Privacy policy

This is a translation. The German version (Datenschutzerklärung) is legally binding.

This page explains which data StintOS processes, why, where it is stored and for how long. In short: telemetry and speech recognition stay on your PC. Only the data needed for your account, team, app, leaderboard and analysis goes to our server. There is no advertising, no tracking and no analytics.

1. Controller

Kevin Welsch, Bourscheidtstraße 55, 52249 Eschweiler, Germany
Email: datenschutz@stintos.com

2. This website (stintos.com)

The website runs on our own server at Hetzner (see 3). When you visit, the server processes technically necessary data: date and time, the address requested, data transferred, browser and operating system, and your IP address. These logs are deleted after 14 days. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a secure, working service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The domain and the mailbox are with IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany; a data processing agreement with IONOS is in place. [Conclude the DPA in the IONOS account, then remove this mark]

Fonts, images and scripts are served from our own server. Nothing is loaded from Google or other third-party servers.

Anonymous visit counting: we count visits to the pages of stintos.com (including stintos.com/links), clicks on the links there and on “Download”. We only store the day and hour, the page visited or link clicked, the source from the address (e.g. ?von=instagram), the device type (phone, tablet, PC), whether the page was opened in an app's browser, and the domain of the referring page. We store no IP address, no identifier and nothing on your device; individual visitors cannot be recognised. Purpose: learning how people find StintOS. The legal basis is our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Stored in your browser: if you pick a language, the site remembers it in a cookie (stintos_lang, one year). Whether you are logged in is remembered in your browser's storage (stintosKonto) so the header shows “My account” instead of “Log in”. Both are needed for the function you asked for and are not sent to us (§ 25(2) TDDDG).

3. Our server (stintos.com, own server at Hetzner)

Account, team, app, leaderboard, analysis and updates run on a server of Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany, located in Nuremberg. A data processing agreement with Hetzner is in place. [Conclude the DPA in the Hetzner Console, then remove this mark] The server logs requests with the IP address; these logs are deleted after 14 days. To protect against overload and against guessing passwords and team codes, some services count requests per IP address — the IP address is kept in plain text for one minute at most or only as a checksum, and the counters are deleted within an hour. Anyone sending very many requests in a short time is blocked temporarily (up to one hour). Server backups are deleted after 14 days.

Account

When you sign up we store your first name, last name, email address, your password (only as a one-way hash), the plan you chose, and when you signed up and last logged in. For every logged-in device (PC, phone, browser) we store a session with the device name (for a PC, the computer's name) and when it was last used. A PC login not used for 90 days expires. On the “My account” page the server sets a cookie for this (stintos_sitzung, 30 days, only for konto.stintos.com). If you switch on the optional two-factor login, we store a secret key that your authenticator app also knows. The legal basis is the contract of use (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Emails

To confirm your email address and for “Forgot password” we send you an email via the info@stintos.com mailbox at IONOS. The sending log (recipient and time) is deleted after 14 days.

Lap book, leaderboard and driver analysis

If “Share with StintOS” is on in StintOS (settings), StintOS sends each lap to the server: name, car, class, track, lap time, sectors, session, conditions (temperatures, rubber, wetness, wind, time of day, whether the setup was fixed) and a recording of the lap with 20 samples per second (speed, throttle, brake, gear, steering, rpm, forces). This also includes iRating, licence, league and the name of your setup. The server does not store your iRacing customer ID: it immediately turns it into an encrypted identifier that lets us assign your laps to you but leads to no one without our key. Customer ID, iRating, licence, league and setup are never shown to anyone. In the leaderboard others see your name, time, sectors and conditions, and they can race your lap as a ghost. Only your own StintOS can see which laps are yours. With “Delete my data on the server” in StintOS you can delete your laps at any time, even without an account. The legal basis is the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Driver values and tyre values

StintOS learns fuel use, lap times and tyre wear per driver, car and track. If “Share with StintOS” is on, it stores these values on the server so they are available on each of your PCs; only a PC that sent them can fetch them. In a team, your values reach the members through the team. Wear rates are also added to shared averages without a name, only with a random device ID. Driver values not used for 400 days are deleted by the server.

Team, app and spectators

During a session, team members see the driver's situation: name, position, time left, fuel, tyres, lap times and strategy calls. Anyone who knows the team code or is invited by QR code (fans, without an account) sees the same; fans can only read — they cannot change anything, write or use the radio. Team data is kept until the team is dissolved or you leave it; a team nobody uses for 90 days is deleted. The app keeps your login in the phone's browser storage and stores its program files for use without a connection.

