PRIVACY POLICY

Privacy policy.

Last updated: December 2025

Your health data never leaves your device. Competitions are optional and only share your chosen username and point totals.

Two Ways to Use Going For Gold

Local Mode (Default - No Data Sharing)

  • All data stays on your device
  • No account needed
  • No data uploaded anywhere
  • Full functionality: track steps, workouts, earn medals

Cloud Mode (Optional - For Competitions)

  • Create an account to compete with friends
  • Only your daily point totals are shared
  • Your raw health data NEVER leaves your device

What Data Is Accessed

Health Data (via Apple HealthKit)

  • Daily step count
  • Workout information (duration, heart rate, type)
  • This data NEVER leaves your device
  • Stored locally via Apple HealthKit only
  • Used to calculate your daily points on your device

Cloud Account Data (OPTIONAL - Only if you join competitions)

  • Display name (username you choose - can be anonymous)
  • Email address
  • Daily point totals (NOT your raw health data)
  • Stored securely in Firebase

How Your Data Is Used

Local Mode

  • Calculate your daily fitness points locally on your device
  • Display your activity history and trends on your device only
  • Award monthly medals based on achievements
  • No data leaves your device

Competition Mode (Optional)

  • Share only your display name and daily point totals
  • Enable leaderboards with competition participants
  • Your raw health data (steps, workouts, heart rate) remains private

Advertising

Going For Gold displays banner advertisements provided by Google AdMob to support free access to the app.

What Data AdMob Collects

AdMob may collect:

  • Device identifiers (for fraud prevention and basic analytics)
  • General location information (country/region level)
  • Ad interaction data

Privacy-First Advertising

We have configured AdMob to serve non-personalised ads only. This means:

  • Ads are not based on your personal interests or behavior
  • Your activity is not tracked across other apps or websites
  • No advertising profile is built about you
  • Ads are shown based only on general context (fitness/health topics) and your region

Your Health Data & Ads

Important: Your HealthKit data (steps, workouts, heart rate) is NEVER shared with AdMob or any advertising network. Ads are completely separate from your health tracking.

Remove Ads

You can permanently remove all advertisements with a one-time $2.99/£2.99 in-app purchase. This is optional and all core features remain available with or without ads.

Third-Party Privacy Policy

For more information about how Google handles data, please review:

Data Storage & Sharing

  • Health data: Stays on your device. NEVER uploaded.
  • Point totals: Only shared with Firebase if you create a cloud account
  • Competition data: Visible only to other participants in the same competition
  • We do NOT sell your data to third parties
  • We do NOT have access to your raw health/workout data

Example: What's Shared vs. What Stays Private

Always Stays on Your Device (Private)

  • 7,500 steps on Monday
  • 45-minute run at 145 BPM
  • Your heart rate data
  • Your workout types

Only Shared if You Join Competitions

  • Display name (username you choose)
  • Daily point totals (e.g., "8 points on Monday")
  • Total monthly points

Your Data Rights

  • Use the app completely locally without creating an account
  • Create a cloud account only when you want to join competitions
  • Use any display name - anonymity is supported
  • Delete your cloud account anytime in Settings
  • Revoke HealthKit access in iPhone Settings → Privacy & Security → Health
  • Account Deletion: You can permanently delete your cloud account at any time through Settings.
  • When you delete your account:
    • Your account and email are removed from our authentication system.
    • Your profile data is deleted from our database.
    • You are removed from all competitions.
    • Your competition scores are deleted.
    • This action cannot be undone.
  • Local health data remains on your device in Apple HealthKit (we never had access to it).
  • You can continue using the app in Local Mode after deleting your cloud account.

Children's Privacy

This app is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

Contact

For questions about this privacy policy or to request data deletion:

Email: support@goingforgoldfitness.app

Changes to Policy

We'll notify users of any privacy policy changes via app updates.