Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains who we are, what personal data we collect about you, how and why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have. It applies to the volpair mobile app, the volpair website (including our waitlist), and any related services (together, the “Service”).

Who we are. The data controller is volpair Ltd (“volpair”, “we”, “us”, “our”), a company registered in England and Wales under company number 17319288, with its registered office at Suite 10, Capital House, 61 Amhurst Road, London E8 1LL, United Kingdom. We are the controller responsible for your personal data under the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR, and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Contact. For any privacy question or to exercise your rights, email support@volpair.com. You can reach the person responsible for data protection at volpair at the same address.

Who this applies to. volpair is strictly for adults aged 18 and over. If you are under 18, you must not use the Service. See section 9.

1. Data we collect about you

We collect the categories of personal data described below. Some you give us directly, some we collect automatically as you use volpair, and some we receive from other sources you connect or from other members.

1.1 Data you give us

• Account and login data: your email address and/or mobile phone number, and a password or one-time verification code, used to create and secure your account.
• Profile data: your first name, date of birth (to confirm you are 18+ and show your age), gender, city, and the photos you upload. You may also add optional details such as a bio, occupation, height, star sign, interests, and answers to profile prompts.
• Padel profile: your self-rated playing level and play style, your availability (preferred days and times), and your home club. Once you connect a booking platform, some of these are refined by your real match data (see 1.3).
• Matching preferences: the mode you choose, Spark (dating), Partner (finding padel partners) or Both; your relationship intention if you set one; your Spark filters (such as level range or non-smokers); and who you want to be shown to and see (everyone, women, or men). Some of these are sensitive, see 1.4.
• Content and messages: the messages you send in the app (which we call “Serves”), including their read status, and any other content you create such as prompt answers.
• Purchases: your volpair Plus subscription status and history. We do not receive or store your card or payment details, those are handled entirely by Apple or Google.
• Support and safety data: the content of messages you send us, reports you make about other members, reports made about you, and members you block, including the reason given.
• Waitlist data: if you join our website waitlist, your email address and the marketing source that brought you to us (for example, the campaign or link you clicked).

1.2 Data we collect as you use volpair

• Activity data: the Volleys and play requests you send and receive, your matches and connections, and how you use features of the Service.
• Approximate location: where you grant permission, your approximate device location, used to show you nearby players and distances on Radar and in your feeds. You can turn this off in your device settings; some location-based features will then be limited.
• Device and technical data: device type and operating system, app version, a push-notification token (so we can send you alerts you have allowed), and basic diagnostic and error information needed to keep the app working.
• Cookies and similar technologies (website only): our website uses strictly necessary cookies and, with your consent, analytics and advertising cookies (including Google Ads conversion measurement, to see whether our own ads bring people to volpair). These stay off until you accept them. See our Cookie Policy. The volpair app itself does not use third-party advertising cookies.

1.3 Data we receive from other sources

• Match booking platforms you connect: if you connect a padel match booking platform, we import data needed to build your verified padel profile, including your playing level, match history, win rate, the clubs you play at, and the co-players in your matches. We only do this after you choose to connect the platform.
• Other members: other people may provide data about you, for example when they match or interact with you, or when they report or block you.
• App stores: Apple and Google confirm your subscription status to us so we can provide volpair Plus.

1.4 Sensitive (special category) data

Because volpair includes dating features, your “who you want to meet” preference, combined with your own gender, may reveal information about your sexual orientation. Under data protection law this is “special category” data and receives extra protection.

We process it only with your explicit consent, which you give when you set the preference, and we use it for a single purpose: to show you the people you have chosen to see, and to make you visible to the people you have chosen. We never use it for advertising and never share it for any unrelated purpose. You can change or withdraw it at any time in Edit Profile; withdrawing it does not affect processing that already took place.

2. How and why we use your information

We use your personal data only where the law allows us to. The table below sets out what we use your data for and the lawful basis we rely on for each purpose.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have balanced those interests against your rights and freedoms. You can ask us for more information about that balancing exercise at any time.

