Polar respects your privacy and strives to offer you a safe customer experience. With this Privacy Notice we want to tell you about what data we collect when you use our products and services, and how we use and handle this data. We’ll also tell you where to find out more about how your personal information is handled and what rights you have with respect to this information.
“Polar” refers to Polar Electro Oy and its subsidiaries. Therefore, when you use Polar’s services or products, your information may be used and handled by one or more of Polar’s companies.
Content:
How we handle your personal information
How we handle sensitive personal information
Handling of personal information and its transfer outside the EU
Storage and accuracy of information
Using customer data in marketing
Using customer data in research and development
Polar Retail and Distributor Webshops
Polar API/Polar Open AccessLink
When you use Polar services, we may collect your personal data. That data is used only to offer you the service in question, nothing else. Polar does not disclose, give or sell your data to anyone unless we are required to do so pursuant to a mandatory provision of law. We may use some of the data in research and development work to improve our services, but for such purposes data is cleared from identifiers to the maximum amount possible.
Polar is a globally operating company with customers all over the world. For this reason, in most cases your data is transferred out of your home country. Your data is stored on Polar ecosystem servers which are located in the EU/EEA area. Your email address or your user ID may on rare occasions be transferred outside the EU/EEA to the servers of our service providers for automatic notification purposes or for error reporting purposes. Even in those cases, service providers do not have access to your data.
When data is transferred it is done only for the purpose of providing the service. Your data is not disclosed or given to any third parties; it is still under Polar’s control and under your ownership.
When you create a user account for Polar services, we ask for some personal information (for example your name, email address, gender and age). We need this information in order to provide you with a personalized experience with our services. For example, we use your age info to give you a more accurate calculation of burnt calories. If you give us false information about your gender, age, height or weight, our algorithms will not calculate correct results for you, and we therefore trust that all the information you give us to be accurate.
We may collect some information about you when you buy products from our webstore, use Polar’s services, or contact our Customer Care. If you only subscribe to Polar’s newsletter, the only information we ask for is your email address. We only process your personal information for the purposes listed in this Privacy Notice and for the service-specific purposes on which you can find more information by clicking on the links provided. You can also contact our Customer Care for more information on the handing of personal information with regard to each service.
When you use Polar products or services, Polar collects information about you and may combine that information to any other personal information Polar has collected about you for the same purpose. If we have collected information about you for other purposes, we do not combine these. In addition, we may use your personal information to ensure the proper functioning and safety of Polar products, to verify your identity, and to investigate frauds and other misuse of the products. We may also process your information as part of our research and product development activities – we’re continuously developing new functionalities and improving existing ones.
If you use any of our fee-based services, we can save your payment card information with your permission to facilitate further payments. This information is saved in encrypted format in a third-party system. We select our service providers carefully and ensure that they meet the requirements for safe and reliable handling of information set for that sector. When processing payment information, we comply with applicable legislation and the terms and conditions set and monitored by payment service providers.
If you wish, you may also share information from Polar’s services to systems or services offered by a third party, such as Facebook or Strava. Polar is not responsible for any information transferred elsewhere or for the accuracy of the information outside Polar’s system. Each service provider’s information security and privacy practices are applied to such information.
There are always risks associated with providing personal data, whether in person, by phone or via the internet or other technologies, and no system or technology is completely safe or "tamper"/"hacker" proof. Polar uses appropriate technical and organizational security measures (such as encryption) and precautions to collect and process data and to prevent unauthorized access to and improper use of your personal data. If Polar sites support online transactions, they will use industry standard security measures to protect the confidentiality and security of these transactions. We use industry standard security measures, such as SSL authentication, to ensure that your credit card information, as well as other personal data submitted as part of the buying process, is appropriately safe from third-party interception.
The majority of Polar’s services are based on data collected on our products. Some of the collected data (such as heart rate data) is such by nature that we must ask for your permission to collect or process it. This permission is requested separately for each service that processes data that requires specific permission.
Polar’s services and products may be delivered using resources and servers located in various countries. The actual service data (your account details and the data coming from your Polar devices) is stored on servers located in the EU/EEA area; Ireland, Finland and Sweden, but in some monitoring and ancillary activities of the Polar ecosystem (for example, sending automatic messages) customer email address or ID may be transferred to a service provider server outside the EU.
Therefore, your information may be processed outside the country that the service you are using is based in, including countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), where the standard of protection of privacy does not necessarily meet the requirements set by the European Commission (such as the U.S.).
