Last updated: October 5, 2026
Short version: PicklePairings runs on your device and keeps your tournament data there. There are no accounts and nothing to sign up for. Two things can leave your device: usage analytics — page visits, four anonymous events, and how people interact with the screen — described in section 3; and, only if you ask for it, a live standings link (section 2) that publishes the names, pairings and scores for the people you send it to.
Player names, team names, pairings and scores are saved only in your device's browser storage. That is what lets the app work with no internet connection, which matters because gyms and courts often have poor wifi. None of it is sent to us.
You can clear it at any time by starting a new tournament, or by clearing
your browser or app storage. You can also export a tournament to a
.json file to back it up or move it to another device. That file
is yours and goes only where you send it.
If you choose to press Create live link, the app sends a snapshot of the tournament — its name, the player or team names, the pairings, the scores and the standings — to our server, and gives you a web address that shows them. This is the one way tournament data can leave your device, and it happens only when you ask for it.
The PicklePairings website and app use Google Analytics 4 to count visits and to record four anonymous events: that a tournament was started, that its first score was entered, that it was completed, and that a live standings link was created. Each event carries only the format used (for example "round robin") and, for some, a count of rounds or players.
This tells us which formats people actually use, so we know what to improve. It is the only reason analytics is here.
What Google Analytics never receives: player names, team names, tournament names, scores, or anything else you type into the app.
Google Analytics sets a cookie in your browser containing a random identifier, and derives an approximate location (country or city level) from your IP address. IP addresses are anonymised by Google.
We also use Microsoft Clarity, a usability tool, to see how people move through the app: which buttons get pressed, where they get stuck, and where they give up. Clarity records anonymous session replays and heatmaps. Text you are typing into a field is masked before it is recorded, but text already displayed on the screen — such as names in a standings table — can appear in a replay. Clarity does not receive your saved tournament, and we use these replays only to improve the app. Microsoft's own privacy statement is at privacy.microsoft.com.
You can block all of this with any standard content blocker or privacy setting, and the app will work exactly the same — analytics failing never affects the app.
Three service providers, each seeing only what it needs to do its job.
| Provider | What it does | What it sees |
|---|---|---|
| Netlify | Serves the website and app; stores live standings links | Standard web request data, such as IP address; the standings snapshot behind any live link you create |
| Google Analytics | Anonymous usage statistics | Anonymised IP, approximate location, pages viewed, the four anonymous events above |
| Microsoft Clarity | Session replays and heatmaps for usability | IP-derived location, device/browser type, clicks, scrolling, and what was displayed on screen (typed input is masked) |
These providers process data in the United States and elsewhere.
PicklePairings is a tool for whoever is running the tournament, and we expect that person to be an adult. Junior and school events are a normal use of the product, so children's names may well be entered into the app. That information stays on the organiser's device unless the organiser creates a live standings link (section 2), in which case the names on the standings are visible to anyone holding that link for as long as it is active. Organisers of junior events should share such links with care, or not at all.
Your tournament data is kept on your device for as long as you keep it, and we never have a copy. A live standings link is deleted 30 days after its last update, or immediately when you stop sharing or start a new tournament. Analytics data is retained by Google Analytics for 14 months and then deleted.
Depending on where you live you may have additional rights over your personal information — for example under the UK and EU GDPR, or under California law. We will honour those requests regardless of where you are. Because we do not hold personal data about you, in most cases there is nothing for us to return or delete, but you are welcome to ask.
The site is served over an encrypted connection. The only data we hold is the standings snapshot behind each active live link — exactly what that link displays. Link addresses are long random codes that cannot be guessed, and only the organiser's device holds the key that can change or delete one.
If this policy changes, the updated version is posted here with a new "Last updated" date.
Questions or requests: support@picklepairings.com.