Privacy Policy

1. Who this applies to

This Privacy Policy applies to:

• Users who listen to or participate in streams
• Creators/streamers who broadcast on Sideline
• Visitors to our website or support channels

Sideline is intended for adults. You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction) to create an account. We also do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

2. Information we collect

We collect information in three main ways:

2.1 Information you provide directly

Account details

• Username, email address, password
• Date of birth (for age and eligibility checks)

Profile information (optional)

Display name, bio, profile picture, links or social handles you add

Streaming and interactions

• Your live audio stream (transmitted in real time)
• Chat messages, reactions, follows, subscriptions and other in-product interactions
• Reports you make about other users or content

Note on audio storage: Sideline is currently live-only. We do not record or permanently store your audio streams. Audio may be temporarily buffered or cached only as needed to deliver the live stream.

Payments and monetisation

When you:

• buy virtual currency ("Cheers")
• make donations or pay subscriptions
• receive payouts as a creator

We process these transactions differently depending on where you use Sideline:

• On the Sideline iOS and Android apps, purchases of Cheers and subscriptions are processed exclusively through the Apple App Store (In-App Purchase) and the Google Play Store (Play Billing). Apple and Google handle the entire payment transaction, including your card and billing details. We do not receive or store your card number. After a successful purchase, the app store shares transaction metadata with us (such as the product ID, transaction ID and receipt) so we can credit your purchase.
• On the Sideline website, purchases of Cheers, subscriptions and donations are processed by Stripe. Card details are handled by Stripe and are not stored by us.

In all cases we keep:

• purchase history (e.g. Cheers purchases, subscriptions, donations)
• creator payout details — for creators paid via Stripe Connect, bank and tax information Stripe collects from you; for international creators paid via Wise, the payout details Wise collects from you

Support and communication

• Messages you send to us (email, support tickets, feedback)
• Your responses to surveys, beta tests or research activities

2.2 Information we collect automatically

When you use Sideline, we automatically collect:

Usage data

• Pages and screens you visit
• Features you use (streams joined, streams started, time in stream)
• Interactions (follows, Cheers, subscriptions, notification preferences)

Device and technical data

• IP address and approximate location (e.g. city/region)
• Device type, operating system, browser type and version
• Log data such as timestamps, crash logs and error reports
• Network and performance metrics used to maintain WebRTC audio connections

Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies, local storage and similar technologies (including tokens such as JWTs) to:

• keep you signed in
• remember your preferences
• measure performance and usage
• support security and fraud prevention

You can control cookies in your browser settings, although disabling some cookies may affect how the Service works.

2.3 Information from third parties

We may receive information about you from:

• Authentication providers – if you sign up or log in using services like Google or Apple, they may share information such as your name, email address and profile picture (subject to their privacy settings).
• Payment and payout processors – Apple (App Store), Google (Google Play), Stripe, and Wise, which may share payment-related metadata and status (e.g. successful/failed purchases, subscription renewals, disputes, refunds and payouts).
• Cloud and infrastructure providers – such as Supabase (auth and data storage), Redis (caching of sessions/chat), and Google Cloud (Text-to-Speech processing).
• Analytics providers – Google (GA4) and PostHog, which provide aggregated or pseudonymous insights about how users discover and use Sideline. See section 6 for details.

We combine this information with what we collect directly to operate, secure and improve the Service.

3. Virtual currency (Cheers)

Sideline uses a virtual currency called Cheers.

• Users can purchase Cheers within Sideline.
• Cheers cannot be redeemed for cash by users, and cannot be bought, sold, transferred or traded off-platform.
• When Cheers are spent on a creator (for example via alerts or in-stream support), Sideline pays the creator real money at a fixed rate: creators receive AUD 0.01 per Cheer spent on their channel.
• The price users pay for Cheers may vary by offer, region or time and may change from time to time. Creators always receive 1 cent per Cheer spent on their channel regardless of the user purchase price.

We keep records of:

• Cheers purchases and balances
• Cheers spent on a creator
• Associated receipts and payout reports

This is necessary to run the virtual currency system, pay creators accurately and comply with financial and tax obligations.