When you register for a service (for example, Polar Flow) which may require transfer of information to another country for processing, we request your permission for the transfer. If and when transferring information, we comply with all applicable laws to guarantee sufficient protection of your privacy. In general, when transferring your personal data outside of EU/EEA, we apply the terms of the agreements based on European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.
When data is transferred, the transfer is carried out only for the purpose of providing the service. Your data will not be disclosed or given to any third parties; it is still under Polar’s control and under your ownership. You can see all Polar service providers and their locations here. For more information on the transfer of information and related security measures, see our FAQ section. You may also contact us using the contact information provided below.
In line with the principles mentioned above, your information may be transferred or access to it may be permitted to Polar’s subcontractors (such as the supplier of our Customer Care system) that carry out tasks related to Polar’s website, products and services. Our subcontractors are not authorized to use the personal information for any other purpose and Polar’s subcontractors’ services are always covered by a confidentiality clause.
Polar never discloses any of your personal information without a separate permission from you, unless it is necessary for handling your order, carrying out your request, or managing our interactive customer programs. Information may, however, be disclosed if necessary because of law, a court order, or a regulation or request issued by authorities.
For statistical purposes, Polar may deliver collected anonymized statistical data on its customers, sales, traffic types, exercise information, and similar website information to reputable third parties. These statistics do not contain identifiable personal information.
We want to keep our database up-to-date and we regularly delete out-of-date and unnecessary personal information. We only store the information as long as is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected or required by law. You can find more information on the retention times in the service-specific sections. You may also contact us using the contact information provided below.
In most of Polar’s services, you can manage your personal information yourself. We recommend that you check the accuracy of your information occasionally and correct it when necessary. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide.
You always have the right to access your personal information. In most of the services, direct access is possible, and when necessary, our Customer Care can assist you and deliver a copy of the personal information we have of you. You have the right to know what information pertaining to you has been collected, what this information is used for, and the parties, if any, that it has been disclosed to. To verify your identity in order to carry out your request, we may have to ask for additional information.
Polar is allowed to handle your personal information when the handling is based on a legitimate interest. We use this legal basis in some cases for our research and development activities as we constantly want to develop and improve our services. You have the right to object to the handling of your personal information for these purposes. However, your right to object is not absolute. This type of processing of data is vital for Polar to develop and offer you better features and up-to-date technical know-how.
You always have the right to prohibit direct marketing. If you have given your consent to receive marketing messages from Polar, you can stop receiving them by following the "unsubscribe" instructions within each email communication. If you have created a user account, you can do this directly via our service. Polar will not provide or share any mailing lists to third parties for promotional purposes. Emails related to services (to confirm a purchase, etc.) generally do not offer an option to unsubscribe as they are necessary to provide the service you requested. Such emails also include notifications about changes to our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use.
You have the right to have any of your information corrected or deleted either by doing it directly yourself in Polar services or account.polar.com or by sending a request to our Customer Care. If you want to have your information deleted, we will delete your user credentials and all information and data pertaining to you. This includes data in all Polar services that you have used (e.g. Polar Flow and support services). The deleted data is not retrievable. After we’ve deleted your information, you can only use the service by creating a new user account. Some of your data, such as purchase data, will be retained for a certain period due to requirements of mandatory provisions of law.
According to law, you have the right to refuse profiling and automated decision-making. We may do categorizing of data when, for example, targeting marketing messages to you with your consent. However, that type of profiling has no significant effects on you, so it does not qualify as profiling as defined e.g. in the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU 2016/679 (GDPR). We also do not make any automated decisions about you or your behavior. You can also request that the handling of your information be restricted, also when you have prohibited the handling of your information and the assessment of the legal basis for the handling of your information has not been completed.
In some of our services we request your consent. We request consent only in cases when it is necessary for offering the service. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. The consent can be withdrawn within the service. Note that for some services, the withdrawal of consent prevents us from offering the service to you.
You have the right to receive your information from Polar’s systems in a machine-readable format when handling of your information is based on your consent or on execution of an agreement. You can download your information directly on account.polar.com.
The right to data portability only applies to the data provided by you, not the derived data that you see in Polar Flow service that has undergone manipulation with Polar algorithms. You can read more about downloading data from Privacy FAQ page.
You can also request the transfer of your information to a third party. Polar is not responsible for the third party’s system’s ability to process the information in the format that is used for the transfer.
