InstaSwim Privacy Policy

InstaSwim LLC (“InstaSwim,” “we,” “us”) is a New Jersey limited liability company that runs an online marketplace at instaswimusa.com. InstaSwim connects families and adult students (“Clients”) with independent contractor swim instructors (“Instructors”) who offer private swim lessons. InstaSwim is a marketplace platform. It is not a swim school and does not provide swim instruction itself.

This Policy covers everyone who visits our website, books lessons, takes part in a lesson as a participant, applies to teach or teaches through InstaSwim, or contacts us. Instructors are independent businesses. When an Instructor handles your information during your lessons, they do so under the confidentiality rules in their agreement with InstaSwim (summarized in Section 13), not as an InstaSwim employee.

2.1   From families and adult students

• Contact details: your name, email address, and phone number.
• Booking details: the lesson option and package you choose, how many participants, who the lessons are for, your preferred days and start date, the participant’s main goal, any notes you write for your instructor, your instructor preference (including a preferred instructor gender), whether you have access to a pool and what type, and the address where lessons will take place.
• Payment records: what you were invoiced, what you paid, when, and through which provider, plus any payment plan, gift card number, tip, credit, or refund. Payments are processed by PayPal or Stripe. InstaSwim never sees or stores your full card number.
• Liability Waiver: the name and signature of the adult who signs, who they are signing for, the date and time, and the version of the waiver signed.
• Agreements and consents: a record of the acknowledgments you accept at booking, including the Terms of Service, the supervision and safety acknowledgments, and whether you agreed to receive text messages.
• Lesson records: after each lesson your Instructor files a lesson briefing with InstaSwim that includes the date, the lesson number, the skills worked on, a progress rating, whether a parent or guardian was present, whether any accident or injury occurred, optional feedback, and any photo or video the Instructor had your permission to take.
• Reviews and messages: ratings and reviews you leave for your Instructor, help requests and support tickets, emails, calls and texts with InstaSwim, your answers when we ask whether you would like to continue or renew, and any report you make about a safety concern.

2.2   About participants, including children

For each participant you register we collect their first and last name, age, and gender (boy or girl, male or female for an adult, or “prefer not to say”). The gender is shown next to the age to the Instructors who are offered the booking and to the Instructor who accepts it. For a participant under 18 we also collect the name and email address of each parent or guardian involved in the lessons. If you tell us a participant has a health condition, we collect only the general category or categories you select, any short note you choose to add under three of them, and, for asthma, allergy or diabetes, whether the participant carries emergency medication (Section 6). We never collect information directly from a child. Everything about a child comes from that child’s parent or guardian.

2.3   From Instructors and applicants

Application details (name, contact details, home address, date of birth, gender, and your answers to eligibility questions about work authorization, age, criminal convictions, transportation, and the physical requirements of teaching); your swim teaching experience, certificates, languages, and resume; the names and email addresses of references you choose to give; background check status and results from our screening provider; profile content (photo, biography, specialties, age groups, experience with adaptive needs, pool access, service area, and travel radius); an approximate location derived from your address; contract signatures; insurance program status and annual onboarding fee payments; payout details such as a PayPal address; tax forms you return to us; your offer, acceptance and decline history; the lesson briefings and incident reports you file; client reviews and ratings; and messages and support tickets. Section 13 has more on Instructor information.

2.4   Collected automatically

When you use the website we receive your internet (IP) address, browser and device type, the pages you open, the address of the page that sent you, and the date and time. Our forms and signing pages record the internet address and browser used to submit them. Section 8 covers cookies.

2.5   From other sources

Payment providers tell us whether a payment succeeded. Our screening provider tells us the status and result of an Instructor’s background check. Our mapping provider turns an address into map coordinates. Instructors tell us about lessons, and Clients tell us about Instructors, through briefings, reviews and support requests. If you give us information about another person, such as a co-parent or a reference, please make sure they are comfortable with that.

2.6   Newsletter sign-ups

Anyone can sign up for InstaSwim news on our website. When you do, we collect your email address, the page where you signed up, the date, and the consent wording you agreed to. Signing up is never required to book lessons or to teach.

