Privacy Policy

The same plain-English deal as Court Rules — what we collect, why, and what we never do. Last updated June 5, 2026.

The short version

Dinkin collects the minimum it needs to help you find pickleball games: your phone number, a short profile, what you post, and — only if you allow it — your approximate location. We don't sell your data, we don't run ad trackers, and we never show your phone number to other players. You can see, correct, or delete your data any time by emailing us. The rest of this page is the detail.

Who runs Dinkin

Dinkin is operated by Negative Space Bar LLC, a Michigan limited liability company doing business as Dinkin ("Dinkin," "we," "us"). It's a small operation. This policy covers the Dinkin app and website at dinkin.app, and Negative Space Bar LLC, d/b/a Dinkin is the entity responsible for the data this policy describes.

Mailing address for privacy or legal notices: 600 Broadway Ave NW, Ste 616, Grand Rapids, MI 49504. For privacy questions or requests, letsplay@dinkin.app is faster.

What we collect

We only collect what the app needs to work:

• Your phone number — this is your account. We verify it with a one-time SMS code when you sign up or sign in.
• Your profile — a first name, a last initial, a skill rating and tolerance you set yourself, and a handle we generate for you. No last name, no email, no photo.
• Your location — only if you allow it. An approximate latitude/longitude, used to show you nearby games. It's not a street address, and we don't keep a history of where you've been.
• What you post — pings (when, where, skill range, who can see them), notes, status updates, your groups, and private friend nicknames.
• Your connections — your friends, friend requests, and who invited you to Dinkin.
• Notification setup — if you turn on push notifications, a device token so we can deliver them.
• Basic usage — when your account was created and when you last opened the app. We use this for simple product stats.
• Support messages — anything you send us through "Report an issue" in the app.

How we use it

We use your information only to run Dinkin: to sign you in, show your pings to the audience you chose, match you with friends, show nearby games if you've shared your location, deliver the notifications you asked for, fix bugs, keep the app secure, and understand how Dinkin is being used in aggregate. That is the whole list. We don't use your data to build advertising profiles, and we don't do anything with it that isn't about making the app work for you.

What we never do

We don't sell your data. We don't share it with advertisers or data brokers. We don't embed third-party advertising trackers or analytics SDKs — the usage stats we keep are counted from our own database and never handed to anyone else. And your phone number is never shown to another Dinkin player: not to friends, not to people in your groups, not on public pings. Ever.

How your phone number stays private

When you look someone up by phone to add them as a friend, your browser hashes their number with SHA-256 before it ever leaves your device. We compare hashes on our server — the actual number you typed never reaches us. The same thing happens with your own number when we check it against the friend graph. Your number is stored on your account so we can verify it, but it is not exposed to other users at any point.

Calendar exports and share links

A couple of features let you share a single ping with someone outside the app:

• A ping you author can be exported as a calendar event (a .ics link). Anyone you send the file to can add it to their calendar.
• You can share a direct link to a ping you author (dinkin.app/p/...). Friends already on Dinkin tap it and jump straight to the ping. Someone not on Dinkin sees a small preview page with a sign-up button.

Both surfaces show the same minimal slice: your first name and last initial, the when/where/note you wrote, and how many spots are left. They don't show your phone number, your handle, your skill rating, your location precision, your friends list, or anyone else on the ping. The IDs in those URLs are 32-character random tokens — only people you hand the link to can find the page.

A shared link is a grant, not a broadcast. Sending one to a friend doesn't make the ping public or push it into anyone else's feed. If someone joins via a link and they're not already your friend, they land pending until you confirm them.

Who we share data with

To run the app we rely on a few service providers, and your data passes through them:

• Cloudflare — hosts the app, the database, and encrypted backups.
• Twilio — sends the one-time SMS verification codes.
• Apple and Google push services — deliver push notifications to your device, if you've turned them on.

These providers process data on our behalf under their own privacy and security terms. We don't share your data with anyone else — with one exception: if we're legally required to (for example, a valid court order or a law we have to follow), we may have to disclose information.

Location

Location is optional. If you allow it, we use an approximate latitude/longitude for two things: showing you public pings nearby, and calculating the rough distance between a poster and you. We store an approximate point, not an address, and we don't keep a history of your movements. Turn location off in your phone or browser and the discovery features stop working — the rest of the app keeps running.

Messages from Dinkin

SMS. When you sign up or sign in, we send a one-time verification code by text through Twilio. By entering your number, you consent to receive it. We may also send occasional operational texts — security alerts, account-recovery help, important service notices. These are not marketing, and we don't send promotional blasts. Standard carrier message and data rates may apply. Full detail is in Court Rules.

Push notifications. These are opt-in. If you turn them on, you can change which notifications you get, or turn them off entirely, in the app's settings or your device settings.

Your choices and rights

You're in control of your data. You can:

• See it — ask us what we have on you.
• Correct it — edit your profile in the app, or email us.
• Delete it — delete your account and the data tied to it.
• Control notifications — in the app's settings.
• Control location — in your phone or browser settings.

Some US states give residents formal privacy rights — to access, correct, or delete their data, and to opt out of data sales. We don't sell data, and we honor access, correction, and deletion requests from everyone, wherever you live. You don't need to cite a law — just email us from the phone number on your account.

Keeping and deleting data

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. To delete your account, email letsplay@dinkin.app from the phone number tied to it (a self-serve delete button is on the roadmap). We'll remove your account, your pings, your groups, and your friend connections. We may keep anonymous aggregate counts that don't identify you (for example, "X games were coordinated last month"). Encrypted backups rotate out over time, and Twilio's SMS verification logs age out on Twilio's own retention schedule.

Security

We protect your data with standard measures: encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed phone-number lookups, session-token access controls, and a reputable hosting provider. We take this seriously. That said, Dinkin is a small operation and no app or online service can promise perfect security — so use good judgment with what you share.

You have to be 18

Dinkin is for adults. You must be 18 or older to use it, and by signing up you're confirming that you are. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If we learn an account belongs to a minor, we delete it.

Admin access

To fix bugs and help with problems, the Dinkin team can view an account's data in a read-only mode — the same screens you'd see. It's strictly look-only: we can't post pings, join games, send messages, or change anything as you.

Changes to this policy

We can update this policy as Dinkin changes. For meaningful changes, we'll surface a notice in the app before they take effect. For small fixes we'll update the page and bump the "last updated" date. If you keep using Dinkin after a change, you're accepting the new version.

Contact

Questions about your privacy, data requests, deletion requests, anything else: letsplay@dinkin.app.