If you suspect misuse of the information, you may submit a complaint to the data protection ombudsman or a similar authority. Contact information for data protection ombudsmen in various countries is available on our Privacy FAQ page.
Polar uses web and mobile tracking techniques and targeted advertising. When you access sites under the Polar.com domain, you will be asked to consent to cookies and other tracking methods. Should you provide us your consent these methods will be used to collect device and network information, track your use of our services and possibly provide targeted advertising to you in our other sites or through our advertising partners. The analytics data will also be used to improve our services. You can read more about Polar’s use of cookies in our Cookie Policy.
Polar uses tools provided by Google, Facebook (such as Pixel, Conversion API, Custom Audience API), LinkedIn and Criteo. Nevertheless, no Polar related personal data is shared with these service providers without your permission. Read more here: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services, Data Policy (Facebook), What is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)? (Facebook).
Polar uses Google reCaptcha in our legitimate interest to prevent misuse of our services. Using reCaptcha is essential for Polar service security. reCaptcha’s application programming interface (API) sends hardware and software information, including device and application data, back to Google for analysis. Google in turn uses the data analysis to fight spam and abuse. Read more in the Google privacy policy.
Some internet browsers have a “Do Not Track” feature. When used, this feature sends a signal to the online service that the user does not wish to be tracked. Polar services do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals, but our site visitors always have the manual choice of not accepting any cookies during their visit.
When you subscribe to a newsletter or register to Polar services, you are asked for your consent to receive marketing messages from Polar. If you give your consent you will receive messages from Polar which can be for example newsletters, information about new products and services or targeted advertisements in social media. Furthermore, you may be added to a custom audience on Facebook or you may receive targeted NPS (Net Promoter Score) questionnaires that are related to marketing and other material. We may target some material to certain user groups based on, for example, preferred sport or used device. Some material is targeted to certain geographical areas.
You can withdraw your marketing consent at any time either from the marketing messages you’ve received from Polar or from Polar services. Withdrawal of consent will clear your name from all Polar marketing lists it may be on.
Polar doesn’t sell or give customer data to any third parties for marketing purposes.
Sports science research is at the core of everything we do at Polar. We have an in-house Research Center comprising experts from biosignal technology, physiology, sports training, health and data science, and we carry out innovative studies related to wearable technologies, sports training, physical activity and sleep.
Different types of research
For development purposes inhouse research is being done by Polar continuously to develop new technologies, products and services and to improve the existing ones. New algorithms are being developed and tested, and customer mass data is being used to, for example, find anomalies in the features or to find devices that may not work properly. These results are not shared outside the company or published. They only support the in-house development work.
Some of the research is performed in co-operation with third-party research partners. The aim of research collaboration is to produce a scientific publication of the results and the actual research work is done according to an agreed research protocol and ethical requirements imposed on the study. In these studies, no customer data is given to the third-party research partners, but instead all data is processed within Polar and by a Polar research team. If any customer personal data is used in the research, customers are asked a separate informed consent to use their personal data for the specific research project.
Marketing research aims at better understanding of user groups of Polar devices and services, how the devices are being used and what new they may want. Marketing research is being performed by using data from users who have given their consent for marketing. Marketing research results (trends in customer behavior, favorite sports, etc.) may also be used when creating content for social media, for example Polar blog posts. To offer our customers the state-of-the-art knowledge in form of devices and services, we need data from our customers. The customer data used for research and development purposes is cleared from identifiers to the maximum amount possible.
To offer the best possible service in the event of a problem, we store error data on our devices (“Error log”). When you synchronize your device with Polar’s service, the Error log is copied onto our server and saved there for a period of two years at maximum.
The Error log is only used for error analysis and statistical purposes on the basis of our legitimate interest. It can be used for example when you contact our Customer Care about an error or crash on your device. The only personal identifier on the Error log is the device ID which is needed to link the log to the correct device.
Some Polar devices may collect telemetry data from the device. The legal basis for collecting telemetry data is our legitimate interest. Telemetry data includes data about the functions and status of the device such as battery life, statistical data about synchronization, statistics about USB connections, display, OHR usage etc. The only personal identifier in the telemetry log is the Device ID. The data collected in the telemetry log is used in Polar development to improve the performance of Polar devices and to get a better understanding on the average use of the devices. Like the error log, the telemetry log may be used during repair or other error situation management by Customer Care. The telemetry logs are transmitted to Polar servers during synchronization of data to the service. The Device ID is hashed (one way) so that there are no clear identifiers in the data that is being processed at Polar's end. The data is retained for 60 days before being automatically deleted. This data cannot be deleted on request, only via automation. If this feature is being applied in your device, you can choose to deny the transmission of telemetry logs at account.polar.com.
