This policy covers the BenchScout website (benchscout.com) and the BenchScout app. It says what we collect, why, who else sees it, and how to make us forget it.
The short version
- We collect what it takes to run your account and the features you use, and usage data to see what's working.
- We do not sell your personal data, run advertising trackers, or share your email with anyone.
- We use Google Analytics, with advertising features off. You can turn it off on the website below and in the app's Settings.
- You can delete your account, and everything tied to it, yourself, at any time.
What we collect
Your account. Your email address, username and a hashed password (we never store the password itself), and when you confirmed the email address, if you have. If you use Sign in with Apple, we get an identifier from Apple and the email address Apple shares with us, which may be a private relay address. If you add a passkey, we store its public key; the private half never leaves your device.
Your profile. Anything you add to it: a display name, photo, bio, headline, X handle and links. These are public.
What you do here. The teams, leagues and shows you follow; your comments, gamethread posts, likes and reactions; the picks you make and the Pick'em groups you create or join; bets you choose to track (BenchScout is not a sportsbook and handles no money); podcast episodes you play and how far you got; highlight clips you watch; reports you file; and how many Ask Benchy questions you've asked this month (not what they were). Your display preferences, such as how team names are shown, are saved to your account.
Notifications. If you allow them, a notification token for each device, with the app version, language, time zone and whether notifications are switched on, so alerts arrive at the right time and in the right format. We also keep your notification settings, your inbox, and a record of what was sent to you. The website records your time zone for the same reason when you are signed in.
Fantasy leagues. If you link one, the league and team identifiers, and for a private ESPN league or a Yahoo league the sign-in details needed to read it. Those details are stored encrypted and used only to fetch your league.
BenchScout+. Payments are handled by Apple (in the app) or by RevenueCat's checkout (on the website). We never see your card. We receive whether you are a member, which plan, its price, and when it renews or ends.
Apps you connect. If you use Login with BenchScout to sign in to another app, we record which app and what you allowed it to see. If you register an app as a developer, we store its details.
Petitions. If you sign one, the name and email you give, any comment or location you add, and a scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address to stop repeat signatures.
Usage and diagnostics. Pages and screens viewed and links followed, recorded by us and by Google Analytics (see below). Our servers log requests, including your IP address and browser, to keep the service running and secure. When something breaks, the website and the app send an error report: what failed, where, and the app or browser version. The app's error reports never include your email, username, account number or a device identifier.
Without an account
You can read everything, and make picks and reactions, without signing up. To count one vote per person, the website sets a random identifier in a cookie and the app uses a random identifier for your device; we also store a hashed form of your IP address with each pick to limit abuse. The app keeps your setup choices on your device until you create an account, then copies them to it.
Ask Benchy conversations
Your conversations with Benchy are private by default. We don't keep them on our servers: on the website a conversation lives in your browser tab and is gone when you close it, and in the app your recent conversations are kept on your device. To write an answer, your question, the conversation so far and the page you asked from are sent to our AI provider (Anthropic) for that request. We count how many questions you've asked each month, for the free allowance, but not what they were.
A conversation only becomes public if you press Share on an answer. That publishes the whole conversation, every question and answer in it, along with your display name and a link to your profile, at its own link (benchscout.com/ask/…). If you picked the conversation up from someone else's shared link, the new link starts with their shared conversation too. Anyone you give the link to, and anyone they pass it on to, can read it. Shared links ask search engines not to index them, and none of your other conversations with Benchy is published. The page you asked from is never included.
You can delete a shared link at any time from the link's own page while signed in; it then stops working for everyone. Deleting your account deletes every link you shared.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to understand which pages and features people use, how they find BenchScout, and how fast pages load. It records things like the pages and screens you view, the buttons and links you use, searches you run on BenchScout, your approximate location (country and city, derived from your IP address, which Google does not store), and your device and browser. If you are signed in, it is linked to your account by an internal number, never by your email or username, so a visit on the website and a visit in the app count as one person. It never receives your password, your comments or your Ask Benchy questions. Purchases of BenchScout+ are reported to it with their price, not with any payment details. Google keeps this data for no more than 14 months.
