Privacy Policy | Pow with Friends

Pow with Friends is an app for planning mountain days and ski and snowboard trips with friends. It is operated by Bonne Vague Ventures, LLC (“Bonne Vague,” “we,” “us”). This policy explains what information the Pow with Friends app and website collect, how we use and share it, and how you can delete it.

Some features described here are available only in preview or test versions of the app and may not be available to everyone yet. This policy describes them so it stays accurate wherever they are offered.

1. Information we collect

Account information

Email address, username, display name and, if you create one, a password. We store passwords only as salted, one-way hashes.
Your birthday and sex (you can choose “would rather not say”). We use your birthday to confirm you meet our minimum age.
Whether you opted in to marketing emails, and when.
How you found us, such as a referral link, invite, QR code or campaign.

Profile information

Your bio, home resort, riding stance, discipline, terrain level, pass type and app theme.
Profile photos and avatars, and the visibility you choose for them.
Your privacy settings, such as whether your friends list is shown and whether people can find you through Find Friends or username search.

Content you create

Mountain days: title, date and time, resort, notes, snow plan, visibility, RSVPs, invites, comments, reactions and mentions. People you share a link with can RSVP and comment as guests with a display name, without an account.
Trips: destination, dates, members, flights (airline, flight number, airports and times), lodging, transport and drivers, carpool pickup points, bookings, activities, notes and shared expenses (amounts, who paid and how costs are split). Pow with Friends does not process payments.
Groups: ride groups, their members and group avatars.
Messages: direct and group messages, including photo, video and voice-note attachments. Messages are stored on our servers so they can be delivered to the people in the conversation. They are not end-to-end encrypted.
Marketplace listings: gear you list, including brand, model, price, specifications, description, links, up to four photos, comments and messages about the listing. Pow with Friends does not process payments for listings.
Reports, blocks and feedback: reports you file (reason and details), people you block, app feedback and ratings, and resort or ride-spot requests.

Phone number (if you verify one)

If you add and verify a phone number, we store it with its country and a keyed hash used for friend matching, plus whether people who have your number can find you (see Finding friends).

Notifications

If you allow notifications, we store your device’s push token and platform, and record when you open or act on a notification. We also keep your notification preferences.

Technical information

Account session records (stored as hashes of your session tokens) and when your account was last active.
IP addresses, used transiently for rate limiting and abuse prevention. For rate-limit counters we store only a one-way hash of the address.
Server logs that may include your user ID and the requests your app made. We keep them to operate and secure the service.
Crash and error diagnostics, if enabled in your version of the app. We configure these to exclude personal data such as phone numbers and secrets by default.
How you interact with friend suggestions, such as when a suggestion is shown or tapped, so we can improve them.

We do not use third-party advertising or analytics SDKs, we do not collect advertising identifiers, and we do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites.

You can sign in with an email and password, or with one of the services below. We verify each sign-in directly with the provider, and we never receive your password for that service.

Apple: we receive a stable Apple account identifier and the email you choose to share, which may be an Apple private-relay address. We store an encrypted Apple token so we can revoke Sign in with Apple when you delete your account.
Google: we receive your Google account identifier, email address and name. We use the name only to suggest a username.
Facebook: with your permission, we receive your public_profile (an identifier specific to Pow with Friends, and your name) and, if you allow it, your email.
- We store the Pow with Friends–specific Facebook identifier and the email Facebook shares.
- While you finish signing up, we hold your name for up to 30 minutes.
- We never store or log Facebook access tokens.
- We do not use Facebook App Events or advertising features, and we do not post to Facebook.
- The Facebook software in our iOS app contacts Meta when the app starts to load its configuration, even if you do not use Facebook Login.
Surf with Friends: Pow with Friends and Surf with Friends are both operated by Bonne Vague. If you choose “Continue with Surf with Friends,” Surf with Friends shares your account identifier, username, display name and email with Pow with Friends so we can create or connect your account. Pow with Friends still asks for its own signup details.
- A shared identity service records which of our apps your account is connected to, so the same person is recognized across them.
- Your friends, content and settings are not currently shared between the two apps.
- Accounts created this way start with Find Friends discovery and username search turned off.

3. Finding friends

We suggest people you may know based on mutual friends and a shared home resort or home city. You can also look people up by username if they allow it.

Contacts (optional)

If you choose Connect Contacts and grant access, the app reads the phone numbers in your contacts.