Our policy is to request that customers under the age of 13 do not make purchases or engage in other legal acts on Polar websites without the consent of a parent or legal guardian. For example, a user account for a Polar service can only be created for a user under 13 years of age with permission from a guardian.
This Privacy Notice was updated on June 30th 2021. You can view the previous versions here. We may occasionally make changes to this Privacy Notice, and we notify our customers about such changes by email or via our services. If you have any questions regarding Polar’s services or products, you may contact our Customer Care. You can also find information about privacy in our Privacy FAQ. If you have any questions or feedback regarding Polar’s privacy practices, you can contact us at privacy@polar.com.
Contact information:
Data controller:
Polar Electro Oy
Professorintie 5
90440 Kempele
FINLAND
Data Protection Officer:
privacy@polar.com
Polar Electro Oy
Privacy
Professorintie 5
90440 Kempele
FINLAND
Polar Flow is a free cloud-based fitness and training app and web service that helps you track your training, activity and sleep data as well as analyze your progress. It works together with your Polar product and acts as your automatic training diary: all your training, activity and sleep data syncs from your product to your Polar Flow account.
Before you can start using the service you must create a user account through a registration process. During the registration process we ask for your approval of the Terms of Use and consents to some mandatory processing activities. These processing activities are mandatory for a reason: they are necessary to provide you with the service. These consents are also asked in order to meet the requirements of laws of multiple jurisdictions related to protection of privacy. If you do not want to give one or more of the mandatory consents, unfortunately then we cannot offer you the service. With a few exceptions (sensors and some old devices), you have an option to use your device in stand-alone mode. Consents are not generic. By giving a specific consent you grant Polar a permission to handle your data exclusively for the specified purpose, nothing else.
Before registering for Polar Flow, you need to read the service’s Terms of Use and Polar’s Privacy Notice. You will be asked to approve the service’s Terms of Use. By approving the Terms of Use, you enter into agreement with Polar. We will also ask you to indicate that you have read Polar’s Privacy Notice.
We would like to keep you up to date on all our news, offers and updates, so we’ll also ask for consent for marketing messages. Refusal is always the default setting for this request. You can change your selections anytime from your account settings. Read more about how we use your data in marketing here.
We ask for your consent for the handling of your personal information. This information is the data you give during registration: email, name, age, height, sex, training background and location. This data is used to provide you with accurate personal calculations such as calories burnt and Training Benefit feedback. You do not need to give your real name, but the name you give is the one shown if you share your exercises or comment on any of our communities. We use your location information mainly to identify your language. Location information is also used to direct your Customer Care requests to the correct Customer Care location so that you will receive support with correct language. Your email address is your account name and we may use your email to identify you later if you contact our Customer Care. For this purpose, please use an email address that you have access to and that is operational (not an alias). We will also send all important notifications to that email. You can change your email address at any time, so you are not forever stuck with the email you provide to us during registration process.
We ask for your consent for the handling of sensitive personal data. In Polar´s case, sensitive data is heart rate data, the data we receive from the device or sensor you use. The Polar Flow service is essentially based on this data, and without this data the service cannot be provided.
We also ask for your consent for the transfer of your data to a country other than your home country. Polar uses servers provided by third parties to produce the Polar Flow service, and these servers may be located either within the EU or outside of it. The actual user data is stored on servers located within the EU but information such as the system’s monitoring data or automatic email notification data is saved on service providers’ servers thay may be located outside the EU. That data might have your email or user ID data in it. You can read more about data transfer and related protective mechanisms here.
For persons under the age of 13, we request consent for the handling of data from a guardian.
Polar uses Google reCaptcha in our legitimate interest in some Polar Flow processes. Read more here.
After registration, you will be sent a message to verify your email address and to confirm that the account was created intentionally. The account must be verified within 30 days. If it’s not verified in this time frame, the account is locked and cannot be used. After 210 days the account will be deleted. During this 210-day period you can verify your email or have the verification email resent to you at any time.
