Axel
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Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 20, 2026

1. Introduction

Axel ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application and website.

2. Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect your email address, display name, and date of birth where required to apply age-appropriate privacy defaults. Your date of birth is never shown publicly. If you sign in using Google or Apple, we receive your basic profile information from those services.

Usage Data

We collect information about how you use the app, including skills you've marked as learned or mastered, your progress through tiers, and app preferences.

Community Content and Privacy Choices

If you use community features, we process the posts, videos, comments, likes, reports, follow requests, accepted follower relationships, blocks, and rink details you choose to provide. We also store your audience, discovery, comment, and follow-approval settings so the service can enforce who may see or interact with this content. Pending requests do not receive follower access, and blocking overrides normal visibility.

Device Information

We may collect device information such as device type, operating system version, and unique device identifiers for analytics and crash reporting purposes.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

  • Provide and maintain the Axel service
  • Sync your progress across devices
  • Send you important updates about your account
  • Improve our app based on usage patterns
  • Respond to your support requests

Third-party sharpening bookings

When you choose to continue to an independent skate-sharpening merchant from Axel, we send the booking details you entered (such as the selected service and your booking answers) to that merchant so it can prepare your order. The merchant handles the final booking and payment under its own terms and privacy practices. If you open a rink or merchant website without a prefilled handoff, Axel does not automatically send your saved profile or skate details.

4. YouTube Tutorial Discovery

Axel uses YouTube API Services to find and display information about instructional videos relevant to figure-skating skills. Google's collection and use of information is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Selecting a tutorial opens the video in YouTube or your browser. Axel does not upload your practice recordings to YouTube through this feature, download or rehost YouTube videos, or publish activity to your YouTube account. It also does not request access to your private YouTube account, subscriptions, playlists or watch history, and optional Google sign-in to Axel is separate from authorization to a YouTube account.

Information used and stored

To find tutorials, Axel generates search queries using the selected skill's name and, where applicable, alternative skill names, together with terms such as "figure skating," "how to," and "tutorial." This may include the names of custom skills you create.

Axel sends these queries to YouTube through its server. The tutorial resolver does not add your Axel account email, password or progress history to these search requests. However, information you include in a custom skill's name may become part of a search query.

Axel may store the search queries and public video information returned by YouTube, including:

  • Video identifiers, titles and descriptions;
  • Thumbnail image URLs;
  • Channel identifiers and names;
  • Publication dates and video durations; and
  • Public view and like counts.

This information is used to identify and present relevant tutorials and to reduce repeated requests to YouTube. Tutorial information may be cached on Axel's servers and on your device.

Sharing and external requests

Google receives the tutorial search queries and video identifiers submitted through YouTube API Services, together with technical information associated with those requests.

When your device loads an externally hosted thumbnail or opens a YouTube video, the external service may receive technical information such as your IP address and request headers. YouTube may also use cookies, account information or similar technologies according to its own policies and your settings. Opening a tutorial takes you to a third-party service, and your activity there is governed by that service's privacy practices.

YouTube data retention and deletion

Cached YouTube API data is refreshed from YouTube or deleted within 30 calendar days of its retrieval or most recent refresh from YouTube. Copying cached data between Axel's server and your device does not restart this period.

If Axel cannot refresh data within the applicable period, it removes the expired cached data rather than retaining it indefinitely. The tutorial section may be unavailable until current results can be retrieved.

You can request deletion of information associated with your Axel account through the existing account-deletion options or by contacting support@axelskating.com. Where YouTube API data relates to your account and is subject to YouTube's user-data deletion requirements, Axel deletes that data as soon as possible and within seven calendar days of a valid deletion request or account deletion. Shared public tutorial metadata is managed under the retention rules above; deleting an Axel account does not necessarily remove a shared public tutorial entry used by other users.

Deleting data from Axel does not delete videos, account information or activity held by YouTube. Those must be managed through YouTube or Google.

5. Analytics

We use analytics to understand how you use the app and improve your experience. Analytics helps us identify which features are most popular and where we can make improvements.

Your choices:

  • In the EU, UK, and similar regions, analytics is off by default. We'll ask your permission when you first open the app.
  • In other regions, analytics is on by default but you can turn it off anytime in Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Usage Data.
  • You can change your preference anytime.

6. Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored securely using Supabase, with encryption in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest. We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information.

Progress data is also stored locally on your device for offline access, encrypted using secure storage mechanisms.

Community videos with restricted audiences use short-lived signed playback links (up to five minutes). We re-check access before issuing a new link and remove protected cached community data when you sign out, switch accounts, lose access, or delete your account. Privacy settings, blocks, and relationship state are deleted with your account. Accounts for minors, or accounts without a confirmed date of birth, receive privacy-protective defaults that are not automatically broadened with age.

Changing an audience or blocking someone prevents future authorized access, but it cannot recall screenshots or content that someone already viewed. An already issued signed video link may remain usable only until its short expiry.

7. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. You may request deletion of your account and data at any time through the app settings, the account deletion page, or by contacting us.

Cached YouTube API data follows the separate retention rules in the YouTube tutorial discovery section above.

Account deletion removes the account, profile, progress, custom skills and tiers, rink settings, notification records, practice uploads, community relationships, and account credentials. Community posts and comments are removed or anonymised, and community media is queued for deletion with our video provider. Limited, redacted safety, moderation, fraud-prevention, or legally required records may remain only for as long as necessary for those purposes and cannot be used to restore the account.

8. Your Rights

You have the right to:

  • Access your personal data
  • Correct inaccurate data
  • Request deletion of your data
  • Request an export of your data by contacting us (a self-service export tool is not currently available)
  • Opt out of non-essential communications

9. Children's Privacy

Our service is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected information from a child under 13, please contact us.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by updating the "Last updated" date and, for significant changes, sending you a notification.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@axelskating.com.

Optional website analytics

Website analytics is currently disabled. If enabled in the future, we will ask for permission worldwide before using PostHog (United States) to measure public page visits and store-button clicks with pseudonymous browser and session identifiers. PostHog Cloud’s free plan makes website events queryable for one year. This is not a physical-deletion deadline: the provider may retain data beyond that window under its processing and deletion terms. For requests to delete provider-held events, contact support@axelskating.com. We do not record sessions, link visits to app accounts, or collect authentication/deletion pages, form contents, precise location or arbitrary URL parameters. Campaign tags and known referring domains are filtered; unknown values are omitted. Choosing Decline sends no analytics. Analytics choices allow withdrawal at any time and are remembered locally for up to 90 days; withdrawal stops future collection and clears website analytics storage, but does not itself delete provider-held events. Visitors under 16 should decline; we do not request a date of birth on the website. Browser privacy signals are respected. International visitors should be aware that permitted analytics is processed in the United States.