• To match you with an Instructor using the lesson location, your schedule, the lesson option, the number and ages of participants, your preferences, and any health information you have shared.
• To coordinate your lessons: introducing you and your Instructor, confirming the first lesson date, sending invoices and payment reminders, collecting the Liability Waiver, receiving lesson briefings, handling package changes, renewals, rematches and refunds, and paying your Instructor.
• For safety and insurance: passing on the information an Instructor needs to prepare, recording that a parent or guardian was present, tracking injury and incident reports, and administering insurance.
• To support you: answering questions, resolving disputes, and looking into concerns or reports about an Instructor or a Client.
• To communicate: emails and calls about your booking, match, invoices, lessons, reviews and safety; text messages if you opt in (Section 7); occasional emails about renewing or rebooking; and, if you sign up for our newsletter, emails with water safety tips, news, giveaways and offers. You can unsubscribe from renewal and newsletter emails at any time.
• To run and improve InstaSwim: understanding how the site and platform are used, setting prices and instructor pay, recruiting Instructors where families are waiting, fixing problems, preventing fraud and misuse, and keeping records.
• To meet legal and insurance obligations, including tax reporting for Instructors, responding to lawful requests, and keeping the records our insurer requires.

We use automated tools to send lesson offers to Instructors based on things like distance, availability and preferences. Instructors decide for themselves whether to accept an offer. We do not use your information for automated decisions that have legal effects on you.

4.1   Instructors

Instructors who are offered your booking see the city and state where lessons will take place, the lesson package, the number of participants, your start date, your notes for the instructor, and any health information you shared, but not your name, street address, or contact details. The Instructor who accepts your booking then receives your name, phone number, email address, and the lesson address, so the two of you can arrange lessons. You receive that Instructor’s name, phone number and email address in the same way.

4.2   Service providers

Companies that help us run InstaSwim receive only what they need for their job and may not use it for anything else:

• Payments: PayPal and Stripe (invoices, payment plans, refunds, Instructor payouts, Instructor annual onboarding fees).
• Hosting, website and email: our hosting provider, WordPress and Gravity Forms (where our forms and records are stored), and our email delivery service (Postmark).
• Text messaging and phone: Twilio, which delivers the texts you opt in to, and our phone service provider.
• Maps and location: Mapbox, which turns an address into map coordinates and travel estimates so we can match by distance.
• Instructor onboarding: our background check provider (Certn), our e-signature service (Dropbox Sign), our recruiting software (Manatal), and a scheduling tool if you book a call with our team.
• Internal team tools: a private team messaging service (Slack) where InstaSwim staff receive alerts about bookings, matches, payments, and safety reports.
• Google: website analytics (Google Analytics), web fonts, spam protection on some forms, and a link to leave a public Google review if you choose to.
• AI-assisted business tools, as described in Section 9.

4.3   Other situations

• Instructor profiles and reviews: an Instructor’s profile is shown to families during matching, and publicly on our website if the Instructor has given permission. Reviews you leave for an Instructor may be shown on that profile. We may use a review with your first name and your city or region in our marketing unless you ask us in writing not to.
• Insurance: our insurer and its representatives, when a claim or incident needs to be reported or investigated.
• Legal and safety: law enforcement, child protection agencies, courts, regulators, or our legal advisers when the law requires it, to respond to a lawful request, to enforce our agreements, or to protect the safety of a child, an Instructor, a Client, or InstaSwim.
• Business changes: if InstaSwim is sold, merged, or reorganized, your information may transfer to the new owner under this Policy. Text message consent does not transfer for any other use.

The InstaSwim website and booking system are for adults. You must be 18 or older to book lessons, to receive text messages from us, or to teach. We collect information about participants under 18 only from their parent or legal guardian, and only what is needed to match and coordinate lessons: name, age, the goal for the lessons, health information if the parent shares it, and lesson records.

We do not knowingly collect information directly from a child, and children cannot make bookings, sign waivers, or leave reviews. Instructors may photograph or film a participant only with the parent or guardian’s advance permission. InstaSwim does not use photographs, videos, or the full name of any minor in public marketing without the explicit written consent of the parent or guardian.

If you believe a child has given us information directly, or you want a child’s information corrected or deleted, contact support@instaswimusa.com.

This section is InstaSwim’s Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy. It applies to everyone, and it is written to meet the requirements of the Washington My Health My Data Act and similar laws in Nevada and Connecticut for residents of those states. It is also published on its own page at instaswimusa.com/consumer-health-data-privacy.

