Privacy Policy for BackRow
Last Updated: September 11, 2026
BackRow LLC ("BackRow," "we," "our," or "us") respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect information when you use the BackRow mobile application, website, and related services (collectively, the "Platform").
By using BackRow, you acknowledge the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
1. Information We Collect
Account Information
When you create a student account, we collect information necessary to create, verify, and maintain your account, including:
Username;
Email address;
University or educational institution; and
Authentication credentials.
Student users are required to register using an eligible .edu email address. We use this requirement, together with university information where applicable, to help verify or establish affiliation with an educational institution.
The .edu email requirement does not necessarily apply to authorized advertising, recruiting, or other business partners.
Passwords are handled through our authentication infrastructure and are not stored by BackRow in plain text.
Age and Agreement Checks
We use the date of birth you provide during signup to check that you meet the minimum age. It is transmitted for validation but is not stored on your account. On the website, a temporary, HTTP-only signup cookie carries this date between signup steps and expires within one hour or is cleared on successful signup.
We keep a record of the agreement version you accepted and the acceptance time. When updated documents require review, BackRow asks you to review and acknowledge them before continuing in the updated app. You can access support and account-deletion instructions without accepting an update.
Profile Information
You may choose to provide additional profile information, including:
College year;
Major; and
Other profile information that BackRow may make available from time to time.
Unless otherwise indicated, optional profile information is not required to use the Platform.
Your username does not need to contain your legal or real name and may be pseudonymous. However, BackRow maintains the internal association between your account, username, and registered email address.
Your username and university may be visible to other users. Other profile information may be visible depending on the information you provide and the Platform's applicable features and privacy settings.
Course Information
We collect and store information about courses, communities, or course sections that you join or associate with your account.
Your course memberships are not displayed publicly to other users merely because you have joined a course.
However, activity you choose to make visible, such as posting or commenting within a course or community, may allow other users to determine or infer courses or communities in which you participate.
Posts and Comments
We collect and store posts, comments, attachments, and other content that you submit to public or community areas of BackRow.
Posts and comments may be visible to other users according to the Platform's features and your applicable privacy settings.
Posts may also be associated with and displayed on your profile unless you use available settings to hide them from your profile.
Hiding a post from your profile does not necessarily make the post private. For example, the post may remain visible within the course, community, feed, thread, or other area where it was posted.
Votes and Saved Content
We store information about posts and comments you vote on and content you save.
Your individual votes and saved content are private and are not displayed to other users as activity associated with your account. Aggregate information, such as the total number of votes on a post or comment, may be displayed publicly.
Private Messages
We collect and store messages you send through BackRow so they can be delivered to and accessed by the intended participants.
Private messages are not publicly visible.
BackRow may access, preserve, or review private messages when reasonably necessary to:
Investigate a user report;
Address abuse, fraud, or security issues;
Enforce our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines;
Protect the rights, property, or safety of BackRow, our users, or others; or
Comply with applicable law or valid legal process.
Technical and Usage Information
When you use the Platform, we and our service providers may automatically collect certain technical and usage information, which may include:
IP address;
Device type;
Operating system;
Browser type;
App version;
Login, access, and activity timestamps;
Diagnostic information;
Crash information;
Security logs; and
Information about how you interact with the Platform.
We use this information to operate, secure, troubleshoot, analyze, and improve BackRow.
BackRow does not currently collect precise GPS location through the Platform. However, technical information such as an IP address may provide an approximate geographic location.
Push Notifications
If you enable push notifications, BackRow and its notification service providers process your device or push-notification token, platform, and notification-delivery status to deliver messages, activity, account, course, community, and other service notifications. You can turn push notifications off in your device settings.
Advertising Identifiers and Choices
When AdMob is enabled, Google may process a device or advertising identifier, IP-address-derived coarse location, ad impressions, ad interactions, app interactions, and diagnostic or performance information to serve, measure, and improve ads. The mobile app may use AdMob mediation, through which AdMob can select Liftoff Monetize (formerly Vungle), Meta Audience Network, or ironSource/iSX to serve an ad. Those advertising partners may process device or advertising identifiers, IP-address-derived coarse location, ad and app interactions, and diagnostic or performance information for advertising delivery, measurement, fraud prevention, and, where permitted, personalization.
