Privacy Policy

01Information We Collect

We collect information to provide you with a personalized chess coaching experience.

Account Information. When you sign up, we may collect your email address, username, and authentication data (such as Google or other third-party OAuth providers).

Chess Activity Data. We store your game history, moves, analysis results, performance metrics, and the coaching notes generated during your sessions. We use this data to power your personalized coaching experience (which we may refer to as your "Knowledge Graph"). If you link an external chess account (such as Chess.com or Lichess), we also collect the public game and rating data associated with that account. Please note that chat prompts sent to your AI coach are processed for context generation; you should not include your real name, contact details, or other sensitive personal information in your free-text prompts to the AI.

Usage Data. We collect information on how you interact with our tools, such as which AI features you use, session duration, and the types of chess positions you study.

Technical Data. We automatically collect IP addresses, browser types, device information, and similar diagnostic data through our hosting and infrastructure providers to ensure the Services function correctly, maintain security, and monitor performance. Our public website (vibechess.me) uses Google Analytics, a third-party web-analytics service from Google, to measure aggregate traffic and usage; this sets analytics cookies in your browser. Within the web application (app.vibechess.me) we use essential cookies and local storage tokens required for authentication and core functionality, and, unless you decline in the cookie notice, Amplitude analytics (see Section 3). We do not use advertising trackers anywhere in the Services.

Mobile Application (Android). The VibeChess app for Android (Google Play listing "VibeChess", package name me.vibechess.app) is another way to use the same account and coaching service, and it collects the same account, chess activity, usage, and technical data described above. In addition, the app keeps your current board, conversation, and appearance preference on your device so you can pick up where you left off, and stores your sign-in token in the device's secure storage. If you choose to upload a game file (PGN) or attach a photo or screenshot of a chess board, its contents are sent to our servers and to our AI provider, to analyse the game or to read the position from the picture; the picture is stored with the conversation like any other message. If you send feedback from the app, we attach a reference to the conversation you were in and your app settings so we can reproduce the problem. Our authentication provider records the device type, IP address, and approximate location of each active sign-in session so you can review and sign out devices from the app. If you turn on daily coach nudges, the app registers a push token for this device with our servers, together with the device platform, time zone, and app variant, so a nudge can arrive at the hour you choose; the token is removed when you turn nudges off or sign out, and delivery goes through Expo's push service and Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging. The app needs only internet access; it contains no advertising or third-party analytics SDKs and does not access your location, contacts, or camera, and it reads no photo or file other than the board photo or game file you choose to attach through the system picker. Google Play separately collects installation, update, crash, and app-not-responding data under Google's own privacy policy.

02How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

To Provide Coaching. To generate personalized feedback, maintain your training progress, and explain chess concepts based on your games.

To Improve and Develop Our Services. We use aggregated and de-identified data to evaluate and improve our coaching, and we may use such data to develop and refine our own chess models in the future. We do not use the content of your sessions to train third-party models.

To Communicate. To send you updates, service notifications, or responses to your inquiries.

Internal Account Identification. We use your email address as your account identifier for internal purposes. It is stored with your authentication profile and attached to the AI-session traces in our observability tooling, so we can link activity to your account when debugging issues, monitoring coaching quality, and responding to your support requests. We do not use your email address for advertising.

Security & Analytics. To detect fraud, prevent abuse, and improve the user experience through site analytics.

03Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We only share information in the following limited circumstances:

Service Providers and Subprocessors. We share data with trusted third-party vendors who process information on our behalf to operate the Services. These include:

• Authentication: Clerk (account creation, email, and OAuth sign-in).
• Cloud hosting and database: Google Cloud Platform (application hosting and our managed database) and Vercel (website and web-app hosting).
• AI coaching: Google (Vertex AI / Gemini). The chess positions and the messages you exchange with the AI coach are transmitted to this provider to generate coaching responses.
• Observability and diagnostics: Langfuse, which records the prompts and AI responses from your coaching sessions, associated with your account identifier (your email address), so we can debug and improve coaching quality, and Datadog, which receives system telemetry and performance data.
• Website and product analytics: Google Analytics (Google LLC), which measures aggregate visits and usage on our public website (vibechess.me), and Amplitude (Amplitude, Inc.), which records how the website and the web app (app.vibechess.me) are used: page views, sessions, feature usage such as sending a message or starting a puzzle, and, in the web app, session replays in which typed text is masked. Amplitude receives your account identifier when you are signed in, a device identifier shared between vibechess.me and app.vibechess.me, and technical data such as browser type. It never receives your chess conversations, positions, or moves. You can decline analytics in the web app's cookie notice.
• App distribution: Google Play (Google LLC), which distributes the Android app and provides us with aggregate installation, crash, and app-not-responding statistics.

These providers may process your data in the United States. We do not authorize them to use your data for their own purposes beyond providing services to us.

International Data Transfers. We are based in, and rely on service providers located in, the United States. As a result, your information is transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, which may not offer the same level of data protection as your home country. Where we transfer the personal data of users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, where applicable). You may contact us at hello@vibechess.me to request more information about these safeguards.

Legal Obligations. We may disclose your information if required by law, regulation, or legal process.

Business Transfers. In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your user data may be transferred as part of that business transaction.

04Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data. However, please be aware that no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We encourage you to use a strong, unique password for your account.

05Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to provide you with the VibeChess services and fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Our retention practices are broken down as follows:

Active Accounts. We retain your account information, chess game history, and the personalized coaching data described above for as long as your account remains active. This is necessary to provide you with continuous, personalized AI coaching.

Account Deletion. You may delete your account at any time. In the Android app, open Manage account → Profile & security → Security → Delete account; in the web application, use the account settings; or email hello@vibechess.me from your account's email address. Deleting your account removes your sign-in identity immediately, and we delete or permanently anonymize your remaining personally identifiable information (such as your email address, username, and connected OAuth data) within 30 days.

De-identified Game Data. We may retain records of your chess moves, board positions, and AI interactions in an aggregated and de-identified format. We take measures to remove information that directly identifies you before using data for these purposes, and we use this data to evaluate and improve our coaching and to develop and refine our chess models.

Server Logs and Analytics. Technical data such as IP addresses, access logs, and diagnostic information are kept for a limited period (typically 90 days) for security, debugging, and performance monitoring, after which they are automatically deleted.

Legal Requirements. In rare cases, we may retain certain information for longer periods if required to do so by law, to resolve disputes, or to enforce our agreements.

06Your Rights

Depending on your location (e.g., GDPR in Europe, CCPA/CPRA in California), you may have the right to:

Access. Request a copy of the data we hold about you.

Correction. Ask us to correct inaccurate information.

Deletion. Request the deletion of your account and personally identifiable data (subject to the de-identified retention practices detailed in Section 5).

Opt-Out. Opt out of certain non-essential data uses where applicable. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use advertising trackers. Our public website uses Google Analytics for aggregate traffic measurement; you can opt out by blocking analytics cookies in your browser or by installing Google's Analytics opt-out browser add-on. We do not currently respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. Because we do not sell or share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals have no applicable effect on our Services.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at hello@vibechess.me.

07Children and Students

VibeChess is used by students of all ages, including children. To create your own VibeChess account, you must be at least 13, or older if the law in your country requires parental consent above that age (for example, 16 in some EU countries).

Children below that age may use VibeChess only through a parent or legal guardian, or through a school, club or coach that has obtained any consent required by law. We do not knowingly allow children below that age to create their own accounts. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child without the required consent, we will delete it.

When a child uses VibeChess, we collect only what we need to provide the tutoring service described in Section 1. We do not show advertising, we do not sell children's personal information, and we do not use it to train third-party models.

Parents and guardians can ask us at any time to review, correct or delete their child's information, or to stop collecting it, by emailing hello@vibechess.me. Schools, clubs and coaches can contact us at the same address about student data.

08Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting the new policy on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date.

09Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: