Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 September 2026

This policy explains what personal data the Helix Gamer app and website ("Helix Gamer", the "Service") collect, why, and what control you have over it. The Service is operated by [OPERATOR], [OPERATOR ADDRESS OR COUNTRY] ("we", "us"), who is the data controller. Contact: support@helixgamer.com.

1. What we collect

Account

Your email address (used to sign in and for essential service messages).
A username you choose, and optionally a display name, short bio, and an avatar (an uploaded image, a chosen preset, or your Steam avatar).
A record that you accepted these terms, and when.
Your subscription status (free, trial, or member) as reported to us by the App Store. We do not receive or store any payment details.

If you link a Steam account

Your public Steam ID, Steam display name, avatar URL and Steam level.
Your list of owned and wishlisted games — as game identifiers and your recorded playtime and last-played dates. We do not store game files or images; artwork loads directly from Steam.
Your Steam friends list, so we can show which of your Steam friends also use Helix Gamer.

This information is retrieved from Valve's official Steam Web APIs, using the visibility settings on your Steam account. If your Steam profile or games list is private, we cannot retrieve it.

Your activity in the Service

Ratings and written reviews you submit.
Follows, blocks, and library visibility settings.
Taste-match data — computed from your ratings and other members' ratings — recording which members your scores line up with and how closely.
Reports you submit about other members' content, and bug reports you send (including the app version and your device's operating-system version, which are attached automatically to help us reproduce the issue).

Technical data

Standard server logs generated when your app talks to our backend, which include your IP address and request metadata. These are used for security and debugging and are retained for a short period.

We do not use analytics SDKs, advertising SDKs, or third-party trackers in the app.

2. How we use your data

To provide the Service — your library, ratings, reviews, profile, and the social features.
To compute your Helixer matches and recommendations from your ratings and those of other members.
To moderate content and enforce our Terms and Community Guidelines, including reviewing reports and taking account action.
To respond to support requests and fix bugs you report.
To keep the Service secure — detecting and preventing abuse, fraud and attacks.
To comply with the law and respond to lawful requests.

3. Legal bases (UK / EU users)

Performance of a contract — running the account and the features you ask for.
Consent — linking your Steam account and importing that data. You can withdraw this by unlinking Steam or deleting your account.
Legitimate interests — keeping the Service secure, moderating content, preventing abuse, and improving the product, balanced against your rights.
Legal obligation — where we must retain or disclose data to comply with the law.

4. What we don't do

We do not sell your personal data, and never have.
We do not show third-party advertising and do not share your data with advertisers.
We do not track you across other apps or websites.
We do not store your password — authentication is handled by our backend provider, which stores only a secure hash.
We do not receive your payment card details — those stay with Apple (or Google).

5. Who we share it with

Supabase — our hosting, database and authentication provider, acting as our data processor. Your account and activity data is stored on their infrastructure.
Valve / Steam — we retrieve data from Steam's public APIs; we do not send your Helix Gamer activity to Steam.
Apple (and, in future, Google) — handle sign-in where you use it, and all subscription billing. They tell us your subscription status; we tell them nothing about your activity.
Law enforcement or regulators — only where we are legally required to, or to protect the rights, safety or property of members or the public.

We do not otherwise share your personal data with third parties. If we ever undergo a merger or acquisition, we will require the successor to honour this policy and will notify you.

6. Where your data is held

Your data is stored on servers operated by our backend provider. Depending on the region of our project, this may be inside or outside your country of residence, including the United States. Where data is transferred internationally, it is protected by appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

7. How long we keep it

Account and activity data is kept for as long as your account exists.
When you delete your account, your profile, ratings, reviews, library, matches, follows and related records are deleted from our live systems. Content already shown to other members (for example, a review someone read) cannot always be unwound, but is removed from public view.
Routine encrypted backups may retain deleted data for up to 30 days, after which it is overwritten.
Server logs are kept for a short period for security and then discarded.
We may keep a minimal record where the law requires it (for example, evidence relating to a ban for serious abuse).

8. Your controls

Export — from Settings, download a machine-readable copy of the data tied to your account.
Delete — from Settings, permanently delete your account and its data.
Visibility — set your library to Public, Friends Only or Private, and block any member.
Unlink Steam — stop importing Steam data (contact us if you need help with this).
Notifications — mute match-notification types you don't want.

9. Your rights (UK / EU users)

You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to our processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time (without affecting processing already carried out). Most of these you can exercise directly in the app; for anything else, email support@helixgamer.com and we will respond within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you have the right to complain to your local data protection authority — in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk); in the EU, your national supervisory authority.

10. Children

Helix Gamer is not directed at children under 13 (or the higher digital-consent age where you live). We do not knowingly collect data from anyone below that age. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Security

Data is encrypted in transit. Access to production systems is restricted. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we take reasonable steps to protect your data and will notify you and any regulator as required if a breach affects you.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. If a change is material, we will notify you in the app or by email before it takes effect. The "last updated" date above always shows the current version.

13. Contact

Privacy questions or requests: support@helixgamer.com.