4. How we use your information

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

4.1 To provide and operate the Service

• Create and manage your account
• Authenticate you when you sign in
• Deliver live audio streams and chat in real time using WebRTC and related infrastructure
• Enable creator monetisation (Cheers, donations, subscriptions) and payouts
• Provide features like follows, notifications, and stream discovery

4.2 To process payments and payouts

• Process in-app purchases of Cheers and subscriptions on iOS and Android via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
• Process payments for Cheers, subscriptions and donations on the web via Stripe
• Calculate creator earnings and process payouts via Stripe Connect and, for international creators, via Wise
• Handle refunds, chargebacks, subscription renewals and transaction disputes where applicable

4.3 To keep Sideline safe, secure and fair

• Detect, investigate and prevent fraud, abuse or technical issues
• Enforce our Terms of Service and community guidelines
• Run automated checks, such as profanity filters in chat and Text-to-Speech input, and basic spam and abuse detection
• Comply with legal obligations, court orders and regulatory requirements

4.4 To personalise and improve the Service

• Recommend streams, creators or content that may be relevant to you
• Analyse how users discover and use Sideline to improve performance, stability and user experience
• Run experiments (for example UI changes or features) and measure outcomes

4.5 To communicate with you

• Service messages (security alerts, transactional emails, changes to policies or features)
• Customer support responses and troubleshooting
• Optional marketing or product updates, where permitted by law and your preferences

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time (see section 9). You cannot opt out of essential service emails (e.g. account, security, billing).

4.6 Advertising and future commercial use

We may:

• show Sideline-served or third-party ads within the Service now or in future;
• use aggregated or pseudonymous data to measure ad performance and improve relevance.

We will not:

use your name, handle, profile image or content to endorse an advertiser, brand or another creator without your explicit consent.

5. When we share your information

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share your information in these limited situations:

5.1 Service providers (processors)

We share information with third-party providers who help us run Sideline, for example:

• Apple (App Store) – in-app purchase processing for iOS
• Google (Google Play) – in-app purchase processing for Android
• Stripe – payment processing on the web, dispute handling, and creator payouts via Stripe Connect
• Wise – international creator payouts
• Supabase – authentication, database and user management
• Google Cloud – Text-to-Speech processing for alerts
• Redis or similar – caching for sessions and chat
• Google Analytics 4 and PostHog – to help us understand usage and product performance
• Security and anti-fraud services – to protect the platform and our users

These providers are only allowed to use your information to provide services to us and must protect it appropriately.

5.2 Other users and the public

Certain information is visible to others by design, such as:

• your public profile (display name, avatar, bio, links)
• your live channel and basic engagement stats
• chat messages and TTS messages sent in a stream
• who you support or follow (if a feature we expose publicly)

Use caution when sharing personal information in streams or chat. Public content may be captured or shared by other users.

5.3 Legal and safety reasons

We may disclose information if we reasonably believe it is necessary to:

• comply with the law, a court order, or a lawful request from authorities
• protect the rights, property or safety of Sideline, our users or the public
• detect, prevent or address fraud, security or technical issues

5.4 Business transfers

If Sideline or Wished PTY LTD is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganisation or sale of all or part of its business, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will use reasonable efforts to ensure the new entity honours this Privacy Policy or a similar standard.

6. Cookies, analytics and online tracking

We use cookies, SDKs and similar technologies to:

• keep you logged in
• remember your preferences
• understand how users navigate and use the Service
• measure the effectiveness of our marketing and communications

6.1 Analytics tools we use

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — web only

We use Google Analytics 4 on our website to collect aggregated information about how users discover and navigate the site — including session data, page views, and device/browser information. GA4 is used on the Sideline web app only; it is not used in the mobile app.

PostHog — web and mobile

We use PostHog for product analytics across both the web app and the mobile app. PostHog helps us understand feature usage, user flows and product performance. On the web, PostHog may also capture session recordings (anonymised replays of how users interact with the interface). PostHog stores data on EU cloud infrastructure.

6.2 How to manage your consent

Web

When you first visit the Sideline website, a cookie consent banner appears at the bottom of the screen. Accepting enables both GA4 and PostHog analytics. Declining disables both. You can change your choice at any time by clearing your browser cookies and reloading the page, which will prompt the banner again.

