Privacy Policy

01Who we are

SimWerk is the trade name of PicklePals INC, a company based in California. In this policy, "SimWerk", "we" and "us" mean PicklePals INC (DBA SimWerk).

This policy covers:

• this website, www.simwerkus.com, including the configurator;
• the SimWerk app at app.simwerkus.com, where drivers keep their laps;
• the rigs at SimWerk Pro Shops, which record laps for the driver checked in; and
• emails and messages you send us.

02What we collect

We collect what you give us, what the rigs record while you drive, and the basic technical information every browser sends.

When you fill in a form on this website

Each form asks only for what we need to answer you.

When you send one of these forms, or request a quote from the configurator, your e-mail app opens a message to info@simwerkus.com with what you entered (for a quote, also your SimWerk Code and a link to your build). If you opened the site from one of our links that names where it was posted, such as the QR code on a Pro Shop screen, the message also names that link, for example "Source: asoc-01". Nothing is sent until you press send in your e-mail app, and we receive it as an ordinary e-mail.

When you use the SimWerk app

At a Pro Shop, one QR code (app.simwerkus.com/join/…) takes you through signing up, your date of birth and the Pro Shop's waiver before your first drive. The app keeps:

Your account

Email address, password (stored only as a one-way bcrypt hash, never the password itself), display name and date of birth. We ask for your date of birth when you sign up; an account made before we asked adds it once, before its next check-in. It cannot be changed in the app afterwards.

Your profile

Your handle (the public nickname you pick), the color of your initials avatar, your home Pro Shop if you choose one, and the school teams you asked to join or have belonged to, if any. Optionally, your Instagram username: only drivers 18 or older can add one, and you can change or remove it at any time. You always see it on your own profile. Other people see it only on your profile and your lap proof pages (what a shared lap's link or QR code opens), and only while your lap history is public, staff have not hidden your name, and you are 18 or older. It never shows on leaderboards, team pages, rig screens, the Pro Shop TV, this website or the preview of a shared link. Your profile is included in Download my data and removed when you delete your account.

Check-ins

When you scan the QR code on a rig: which Pro Shop and rig, when your session started and ended, and when you were last active in it.

Waiver confirmations

Before your first check-in at a Pro Shop, you confirm in the app that you signed its waiver. We record which Pro Shop, the address of the waiver form you were shown, the time, the version of the app, and your phone's IP address at that moment.

Your laps

For every lap you drive while checked in: game, track, car, lap and sector times, whether the lap was valid and whether it is Verified, and where and when you drove it.

Telemetry

A trace of each lap: where the car was on the track, its speed, throttle, brake and gear. It describes your driving in the game, not where you are in the real world.

Help requests

When you tap I need help at a Pro Shop: which Pro Shop and rig, your visit, when, and the reason if you pick one (a problem with the rig, the game or payment, feeling hurt or unwell, or something else). "Hurt or unwell" can be health information: we use it only to send help to you at once. Staff at that Pro Shop see your display name, your rig and the reason while the request is open; the check-in board on the Pro Shop TV shows only the rig and the time. We also record whether and when staff answered, and who.

Free time from staff

When Pro Shop staff give you free driving time: how many minutes, at which Pro Shop and rig, on which visit, when, why (from a short list), an optional short note, and which staff member gave it. Staff at that Pro Shop see it on their list for the day. It is never public.

Remote launches

When a rig lets you start or stop the game from your phone: the car and paint, track, session length, time of day, weather and driving aids you picked, which rig and session, when, and whether it worked. The rig's computer receives your display name to use as the driver name in the game, and it stays in the game's settings file on that computer until the next launch.

Sign-ins

When you signed in or registered on each device, when that device last renewed its sign-in, when the sign-in expires, and when and why it ended (you logged out, deleted your account, a sign-in token was used twice, or we signed you out). We store no IP address, device name or browser with a sign-in.

Laps driven while nobody is checked in are stored without a driver and never appear on leaderboards.

