Privacy policy

ChallengeUS is a coaching app for running and triathlon by Shatoot GmbH. This policy explains which data we process, why and for how long, under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, for users in the European Union, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR).

Last updated: 2026-10-22

Data controller

Shatoot GmbH, Zug, Switzerland, UID CHE-375.214.271. Contact for privacy and support: info@challengeus.com.

Data we process

Account: e-mail, name, sign-in identifier (Google, Strava or e-mail and password through Firebase Authentication).

Athlete profile: sport, level, races and goals, weekly availability, year of birth, weight, sex, maximum and resting heart rate, thresholds and test results, profession and training area (optional), life and work periods you enter. Profile photo, if you choose one: one you upload, or your Strava photo if you connect Strava; in the app only you see it.

Training and health data from the services you connect (Garmin, Strava): activities (sport, date, duration, distance, heart rate, power, cadence, elevation, laps), with a simplified route and the pace, heart-rate and elevation curves (at most about 360 points per activity) to show you the map and charts; daily data (sleep duration and score, resting heart rate, HRV, readiness). We do not receive data you have not authorised.

Place and weather of activities: the starting point, rounded to about 1 km, is used to look up the place name and the weather at that time.

Coach: the messages you type or dictate to the coach, its answers and the notes it keeps about you, stored in your profile so you and the coach can read them again. Photos and screenshots you attach are only used to describe their content and are not stored.

Reports, ideas and surveys: what you write or answer in the app when you report a problem, suggest an idea or answer a survey, to reply to you and improve the service. Survey answers are used only as totals.

Groups (the community chat), if you join: the name you choose, the messages you write, the groups you are in (from the races in your plan), the reports and blocks you make.

Notifications: your device's push notification identifier.

App usage: daily counts of screens opened and actions, without content, and the dates of your first steps in the app (setup completed, first connection, first race, first activity), to improve the service.

Where you came from: if you arrive through one of our links that records its source (for example an ad or Instagram), or if you answer the optional question “How did you hear about us?”, we store this in your account. We use it to count, in aggregate, which channels bring us athletes. We do not use it for anything else and do not share it with anyone.

Technical data: server logs needed for security (IP address, date and time), kept for 30 days.

Why, and on which legal basis

To provide the service you asked for (plan, weekly adaptation, fitness and readiness indicators, Groups): performance of the contract.

For health data (sleep, heart rate, HRV, activities): your explicit consent, given by connecting Garmin or Strava and withdrawn by disconnecting them or deleting your account.

For the AI coach: your explicit consent, which the app asks for before the first use and which you can withdraw at any time (More → AI coach and data; in the web app under Profile); we record it with its date. With your consent your messages, the images you attach and a summary of your data, including health data (sleep, heart rate, HRV, activities), and of your plan are processed by Anthropic (Claude) through its API to generate the answers and the automatic evening, Sunday and morning checks; Anthropic does not use this data to train its models. Without consent no data goes to Anthropic and the AI coach stays off.

For the security of the service, abuse prevention and moderation of the Groups (word filter, review of reports, removal of users who break the rules): legitimate interest.

Where and for how long

Data is stored on Google Cloud (Firestore, region europe-west1, Belgium) and Firebase. The local Garmin connector, if you use it, runs on your computer: passwords and codes never leave your PC and are not sent to ChallengeUS. If you connect Garmin from the app, the Garmin e-mail and password you enter pass once through our sign-in service to open the session and are not stored; we keep only the session, encrypted, to read your data.

We keep data as long as your account exists. You can delete it at any time in the app (More → Delete account) or by writing to info@challengeus.com. In the app the deletion is immediate: we delete profile, plan, activities, daily data, coach conversations, tokens, reports and ideas, your messages and your name in the Groups and the e-mail on the waiting list; we revoke the access to Strava and delete the sign-in account. On request by e-mail we do it within 30 days. Backups are erased within 90 days. Only counts that do not identify you remain, such as how many athletes used the app on a day or what the coach cost.

A message you delete in the Groups is erased at once. Reports are kept as long as moderation needs them; if you delete your account, the ones you made on other people's messages stay without any reference to you.

The beta waiting list is closed. We use the e-mail addresses collected only to let you know that the app is available, and we will delete them by 31 December 2026.

Who sees your data

You. In the Groups other members see the name you chose and your messages, never your e-mail or account; reported messages are reviewed by ChallengeUS administrators.

Providers that process data on our behalf: Google Cloud (hosting and database), Anthropic (conversational coach), Expo (push notification delivery), OpenStreetMap Nominatim and Open-Meteo (only the rounded starting point of an activity, without account data), Garmin and Strava (only when you connect them, under their terms).

Comparisons with other athletes in the community are computed only in aggregate, anonymous form, with at least 20 athletes per group. We do not sell data and do no advertising profiling.

Your rights

You can access, correct, export and delete your data, withdraw consent and object to processing by writing to info@challengeus.com; you can disconnect Garmin and Strava, delete your messages, mute the Groups, clear your data and delete your account right in the app. You may lodge a complaint with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) or, if you live in the EU, with your supervisory authority.

Trademarks

Garmin and Garmin Connect are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its affiliates; Strava is a trademark of Strava, Inc. ChallengeUS is not affiliated with Garmin or Strava. “Powered by Strava” where required.