Privacy policy

1. Who we are

This policy applies to the GreyChess website, apps, browser extensions and related services (the “Service”). GreyChess is run by its team, who you can reach at support@greychess.com. Who to write to with a complaint is on Contact and complaints. We decide how the personal information described here is used.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us. Your name, email address, username and password when you make an account; your billing details when you buy a plan; what you write to us; and content you add, such as games, notes, saved positions, training records, classes and messages.

Information from your use of the Service. How and when you use it, such as the features you use, your plan’s usage, the pages you visit, and how you found us; and technical information such as your device, browser, IP address, and error reports.

Information from others. When you sign in with another service, such as Google or Lichess, we receive your basic profile from it (see section 4). Our payment partners tell us whether a payment succeeded. An academy or a coach may give us information about its students and their guardians. When you import games, we receive the public games of the usernames you enter.

Files on your device. Many features work on your device, and the books and pictures you open are kept there. When you use a feature that needs our servers, such as reading a board, syncing your library or asking for an explanation, we receive what that feature needs, which may include information taken from your files. If you save a book to GreyChess cloud, we keep its file so you can open it on your other devices, until you remove it or delete your account.

Your voice. If you turn on voice moves, your browser sends what you say to its maker’s speech service to be turned into words; we do not receive or keep the recording.

3. How we use it

We use personal information to:

• provide, maintain and improve the Service, and develop new features;
• create and secure your account, and sign you in;
• process payments, issue invoices and keep business records, and show prices in the currency for where you are;
• send you messages about your account, payments and the Service, and, while you have an account, news and offers, which you can stop at any time in Settings or with the unsubscribe link in each one;
• answer your questions and requests;
• understand how the Service is used;
• prevent fraud, abuse and misuse, keep limits fair, and keep the Service and its users safe;
• meet legal duties, enforce our terms, and protect our rights.

We use it with your consent, which you give by making an account or using the Service after reading this policy, or where the law otherwise allows. You can withdraw consent at any time (see section 9); doing so may mean you can no longer use the parts of the Service that need it.

4. Signing in with Google and other services, and cloud drives

If you sign in with Google, we receive your Google account ID, name, email address and whether Google has verified it. We use them only to create your account, sign you in and contact you about your account. Signing in with another service, such as Lichess, works the same way. Apart from opening a book you choose from a cloud drive, below, we do not ask these services for anything else, we do not use what they share for advertising, and we do not sell it. Our use of information received from Google follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

If you open a book from Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox, or save one to it, that service asks you to let GreyChess read the file you pick or add files to a GreyChess folder, and the file goes between it and your device directly. We do not receive the file, your other files or your sign-in to that service on our servers, and the access ends when you leave the page.

5. How we share it

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only:

• with service providers who work for us, such as hosting, payments, email delivery, website analytics and AI services, only as needed for that work;
• with other users, as the Service is designed to: for example, your display name in classes, races and leagues; your work in an academy or class with its staff and coaches; and positions found in a book with other readers of the same book, without your name, unless you turn off Share what you find in books in Settings;
• with other services you choose to use with GreyChess, such as chess websites, when you use a feature that connects to them;
• when we believe the law requires it, or to protect the rights, property or safety of GreyChess, our users or others, including to prevent fraud;
• with a buyer or successor, if GreyChess is sold, merged or reorganised;
• with your consent, or at your direction.

We may share information that has been combined or stripped of anything identifying, so it no longer identifies you. Our staff may access account information when needed to support you, run and secure the Service, handle payments and enforce our terms. They may keep their own records about an account, such as notes, labels and reminders to get in touch, which are used only by our staff. If an account breaks our terms, we may suspend it for a time or until we lift it, and we tell you why when you next sign in.

6. Cookies and storage on your device

We use cookies and similar storage on your device to keep you signed in, remember your settings, keep the Service secure, apply plan limits fairly, and understand how our website is used. We do not use advertising cookies. Content the Service keeps on your device stays there when you sign out, and anyone using the same browser profile may see it; clearing this site’s data in your browser removes it.

7. Keeping and protecting it

We keep personal information for as long as your account is open and as needed to provide the Service. When you delete your account, we delete or anonymise your information within a reasonable time, except what we need to keep to meet legal duties, such as payment and invoice records kept for as long as tax and accounting laws require, to settle disputes, to prevent fraud and abuse, or to enforce our agreements. Copies may remain in backups for a limited time. We keep a record of the emails we send (the address, the kind of email, its subject, when it was sent and whether it was delivered) for 180 days, never the email itself.

We use reasonable security practices to protect personal information. No method of storing or sending information is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee its security. Our service providers may store and process information outside India.

8. Children

A person under 18 may use GreyChess only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian. An academy or coach that makes accounts for its students is responsible for getting that consent, and can see the students’ work, progress and the records it keeps for them. A guardian can give or withdraw consent from the page the academy shares with them, or by writing to us.

We do not use children’s information for targeted advertising, and we do not track or profile children, apart from the records of their work that an academy or coach keeps to teach them.

9. Your rights and choices

Subject to the law, you may:

• see a summary of the personal information we keep about you: Account → Download my data gives you a copy;
• correct or update it, on your account page or by writing to us;
• delete it, by deleting your account from your account page, or by writing to us;
• withdraw your consent;
• name someone to use these rights for you if you die or cannot act;
• make a complaint (see section 11).

We may need to confirm who you are before acting on a request, and some information may be kept where the law requires or allows it.

10. Changes to this policy

We may change or update this policy at any time. The new version is posted on this page with a new date. If a change is significant, we will let you know in the Service or by email.

11. Questions and complaints

Write to support@greychess.com. Who answers complaints is on Contact and complaints. If we do not resolve your complaint, you may take it to the Data Protection Board of India.