When you create a user account, your privacy settings are private by default and your information is not displayed to other users. If you wish, you may share information on Polar’s services to third-party systems, such as Facebook or Strava. Polar is not responsible for customer shared data once it is transferred out of Polar’s system, and we no longer have any influence on the data. You are responsible for managing the information you share or transfer out of the system so read third party privacy statements carefully.
As Polar strives to continuously develop its services, the exercise data you save in the Polar Flow service may be used to realize Polar’s legitimate interests in research and product development. Read more about data use in research and development here. The information may also be used for sending marketing messages if you have granted permission for this, either in connection with registration or at a later date. These marketing messages are usually targeted to a certain age or location group, certain sports group or users of some specific Polar product.
Currently, the information is stored in the Polar Flow service until you decide to delete your account. If you withdraw any of the mandatory consents or you do not verify your email address, your account will be locked for 180 days and then transferred to a removal cycle where your account and all of your data will be permanently deleted after 30 days. If we make any changes to our data storage periods, we will notify you.
Polar Flow mobile app
To use the Polar Flow app, you must first create a Polar Flow account. You then use your Polar Flow username to log on to the Polar Flow app. All your training data is transferred directly to the Polar Flow service’s server and no information is stored in the Polar Flow app. Polar Flow’s Privacy Notice is applied to the handling of data.
Some settings that may impact your privacy when using the Polar Flow app are phone related. A good example is notifications: if you wish to enable them on your wrist-worn device, your phone’s settings need to allow this. Please study the settings on your phone and select ones that work best for you.
Polar uses third party tools to collect data about the use of our apps in our legitimate interest. We do this to improve our products and services, to improve your customer experience, and to respond faster to any stability issues that may occur. This data is analytical by nature and it contains no personal data.
The data we collect includes sync duration and whether it succeeded or failed, the features that are used inside the app, the potential crash information of the app and new product registrations. You can contact our Customer Care for further information on the Polar Flow register.
Polar Flow app is available in Google Play store, App Store and AppGallery. When downloading the app from any of these stores, you are subject to the store providers’ rules. Polar is responsible for the processing performed via the app itself, not for the downloading of the app from the store.
When you use Polar Flow app’s map services, you are connecting with a third-party service. Always pay attention to the privacy notices you receive when activating or using the connection. Polar only uses reliable partners with good reputations and excellent levels of quality.
Polar Flow for Coach is a free cloud-based service that gives coaches and personal trainers easy access to their clients’ training data. Through multiple functionalities such as training diary, planning tools, reports and performance statistics coaches can keep track of their clients' progress and give them real-time guidance right away.
The athletes grant the coach access to their data and the coach-athlete relationship is based on the agreement between the parties. The athletes can refuse the coach access to their data at any time. All your training data is transferred directly to the Polar Flow service’s server. Polar Flow’s Privacy Notice is applied to the handling of data. More information is available in the section on Polar Flow.
You can contact our Customer Care for further information on the Polar Flow register.
Polar Beat is a free fitness and training app for mobile devices. With Polar Beat, you can train with live heart rate (when you use a Polar heart rate sensor) and real-time voice guidance, track your route and distance and get personalized feedback on every workout.
The information you add in the application and your latest training data remain on the device. To make the most of Polar Beat, we recommend you also create a Polar Flow account. With Polar Flow, you get an extensive set of training analysis tools. When you use Polar Beat together with Polar Flow, your training data is also saved in the Polar Flow service. All of your training data is transferred directly to the Flow service’s servers after you log on. The Flow service’s Privacy Notice is applied to the handling of data. More information is available in the section on Polar Flow.
Some settings that may impact your privacy when using the Polar Flow app are phone related. A good example is notifications: if you wish to enable them on your wrist-worn device, your phone’s settings need to allow this. Please study the settings on your phone and select ones that work best for you.
Polar uses third party tools to collect data about the use of our apps in our legitimate interest. We do this to improve our products and services, to improve your customer experience, and to respond faster to any stability issues that may occur. This data is analytical by nature and it contains no personal data.
The data we collect includes sync duration and whether it succeeded or failed, the features that are used inside the app, the potential crash information of the app, the used device details (model, hardware, operating system) and new product registrations. You can contact our Customer Care for further information on the Polar Flow register.