In the app, usage is sent to our own servers, which pass it to Google Analytics; you can turn it off in Settings > Privacy. On the website, you can turn it off for this browser here:
Turning it off also stops our servers reporting your sign-ins, follows and other actions to Google from that browser. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, or you are in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, Google Analytics sets no cookies unless you turn it on above, and receives only anonymous, cookieless signals. Google's use of this data is described at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Cookies and device storage
On the website:
- a session cookie that keeps you signed in;
bs_anon, a random identifier that counts your picks, reactions and page views when you are not signed in;bs_analytics, your Google Analytics choice from this page, if you made one;_gaand_ga_*, Google Analytics' own first-party cookies, unless you turned it off.
The website also keeps a few preferences in your browser's local storage (how team names are shown, your analytics choice). The app keeps your session in the device's keychain, your settings and recent Ask Benchy conversations on the device, and shares recent scores with its widgets and Live Activities. No cross-site tracking cookies are set.
Who we share it with
We share data only with the services that run BenchScout for us, each for the purpose below, and when the law requires it. We do not sell it or share it for advertising.
- Railway: Hosting and our database. Receives everything stored on our servers, in the United States.
- Cloudflare: Serving images, clips and the photos you upload. Receives the files, and your IP address when you load them.
- Google Analytics: Measuring how the site and the app are used. Receives the usage described under Google Analytics, above.
- Anthropic: Writing Ask Benchy's answers. Receives your question, the conversation so far and the page you asked from, for that request.
- Apple: Sign in with Apple, push notifications and App Store purchases. Receives notification tokens and the content of each alert; Apple handles App Store payments itself.
- RevenueCat: Managing BenchScout+ subscriptions. Receives your account number, and the subscription's product, price, status and dates.
- Resend or Postmark: Sending password reset and email confirmation links. Receives your email address and the link.
- Better Stack: Error reports and server logs. Receives the page or endpoint, the error, your browser or app version, and your IP address in server logs.
- ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper: Only if you link a fantasy league. Receives the sign-in details you give us for that league, to fetch it on your behalf.
What's public
Your username and profile, the teams you follow, your comments and gamethread posts, and your Pick'em record are visible to anyone. A Pick'em group's members and standings are visible to its members, and to anyone if the group is public. Ask Benchy conversations you choose to share are public at their link (see above). Your email address is never public.
How long we keep it
- Your account and what's tied to it: until you delete the account.
- Your notification inbox and the record of what was sent: 30 days.
- Server logs and error reports: briefly, for running and securing the service.
- Password reset links: until used or expired.
- Email confirmation links: with your account, until you delete it.
- Google Analytics: no more than 14 months.
Your choices
- See and change your profile, follows and notification settings in Settings, on the website or in the app.
- Turn Google Analytics off on this page (website) or in Settings > Privacy (app).
- Turn notifications off in Settings, or in your device's settings.
- Unlink a fantasy league or remove a passkey in Settings.
- Delete your account (below).
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to a copy of your data, to correct it, to have it deleted, or to object to how we use it. Ask us through the social channels listed in the footer and we will answer.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account yourself, on the website from Settings under Sign-in & membership, or in the app from Settings. You can also ask us to do it through the social channels listed in the footer. Deleting it permanently removes your account and profile; your comments, posts, likes, reactions and follows; your picks and Pick'em memberships; your passkeys, devices, notification settings and inbox; your shared Ask Benchy links; your listening and viewing history and tracked bets; your linked fantasy leagues and the sign-in details stored for them; petitions you signed while signed in; and the apps you connected or registered. A Pick'em group you ran passes to its longest-standing member. Page-view counts we already recorded are kept without your account attached.
Deleting your account does not cancel a BenchScout+ subscription bought through the App Store; cancel that in your Apple ID settings. Usage already sent to Google Analytics is deleted by Google within its retention period.
Security
Everything travels over HTTPS. Passwords are hashed, fantasy sign-in details are encrypted, and IP addresses stored with picks and petition signatures are hashed. No system is perfectly secure, but we only keep what we need.
Children
BenchScout is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. If you believe a child has given us theirs, tell us and we will delete it.
Other sites and streams
News stories, video highlights, where-to-watch links and sportsbook links take you to other sites (ESPN, MLB.com, broadcasters, sportsbooks), which have their own privacy policies. Some sportsbook links are affiliate links, so the sportsbook can tell you arrived from BenchScout. Live radio plays directly from the station's stream, so the station sees your IP address.
Changes
We may update this policy; the "last updated" date above reflects the current version.