Privacy Policy

Lane8 is operated by Drishti Works Pvt Ltd, Ground floor, The Gold Coin Co-Op Housing Society Ltd., B-1-G, 35–35A, Pt. M. M. Malviya Road, Tardeo, Mumbai 400 034, India. In data-protection terms we are the data fiduciary (or controller) for the personal data described here.

This policy covers the Lane8 web app and the Lane8 iOS and Android apps, including the competition features used to enter and run swim meets.

We collect only what a swimming club needs to plan training, run sessions and enter competitions.

• Account details — name, email address and/or mobile number, and the sign-in method you choose. Passwords are handled by our authentication provider and are never visible to us.
• Athlete profile — date of birth, gender, and the club and squad an athlete trains with. See Children and young athletes for how date of birth is treated.
• Training records — planned and completed sessions, attendance, workout logs, distances, split times and effort ratings.
• Wellbeing and injury information — how an athlete reports feeling after a session, and any pain or injury they record. We treat this as sensitive and it is never used for anything beyond coaching.
• Body measurements, where a coach or athlete records them.
• Videos that you or your coach upload or link for technique review, together with any annotations made on them. Videos are kept in your own Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox, apart from the few held in Lane8’s own storage — see Videos and Google Drive, Videos and Microsoft OneDrive and Videos and Dropbox.
• Coach voice notes — short recordings of a coach’s voice giving feedback on an athlete’s video — see Coach voice notes.
• Messages and notes — comments, inbox messages, and private coaching notes written about an athlete.
• Competition entries — the events an athlete enters, their seed and result times, and the record of an entry-fee payment.
• Diagnostics — see Diagnostics and crash reporting.
• Website analytics, only if you accept it on our public pages — see Analytics.

• To run the service: plan and publish training, record attendance, keep an athlete’s training history, and manage competition entries.
• To let the right people see the right information — coaches see the athletes they coach, guardians see their own children.
• To keep athletes safe, by making pain and injury reports visible to the coaches responsible for them.
• To keep the service working and secure, including diagnosing crashes and preventing abuse.
• To contact you about your account, your club, or a competition you have entered.

We do not use your data for advertising, we do not build advertising profiles, we do not track you across other apps or websites, and we do not sell personal data.

Access follows the real coaching relationship rather than being open across the platform.

• Athletes see their own training, results and feedback.
• Coaches see the athletes they coach at their own club, including training records, wellbeing reports and measurements. Coaches cannot browse athletes at other clubs.
• Guardians see the information belonging to the children linked to them, and nothing about other athletes.
• Private coaching notes are visible to coaches at that club and are not shown to the athlete or their guardian.
• Competition information — start lists, heat sheets and results are published as part of running a public swim meet, and can be seen by other participants and organisers.

Most Lane8 athletes are children, so this section matters more than usual. We comply with applicable children’s data protection laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA, United States), the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP Act). Under the DPDP Act, any person under 18 is treated as a child.

• There is no minimum age to use Lane8 — but a swimmer under 18 never sets their own account up. An adult does. Either the swimmer’s coach invites their guardian, or a guardian signs up and adds the swimmer; either way a guardian is linked to the account and consents to what we collect. The swimmer then has their own login and uses the app themselves. The protection is the adult who put them there, not an age limit: a 10-year-old logging their own training is something we want to support.
• Guardian identity checks — what we intend, not what exists. Because a guardian consents on a child’s behalf, our intended process is to ask them to confirm their own identity within a set period of signing up, through DigiLocker, a government ID, or in person at their club, and to store only the result of that check — never an Aadhaar number. None of this is built yet. We describe it here so you know what is coming, not to suggest it is already happening.
• What is not yet fully in place. We would rather say this plainly than describe intentions as though they were controls. Our account-setup flow now asks for date of birth, and a swimmer who enters an under-18 date of birth cannot set up their own login — we direct them to the guardian- or coach-led path instead. What we do not yet have is verification: the date of birth is self-declared and unconfirmed, and no guardian identity check runs at all, so we cannot yet prove that an adult who set up a child’s account is genuinely their guardian. Guardian verification is being built. Until it is, if we learn that an account’s age or guardian details are not genuine, we will review it and take the steps applicable law requires. If you are aware of such an account, write to grievance@lane8.app and we will act on it promptly.
• We publish year of birth, never full date of birth. A swimmer’s date of birth is needed to confirm age-group eligibility, so we store it — but outside the people with a legitimate need (the athlete, their guardian, their own club’s coaches, and the official importing meet results), we show only the year. Heat sheets, start lists and any cross-club or public listing show year of birth alone.
• We do not profile children. We do not track children behaviourally, build profiles of them, or show them targeted advertising. No analytics runs inside the app for any signed-in user, including minors.
• Guardians act on a child’s behalf. A linked guardian can see their child’s information and exercise the rights described below for them, including requesting access, correction, or deletion of the child’s data.