6.1   What health information we collect

When you book, you may tell us that a participant has a health condition. If you do, we ask for two things: the general category or categories that apply, chosen from a fixed list (fear of water; sensory, attention or behavioral needs such as ADHD or sensory sensitivities; food, insect or chemical allergy; ear tubes; asthma; seizure disorder; heart condition; diabetes; physical or mobility needs; developmental needs such as autism or Down syndrome; vision or hearing; recent injury or surgery; or something else), and, if you select asthma, allergy or diabetes, whether the participant carries emergency medication such as an inhaler or an EpiPen. If you select recent injury or surgery, physical or mobility needs, or something else, the form also offers a short box (up to 300 characters) where you can tell us a little more in your own words, for example what the injury was and roughly when; for something else, a short description is required. The booking form does not ask for a diagnosis, a list of medications, or a medical history, and you decide what to write. Other details go directly from you to your instructor.

Bookings made before the category list was introduced may hold a written health note the family typed at that time.

We also receive health-related information in the injury and incident reports Instructors file after a lesson, and in anything you choose to tell us in a message, a support request, or a report. From Instructors we collect yes or no answers about the physical requirements of teaching swim lessons. InstaSwim does not perform medical screening.

6.2   Where it comes from

Only from you (the parent, guardian, or adult student) and from Instructors’ lesson briefings and incident reports. We do not buy health information, infer it from your other data, or collect it from any other source.

6.3   Why we collect it

So that Instructors can decide whether to accept your booking and can prepare for lessons, so that a participant can be matched with an Instructor whose experience fits their needs, to respond to injuries and incidents, and to keep the records our insurer and the law require. We do not use health information for advertising, and we do not sell it.

6.4   Who sees it

Health information you give us at booking is shared with the independent Instructors who are offered your booking and with the Instructor who accepts it. InstaSwim staff who handle matching, support and safety see it. Injury and incident reports are shared with our insurer when a claim or incident requires it. Our hosting provider stores it as part of our records, and our email and internal team tools carry the messages that contain it. No one else receives it. We do not sell health information, and we do not share it with anyone for advertising. We do not use geofencing.

6.5   Your choice

You choose whether to share health categories and any note you add. Before they are saved, you check a box agreeing that InstaSwim may share them with the instructors who are offered your booking and with the instructor who accepts it. Notes are shown to those instructors on the offer page and on the matched instructor’s client page, and to InstaSwim staff who review bookings; they are not included in emails or text messages. We record the wording you agreed to and when. You can withdraw that consent at any time by asking us to delete the categories and notes (Section 6.6). Records of an injury or incident are kept for the period in Section 10.

6.6   Your rights and how to use them

You may ask us to confirm whether we hold health information about you or your child, to give you a copy, to tell you who we shared it with, to withdraw your consent, and to delete it. Email support@instaswimusa.com with “Health data request” in the subject line. We will respond within 45 days. We may take up to 45 more days for a complex request and will tell you if so. If we decline a request, we will explain why, and you may appeal by replying to our response. If your appeal is denied, you may contact the Washington Attorney General or your own state’s attorney general. We will never treat you differently for using these rights.

7.1   Our text message programs

• InstaSwim Lesson Updates (families and adult students). If you opt in when you book, InstaSwim may text you about your swim lessons: your booking and instructor match, scheduling updates and reminders, and urgent or emergency notices such as a last-minute change to a lesson.
• InstaSwim Instructor Alerts (Instructors and applicants). If you opt in when you apply, InstaSwim may text you new lesson offers near you, reminders about an open offer, and dispatch updates about clients you have accepted.
• Replies to an inquiry. If you choose “Yes” to text messages on our contact form, we may answer your question by text.

These programs are for service messages. We do not send advertising or promotional texts under them, and we do not text numbers taken from purchased or rented lists.

7.2   How you opt in

You opt in by checking the text message consent box on our booking form or Instructor application, or by choosing “Yes” to text messages on our contact form. The box is separate from our other terms, and leaving it unchecked does not stop you from booking or applying. If you do not opt in, we will reach you by email or phone instead. You must be 18 or older and the account holder for, or an authorized user of, the mobile number you give us. We keep a record of when and how you opted in and the wording you agreed to.

7.3   Message frequency and cost

Message frequency varies with your booking or offer activity. InstaSwim does not charge for text messages. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile plan.

7.4   How to opt out

Reply STOP to any text message from InstaSwim, at any time. The words CANCEL, END, QUIT and UNSUBSCRIBE work the same way. You will receive one final message confirming that you have been unsubscribed, and then no further texts from that program unless you opt in again, which you can do by replying START. You can also opt out by emailing support@instaswimusa.com or calling (888) 610-2656. Opting out of texts does not cancel your booking, your application, or your place on the platform.

