Privacy policy

SideMat ("SideMat", "we", "us") operates the SideMat website and apps from Montreal, Quebec. We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy and handle it in line with Quebec's Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (Law 25) and Canada's PIPEDA.

Our person in charge of the protection of personal information (privacy officer) can be reached at support@sidemat.com.

We only collect what we need to run the marketplace:

• Account details: your name, email address and profile photo from Google or Apple when you sign in, and anything you add to your profile, such as your phone number, belt or level and training goals.
• Bookings and semi-privates: the coaches, sessions and semi-privates you book, join, host or leave, and the notes you share with a coach.
• Payments: the amounts, dates and status of your payments. Card and bank details are entered directly with our payment processor, Stripe; we never see or store your full card number.
• Coaches and gyms: what you submit when you apply, such as your rank, experience, rates, availability, gym address, photos and the identity and banking details Stripe asks for to send payouts.
• Reviews and messages you post, and the support requests you send us.
• Device and usage data: your device type, browser, language, approximate location from your IP address, and the pages and features you use, so we can keep the service secure and working. If you allow it, your device's location to show coaches and gyms near you.

• To create your account and sign you in.
• To show coaches, gyms and open semi-privates, and to book, confirm, change or cancel sessions.
• To work out semi-private shares, take payments, issue receipts and refunds, and pay coaches and gyms.
• To verify coaches and gyms before they are listed.
• To send you booking confirmations, reminders and updates about your semi-privates. You can turn off non-essential notifications in your settings.
• To answer support requests, resolve disputes and enforce our terms.
• To keep SideMat safe: preventing fraud, abuse and unauthorized access.
• To understand how SideMat is used and improve it, using aggregated data wherever we can.
• To meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations.

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only when we need to:

• With your coach, and the gym hosting your session, so they can run it: your name, photo, level and booking details.
• With other members of a semi-private you join: your first name and photo, so everyone knows who is on the mat.
• Publicly, for coaches and gyms: the profile, rates, availability and reviews they choose to list.
• With service providers that work for us under contract: Google Firebase and Google Cloud (sign-in, hosting, database, notifications), Stripe (payments and payouts) and Google Maps (maps and address search).
• With authorities when the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of our members and others.
• With a buyer or successor if SideMat is sold or merged, under the same protections.

Our database and servers are hosted by Google Cloud in its Montréal region. Some providers, including Stripe and Google, may process information outside Quebec and Canada, mainly in the United States. Before transferring it we assess the protection it will receive and require by contract that it be protected to a standard comparable to Quebec law.

We keep your information while your account is open and for as long as we need it for the purposes above. Payment and tax records are kept for the period the law requires, usually seven years. When we no longer need information, we delete it or anonymize it.

You can, at any time:

• Access the personal information we hold about you and get a copy of it, including in a structured, commonly used technological format.
• Correct information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. Most of it you can edit yourself in your profile.
• Withdraw your consent, for example to location or notifications, subject to legal and contractual limits.
• Ask us to stop sharing your information or to delete it, and close your account.
• Be told about, and comment on, any decision made about you solely by automated processing. SideMat does not make such decisions today.

Write to support@sidemat.com from the email address on your account. We reply within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

We use cookies and local storage that are needed to keep you signed in, remember your language and protect your account. We do not use advertising cookies or sell data to advertisers. Any measurement tools we add are off by default where the law requires your consent.

Your information is encrypted in transit and at rest, access is limited to the people who need it, and payment details stay with Stripe. No system is perfectly secure; if a confidentiality incident puts you at risk of serious harm, we will tell you and the Commission d'accès à l'information as the law requires.

SideMat accounts are for people 18 and older. A parent or guardian can book sessions for a minor and remains responsible for that booking. We do not knowingly collect information directly from children under 14; if you think we have, contact us and we will delete it.

We will update this page when our practices change and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the app or by email before it applies.