Polar’s Customer Care helps you with any problems you may have with our products or services. Our Customer Care maintains two registers: Contact us form and Service. Information is saved to both of these via the Polar.com website. Customers fill the necessary information in the forms themselves and the information sent with this form is saved in a third-party customer service system. The third party in this case is a service provider only: it is Polar that uses the customer service system and the information in it. The data stored in Polar’s systems may be saved on servers located in Finland or on Polar’s service providers’ servers either within or outside the EU. Read more about the transfer of data and related protective mechanisms here. Polar’s Customer Care operates globally in various countries to ensure that we can offer support services in several countries and time zones.
The Contact us form: the information recorded in this form is transferred to a third-party Customer Care system used by Polar. This system is available to all Polar’s Customer Care personnel. The data recorded in the system is stored on the service provider’s servers located in the EU. On this form, you are asked to provide your contact information (such as an email address and country) to enable us to respond to your query. Your information is handled confidentially, and the service provider does not have access to the actual data. The information is stored for 10 years unless the local legislation requires longer storage, or you request for the data to be deleted.
Polar uses Google reCaptcha on the Contact us form. Read more here.
Service: the information recorded on this form is used for connecting the device and its owner, delivering a serviced device or ordered spare part to the customer, invoicing and handling payments, sending address stickers for returns, sending automatic email messages with regard to the progress and completion of service, submitting additional requests related to service, and providing a cost estimate for service. Data from the Service form is transferred to Polar’s global Service system. Address information is also transferred to external postal services for the delivery of the products. The information is stored for 10 years unless the local legislation requires longer storage.
Sending your device to repair service
When you send your device to Polar for repair service, Polar repair service personnel may need to view the training history on the device in question. Sometimes this will require also looking at the training sessions recorded with the device in question on your Flow account. Our repair service personnel will not look at your personal details, only the training sessions that may be causing problems. All our personnel are well trained in privacy and they will treat your data with utmost consideration and respect.
If you send your device to repair service via Polar retailer, your personal information will only be used to carry out the repair service operation and to return your device to you.
Calling our Customer Care
Any calls to Polar’s Customer Care may be recorded in some of the countries. The number you are calling from is recorded in our Customer Care system and in the telephone system. The log information is stored for six months.
You can also contact Polar’s Customer Care through social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, and Google Play) and via a chat service (not available in all countries). These contact events are recorded in the Customer Care system.
You can contact our Customer Care for further information on the Contact us form and Service registers.
When you’ve been in contact with our Customer Care or repair service and you’ve given us your email address, we may send you an NPS (Net Promoter Score) questionnaire afterwards. We send NPS questionnaires to get feedback from our customers. With the help of customer feedback we scrutinize and improve our services.
The legal basis for personal data in Support and Customer Care is performance of a contract.
The Polar.com website is a public site that offers information on Polar and its products, services, and collaboration partners. You do not need to register or provide any information on yourself to use the website. However, Polar uses cookies to collect information on traffic on the website. Learn more about cookies here.
You can subscribe to Polar’s newsletters on the Polar.com website, where you must provide your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time by following the instruction provided in the newsletter. You can also buy Polar’s products via the links provided on the Polar.com website. Read more about Polar’s webstore here.
If you have registered to a Polar service, you can manage your account settings also in account.polar.com. There you can manage your consents and your cookie settings. You can also change your email address and your password. Account.polar.com also offers you tools to export your data and delete your account. This service is not a separate data storage, it is simply a tool that accesses Polar service settings directly, so your personal data is not moved or copied anywhere when using account.polar.com.
Polar’s webstore is a public retail service where you can buy a product either as a registered customer or as a guest. For webstore infrastructure, Polar follows the requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) program. To enable the delivery of the product, we save the address information you provide and your email address so that we can keep you up to date on the progress of the delivery. We will also contact you at your email address to ask for feedback on your customer experience. This helps us to improve our service. If you create a customer account in connection with placing an order, we store this data to assist with any further purchases.
The actual payment is made via a third-party payment system. Online payments are made directly by the customer using internet payment services provided by the payment system provider(s). Polar employees will not be involved at any point in accepting payments via this method. The only information saved in Polar’s system for the payment event is the payment method information and, for B2B products (Polar Club, Polar Team Pro), also the tokenized credit card number. With payments related to Polar Club and Polar Team Pro, we ask for your consent to store the credit card credentials.
Polar stores some information, such as the IP address used by you, in its system for some time on the basis of legitimate interest in order to ensure the security of the service. The legal basis for processing your personal data in Polar Webstore or in connection with other online payments is performance of a contract.