If you believe a child is using Lane8 without appropriate consent, or you want a child’s data removed, contact us at grievance@lane8.app and we will deal with it.

Inside the app: once you sign in, we don’t use analytics at all.

On our public pages (lane8.app, and the app’s sign-in and join pages), we use Google Analytics only if you tap Sure. It counts which pages are visited, where visitors came from and basic device details, using a random ID rather than your name or account.

• We never send names, contact details, dates of birth, health or coaching information, or anything you type.
• No ads, and no tracking on other websites.
• To change your answer, use Analytics choices at the bottom of lane8.app.

We won’t add analytics for signed-in children without updating this page and getting a parent’s or guardian’s consent first.

If you join the app launch list on lane8.app, we keep your email address only to tell you when the Lane8 iPhone and Android apps launch. We don’t use it for anything else, we don’t share it, and it never goes to analytics.

First we send one email asking you to confirm the address is yours. Until you tap its link we send nothing else, and if you ignore it you won’t hear from us. If someone else entered your address, use “Not you? Don’t email me again” in that email and we won’t email it about the launch again.

Every launch email has an unsubscribe link. To unsubscribe or have your address deleted at any time, use that link or email grievance@lane8.app.

The Lane8 mobile app uses Firebase Crashlytics to report crashes, so we can find and fix faults. A crash report describes the state of the app at the moment it failed — the device model, operating system version, and where in the code the failure happened.

We treat this as essential diagnostics rather than optional tracking: without it, a crash that stops an athlete logging a session is invisible to us. Crash reports are configured to exclude personal and wellbeing information, and are not used for advertising or profiling.

Lane8 keeps videos in your own Google Drive, not on our servers, except for the two kinds described under Videos held by Lane8 below. When you (or, for a child, a linked parent or guardian) connect Google Drive, Lane8 creates a Lane8 Videos folder there and uploads go straight into it. You own those files, and they use your Drive storage.

• What Lane8 can access. We ask Google only for permission to work with files that Lane8 itself creates. Lane8 can’t see or open anything else in your Drive. We also read how much Drive space is used and free, so we can warn you before it runs out.
• What we keep. An encrypted connection key that only our servers can read, the Drive folder and file identifiers, and the details of each video (title, type, size, length, the swim it shows), plus marks, notes and reviews made on it. We also log each time a video is played and by whom.
• Who can watch. Lane8 never changes sharing settings in your Drive. Inside Lane8 a video can be watched by the athlete, their linked parents or guardians and, unless it is made private, their club’s coaches. Lane8’s own team opens a video only when an analysis of it has been requested (a paid one, or one Lane8 runs on a video its own team uploaded), and only until that analysis is done.
• Temporary copies. We play videos by streaming them from your Drive. The Lane8 iPhone and Android apps keep a copy on your device so replays load quickly, and remove it after 14 days or when the cache is full. For a paid analysis our system downloads the clip, and deletes that copy when the analysis is complete.
• Deleting and disconnecting. Deleting a video in Lane8 permanently deletes it from your Drive; it does not go to Drive’s bin. Disconnecting Google Drive removes Lane8’s access at Google and leaves your videos in Drive. If you connected Drive for more than one swimmer, Lane8 keeps access for the others until you disconnect those too. You can also remove Lane8 at any time from the Third-party apps & services page of your Google Account. Deleting your Lane8 account removes our access and records, and leaves the files in your Drive.
• Videos held by Lane8. Two kinds of video are kept in Lane8’s own file storage, provided by Google Firebase as our service provider, instead of in Drive. First, a video Lane8’s team uploads for an athlete who has not connected Google Drive. Only Lane8’s team can watch it; the athlete, their guardians and their coaches cannot see it there. We delete it about 10 days after upload, keeping the video’s details and any analysis of it but not the video. If Google Drive is connected before then, Lane8 moves the video into the Lane8 Videos folder, where it becomes an ordinary video in the athlete’s library, and deletes our copy. Second, videos uploaded before Lane8 moved video storage to Google Drive. The same people can watch them as any other video. They stay in Lane8’s storage until the athlete’s account is deleted or you ask us to delete them (see Your rights).