Team radio

When you join the team radio, your voice goes directly and encrypted (WebRTC) to the others in your team's radio room. Our server only brokers: who is in the room right now (name and device, which channel you talk in, which channels you listen to and whether you are in the car — for the role channels) and the technical connection offers, which are deleted after 60 seconds at most. If two devices cannot reach each other directly, our server relays the encrypted voice without being able to decrypt it; it sees the IP addresses but does not log them. Nothing is recorded. The microphone is only open while you are in the team radio and — depending on your setting — hold the button or speak. The legal basis is the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Team chat

When you write in the team chat, we store the message with your name in the team, the time, the channel (all, pit wall or driver + spotter) and — if you are driving — track and date. Only members of your team who may see that channel by their role can read it. So that your messages disappear when you delete your account, we also store a checksum of your account (not your email address). Messages are kept until the team is dissolved; you can delete your own messages at any time, the team principal can delete all. If notifications are on in the app, new messages arrive as notifications — you can switch this off in the chat. The legal basis is the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Emergency alert

If you trigger an emergency (by hand or automatically), your name, the reason, track, lap and position go to the team members you chose for it. The entry and who has seen it remain in the team messages (the last 20).

Push notifications

If you allow notifications in the app, we store the address your browser creates for them. Notifications are sent encrypted through your browser's push service: Apple Inc., Google LLC, Mozilla Corporation or Microsoft Corporation. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR); you can withdraw it at any time in the app or in your phone's settings.

Streaming (Studio, app stream)

If you stream to the app with the StintOS Studio, the picture and sound of your stream (your screen, game sound, microphone and whatever you switched on in the Studio mixer), plus overlay data from telemetry (without customer ID and setup), your name, car number, team, class and position go through our streaming service (LiveKit, on our server) to the viewers you allow: only you, your team or all StintOS users. For the overview we store a small preview image every 30 seconds; viewer chat messages are kept for 6 hours at most. We do not record the stream. If you stream to Twitch or YouTube, the stream goes there directly with your own stream key; the privacy policies of Twitch Interactive, Inc. or Google Ireland Limited apply. StintOS stores your stream key only encrypted on your PC. The legal basis is the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

Speech models

For speech recognition, StintOS downloads a speech model from alphacephei.com (Alpha Cephei Inc.) when you first switch it on. That provider sees the technically necessary connection data such as your IP address. Recognition itself then runs only on your PC.

Updates

At start, StintOS checks whether a new version exists. Only the version number and technically necessary connection data are transferred.

4. What stays on your PC

iRacing telemetry, speech recognition, voice output and your settings are processed on your PC and are not sent to us. What the microphone hears is not written down. The program log contains no stream keys, no Windows user name and no names of other programs. A bug report goes to your clipboard — without names, addresses or device names; whether you paste it anywhere is up to you.

5. Discord

We link to our Discord server. Only when you open the link does Discord Inc.'s privacy policy apply.

Contact form and email

If you write to us via the contact form in the legal notice or by email, we process your name, your email address and your message in order to reply (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR). The form sends the message as an email to info@stintos.com (mailbox at IONOS, see above). To prevent abuse the server counts messages per IP address – only as a hashed value, deleted after 24 hours. We delete the emails once the request is settled and no retention obligation applies.

6. Payment

There is currently no payment function; no payment data is processed.

7. How long we keep data

We keep your account, laps and sessions until you delete your account; driver values for 400 days without use at most. You can delete your account yourself at any time under “My account”; this deletes your account, all sessions, “My StintOS” and your laps in the lap book. Without an account, “Delete my data on the server” in StintOS deletes your laps and driver values. Your driver values are anonymised: name, customer ID and devices are removed, the plain measurements (such as consumption and tyre wear per car and track) remain without any link to you so StintOS can keep learning. Personal data disappears from backups within 14 days. Anonymous tyre averages remain as well because they have no link to you. Statutory retention duties for invoices are not affected.

8. Your rights

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and to object to processing based on legitimate interest. You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future. Write to datenschutz@stintos.com. You may also complain to a data protection authority, for example the one responsible for us: the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information North Rhine-Westphalia, Kavalleriestraße 2–4, 40213 Düsseldorf, Germany.

9. Security

All connections to our servers are encrypted (HTTPS; browsers are told to connect only encrypted). Passwords are stored only as hashes, login keys only as checksums. After too many failed attempts, login and team-code entry are blocked for a short time; you can switch on two-factor login if you like. Server access is possible only with a key.

10. Changes

If the way StintOS processes data changes, we update this policy. The version with the date above applies.