The purchase information is stored for 10 years unless the local legislation requires longer storage.
You can contact our Customer Care for further information on the webstore’s register.
Polar Retail and Distributor Webshops are platforms where Polar retailers and distributors can place their orders. To use the Polar Retail or Distributor Webshop, retailers and distributors will either receive account details from Polar or they can create one or several user accounts themselves. The only collected personal information is the retail or distributor contact person’s name and email address associated with each user account.
Each retailer and distributor can manage their own user accounts themselves in the Polar Retail or Distributor Webshop: this includes creating and disabling their user accounts. The legal basis for processing the above-mentioned personal data is performance of a contract.
Polar Club is a heart rate-based group fitness and exercise app that enables tracking and displaying club members' real-time performance data, such as heart rate, intensity and calories burned, during an exercise class. The participants’ workout summaries will automatically upload to Polar Flow where they can keep track of their progress and reach their goals. When a fitness club purchases Polar Club, it signs an agreement with Polar. Under this agreement, Polar acts as the data processor while the club is the data controller. The club is responsible for what information is saved in the system and how it is handled. The club is also responsible for the accuracy of the users’ information and data-related requests by individual users (such as requests to delete the information).
Information on the clubs that use the service is collected in the Polar Club register. A username is created for the administrator designated by the club (Club Admin). For this, the person’s email address is saved in the system.
Information on exercise classes is stored on the club’s iPad for a month. Other data saved on the device includes the participants’ training-related data and an electronic ID code to identify the individuals, which can be used to connect the username used in the registration to the Flow database. With this ID code, participants’ training data can be transferred to their personal Flow account. The club’s staff cannot identify users on the basis of these ID codes. The instructor’s ID data is also stored on the iPad. Participants’ actual Flow usernames are not stored on the iPad. All the user information stored under the Flow username is located in the Flow service, and the club does not have access to these accounts. The Polar Flow service’s data is saved on Polar’s service provider’s servers. These servers may be located either within the EU or outside it. Read more about data transfer and related protective mechanisms here.
Customers may participate in exercise classes via their existing Flow account, by creating an account in conjunction with signing up for the class, or by signing up as a Visitor.
Customers with a Flow account:
The customer can sign up for a Club exercise class using an existing Flow account. Alternatively, the user can create a Flow account in conjunction with signing up. No personal information provided in connection with the creation of the Flow account is stored on the iPad. The only information stored on the iPad is the participants’ electronic ID and exercise data. The exercise data of the customers who use their Flow account to sign up for the class is automatically transferred from the club’s iPad to the Polar Flow service using the ID code.
Customers who sign up as a Visitor:
Customers may also sign up for Club exercise classes as a Visitor, in which case the participants provide a name they want to have displayed on the screen during the class, such as a nickname or any other ID (e.g. a word or a string of characters). No personal information is collected or saved. Participants who signed up as Visitors may store their exercise data after the class by creating a Flow account or using an existing Flow account.
The Polar Club solution also offers clubs and their customers a channel for discussing the exercise classes and other similar matters within the club’s own community. The Community service can be found in Flow’s Community - Clubs section. When participating in discussions in the service, the participants may share information related to them if they so wish. When necessary, the club is responsible for moderating the discussions.
The legal basis for processing personal data is performance of a contract. You can contact our Customer Care for further information on Polar Club’s register.
Polar Team Pro is a player monitoring solution for professional sports teams. It combines GPS and motion monitoring data with heart rate information. With Polar Team Pro, the coach can monitor the team’s training session via an iPad (must be bought separately) without a base station or antenna. Training data can also be collected after training by syncing the Team Pro Sensors via Team Pro Dock. Monitoring of players’ performance offers valuable and accurate information to assist the coaching team in its analysis work.
When a team buys Polar Team Pro, it signs an agreement with Polar on the use of the service. Under this agreement, Polar acts as the data processor while the team is the data controller. The team is responsible for what information is saved in the system and how it is handled. The team is also responsible for the accuracy of the information and data-related requests by individual players (such as requests to delete the information).
