Privacy Policy

1. What data we collect

• Profile information: name, photo, bio, certification level, logged dives, and dive style preferences (pace, priority, air consumption, vibe, planning, site types, water temperature, interests).
• Location data: your home base location, used for the community map and nearby matching.
• Certification upload photos: images of your certification card, used to verify your certification badge.
• Payment information: handled entirely by Stripe. Buddy Check never sees or stores your full card number — only a record of your subscription status.

2. How we use your data

We use your information to match you with compatible buddies and guides, to enable map visibility (only if you opt in), and to power compatibility filtering so you can find the right dive partner. We also use it to operate the forum and messaging, send essential service emails, and keep the platform safe.

3. Map visibility is opt-in

Your location is never shown on the community map unless you explicitly enable the "Show on map" setting in your profile. If you turn it off, your pin disappears. The map shows only an approximate home-base pin — never a live position.

4. Third parties

• Stripe — processes all payments. Your card details stay with Stripe; we receive only the subscription status needed to unlock features.
• Analytics — if we add analytics tools in future, we will update this policy and keep them limited to aggregate, non-identifying usage data where possible.

5. Your rights

You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from your account settings. Deleting your account removes your profile, trips, messages, and forum contributions, and cancels any active subscription. You can also toggle map visibility off or edit your profile details whenever you like.

6. Certification photos retention

Your uploaded certification card photo is stored only for the purpose of verifying your certification badge. It is not displayed publicly. If you remove your certification from your profile or delete your account, the associated photo is deleted. You can request removal of your certification photo at any time by deleting your account or contacting us.

7. Data security

We use row-level security on our database to keep profile data private to its owner and to authorised viewers only. Access to certification documents and precise location is restricted server-side. No method of transmission over the internet is fully secure, but we work to protect your information using reasonable measures.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of Buddy Check after a change means you accept the updated policy.