Lane8’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use Google Drive data only to store, play and analyse your videos in Lane8. We never sell it, use it for advertising, or use it to train general-purpose AI models.

You can choose your own Microsoft OneDrive instead of Google Drive. When you (or, for a child, a linked parent or guardian) connect OneDrive, Microsoft gives Lane8 its own app folder in your OneDrive (under Apps); Lane8 creates a Lane8 Videos folder inside it and uploads go straight into it. You own those files, and they use your OneDrive storage. Only one storage receives new uploads at a time; if you switch, videos already saved in the other one stay there and keep playing in Lane8.

• What Lane8 can access. We ask Microsoft only for permission to work with Lane8’s own app folder. Lane8 can’t see or open anything else in your OneDrive. If OneDrive reports how much space is used and free, we read it to warn you before it runs out.
• What we keep. An encrypted connection key that only our servers can read, the OneDrive folder and file identifiers, and the same video details, marks, notes, reviews and playback log as for Google Drive.
• Who can watch, and temporary copies. The same as for Google Drive: Lane8 never changes sharing in your OneDrive, the same people can watch a video in Lane8, and the same temporary copies are made and deleted.
• Deleting and disconnecting. Deleting a video in Lane8 permanently deletes it from your OneDrive. Disconnecting OneDrive deletes Lane8’s connection key and leaves your videos in OneDrive. Microsoft does not let Lane8 withdraw its own permission, so to remove it completely, remove Lane8 from the apps that can access your Microsoft account (or, for a work or school account, from My Apps). Deleting your Lane8 account deletes our key and records, and leaves the files in your OneDrive.

We use OneDrive data only to store, play and analyse your videos in Lane8. We never sell it, use it for advertising, or use it to train general-purpose AI models.

You can choose your own Dropbox instead of Google Drive or OneDrive. When you (or, for a child, a linked parent or guardian) connect Dropbox, Dropbox gives Lane8 its own app folder (under Apps); Lane8 creates a Lane8 Videos folder inside it and uploads go straight into it from your device, not through Lane8’s servers. You own those files, and they use your Dropbox storage. Only one storage receives new uploads at a time; if you switch, videos already saved in the other one stay there and keep playing in Lane8.

• What Lane8 can access. Lane8’s permission covers only its own app folder. Lane8 can’t see or open anything else in your Dropbox. We read your account’s email address to show which Dropbox is connected, and how much space is used and free to warn you before it runs out. For each upload, the uploading device (yours, or your coach’s or a Lane8 admin’s when they upload a video for you) gets a short-lived permission to add, replace, delete and list files in that app folder; it expires within hours and is never stored on the device.
• What we keep. An encrypted connection key that only our servers can read, the Dropbox folder and file identifiers, and the same video details, marks, notes, reviews and playback log as for Google Drive.
• Who can watch, and temporary copies. The same as for Google Drive: Lane8 never changes sharing in your Dropbox, the same people can watch a video in Lane8, and the same temporary copies are made and deleted.
• Deleting and disconnecting. Deleting a video in Lane8 deletes it from your Dropbox; Dropbox keeps deleted files restorable for a period set by your Dropbox plan. Disconnecting Dropbox withdraws Lane8’s permission at Dropbox, deletes our connection key and leaves your videos in Dropbox. Deleting your Lane8 account does the same and deletes our records.