Waivers

Every driver signs the Pro Shop's waiver before driving, and drivers aged 16–17 need a parent or guardian to sign it too. Waivers are signed online with WaiverForever, a waiver service: you type your details and sign directly on WaiverForever. The SimWerk app only opens the waiver form, sends no information to WaiverForever, and does not store the signed waiver. It does keep your confirmation that you signed it (see "Waiver confirmations" above), and it tells drivers aged 16–17 that a parent or guardian must co-sign.

When you email or message us

If you email info@simwerkus.com, we receive your email address, your message and anything you attach. If you message us on Instagram, Instagram handles that conversation under its own privacy policy.

When you visit

Like every website, ours receives the technical information your browser sends with each request: your IP address, the page you asked for and your browser type. The SimWerk app's server logs one line per request with its IP address, the kind of request, the result and how long it took. That log never contains what you typed, your password or your sign-in tokens. Pages that show the live board ask the SimWerk app's server for it every 15 seconds while they are on screen (the Pro Shop TV every 10 seconds), so that log has a line for each of those requests too. A few security events, such as a staff action or a sign-in token that was used twice, are also logged with the account ID involved.

03How we use it

• To answer you. We reply to your message, confirm your booking, prepare your quote, follow up on a venue or school request, and let you know when the apps are ready if you joined the waitlist.
• To run the SimWerk app. We sign you in, give you credit for the laps you drive while checked in, mark Verified laps, start the car and track you pick on your rig, send staff to your rig when you ask for help, and show leaderboards, profiles and lap analysis that compares your laps with faster ones.
• To apply our Pro Shop rules. No driving under 16, and every driver signs the waiver before driving. We use your date of birth to check that you are old enough for an account (13) and to drive (16), and to tell drivers aged 16–17 that a parent or guardian must co-sign the waiver. Check-in at a Pro Shop waits until you have confirmed that you signed its waiver.
• To see which of our links bring people in. When a form or quote e-mail names the link you came from, for example "Source: asoc-01", we count it to learn which Pro Shop screens and posts work. The tag names the link, not you.
• To keep things working and safe. We stop spam and abuse, end a sign-in when its token is misused, find and fix errors, and check that the app is up.

We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't sell it.

04What is public

The SimWerk app is built around public leaderboards, so part of what you do there is public by design. Anyone, without signing in, can see:

• your display name, handle, avatar color and home Pro Shop, when you joined, and your profile's stats;
• your account ID, a random code in your profile's web address;
• your Instagram username, if you are 18 or older and added one: on your profile and your lap proof pages, while your lap history is public and staff have not hidden your name;
• every lap on your account: lap and sector times, game, track, car, the Pro Shop and rig, and when you drove it (if you make your lap history private, others see only your Verified laps, not your lap list or counts);
• each lap's telemetry trace, which other drivers can compare their laps with;
• your place on the leaderboards, which rank Verified laps by default, and in time-attack events;
• your school team, if you join one: its chip next to your name on leaderboards, in event results and on your profile, and your name on the team's member list; and
• who is checked in on a rig while the session is active, and who is next in line for it.

While you are checked in, your display name shows on that rig's page in the app, where anyone can see it, and on the rig's screen and on the check-in board on the Pro Shop TV. When your session ends, the rig's page no longer shows you as checked in, but the laps you drove there stay in its list of recent laps with your display name, like every lap on your account.

The live board on this website shows whether each rig is free, held for the next driver in the queue, in a session or offline, but never who is on it or who it is held for. Its leaderboards show display names, lap times and whether a lap is Verified, like the app's. Its results block shows the app's time-attack events the same way: for each class, the top drivers' display names with their team chips, cars, lap times and whether each lap is Verified, the ranked teams, and how many laps and miles were driven.

The check-in board on the Pro Shop TV shows each rig's QR code, the display name of the driver checked in on it, and who is up next. Between sessions, each rig's screen also shows this week's fastest laps at that Pro Shop, with the drivers' display names and team chips.

