Spark Privacy Policy

We collect information you provide directly, information created through your use of Spark, and limited technical information needed to operate the service. We do not currently use analytics, crash-reporting, advertising, or attribution tools; if any such tool is introduced, this Policy will be updated first.

Account and identity information

• first name, last name, and display name
• email address
• phone number
• account identifiers linked to authentication
• account role, status, and verification state

Profile, onboarding, and participation information

• institution, faculty, department, and academic year or batch
• student or organization registration details
• profile and biographical information
• challenge, team, workspace, and role-related information
• invite and membership records
• results, rankings, participation status, and related challenge activity records

Verification and review information

• verification profile details
• your university ID number
• a photo or scan of your university ID card
• supporting documents or attachments
• review outcomes and related administrative records

We do not collect national ID numbers, passport numbers, or images of national ID or passport documents.

Content, files, and submissions

• challenge submissions
• notes, comments, summaries, and feedback
• announcements and workspace content
• uploaded files and related metadata

Organizer, institution, or workspace-provided information

If you use Spark through an organization, challenge organizer, university, employer, or other workspace administrator, that party may provide information about you to Spark or may require certain information from you as part of its use of Spark.

Device, app, and technical information

• device platform
• device name or model information
• app version
• timestamps associated with account, device, token, and activity events

Notification information

• push notification token
• notification permission state
• related registration and delivery metadata

• directly from you when you register, complete onboarding, edit your profile, join workspaces, accept invitations, submit content, or upload files
• through your use of Spark features, including participation, review, and administrative workflows
• from your device or operating system when you grant permissions, such as notification permissions
• from service providers that support authentication, notifications, hosting, storage, and infrastructure operations
• from organizations, institutions, or workspace administrators that invite, authorize, review, or manage your access to Spark

• create, maintain, and secure accounts
• authenticate users and verify account status
• deliver Spark features, including challenges, teams, workspaces, invites, submissions, reviews, and files
• send transactional and service-related communications
• display rankings, challenge results, participation status, and related operational records where relevant to the service
• support verification, moderation, fraud prevention, abuse prevention, and security investigations
• troubleshoot issues, improve reliability, and maintain platform integrity
• comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms and policies

Spark is a collaborative and role-based service. Depending on how you use the service, some of your information may be visible to team members, workspace or challenge administrators, reviewers, mentors, judges, moderators, and users who send or receive invitations with you.

Team names and leaderboard rankings are visible to users within the relevant challenge. Verification documents, private judge or mentor notes, and unreleased scores are restricted and are not shown publicly.

• authentication and messaging providers, including Firebase-related services where used
• hosting and infrastructure providers, including Hetzner
• deployment and orchestration tooling, including Coolify
• storage, file delivery, and operational support services
• legal-process, safety, security, and business-transfer disclosures where required

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide Spark, fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, maintain security, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and comply with legal obligations.

Verification records, invite records, file metadata, moderation logs, backups, and push-notification tokens are retained for up to 30 days from the point they are no longer needed for an active purpose (for example, once a challenge concludes or a device token becomes inactive), after which they are deleted or de-identified, subject to any legal, security, or dispute-resolution exception described in this Policy.

• access or update certain profile information
• manage notification permissions through your device settings
• sign out of your account
• request deletion of your account
• contact Spark regarding privacy questions or applicable legal rights

If you request account deletion, Spark may delete or de-identify information associated with your account, subject to legal, security, fraud-prevention, dispute-resolution, backup, and operational retention needs.

After you submit a deletion request, you have 30 calendar days to cancel it before it is processed. You can cancel a pending deletion request by logging back into your account within that 30-day window. If the request is not cancelled, we complete deletion or de-identification of your account and associated information at the end of the 30-day period.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect information. These measures may include encrypted network transport, access controls, and role-based permissions.

Spark is intended only for users aged 18 or older. By using Spark, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.

Spark and its service providers may process or store information in countries other than your own.

Spark may link to third-party websites, tools, storage locations, or integrated services. We do not control the privacy practices of those third parties.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we may provide notice through the app, the website, or other appropriate means.

• Privacy email: privacy@mail.spark.sparktheworld.info
• Operated by: Aadil Rifath (an individual)
• Mailing address: Wellawatte Post Office, Galle Road, Colombo 06, 00600, Sri Lanka