Backspace™The short version. We collect what you need to run your Backspace account: your sign-in details, your profile, and the games you log, rate and review. We don't show ads, we don't sell your data, and we don't use third-party analytics or tracking. You choose who sees your reviews and lists, push notifications are off unless you turn them on, and you can delete your account from inside the app at any time.
1. Who we are
Backspace (“Backspace”, “we”, “us”) is a mobile app for logging, rating and reviewing video games. It is operated by Harry Meldon, trading as Backspace, based in the United Kingdom.
For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the EU GDPR and similar laws, we are the controller of the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us about anything in it at [email protected].
This policy covers the Backspace apps for iOS and Android and the website at getbackspace.app.
2. What we collect
Information you give us
| Data | Details |
|---|---|
| Account details | Your email address, username and password. We store passwords only as a secure one-way hash, never in readable form. If you change your email address, we hold the new one until you confirm it. |
| Sign in with Apple or Google | If you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive a unique account identifier from that provider and, where you allow it, your email address and name. If you use Apple's “Hide My Email”, we receive only a relay address. We never receive your Apple or Google password. |
| Profile | Your optional display name, bio and profile photo, up to four favourite games, and (for Pro members) the game artwork you choose for your profile header and your covers. We keep a record of previous usernames so we can deal with impersonation. |
| Your gaming activity | The plays you log (game, date, platform, whether it was a replay or finished), ratings, likes, reviews (including spoiler, visibility and who-can-reply settings), comments, lists, backlog, and the games you rated during onboarding. |
| Social activity | Who you follow, who follows you, likes you give, and people you block. |
| Reports | If you report a user or content, we keep the report, the reason you gave and what it relates to. |
| Settings | Your app preferences, such as which notifications you want and, for Pro members, colour scheme and app icon. |
| Messages to us | Anything you send us by email, such as a support request. |
Information collected when you use Backspace
| Data | Details |
|---|---|
| Subscription status | If you subscribe to Pro, we receive information about your subscription from RevenueCat, our subscriptions provider (see section 5): the product, its start and renewal dates, and whether it is active, in a billing grace period, cancelled, expired or refunded. We never receive your card or payment details; Apple and Google handle payment. If you were one of the first 100 members given complimentary Pro (the “Founding 100”), we record that too. |
| Technical data | When the app talks to our servers, our servers receive your IP address, the time of the request, and basic device and app information such as operating system and app version. We use this to run the service, prevent abuse (for example rate limiting) and fix problems. We also record when you were last active in the app, and which lists you viewed on which day (to rank trending lists and count each person once). |
| Push notifications | If you allow notifications, your device gives us a push token so we can reach it. We store that token with your device's platform (iOS or Android), time zone and app version, and a record of the notifications we have sent you, so we never send more than one a week. |
| Sign-in tokens | When you sign in, we issue a token that keeps you signed in. It is stored in your device's secure storage (Keychain on iOS, Keystore on Android) and on our servers so we can sign you out of every device when needed. |
Device permissions
Backspace asks for access to your photo library or camera only when you choose to add a profile photo, and receives only the photo you pick. It asks to send notifications only after you do something a notification would help with, such as adding a game to your backlog. You can change either permission at any time in your device settings.
What we don't collect
- We don't use advertising, advertising identifiers or ad networks.
- We don't use third-party analytics or tracking SDKs, and we don't track you across other companies' apps or websites. The only usage figures we look at are the ones described in section 3, in our own admin tools.
- We don't collect your precise location, contacts or payment card details.
3. How we use it, and our legal bases
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and running your account, signing you in, and providing the features you use (your diary, reviews, lists, follows, stats) | Performance of our contract with you (our Terms of Use) |
| Providing and managing Backspace Pro | Performance of contract |
| Sending essential emails such as email verification, password resets and security notices | Performance of contract; legitimate interests in keeping accounts secure |
| Showing you in-app notifications (for example when someone follows you or likes your review) | Performance of contract. You can choose which ones you get in Settings. |
| Sending occasional push notifications, at most one a week, for example when a game on your backlog comes out or your friends are playing something you might like | Your consent, given through your device's notification permission. You can turn these off in Settings or in your device settings at any time. |
| Recommendations and discovery, such as popular games and what friends are playing | Legitimate interests in making Backspace useful |
| Keeping Backspace safe: moderating reported content, enforcing our Terms, preventing spam, abuse and fraud | Legitimate interests in protecting our users and service |
| Understanding how Backspace is used, in our own admin tools: for example how many people sign up, subscribe, and log plays, reviews and lists each week. These figures stay on our servers and are never shared with an analytics company. | Legitimate interests in running and improving Backspace |
| Maintaining, securing and improving the service | Legitimate interests |
| Meeting legal obligations, such as keeping tax records for subscriptions or responding to lawful requests | Legal obligation |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your rights, and you can object at any time (see section 8). We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.