Your display name is public, so a nickname works fine. Event results, in the app and on this website, show each driver's display name, team chip if they joined a team, car, lap time and whether the lap is Verified.

05Who we share it with

We don't sell your personal information, we don't share it for advertising, and we don't show ads.

We use a few service providers to run SimWerk. They handle information on our behalf:

The businesses that host our Pro Shops get no access to your SimWerk app account. Staff at a Pro Shop can see the display name of the driver on each rig.

People we give staff access in the app can see every rig with the display name of the driver checked in and how long ago they were last active, and can end a session or take over a rig, for example when a driver left without ending theirs. Each of these actions is logged with the staff member's account ID.

We don't take payments on this website or in the SimWerk app. If that changes, card details will go straight to a payment processor, never to SimWerk's servers, and we will update this policy first.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, or when it is needed to protect the safety of drivers, staff or others. If SimWerk's business is sold or merged, the information would pass to the new owner under this policy.

06Cookies and browser storage

We set no cookies on this website and run no analytics, advertising or social media trackers. Everything on the site, fonts and images included, comes from our own website and app. Links to other sites, such as Instagram, maps or WaiverForever, do nothing until you click them, and those sites have their own privacy policies.

A few small items are kept in your browser, on your device, mostly in its local storage. None of them tracks you. The only ones ever sent to us are the app's two sign-in tokens, which tell the app it is you, and sw-src, which is written into a form or quote e-mail only when you send one:

The app also installs a service worker, which keeps the app's own files on your device so it opens quickly, and holds the offline copy of public data listed above. You can clear all of this in your browser's settings; afterwards you sign in to the app again.

Do Not Track. We don't track you across other websites, so the site works the same whether or not your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal.

07How long we keep it

Form messages, quote requests and other emails

We keep them in our mailbox so we can answer you and follow up on your request. You can ask us to delete them at any time.

Your SimWerk app account

Until you delete it, in the app or by asking us. Your email address, display name, date of birth and password are then removed.

Laps, telemetry, check-ins and remote launches

Kept, so leaderboards and each rig's history stay complete. After your account is deleted they stay with an anonymous account, with no name or other link to you; laps show as "Deleted driver".

Waiver confirmations

As long as your account exists. After it is deleted, we keep the record that the account confirmed each Pro Shop's waiver (the Pro Shop, the form, the time and the app version) without the IP address.

Help requests

90 days from the request; an open request expires after 60 minutes. Deleted at once if you delete your account.

Free time from staff

Kept for now with the Pro Shop's records. After your account is deleted, the record stays with an anonymous account, without its note.

Sign-ins

Kept until 30 days after the sign-in expired (after 30 days without use) or ended (you logged out, deleted your account, or were signed out), then deleted the next time anyone signs in or registers.

Backups

Our hosting provider lets us restore the database to any moment in the last 3 days, and keeps copies we export there for 7 days. Deleted information disappears from them as they roll off. We may also keep a backup copy of the database in our company Google Drive, until we delete it. If we ever restore a copy, we delete again the accounts that had been deleted after it was made.

Server logs

Kept by our hosting provider for a limited time, then deleted.

Rig computers

A rig's own log names the driver checked in until it is overwritten, and the game's settings file on the rig keeps the driver name of the last remote launch until the next one. When we copy a rig's logs to fix a problem, we delete the copy once the fix is done.

08Your choices and rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• Show it. Get a copy of the information we hold about you. In the SimWerk app, Me → Download my data gives you a file with everything the app holds about you: your profile (with your email address and date of birth), check-ins, laps with their telemetry, waiver confirmations (with the IP address recorded), the remote launches you requested, your help requests, the free time staff gave you and your sign-ins. It leaves out your password hash and sign-in tokens, and what the app does not hold: the signed waiver, server and rig logs, and backups.
• Correct it. Fix your details. The app cannot change your display name, email address or date of birth yet: email us and we will correct them. Your date of birth is set once in the app, so a wrong one is corrected by our staff.
• Delete it. Delete the messages you sent us, take you off the waitlist, or delete your SimWerk app account. In the app, Me → Delete my account asks for your password and for DELETE typed in capitals, then deletes it at once.