We use Dropbox data only to store, play and analyse your videos in Lane8. We never sell it, use it for advertising, or use it to train general-purpose AI models.

A coach can record a short voice note, up to 60 seconds, on a moment of an athlete’s video, with an optional typed caption. The recording is the coach’s voice giving feedback about the athlete, who is often a child, and like any microphone recording it can pick up other voices or sound nearby. Only an active coach of the athlete can record one. Athletes and guardians cannot.

A voice note can be played by the people who can see that video: the athlete, their linked guardians, and the coaches who can see the video. Voice notes sent as part of a coach’s review are played only by the athlete, their linked guardians and the coach who recorded them. Access is checked every time a note is played, so someone who loses access to the video loses its voice notes too.

Unlike videos, voice notes are not kept in Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox. Lane8 stores them in its own file storage, provided by Google Firebase as our service provider. Audio travels over an encrypted connection, and the app does not keep a copy on the device after recording or playing. Captions are only what the coach types: we do not transcribe voice notes, send them to any AI service, use them for analytics or advertising, or share them with anyone else.

A voice note is kept with its video. It is deleted, with its audio, when the video is deleted or replaced, when a video held in Lane8’s temporary storage expires, or when the coach’s or the athlete’s account is deleted. A posted voice note cannot be edited. Voice notes in a review the coach has not yet sent are deleted when the coach discards the review.

Adults can ask Lane8 to propose a swim workout. When you do, Lane8 sends OpenAI, as our service provider, what you typed (up to 300 characters) and workout numbers: pool length, equipment, target distance, time available, recent planned distances and the numbers in a block you want changed. We never send stored names, notes, workout logs or health information. Lane8 checks what you type for swimmers’ names and your own, and asks you to remove any it finds before anything is sent. Please keep names and health details out of what you type.

This data is subject to OpenAI’s terms and policies (openai.com/policies). OpenAI processes it on its global infrastructure, so it may be processed outside India. OpenAI does not use it to train its models, but may keep it for up to 30 days to monitor for abuse and may cache it for up to 24 hours.

Lane8 keeps each proposal for 24 hours so it can show it again if your connection drops. Our usage and cost records hold numbers only and are kept until 7 days after the end of the month. Both are deleted automatically after their retention period. A proposal you keep becomes part of your workout. Your own edits and Why explanations happen in Lane8 and send nothing to OpenAI.

Where a competition charges an entry fee, payment is handled by Razorpay, a licensed payment provider in India. Your card or banking details are entered with Razorpay and are never stored by Lane8 — we keep only the record that an entry was paid for, and who it was paid for.

We use a small number of providers who process data on our behalf:

• Google (Firebase) — authentication, database, file storage, hosting and crash reporting.
• Google Analytics — website analytics on our public pages, only with your consent (see Analytics).
• Razorpay — payment processing for competition entry fees.
• OpenAI — AI workout proposals, under OpenAI's terms and policies (see AI workout proposals).

These providers act under contract and may process data on infrastructure outside your country; where that happens, appropriate safeguards apply. We do not share your personal data with anyone else for their own purposes.

We keep your information for as long as your account is active and your club needs it — a training history is only useful because it goes back. If you delete your account, or ask us to delete your data, we remove it from the live service and from our backups on our normal backup cycle.

Some records are kept longer where we have to: a completed competition’s results are part of the public record of that event, and payment records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.

You can ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, or delete it. You can also withdraw a consent you have given, and object to how we use your information. Under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act you may also nominate another person to exercise your rights on your behalf, and you may raise a grievance with us.

A guardian may exercise these rights for a child linked to them. To make a request, email grievance@lane8.app. If you are in the EEA or UK and are not satisfied with our response, you may also complain to your local data-protection authority.

If we change how we handle your information we will update this page and change the date at the top. Where a change requires your consent, we will ask for it before it takes effect.

For anything about your account or how the app works, email support@lane8.app — see also our support page. For privacy questions, data requests or complaints, use grievance@lane8.app.