On iOS, BackRow requests App Tracking Transparency permission before allowing personalized AdMob requests. If you decline that permission, or enable BackRow's "Do not sell or share my personal information for advertising" setting, BackRow requests non-personalized or restricted data processing from Google and sends the applicable privacy signals to supported mediation partners. These settings do not necessarily stop all data processing or mediation, do not delete information previously collected, and do not control an advertising partner's processing except as provided by that partner and applicable law. Non-personalized ads may still use limited information needed to serve, measure, and protect advertising.
2. How We Use Your Information
We may use information we collect to:
Provide, operate, maintain, and improve BackRow;
Create, authenticate, and manage accounts;
Help verify or establish affiliation with an educational institution;
Associate your account with your university;
Provide university-specific courses, communities, content, and Platform features;
Personalize your experience and determine relevant content;
Provide course and community functionality;
Deliver posts, comments, private messages, notifications, and other Platform features;
Maintain private voting and saved-content functionality;
Moderate content and investigate reports;
Detect, prevent, and address spam, fraud, abuse, security threats, and violations of our policies;
Communicate important account, authentication, security, and service information;
Understand how the Platform is used and improve its functionality and performance;
Select and display relevant advertisements, sponsored content, recruiting opportunities, or other commercial content;
Comply with legal obligations and valid legal requests; and
Protect the rights, property, safety, and integrity of BackRow, our users, and others.
3. Advertising, Sponsored Content, and Recruiting
BackRow may display advertisements, sponsored posts, recruiting opportunities, or other commercial content.
We may use information such as your:
University;
Major;
College year;
Course interests or memberships; and
Activity on BackRow
to determine which advertisements, sponsored content, recruiting opportunities, or other commercial content may be relevant to you.
For example, an advertiser or recruiter may ask BackRow to show content to users at a particular university or to users who meet general criteria, such as university, major, or college year. BackRow may determine which users receive that content without providing the advertiser or recruiter with the identities or underlying personal information of those users.
Advertising partners and recruiters do not receive access to your private messages, individual votes, saved content, or nonpublic course memberships merely because they advertise or recruit through BackRow.
Recruiters may use BackRow to present recruiting opportunities to relevant groups of users. BackRow does not currently provide recruiters with a feature that allows them to directly message student users through the Platform.
When no BackRow advertiser or recruiter has purchased a sponsored placement for a particular slot, BackRow may fill that slot using a third-party advertising network, such as Google AdMob (in the mobile app) or Google AdSense (on the website). In the mobile app, AdMob may use mediation partners, including Liftoff Monetize, Meta Audience Network, and ironSource/iSX, to serve an ad. These networks may use cookies, mobile advertising identifiers (such as Apple's IDFA or Android's Advertising ID), IP addresses, and similar technologies to select and measure the ads they show, as described further in Section 12. You can limit advertising personalization by turning on "Do not sell or share my personal information for advertising" in your BackRow profile settings, and on iOS, by declining the App Tracking Transparency permission prompt when asked. These choices do not necessarily prevent all advertising-related processing.
BackRow does not currently sell lists containing student users' email addresses or other directly identifying account information to advertisers, recruiters, data brokers, or other third parties.
If our practices regarding the sale or disclosure of personal information materially change in the future, we will update this Privacy Policy and provide any notice, consent mechanism, opt-out, or other privacy choice required by applicable law or applicable platform requirements before applying the new practice to your information.
4. How We Share Information
We may disclose information in the circumstances described below.
Other Users
Information you intentionally make public or visible through BackRow may be viewed by other users.
Depending on the Platform's features and your settings, this may include:
Your username;
Your university or educational institution;
Profile information you choose to provide or display;
Posts;
Comments; and
Other public activity.
Your registered .edu email address, private messages, individual votes, saved content, and nonpublic course memberships are not displayed publicly merely because you use the Platform.
Service Providers
We use third-party service providers to help us operate, secure, maintain, and improve BackRow.
These currently include:
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Used for application hosting, authentication infrastructure, databases, file storage, security, logging, and related cloud services.
Expo and platform notification providers (including Apple): Used to deliver push notifications. Notification tokens, notification content, routing identifiers, and delivery information are processed for this purpose. Device settings control whether notification previews appear on your lock screen.
Vercel: Used to host and deploy portions of the BackRow website.
Google (AdMob and AdSense): Used to serve advertisements in feed placements when no direct BackRow advertiser or recruiter has purchased that placement, as described in Section 3. Google may collect and use device or advertising identifiers, cookies, and similar technologies for this purpose, as described in Section 12.