Contact names never leave your device.
The phone numbers are sent to our servers over an encrypted connection. There they are converted in memory to keyed hashes and compared with verified Pow with Friends phone numbers.
We do not store or log your contacts’ phone numbers.
You see which contacts already use Pow with Friends, and you decide whether to add them.
Invitations you send to contacts use your own device’s messaging app.

Facebook friends (optional)

If you tap Find Facebook friends, we ask Facebook for the user_friends permission. This is separate from signing in.

Meta only shares friends who also use Pow with Friends through Facebook and who granted the same permission. We never receive your full Facebook friend list.
We match the identifiers Meta shares against Facebook accounts connected to Pow with Friends, and show you those people’s Pow with Friends profiles.
We do not store Facebook friend identifiers or your friend list, and we never add friends automatically.
People who turned off Find Friends discovery, blocked accounts and deleted accounts are never shown.
You can decline the permission and still use Pow with Friends normally.

4. Location

Pow with Friends does not track your location in the background. Location access is “while using the app” only.

If you tap Use my location while choosing a trip spot such as a carpool pickup or lodging, the app reads your current position once.
If you have already allowed location access, the map may center on your last known position.
Your location is saved only if you save that spot to a trip.
When you search for a place, your search text and the map area you are viewing are sent to Google Places to find results.
Resorts and mountains are chosen from our catalog, not from your device’s location.

5. How we use information

Create and secure your account, sign you in, and verify your age and phone number.
Provide the app’s features: profiles, friends, mountain days, trips, groups, messages, marketplace listings, snow and resort information, and notifications.
Suggest friends and help people you know find you, according to your settings.
Send service emails, such as password resets, username reminders and email-change confirmations, and marketing emails only if you opt in.
Keep the community safe: review reports, moderate content (including reported messages), prevent spam and abuse, and enforce our Terms.
Respond to support, privacy and deletion requests.
Diagnose problems and improve the app’s reliability and features.
Comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising.

6. What other people can see

Pow with Friends is a social app.

Your display name, username, profile photo and home resort can be seen by other users, subject to your privacy settings.
Mountain days, trips, groups, comments, RSVPs and messages are visible to the people they are shared with.
Marketplace listings are visible to other users.
Guests you send a share link to can see that mountain day’s details.

We use these providers to run Pow with Friends. They process information for us, for the purposes described:

Cloudflare: hosting, our API, databases, photo and attachment storage, real-time messaging and this website.
Expo: app updates and push notifications. Push notifications are delivered through Apple Push Notification service and Google Firebase Cloud Messaging, and message notifications may include a preview of the message.
Apple, Google and Meta: the sign-in and friend features you choose to use, described above.
Google Maps Platform: maps and place search for trips.
Telnyx: sends the text-message code when you verify a phone number, and receives that number.
Resend: delivers our emails, and receives your email address and the message content.
Sentry: crash and error diagnostics, where enabled.

Snow, weather and avalanche information comes from public and commercial weather providers and avalanche centers. We request it by resort location, and we do not send them information about you.

We may also disclose information:

if required by law or to protect the safety, rights or property of our users, the public or Bonne Vague;
as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to this policy.

8. Security

We protect your information in several ways:

We use encryption in transit.
We store passwords and session tokens as hashes.
We rate-limit sensitive actions.
We limit who can access production systems.

No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password and keep your devices secure.

9. Deletion and retention

You can delete your account at any time in the app from Profile → Settings → Delete Account. Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone. See Data Deletion for the full steps, exactly what is removed, and how to get help if you can’t access the app.

We keep other information while your account is active. After deletion we keep only:

the limited records described on the Data Deletion page, such as messages you already sent to others;
what we need to meet legal obligations, resolve disputes, prevent abuse and enforce our agreements.

Deleted data can remain in backups and operational logs for a limited period until they are overwritten.

10. Your choices and rights

Edit your profile, and choose who can find you and see your friends, in Settings.
Turn notifications on or off in the app and in your device settings.
Location, contacts and Facebook friend access are optional, and you can withdraw them in your device or Facebook settings.
You can ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete it. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under local law.

To make a request, email info@surfwithfriends.com from the email address on your account. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

11. Children

Pow with Friends is not for children under 13. We check age at signup and do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. Users under 18 need a parent’s or guardian’s permission. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes and contact

We may update this policy as Pow with Friends changes. We will revise the date above and, for significant changes, let you know in the app.

Questions or requests: info@surfwithfriends.com. Bonne Vague Ventures, LLC operates both Pow with Friends and Surf with Friends.