4. What other people can see
Backspace is a social app, so some of what you add is visible to others:
- Always public: your username, display name, profile photo, profile header, bio, favourite games, whether you are a Pro member, your follower and following counts, and your logged plays and ratings.
- Your choice for each review and list: public, friends only (people you follow who also follow you), or private to you. For reviews you also choose who can reply.
- Comments you leave are visible to anyone who can see the review or list you commented on.
- Never shown to others: your email address, password, blocked users, reports you make, your settings, when you were last active, and your subscription details.
If you block someone, you and they can't see each other's profile or content anywhere in Backspace. Profile links you share (getbackspace.app/@username) show your public profile.
5. Who we share it with
We don't sell or rent your personal data. We share it only with the service providers below, who process it on our behalf and under contract, or where the law requires.
| Provider | What for | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| RevenueCat, Inc. (USA) | Managing Pro subscriptions across the App Store and Google Play | Your Backspace account number (not your name or email), your purchase receipts and subscription status, and basic device information from the app |
| Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (Google LLC, USA) | Delivering push notifications to iPhone and Android devices | Your device's push token and the text of the notification |
| Apple and Google | App distribution, payments for Pro, and Sign in with Apple / Google if you use them | Handled under their own privacy policies, as part of your account with them. To check a sign-in, our servers verify the token Apple or Google gives the app. |
| Resend (USA) | Sending account emails: verifying your address, password resets, and a warning to your old address if your email is changed | Your email address and the content of the email |
| Server hosting provider | Hosting our servers, database and uploaded images | All account data, as needed to store it. We choose providers with servers in the UK or EEA where we can. |
Game information (titles, cover art, release dates and so on) comes from IGDB, operated by Twitch. Our servers fetch it; your personal data is never sent to IGDB, and the app does not contact IGDB directly.
We may also disclose information if required by law or a valid legal request, to protect the rights, safety or property of our users or others, or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of the service. In a sale, we would tell you before your data became subject to a different privacy policy.
6. International transfers
Some of our providers are based in the United States or other countries outside the UK and European Economic Area. When we transfer personal data there, we rely on appropriate safeguards: adequacy regulations or decisions (including the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified), or the standard contractual clauses approved by the UK and EU authorities. Contact us for a copy of the relevant safeguards.
7. How long we keep it
- While your account is open, we keep your account and content so the service works.
- When you delete your account, we immediately sign you out of every device, take down your profile, reviews, plays, lists and comments so no one can see them, remove your email address, name, bio, photo and password, unlink any Apple or Google sign-in, and stop sending you notifications. Your username stays reserved for 30 days so no one can impersonate you, then it is released. Remaining records are permanently erased within 30 days, apart from any we have to keep for the reasons below.
- Backups are overwritten on a rolling basis within 35 days.
- Subscription and transaction records are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires (in the UK, generally six years).
- Reports and moderation records may be kept for up to 2 years to handle repeat abuse, or longer if needed for a legal claim.
- Server logs are kept for up to 30 days.
See Deleting your account for step-by-step instructions.
8. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you have some or all of these rights over your personal data:
- Access: get a copy of the data we hold about you.
- Correction: fix inaccurate data. You can edit most of your profile directly in Settings.
- Deletion: delete your account in the app, or ask us to.
- Portability: receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
- Objection and restriction: object to processing based on legitimate interests, or ask us to limit how we use your data.
- Withdraw consent wherever we rely on it, for example device permissions.
To use any of these, email [email protected] from the address on your account. We will reply within one month. We may need to confirm your identity first.
If you're unhappy with how we handle your data, please tell us first. You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority: in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office; in the EU, the authority in the country where you live.
California residents: we do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, as those terms are defined in the CCPA/CPRA. You have the right to know, delete and correct your personal information, and we won't treat you differently for using these rights.
9. Children
Backspace is not intended for children. You must be at least 13 years old to use it, or older if the law where you live requires it (for example, 16 in some EU countries unless a parent consents). We don't knowingly collect data from children under that age. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
10. Security
We protect your data with encryption in transit (HTTPS), hashed passwords, sign-in tokens held in your device's secure storage, verification of every Apple, Google and RevenueCat message our servers receive, access controls and multi-factor authentication for our administrators (only a small number of people can open the admin tools, and each action they take there is logged), and a record of moderation actions. No system is completely secure, but if a breach affects your data we will tell you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
11. Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when the app or the law changes. We'll change the date at the top, and if a change is significant we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.
12. Contact
Questions, requests or complaints: [email protected]. We aim to reply within a few working days, and always within the one-month legal deadline.