Privacy policy
The short version
No ads. We never sell your data. We don’t track you across other apps or websites.
Health data, location, usage stats and email tips each have their own switch in Settings → Privacy & data.
You can download everything we store, or delete your account, from inside the app.
Who we are
Starting Line is run by Starting Line. Questions about your data: startinglineclub@gmail.com.
Starting Line is for people 13 and over. Runners under 18 need a parent or guardian’s OK before using the AI features.
What we collect, and why
Your account: a random account id. If you save your account, your email address (used to send sign-in codes) and an optional display name.
About you: age range, sex, activity level, the health screening answers, injuries you tell us about, and optional notes such as pregnancy or recent childbirth. We use these only to keep your plan gentle and to show “check with your doctor” advice.
Training: your plan, sessions, how they felt, pain check-ins, legs checks, goals, shoes and their miles, and races you add.
Runs: time, distance, effort, notes and a simplified route. The detailed GPS points stay on your phone and are deleted after 7 days.
Things you write: run and race notes, shoe reviews and running groups you submit.
We store this with our database provider, Neon. Only you can read your rows.
Health data
With your permission, Starting Line reads running workouts, running distance and workout routes from Apple Health or Health Connect, and can save runs you record in Starting Line back to them (off until you turn it on). It reads and writes nothing else: no heart rate, sleep or weight.
Imported runs become ordinary runs in your history until you delete them. Disconnecting stops both directions.
We never use health data for advertising, marketing or data mining, never sell it, and never give it to data brokers. We don’t store it in iCloud.
Starting Line’s use of information received from Health Connect will adhere to the Health Connect permissions policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
The AI Coach and AI plans
The Coach, “Ask for a change” and AI-personalized plans are optional. Nothing is sent to an AI until you switch on “AI Coach” in Settings → Privacy & data. Runners under 18 also need a parent or guardian to agree.
When it is on, our server sends OpenAI your messages, your plan, up to 20 recent runs, up to 14 pain reports, your goal and what you ask to change, so it can answer. Runs imported from Apple Health or Health Connect are not sent.
OpenAI processes this to answer you. Under OpenAI’s business terms it is not used to train their models.
Messages about chest pain, fainting, trouble breathing and other warning signs get a fixed reply that points you to emergency care. They are not sent to the model.
We keep the conversation so you can scroll back. “Clear chat” deletes it, and so does deleting your account.
Starting Line Premium
Apple handles payment for Premium. We never see your card details.
RevenueCat keeps track of whether you have Premium. It receives your random account id and your purchase history from Apple, not your name or email.
Location
While you record a run, and only with your permission, we use your location to measure distance and draw your route. We ask for “While using the app” only. The app keeps measuring with the screen locked until you finish the run.
For “what to wear”, a rough position (rounded to about 1 km) is sent to the US National Weather Service. We don’t store it.
For running groups near you, your phone uses a rough position, or a ZIP code you type, to sort groups by distance. We don’t store it.
Safety features
Trusted contacts stay on your phone. They are never uploaded and are not in your data export.
The check-in timer runs on your phone. If you are late, the app prepares a text; nothing is sent until you tap Send.
A live location link works for at most 6 hours. While it is on, anyone with the link can see your latest position, so share it only with people you trust. After it ends the page shows only that sharing has ended. Your last shared position stays in your account until you delete it.
Public content
Shoe reviews are shown to other runners with the miles you logged (rounded to 10) and the month, never your name or account. We keep your account id with the review so you can edit or delete it.
Running groups you submit are checked by us before they are listed, and shown without your name.
You can report any review or group, and block the runner who wrote a review. Blocking hides all of their reviews for you. Reports and blocks are private.
Anonymous usage stats
Only if you switch on “Anonymous usage stats”. We count what features are used (like “made a plan”) and collect crash reports with personal details removed, in our own database.
These carry a random id for this install, never your account id, so we can’t link them to you, export them or delete them with your account.
Who else receives data
Neon hosts our database, sign-in and server.
Resend delivers the sign-in codes we email you.
The US National Weather Service receives a rough position for forecasts.
Apple and Google provide maps and turn place names into map points on your phone.
Anyone you send a live location link to sees your position until the link ends.
We share data when the law requires it. We don’t share it with advertisers or data brokers.
Your choices
Change any permission in Settings → Privacy & data.
Download your data: Settings → Privacy & data → Export my data gives you a file with everything we store, plus a GPX file for each run with a route.
Delete your account: Settings → Privacy & data → Delete my account removes your account and everything stored with it from our servers and your phone. Anonymous usage stats can’t be tied to you, so they stay.
You can also email startinglineclub@gmail.com to ask about, correct or delete your data.
Security
Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Each runner’s data can be read only by that runner. No system is perfectly secure, so tell us right away if you think something is wrong.
Children
Starting Line is not for children under 13. If we learn a child under 13 has an account, we delete it.
Changes
If we change this policy we will update the date above and tell you in the app before the change applies.