Or email info@simwerkus.com from the address you used with us. We will check that the request comes from you, usually by replying to that address, and we will never treat you differently for asking.

What deleting your account does. Your email address, display name, date of birth and password are removed at once, any session you have running ends, and you are signed out on every device. Your laps, their telemetry, your check-ins and remote launches stay, attached to an anonymous account with no name or other link to you; your laps show as "Deleted driver", so no one else's ranking changes. We keep the record that you confirmed each Pro Shop's waiver (the Pro Shop, the form, the time and the app version), without your IP address. The phone you delete the account on also forgets your sign-in, its offline copy and your waiver marks. The same email address can later be used for a new, unrelated account. A waiver you signed stays with WaiverForever.

Copies made before you deleted your account still hold your information for a while: the database backups described under "How long we keep it" until they roll off or are deleted, a rig's own log and game settings file until they are overwritten, and any copy of a rig's log we made to fix a problem until we delete it.

California residents

California law gives California residents the right to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose; to get a copy of it; to correct it and delete it; to opt out of its sale, or its sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising; to limit the use of sensitive personal information; and not to be discriminated against for using these rights.

We don't sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and the only sensitive information we hold, your account login and password and, if you pick it, a help request's "hurt or unwell" reason, is used only to sign you in and to send you help. To use any of these rights, email info@simwerkus.com. An authorized agent may also contact us for you. We don't give personal information to other companies for their own marketing.

What we collect, in the categories California law uses: identifiers (name, email, phone number, IP address, account ID); your date of birth (age); commercial information (quote requests and the builds in them); professional information you choose to give (business, school, role); internet activity (server logs, sign-in records and waiver confirmations); driving data from the rigs (laps, telemetry, check-ins and remote launches); and, if you pick it, a help request's "hurt or unwell" reason (health information). It comes from you, from the rigs you drive and from your browser.

09Children

SimWerk is not for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. The SimWerk app asks for your date of birth when you sign up and refuses to create an account for anyone under 13; it keeps nothing they typed into the sign-up form.

Teens aged 13–15 can have an account and follow the leaderboards, but they cannot check in on a rig. Drivers must be 16 or older, and drivers aged 16–17 need a parent or guardian to co-sign the waiver; the app tells them so before they sign.

If you think a child under 13 has given us information, email info@simwerkus.com and we will delete it.

10Security

• Connections to this website and the app are encrypted (HTTPS), and browsers are told to always use HTTPS for the app.
• Passwords are stored only as one-way bcrypt hashes. Nobody at SimWerk can read them.
• The app's sign-in token lasts 15 minutes. The token that renews it works only once and is stored on our side only as a one-way hash. If a renewal token is used a second time (other than a quick retry after a dropped connection), someone else may have a copy, so that sign-in ends for everyone holding it.
• Logging out ends your sign-in on our servers at once, and deleting your account ends all of them. (A sign-in from before September 26, 2026 cannot be ended on our servers one by one: logging out removes its token from your phone, and the token stops working 30 days after it was issued, or when you delete your account.) If you lose your phone, email us and we can sign you out everywhere.
• The app only runs its own code: its pages refuse scripts from other websites, which helps protect the sign-in tokens kept in your browser.
• The database is encrypted at rest by our hosting provider, and only SimWerk staff can reach it, signing in with two-factor authentication.
• We limit how often anyone can try to sign in, register or delete an account in the app.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information, we will tell you as the law requires.

11Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page with its effective date. If a change affects what we collect or who can see it, we will also tell SimWerk app account holders by email before it takes effect.

12Contact us