3. Matching, profiling and automated decisions

To suggest compatible players, we calculate a volpair Score from signals such as your playing level, play style, availability, shared clubs and match history. This is a form of profiling, but it is used only to rank the suggestions you see inside the app.

We do not make any decision about you that has a legal or similarly significant effect based solely on automated processing. The Score never blocks you from the Service, and a match only happens when both you and the other person choose to act. You can contact us to ask how a suggestion was ranked.

4. Who we share your information with

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it with third parties to build profiles about you for their own advertising. We use limited cookies to measure our own advertising (see our Cookie Policy). Otherwise we share your data only in the ways described here.

4.1 Other members

Your profile, including your first name, age, photos, padel stats and the details you add, is shown to other members in line with your mode and preferences. Your exact location, last name, contact details and login information are never shown to other members. Messages are shared only with the member you send them to.

4.2 Service providers who process data on our behalf

We use a small number of trusted providers who process personal data only on our instructions and under contract:

These are categories of the providers we use. If you would like to know the specific identity of a recipient of your personal data, contact us at support@volpair.com and we will tell you.

4.3 Corporate transactions

If volpair is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganisation or sale of assets, your data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will ensure any recipient continues to protect your data in line with this policy, and we will tell you if your data becomes subject to a materially different policy.

5. Disclosing data for legal and safety reasons

We may disclose your personal data outside the situations above where we reasonably believe it is necessary to:

• comply with a law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request;
• enforce our Terms of Service, including investigating potential breaches;
• detect, prevent or address fraud, security or technical issues;
• protect the rights, property or safety of our members, of the public, or of volpair, including sharing information with other companies and organisations for safety and fraud protection; and
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

6. International data transfers

Your core account, profile and message data is stored within the European Union (Ireland). Some of our providers, listed in section 4.2, process data in the United States or other countries outside the UK and EEA.

Whenever we transfer personal data outside the UK or EEA, we make sure it is protected by an appropriate safeguard, such as an adequacy decision (including the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement and the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. You can ask us for a copy of the safeguard we rely on for a particular transfer.

7. Your rights

Under UK and EU data protection law, you have the right to:

• Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• Rectify inaccurate or incomplete data;
• Erase your data (the “right to be forgotten”);
• Restrict our processing of your data in certain cases;
• Object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time;
• Data portability, to receive data you provided in a portable format;
• Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on it (for example, location or your “who you want to meet” preference), without affecting processing already carried out; and
• not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects (see section 3).

To exercise any of these rights, email support@volpair.com. We will respond within one month (extendable by two further months for complex requests, in which case we will tell you). Exercising your rights is free unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive. You can also delete your account in the app at any time, which begins the deletion process described in section 8.

8. How long we keep your information

We keep your personal data only for as long as we need it for the purposes set out in this policy.

When you delete your account, we delete or anonymise your personal data except where we must keep limited records to meet a legal obligation, resolve a dispute, or enforce our Terms.

9. Security and age

Security. We use technical and organisational measures designed to protect your data, including encryption in transit, access controls, private storage of photos served through time-limited links, and row-level database security so members can only access data they are entitled to see. No system can be guaranteed perfectly secure, so we cannot promise absolute security, but we work to protect your data and will notify you and the relevant regulator of a personal data breach where the law requires.

Age. volpair is strictly for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. We verify age at sign-up using date of birth, and if we learn that someone under 18 has created an account, we will delete it.

10. Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies as described in our Cookie Policy. You can manage your choices at any time through the cookie banner or your browser settings.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make a material change, we will notify you in the app or by email before it takes effect, and we will always update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

12. How to contact us and how to complain

volpair Ltd, Suite 10, Capital House, 61 Amhurst Road, London E8 1LL, United Kingdom. Company number 17319288.
support@volpair.com

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please contact us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to a data protection regulator. In the UK this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk. If you are in the EU or EEA, you can complain to the supervisory authority in your country of residence.