Polar Team Pro collects data on the teams that use the service and their members. A username is created for the administrator designated by the team (Team Pro Admin). For this, the person’s email address is saved in the system. We will send a message to verify the email address and to confirm that the account was created intentionally. The account must be verified within 30 days in order to use Polar Team Pro. The administrator creates a team in the system by adding the team members’ information (such as the player number, name, and date of birth) in the Team Pro service. The data is saved on the server of Polar’s service provider. Training data is saved on the team’s iPad for two months at the most and transferred from there to the Team Pro service. Individual players’ personal Polar Flow accounts can be connected to the Team Pro service, where the coach can view them. The individual Polar Flow accounts are located in the Polar Flow service from where the data is saved on Polar’s service provider’s servers. These servers may be located either within the EU or outside it. Read more about data transfer and related protective mechanisms here.
The legal basis for processing personal data is performance of a contract. You can contact our Customer Care for further information on the Polar Team Pro register.
The Polar Team app is a player monitoring solution that provides real-time heart rate data for indoor team sports with Polar heart rate sensors and an iPad (must be bought separately).
Polar does not collect or store any personal information via Polar Team. All data is stored on the iPad.
Polar Team Pro API is an interface that allows Team Pro data to be transferred to a third-party system. Team Pro admin user may connect Team Pro service with a third-party platform to allow data to be transferred between the services. This data may include players personal training data as well as data from team training sessions.
Polar GoFit is designed for students, teachers and school staff to enable them to view and measure the students’ heart rates and physical activity levels and to perform physical ability measurements in schools. The Polar GoFit service consists of the Polar GoFit application, Polar GoFit website (www.polargofit.com), and Polar’s heart rate and activity devices compatible with GoFit.
When a school purchases GoFit, it enters into an agreement with Polar or its representative. Under this agreement, Polar acts as the data processor while the school is the data controller. As the data controller, the school is responsible for what information is saved in the system and how it is handled. The school is also responsible for the accuracy of the students’ information and data-related requests by individual students (such as requests to delete the information). The school is also responsible for requesting permission from the student or, in case of a minor, their guardians before adding a student to the service.
Information on the teachers and students who use the service is saved in the GoFit register. A username is created for a contact teacher designated by the school (and for any additional teachers). For this, the person’s name and email address are saved in the system. The teacher adds the student's user profile information such as name, date of birth, height, weight, gender and class in the system after receiving permission from the guardians. All this data is needed for the system and the algorithms to work correctly. When using the system, Polar devices or sensors collect exercise data which is sent to the GoFit server. This data is used to calculate information such as burnt calories and activity. In some cases, the teacher has some choice on what data is visible for users. For example, calories can be hidden from the screen from both the GoFit application and web service, but they will be saved among other exercise data to the database. The teacher can also select whether to show a student's name or student ID on GoFit application. The student ID is decided by the school and can consist of numbers and letters. Students may also use their accounts independently to view their exercise data, for example.
GoFit training data is stored on the service provider’s servers. These servers are located either in the EU or the U.S. Read more about the transfer of data and related protective mechanisms here. When necessary and with permission from the student or, in case of a minor, their guardian, information may be shared to a third party within the school environment. When necessary, information may be shared to a third party for purposes agreed on separately.
The information is deleted from the GoFit system when the agreement between Polar and the school expires.
The legal basis for processing personal data is performance of a contract. You can contact our Customer Care for further information on the Polar GoFit register.
Polar Open AccessLink is Polar’s proprietary application programming interface (API) that provides a direct information sharing link between the Polar ecosystem and third-party data systems. With Polar Open AccessLink our customers may transfer data related to their personal info, training and physical activity from Polar devices and the Polar Flow system to a third-party system that appears on the list of available systems, such as other fitness and training apps. Polar customers may also transfer similar data from third-party systems to Polar devices and Polar Flow (this feature may not be available at the time this version of Privacy Notice becomes active).
For third party developers:
To third-party systems, Polar offers the Polar Open AccessLink interface and instructions that enable the third party to register its own application in the Polar system and to develop a feature for receiving data.
The developers use their Polar Flow usernames to log in to the Polar API/Polar Open AccessLink service. A new application is registered by providing information on the application and the company. Approval of Terms of Use is required. No personal information is collected in connection with registration; instead the application is linked to the Flow account used for the registration. Several applications can be linked to the same Flow account.
Users are responsible for linking the third-party services they want to use with their Polar Flow account. The information is retrieved by the third-party services or sent by Polar Electro when the user synchronizes data to the Polar Flow service or when user transmits sensor data to third party. Polar is not responsible for data once it is transferred out of Polar’s system and it no longer has any influence on the data. Users are responsible for managing the information they share or transfer out of the system.
You can contact our Customer Care for further information on the Polar Flow register.