Privacy policy
Last updated 12 October 2026.
The short version. Q-Golf keeps your rounds, shots and courses on your iPhone. The Apple Watch app sends what it records straight to your own iPhone. There is no account, no advertising, no analytics and no tracking, and we do not run a server that receives your data. The app does go online for two things: the weather on the course, and looking up golf courses on OpenStreetMap.
Who is responsible
Q-Golf is made by Q-Branch SIA, a company registered in Riga, Latvia. For anything about this policy or your data, write to kvelins@gmail.com.
What the app stores, and where
All of this is saved on your iPhone only:
- Rounds and shots. Where each shot was played from (GPS position), the club, the lie, the result, your scores and the statistics worked out from them.
- Courses. The holes, tees, greens and hazards you import or map yourself.
- Your settings. Your bag, goal handicap, units and tracking options.
- Sensor recordings, if you turn them on. With “Record sensor data during rounds” switched on, the app logs the phone’s motion sensors and GPS fixes for the whole round so shot detection can be improved. These files stay on the phone unless you choose to export one yourself.
We cannot see any of it. If your iPhone is backed up to iCloud or to a computer, the app’s data is part of that backup under Apple’s terms, the same as for any other app.
Permissions the app asks for
- Location. Used to record where shots are played from and to show distances to the green. The app asks for “Always” access so a round keeps recording while the phone is locked in your pocket. Location is only used while a round is running or while you are looking for or mapping a course.
- Motion. Used to recognise golf swings and putts from the way the phone moves.
You can change either one at any time in iPhone Settings. Without location the app cannot place shots on the map; without motion it cannot find shots by itself and you log them by hand.
The Apple Watch app
If you use Q-Golf on an Apple Watch, the watch asks for three more things:
- Motion. Used to recognise golf swings from the way your wrist moves.
- Location. The watch’s own GPS is used during a round to note where each swing happened.
- Health (workouts). A round runs as a golf workout so the watch keeps recording with your wrist lowered, and the round is saved to the Health app as a golf workout. Q-Golf only writes that workout. It does not read any of your Health data.
Swings and their positions go from the watch to your own iPhone over Apple’s watch connection and are stored there with the rest of the round. Health data stays in the Health app under Apple’s terms and is never used for advertising or shared with anyone. You can switch any of this off in the Watch app on your iPhone or in the Health app.
What leaves your phone
The app contacts the services below directly. Each one sees the request and your IP address, as any website would. None of them receives your name, your rounds or your shots.
| Service | When | What is sent |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Meteo | During a round, if “Weather and wind” is on | Your position, rounded to about 10 metres, to get the current weather |
| OpenStreetMap: Nominatim and public Overpass servers (overpass-api.de, overpass.kumi.systems, overpass.private.coffee) | When you search for a course to import | The name you typed, and your position if you search near you |
| Apple Maps | When a map is on screen | The area being shown, to load satellite imagery |
Turn off “Weather and wind” in the app’s settings and no weather requests are made. Course data comes from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the Open Database License.
What we do not do
- No account or sign-in, so we never get your name or email unless you write to us.
- No advertising and no advertising identifiers.
- No analytics, crash-reporting or tracking libraries from third parties.
- No selling or sharing of data, because we never receive any.
Deleting your data
Delete a round, a course or a recording inside the app and it is gone from the phone. Deleting the app removes everything it stored. Golf workouts already saved to Health stay there until you delete them in the Health app. There is nothing for us to delete on our side.
If you email us
If you write to us for support we will see your email address and whatever you send, and we use it only to answer you. If you send us a sensor recording to help fix a problem, we use it only for that and delete it when you ask.
Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask what personal data we hold about you and have it corrected or erased. In practice the only data we could hold is an email you sent us. Write to kvelins@gmail.com and we will sort it out. You also have the right to complain to the Latvian Data State Inspectorate (dvi.gov.lv).
Children
Q-Golf is not aimed at children and does not knowingly collect data from anyone.
Changes
If the app starts handling data differently, for example by adding sync between devices, this page will be updated before that version is released and the date at the top will change.