Mobile advertising mediation partners (Liftoff Monetize, Meta Audience Network, and ironSource/iSX): When selected by AdMob mediation, these partners may serve and measure mobile advertisements. They may process device or advertising identifiers, IP-address-derived coarse location, ad and app interactions, and diagnostic or performance information for advertising delivery, measurement, fraud prevention, and, where permitted, personalization.
We may add, replace, or use additional service providers as BackRow develops, including providers of cloud infrastructure, caching, communications, notifications, analytics, security, database, storage, and other technical services.
These providers may process information as necessary to provide services to us. We expect service providers handling personal information on our behalf to use that information appropriately and subject to applicable contractual and legal requirements.
Legal, Safety, and Security Disclosures
We may disclose information if we reasonably believe doing so is necessary to:
Comply with applicable laws or regulations;
Respond to a subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process;
Respond to lawful requests from governmental or law-enforcement authorities;
Investigate fraud, abuse, security incidents, or violations of our policies;
Protect the rights, property, or safety of BackRow, our users, or others; or
Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Business Transfers
If BackRow is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, sale of assets, or similar corporate transaction, information may be disclosed or transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.
5. Pseudonymous Usernames
BackRow allows users to choose usernames that do not contain their real or legal names.
Using a pseudonymous username does not make your account anonymous to BackRow.
BackRow maintains internal information that associates your username and Platform activity with your account and registered email address.
Authorized BackRow personnel may access this association when reasonably necessary for moderation, safety, security, Platform administration, enforcement of our policies, or legal compliance.
Other users do not receive access to your registered email address through your username unless you independently choose to disclose it.
6. Data Retention
We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to:
Provide and operate the Platform;
Maintain your account;
Fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy;
Protect the security and integrity of BackRow;
Prevent fraud, spam, and abuse;
Investigate reports or violations;
Resolve disputes;
Enforce our agreements; and
Comply with legal obligations.
Different categories of information may be retained for different periods.
Account information and associated Platform information generally may be retained while your account remains active.
Security, abuse-prevention, and moderation records may be retained after account deletion when reasonably necessary to prevent repeated abuse, investigate incidents, protect users, enforce our agreements, or comply with legal obligations.
Information contained in backups may remain for a limited period until those backups are overwritten or deleted through our normal backup and disaster-recovery processes.
We may retain aggregated or de-identified information that can no longer reasonably be associated with you.
We seek to avoid retaining personal information longer than reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it is maintained.
7. Account Deletion and Your Choices
Updating Your Information
You may view or update certain account and profile information through the Platform's settings.
Account Deletion
To delete your BackRow account in the mobile app, open your profile menu, choose Delete account, enter your current password, and confirm. Deleting the app from your device does not delete your account. You can also request account and associated data deletion without reinstalling the app by emailing backrowca@gmail.com from your registered address with the subject “BackRow account deletion.” We may verify account ownership; never send your password.
When an account is deleted, we will delete or de-identify information associated with the account as appropriate, subject to information we are permitted or required to retain for legitimate purposes such as security, abuse prevention, legal compliance, dispute resolution, enforcement of our agreements, or backup and disaster recovery.
The account-deletion process removes your posts, comments, sent messages, and associated uploaded media from active Platform systems. Copies independently saved or shared by other users may remain outside BackRow’s control.
Some information may not disappear immediately from backup systems but may remain until those backups are overwritten or deleted through our normal processes.
You may also contact us at backrowca@gmail.com with questions or requests relating to account deletion or your personal information.
Email Communications
We currently use student email addresses primarily for account verification, authentication, security, and service-related communications.
We do not currently use student email addresses to send third-party promotional marketing emails.
If BackRow introduces promotional email communications in the future, we will provide applicable choices for managing those communications.
Certain essential account, security, legal, or service communications may still be sent when necessary.
Advertising Choices
Use the advertising opt-out in your profile settings to request non-personalized or restricted-data-processing advertising from Google and send the applicable privacy signal to supported mediation partners. Where Google requires a regional consent form, the mobile app offers Ad privacy choices in Settings to review or change those choices. iOS tracking permission can also be changed in device settings. These choices do not necessarily disable mediation or all third-party processing. Non-personalized advertising can still involve device information, coarse location, measurement, and fraud prevention; it does not mean no data is processed.
8. Data Security
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, loss, destruction, or misuse.
