rest: everything travels over HTTPS, and our database provider encrypts stored data (AES-256).
• Your email stays private: other people never see your email address, and invites never reveal whether an email already has an account.
• Not end-to-end encrypted: like most apps, the person who runs Bested could technically open the database. Emily only does that to keep Bested working, fix a problem you've reported, or when the law requires it — never to read your chats for fun, ads or AI training.
• Photos and voice notes (coming with membership) will be kept in private storage, shrunk on your phone before upload, and shown only to people in that rivalry through short-lived links.
• You're in control: delete your own chat messages anytime (a rivalry's founder can remove messages from its chat), download your results from Settings, and delete your account whenever you like.

Where your information is stored

Bested uses a few trusted service providers to run: Supabase (database and sign-in), Vercel (website hosting) and Resend (sending email). When you search for a place for a challenge, what you type (and, only if you tap "use where I am", your approximate location) is sent to Photon, a free place search run by Komoot on OpenStreetMap data; challenge maps are shown from OpenStreetMap, and when you tap "Open the map" the place is shown on an embedded Google Map (Google receives that place and your IP address). A place's map pin is saved with the challenge so everyone in it can find the spot. They may store and process information outside Canada, including in the United States, where it may be accessible to authorities under local law. When paid plans launch, payments will be handled by Stripe — Bested never sees or stores your card number.

Cookies

Bested only uses the cookies needed to keep you signed in. No advertising or tracking cookies.

How long we keep it

We keep your information while you have an account. When you delete your account, we erase your email and sign-in, your name, title and avatar, your email settings, the guests and custom contests you made, and one-off games only you were part of. Games and chat messages in other people's rivalries stay in their history — shown as "👻 Former rival", an account that's no longer active — so their scoreboards stay accurate. A deleted account can't be recovered. Backups are cleared out over time.

Your choices and rights

• See and change your profile anytime on the Me page.
• Mute brag and nudge emails anytime (Settings, or the link in any email).
• Download your results anytime (Settings → Your data).
• Delete your account anytime from Settings (or email hello@bested.app).
• Ask what information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, by emailing hello@bested.app. You can also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Kids

Bested isn't meant for children under 13. If you're under the age of majority where you live, please use Bested with a parent's or guardian's permission.

Changes

If this policy changes in an important way, we'll update the date at the top and let you know in the app.