Privacy rules, explained

On a race, Findable means anyone can find you by name and see you on the race’s live map; off, only the people you choose see you. A race is one shared event, so your friends can find you among everyone else on race day. Some people would rather not be found by name, so it’s your call. The app asks you, Yes or No, when you join a race, and it counts for that race only. Change it on the race itself: open the race in the app or on the web and use its Findable switch. The “Turn on Findable” button in your Good luck email opens it for that race.

When you start recording on a race’s route without joining it first (your phone or your Garmin), you’re put in that race, and this setting decides who sees you there. So you can just press Start on race day, with nothing to set up. Off, you’re still on the race, but only people with your link see you.

When you’re not Findable, you’re seen only by people with your follow link and by followers you approved. Your family and friends can watch you without the whole world seeing where you are.

On Ride live and Run live your dot shows only while you’re moving, never in your first kilometre and never within 1 km of where you started. Most rides and runs start at home. Strava hides your start and finish; we do the same, and your dot never sits still outside your door. Built in, always on. When you go live on a race by just starting on its route, the race never sees your first kilometre or anything within 1 km of where you started. A private event hides its first and last kilometre too.

When you’re in on a club ride or run and press Start, the club’s members see you live on the club’s map. Your club can see who’s out and where, without anyone else seeing you.

After you finish a race you stay on its live map for a day; if you stopped before the finish, for 6 hours. On a club’s map, finishers stay 6 hours on Windline. So the people who missed your finish can still see it and send their congratulations. Built in.

A private ride, run or race never shows on livedot, on your livedot link or in search: only the people you give its link to see it. Some rides are just for you, or for a few friends. Choose who can watch in the event’s own settings, in the app or on the web. On Windline, a private ride’s link goes quiet two days after the ride, and you can switch it off or make a new one any time.

livedot.me/yourname is your own page: it shows your full name and only what you made public, such as the races you’re Findable on, never a private one. One easy link for everyone who wants to follow you, which you can share anywhere.

Your follow link (livedot.me/f/ and a code) lets anyone you send it to follow you, with no account. The code can’t be guessed, so only the people you send it to have it.

When you give someone a tap on the back, they see your first name and last initial, such as “Thandi M.” Enough for them to know who cheered, without your full name going to people you may not know.

Anyone who can see you live can give you a tap on the back, signed in or not, while you’re live and for a day after you finish. It’s the cheer from the side of the road, for people who can’t be there. Rate limits stop anyone flooding you.

Block someone and they can’t follow you or tap you again; report anyone or anything that isn’t right. You stay in control of who reaches you, and every report reaches our team.

Your Garmin can show how many people are watching you live, but never who they are or where. It’s a boost to know people are watching, without anyone being tracked for watching. Built in. A watcher counts for 15 minutes after they last looked, and the count is gone within a day.

The raw positions your phone or Garmin sends are deleted after 7 days. We need them to place you on the map, and not for anything else: no advertising, never sold. Automatic. A Windline Ride live you don’t save is deleted as soon as you finish.

After 30 days a live session keeps only its summary: no line, no last position and no names of who tapped you. Your result and your tap count are worth keeping; the path you took is not. Automatic.

A report is kept for a year, then deleted. Long enough to spot someone who keeps causing trouble. Automatic.

Deleting your account removes your live sessions, your links, your followers, your blocks and your livedot link, straight away. It’s your data. Reports you made stay, without your name, in case someone needs protecting.

Before any page view or error goes to our analytics, follow codes, private links, sign-in tokens and every query string are taken out of the address. A follow code is the key to someone’s live position, so it never leaves our servers. Built in, always on. On livedot.me, Cookie settings in the footer controls analytics in your browser.