These safeguards may include measures such as:
Encryption in transit;
Authentication controls;
Access restrictions;
Database security controls; and
Other security practices appropriate to the nature of the Platform and information involved.
However, no internet transmission, electronic storage system, or security measure can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security.
9. Children's Privacy
BackRow is intended only for individuals who are at least 16 years old.
Individuals under the age of 16 may not create a student account or use BackRow.
We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 16.
If we learn that we have collected personal information from an individual under 16 in violation of this policy, we will take reasonable steps to delete the information.
If you believe an individual under 16 has created an account or provided personal information to BackRow, please contact us at backrowca@gmail.com.
10. Your Privacy Rights
Depending on where you live and applicable law, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information.
These rights may include the ability to:
Request access to certain personal information we maintain about you;
Request correction of inaccurate personal information;
Request deletion of certain personal information;
Obtain information regarding certain uses or disclosures of personal information;
Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; or
Exercise other privacy choices provided by applicable law.
These rights may be subject to exceptions and may apply only in certain jurisdictions or circumstances.
To submit a privacy request that cannot be completed through the Platform, contact us at backrowca@gmail.com.
We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests.
We will not unlawfully discriminate against you for exercising applicable privacy rights.
11. Sale of Personal Information
BackRow does not currently sell users' personal information, including email addresses, to advertisers, recruiters, data brokers, or other third parties for monetary consideration.
Enabling a third-party advertising network such as Google AdMob or Google AdSense, or an AdMob mediation partner such as Liftoff Monetize, Meta Audience Network, or ironSource/iSX, as described in Section 3 and Section 4, may constitute a "sale" or "sharing" of personal information under some state privacy laws (for example, the California Consumer Privacy Act), even though BackRow does not receive payment for it. You can opt out of this sharing at any time using the "Do not sell or share my personal information for advertising" control in your BackRow profile settings ("Advertising"). In the mobile app, turning this on requests non-personalized or restricted-data-processing advertising and sends the applicable signal to supported mediation partners going forward; it does not necessarily disable mediation or all third-party processing. On the website, it prevents new AdSense requests.
BackRow may change or expand its business practices as the Platform develops.
If we introduce a practice that constitutes a sale, sharing, or other regulated disclosure of personal information, we will update our disclosures and implement any notices, consent mechanisms, opt-outs, or other privacy rights required by applicable law or applicable platform requirements before engaging in that practice.
An update to this Privacy Policy by itself will not constitute user consent where applicable law or platform requirements require separate consent.
12. Cookies and Similar Technologies
Our website and service providers may use cookies, local storage, session storage, or similar technologies where necessary to authenticate users, maintain sessions, remember preferences, provide Platform functionality, maintain security, or understand the operation and performance of the Platform.
The availability of controls for these technologies may depend on your browser, device, and the technologies being used.
BackRow's network-ad fallback (Section 3) uses Google AdSense on the website and Google AdMob in the mobile app. Mobile AdMob mediation may also select Liftoff Monetize, Meta Audience Network, or ironSource/iSX. These networks may set cookies or read device/advertising identifiers (such as Apple's IDFA or Android's Advertising ID), IP addresses, and similar technologies to select and measure the ads they show. You can limit advertising personalization using the "Advertising" opt-out described in Section 3 and Section 11, and on iOS, using the system App Tracking Transparency permission prompt. These choices do not necessarily prevent all advertising-related processing.
On the website, network ads remain disabled until the configured consent manager reports an eligible consent state. Use “Privacy and cookie settings” on the Privacy Policy or Support page to review available cookie choices. BackRow also suppresses new AdSense requests when your browser sends Global Privacy Control or you enable the account advertising opt-out. These choices do not remove information previously collected.
If BackRow introduces additional analytics, advertising, or tracking technologies, we may update this Privacy Policy and provide additional notices or choices where required.
Information may be processed in the United States and other countries where our providers operate. Applicable privacy protections may differ by country; we apply safeguards required by applicable law for international transfers.
13. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as BackRow, our technology, legal requirements, or our privacy practices change.
When we make changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy.
If we make material changes to how we collect, use, or disclose personal information, we may provide additional notice through the Platform, by email, or through another appropriate method.
Where applicable law or platform requirements require consent for a new use or disclosure of personal information, updating this Privacy Policy alone will not constitute consent to that new practice.
14. Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns, requests, or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or BackRow's privacy practices, please contact:
BackRow LLC
Indiana, United States
Email: backrowca@gmail.com