Privacy Policy
This policy explains what Sipstars collects, why, and what you can do about it. Sipstars is a wine aroma game available at sipstars.com and as an iPhone app.
The short version. We collect the minimum needed to run the game: your name and email if you sign in, the wines you save, and your scores. We do not sell your data, we do not use it for advertising, and you can ask us to delete everything at any time.
Who is responsible for your data
Sipstars is run by Daria Bobrova, the owner of sipstars.com. When the Sipstars company is registered, this page will be updated to name it. For any question about this policy, or to request access to or deletion of your data, write to bobrova.darya@gmail.com.
What we collect
If you sign in with Apple: your Apple account identifier, and the name and email address you choose to share. If you choose Apple's "Hide My Email", we only receive the private relay address Apple gives us.
If you sign in with Google: your email address, your display name and your profile picture. We receive these from Google only after you approve the sign-in.
If you play as a guest: only the display name you type. No email, no account.
While you play: the wines you add to your cellar, your tasting notes and favourites, your scores, the tasting rooms you join, and the friends you connect with.
Friends and invitations: your friend requests, your friends list and the room invitations you send and receive, with the names shown to the other person.
Reports and blocks: if you report or block someone, we store who reported whom, where it happened (for example a room or a profile), and the time, so that we can review it and keep blocked people away from you.
Notifications: if you allow notifications, we store a push token that your iPhone gives the app, with a note of whether it is a test or live token. We use it only to tell you about a friend's room invitation or a friend request being accepted. You can switch notifications off in iPhone Settings at any time.
Email news (optional): on the sign-in screen there is a separate box, empty by default. If you tick it, we store that you said yes and the date and time, and we may email you Sipstars news and first invitations to private tastings and the community opening. You can withdraw your choice by writing to bobrova.darya@gmail.com, and we will stop sending news. Signing in does not require ticking it.
Language: the language you pick in the app is saved on your device. The app follows your iPhone language by default.
If you scan a bottle: the photo is sent for text recognition so we can read the label. The image is processed to extract text. Recognised label text may appear in our server logs. Please photograph only the bottle label, without people or other personal information in view.
Location is optional. If you allow it while using the iPhone app, your device asks Apple to identify the city and country from your location so the app can show a nearby featured winery or wine bar. The app matches the featured cards on your device; this feature does not send your coordinates to the Sipstars database or save a location history. You can turn location access off in iPhone Settings and still play. We do not access your contacts or your browsing activity on other sites.
How we use Google user data
Data received from Google is used solely to create and operate your Sipstars account: to identify you when you return, to show your name and picture in tasting rooms and to friends you connect with, and to attach your wine cellar to you. Google user data is never sold, never used for advertising, and never shared with third parties for their own purposes.
Sipstars' use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Why we are allowed to process it
We process your data to provide the service you asked for, and, where relevant, on the basis of your separate consent for optional features, such as email news. You can withdraw that consent without closing your account.
Who else is involved
- Supabase — stores the database and handles sign-in.
- Netlify — hosts the website.
- Google Cloud Vision — reads text from bottle-label photos.
- Google or Apple Sign-In — authenticates you if you choose to sign in.
- Anthropic (Claude) — analyses wine aromas and answers wine searches.
We use these services to run Sipstars. The next section explains the wine-recognition requests in plain words.
AI and data outside the EU
When you scan a bottle, the label photo is sent to Google Cloud Vision to read its text. Wine queries, including text read from a label, may be sent to Anthropic to identify the wine and find tasting information on the web. These requests do not add your Sipstars profile name, email address, account identifier or cellar. A photo or query can still contain personal information if you include it yourself. Google and Anthropic may process this information outside the European Economic Area. Google Cloud Vision states that immediate-response images are processed in memory, not persisted to disk, and are not used to train its models. Anthropic's commercial terms include a data processing addendum and standard contractual clauses for transfers where required. Anthropic states that API data is not used for training by default, and is normally deleted within 30 days, with contractual, safety and legal exceptions. These provider rules do not mean that all service records are erased immediately when you delete a Sipstars account.
How long we keep it
Your account, cellar and account-linked social information are kept while your account exists. Wine-information reports are scheduled for removal after 30 days, and related report-event records after 24 hours. Operational wine-query records may remain in our database; we do not currently set an automatic deletion period for those records. Administrative backup copies are not currently removed automatically by the in-app deletion process. You can contact us about removal of those copies. Our service providers may keep limited records under their own retention rules, including for security or legal reasons. You can request deletion in the app: Profile, then Delete account. You can also write to bobrova.darya@gmail.com with a deletion request or if the in-app request cannot be completed.
Your rights
If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you have the right to access your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to its processing, and receive a copy in a portable format. To exercise any of these, write to bobrova.darya@gmail.com. You also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority.
Storage on your device
The app stores a small amount of information on your device: your sign-in session, your language choice, your block list, your email-news choice, and, if you play as a guest, the display name you chose and an anonymous identifier so your score is counted correctly during a tasting. On the website we do not use advertising or tracking cookies.
Children
Sipstars is about wine and is intended for adults of legal drinking age. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.
Changes
If this policy changes, we will update the date at the top of this page.