Privacy Policy
Last Updated: 12/5/2025
Introduction
Welcome to Helly ("we," "our," or "us"). Helly is a social sports app that allows you to track, rate, and share your experiences watching sports games.
By using Helly, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our services.
Information We Collect
Information You Provide to Us
Account Information:
- Email address (stored securely in Firebase Authentication, not in our user database)
- Username (must be unique)
- Display name
- Bio (optional)
- Profile avatar image (optional)
Game Logs and Content:
- Game ratings (1-10 scale)
- Notes and comments about games
- Tags for organizing your logs
- Viewing method (attended in person, watched live, replay, highlights)
- Favorite games
- Team preferences (which team you rooted for)
- Games saved to Watchlist
- Photos and videos ("memories") you upload to game logs (up to 10 per log)
- Video thumbnails (automatically generated from your uploaded videos)
Social Interactions:
- Likes on game logs
- Comments on game logs
- Follow relationships (users you follow and who follow you)
- Teams you follow
- Mentions of other users in your notes (using @username)
Contact Information:
- When you contact us through the app, we collect your email address and message content
- Contact type (help, feedback, advertising inquiries)
Information Automatically Collected
Device Information:
- Device type and operating system
- App version
- Firebase automatically collects certain device identifiers and usage data for authentication and service functionality
Usage Data:
- Interactions with the app (features used, games viewed, etc.)
- Timestamps of activities
- Network information (for API requests)
- Content impression data (which game logs you have viewed)
Public Information
The following information is publicly visible to all users of Helly:
- Your username and display name
- Your profile bio and avatar
- Your game logs, notes, and ratings
- Photos and videos you upload to game logs
- Your comments on game logs
- Your follower and following lists
- Your favorite games
- Your watchlist
- Teams you follow
Important: By using Helly, you understand that your game logs, notes, comments, photos, videos, and profile information are public and can be viewed by anyone using the app.
How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
1. Provide and Maintain Our Services:
- Create and manage your account
- Enable you to log games, write notes, and interact with other users
- Provide game data, team information, and player statistics
- Send you notifications about likes, comments, mentions, and new followers
2. Improve Our Services:
- Analyze usage patterns to improve app functionality
- Fix bugs and technical issues
- Develop new features
3. Communicate With You:
- Respond to your contact form submissions
- Send you important updates about the app
- Send password reset emails and account verification emails
4. Marketing and Promotion:
- We may feature your public game logs, notes, or comments on our official social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter/X, Facebook, TikTok, etc.) for marketing purposes
- When we feature your content, we will attribute it to your username
- If you do not want your content to be featured, you may contact us to opt out
5. Legal Compliance:
- Comply with legal obligations
- Enforce our Terms of Service
- Protect our rights and the rights of our users
How We Share Your Information
Public Sharing
As mentioned above, your profile information, game logs, notes, comments, and social interactions are publicly visible to all Helly users.
Service Providers
We use third-party services to operate Helly:
Firebase (Google):
- Authentication (email/password)
- Cloud Firestore database (user data, game logs, social interactions)
- Cloud Storage (profile avatars, photos, and videos you upload)
- Cloud Functions (serverless functions for app functionality)
- Firebase's privacy policy: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy
Render.com:
- Hosting our backend API server
- Processing contact form submissions
- Storing sports data
MySportsFeeds:
- Providing sports game data, team information, and player statistics
- This is a data-only relationship; no user information is shared with MySportsFeeds
Legal Requirements
We may disclose your information if required by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., court orders, subpoenas).
Business Transfers
If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction.
Marketing Use of Your Content
Content License: By creating an account and posting content on Helly (including game logs, notes, comments, ratings, photos, and videos), you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license to use, reproduce, display, distribute, and create derivative works from your public content for marketing, advertising, and promotional purposes. This includes:
- Featuring your posts on our official social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter/X, Facebook, TikTok, etc.)
- Using your content in marketing materials, blog posts, press releases, or advertisements
- Creating promotional content, compilations, or highlights that include your posts
- Using your content in any media format (digital, print, video, etc.)
Attribution: We will always attribute your content to your Helly username when featuring it. We will not use your email address or other private information in marketing materials.
No Financial Compensation: You will not receive financial compensation for our use of your content in marketing materials. By posting on Helly, you agree that the exposure and attribution you receive is sufficient consideration.
Opt-Out: If you do not want your content to be used for marketing purposes, you may:
- Delete the specific post(s) you do not want featured
- Contact us at contact@hellyapp.com to request that your content not be used for marketing
Important Notes:
- If you delete a post after we have already used it in marketing materials, we may not be able to remove it from materials that have already been published or distributed
- Opting out will prevent future use of your content, but does not affect content already used
- You retain ownership of your content; this is a license, not a transfer of ownership
Data Storage and Security
Where Your Data is Stored
- User accounts and content: Stored in Google Firebase (Firestore and Storage), which uses servers located in the United States and other countries
- Photos and videos: Stored in Firebase Cloud Storage. Photos are compressed to JPEG format (max 2MB). Videos are transcoded to MP4/H.264 format (max 20MB, 30 seconds duration).
- Contact form submissions: Stored in our PostgreSQL database hosted on Render.com
- Sports data: Stored in our PostgreSQL database hosted on Render.com
Security Measures
We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information:
- All data transmitted between the app and our servers uses HTTPS encryption
- Firebase Authentication uses industry-standard security practices
- User passwords are hashed and never stored in plain text
- Email addresses are stored separately in Firebase Authentication and are not included in publicly accessible user profiles
- Access to user data is restricted to authorized personnel only
However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Data Retention
- Account data: Retained until you delete your account
- Game logs and content: Retained until you delete them or delete your account
- Photos and videos: Retained until you delete the associated game log or delete your account
- Contact form submissions: Retained for up to 2 years for customer service purposes
- Deleted accounts: Most data is deleted immediately upon account deletion, though some information may be retained in backups for up to 30 days
Your Rights and Choices
You have the following rights regarding your personal information:
- Access: You can view all your data through the app
- Correction: You can update your profile information, username, display name, bio, and avatar at any time
- Deletion: You can delete individual game logs, comments, or your entire account at any time
- Data Export: You can request a copy of your data by contacting us
- Account Deletion: You can delete your account at any time through the app settings. This will permanently delete your account, profile, game logs, comments, and social connections
Children's Privacy
Helly is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately. If we discover that we have collected information from a child under 13, we will delete that information promptly.
If you are between 13 and 18 years old, you must have your parent's or guardian's permission to use Helly.
International Users
Helly is operated from the United States. If you are using Helly from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate.
European Users (GDPR):
If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
- Right to access your personal data
- Right to rectification (correction)
- Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten")
- Right to restrict processing
- Right to data portability
- Right to object to processing
- Right to withdraw consent
California Users (CCPA):
If you are a California resident, you have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):
- Right to know what personal information is collected
- Right to delete personal information
- Right to opt-out of the sale of personal information (we do not sell your personal information)
- Right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights
Third-Party Links
Helly may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by:
- Posting the new Privacy Policy in the app
- Updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy
- Sending you an email notification (for material changes)
Your continued use of Helly after any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us:
Email: contact@hellyapp.com
Contact Form: Available in the Helly app under Settings > Contact