Mobile app

Analytics in the mobile app is controlled via the Analytics toggle in Profile → Settings → Analytics. This controls PostHog data collection on mobile. Analytics is enabled by default and can be disabled at any time.

6a. Data processors

We use the following third-party processors to operate the Service. Each processor receives only the data necessary for their function and is contractually required to protect it.

• Google LLC — Google Analytics 4 (web usage analytics); Firebase (push notifications for the mobile app). Data may be processed in the United States.
• PostHog Inc. — Product analytics for the web app and mobile app, including session recording on web. Data is stored on EU cloud infrastructure.
• Supabase Inc. — Database storage and authentication. Data may be processed in the United States and/or the EU depending on your region configuration.
• Apple Inc. — In-app purchase processing for iOS (App Store). Data may be processed in the United States.
• Google LLC — In-app purchase processing for Android (Google Play). Data may be processed in the United States.
• Stripe Inc. — Web payment processing, subscription management and creator payouts (via Stripe Connect). Data may be processed in the United States.
• Wise Payments Ltd. — International creator payouts. Data may be processed in the United Kingdom, the European Union or the United States.

For cross-border data transfers, we rely on standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards where required by applicable law.

7. Data security

We take security seriously and use appropriate technical and organisational measures, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS / WSS, modern TLS)
• Secure password hashing and token-based authentication
• Role-based internal access controls and logging
• Regular updates, monitoring and vulnerability mitigation
• PCI-DSS compliant payment processing via Apple, Google and Stripe (we do not store card numbers)

However, no online system is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your information. You can help by:

• using a strong, unique password
• enabling any additional security controls we provide
• keeping your login details confidential

If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected users and the relevant regulators as required by law.

8. Data retention

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, or as required by law.

Indicative retention:

• Account data – kept while your account is active, and for a reasonable period afterwards (for example up to 2 years) for record keeping, dispute resolution and security.
• Payment and payout records – kept for up to 7 years to comply with tax and accounting obligations.
• Live audio – not permanently stored; only temporarily buffered for delivery.
• Chat messages – stored for a limited period and/or limited volume (for example the most recent slice of messages) and then deleted or anonymised.
• TTS audio – temporarily cached to deliver alerts efficiently and then deleted after a short retention window.
• Analytics data – may be retained in aggregated or anonymised form for historical analysis.

Where possible, we anonymise or de-identify data so it no longer identifies you.

9. Your rights and choices

Your rights depend on where you live, but may include:

• Access – request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction – ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Deletion – ask us to delete your personal information (we may keep some where required by law or for legitimate business purposes).
• Restriction / objection – request that we limit certain processing, or object to processing based on our legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
• Portability – request your data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, where applicable.

You can exercise these rights by contacting us (see section 12). We may ask you to verify your identity before actioning your request.

9.1 Marketing communications

You can:

• unsubscribe from marketing emails via the link in the email; or
• adjust your notification preferences in your account (where available).

You will still receive essential messages such as security alerts, transactional emails and updates about changes to our terms or this policy.

9.2 Cookies and analytics tracking

On the web, you can accept or decline analytics cookies via the consent banner. Declining disables both GA4 and PostHog. On mobile, you can disable PostHog analytics at any time via Profile → Settings → Analytics. You can also manage cookies in your browser settings; disabling all cookies may affect your ability to use parts of the Service.

10. Children and minors

The Service is intended for users aged 18 and over, or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

If you believe a child under 13 has created an account or provided personal information to us:

please contact us (see section 12) and we will take reasonable steps to delete that information and close the account.

11. International users and transfers

Sideline is operated from Australia, but users may join from around the world.

By using the Service, you understand that:

• your information may be stored and processed in Australia and in other countries where our service providers operate;
• data protection laws in those countries may be different to those in your home jurisdiction.

Where we transfer personal information outside of Australia or your region, we take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place (for example, contractual protections) so that your information remains protected.

12. Contact, complaints and regulators

If you have questions, concerns or requests about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, you can contact us at:

We will aim to respond within 30 days.

If you are in Australia and are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at their website.

Users in other regions may also have the right to contact or complain to their local data protection authority.

13. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will:

• update the "Last updated" date at the top; and
• where changes are material, provide additional notice (for example via email or an in-app notice).

Your continued use of Sideline after an update means you accept the revised policy.