7.5   Help

Reply HELP to any text message from InstaSwim, email support@instaswimusa.com, or call (888) 610-2656.

7.6   How we handle your mobile information

Your phone number and text opt-in information are used only for the messages described here. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. Our text messaging provider (Twilio) and the mobile carriers deliver the messages on our behalf and are not permitted to use your number for anything else. All other sharing described in this Policy excludes text messaging opt-in data and consent.

7.7   Carriers and delivery

Text messages are delivered through U.S. mobile carriers, and delivery depends on your carrier and device. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. If you change or give up your mobile number, please tell us so that we stop texting it.

7.8   Phone calls

We may call the number you give us about your booking, your application, a support request, or a safety matter. We rarely record calls. When a call is recorded, it is for training purposes, and we will tell you on the call that it is being recorded. If you would rather not be called, tell us and we will use email.

7.9   Calls and texts with your Instructor

Once you are matched, you and your Instructor receive each other’s phone number and email address so you can arrange lessons directly. Those calls and texts are between you and an independent Instructor. They are not sent through InstaSwim’s systems, and replying STOP to InstaSwim does not affect them. Let your Instructor know how you would like to be contacted. Instructors may use your contact details only for lessons arranged through InstaSwim (Section 13).

The full Privacy Policy is at instaswimusa.com/privacy-policy, and these text message terms are also published on their own page at instaswimusa.com/sms-terms.

Our website uses cookies and similar technology that the site needs in order to work: keeping your place in the booking form, keeping staff and Instructors signed in to their tools, caching pages so they load quickly, and protecting forms from abuse.

We use Google Analytics to see how the site is used. It sets cookies and collects your internet address, device and browser details, general location, and the pages you view, and Google handles that information under its own privacy policy. You can opt out with Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on or by blocking cookies in your browser. We do not run advertising, do not use advertising cookies, and do not allow other companies to use our website to show you ads on other sites. Mobile phone numbers and text message consent are never shared through analytics tools.

Our pages load fonts from Google Fonts, which means your browser sends Google your internet address when it fetches a font. Payment pages load PayPal or Stripe, which set their own cookies under their own privacy policies.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Some parts of the booking form may not work without them. Browser “Do Not Track” signals have no common standard, so our site does not change its behavior in response to them.

InstaSwim uses AI-assisted software to help write website content, summarize how the platform is performing, and draft internal documents. The summaries are built from totals and counts, not from names, contact details, or health information. We do not use any participant’s photo, video, or voice to train AI models, and we do not use AI to generate, alter, or re-create a person’s likeness. When these tools are used with business records, we use providers whose terms do not allow them to train their models on our information, and we limit what is shared to what the task needs.

We keep information for as long as we need it for the purposes above. Some records must be kept longer because of insurance, tax, or the time limits for legal claims, which for a minor do not start until the child turns 18.

• Liability Waivers, lesson briefings, and injury or incident reports: at least until the participant turns 25 or for 7 years after the last lesson, whichever is later.
• Reports of abuse, misconduct, or a safety concern about an Instructor: kept indefinitely, so that a person removed for a safety reason cannot rejoin the platform.
• Health categories, the notes you add under them, and emergency medication answers: deleted 24 months after the participant’s last lesson, and sooner if you ask, unless an injury, incident or safety report is on file for that booking.
• Written health notes from older bookings: deleted on the same 24 month schedule, and sooner if you ask, unless tied to an incident.
• Photos and videos in lesson briefings: kept only as long as needed for records and safety, and deleted sooner on request unless tied to an incident.
• Booking, contact, and payment records: at least 7 years, for tax and accounting.
• Newsletter sign-ups: kept until you unsubscribe. After that, we keep only your email address on a do-not-email list so we never email you again.
• Text message opt-in and opt-out records: for as long as you are subscribed and for at least 4 years afterward, so we can show that your choices were honored.
• Emails, texts, and support messages: for as long as needed to support you and keep a record of the matter, and longer where they relate to an injury, incident, safety report, or dispute.
• Instructor applications that do not lead to onboarding: for as long as needed to consider the application and any reapplication, and deleted on request unless a legal obligation applies.
• Instructor records: while the Instructor is on the platform and afterward for as long as needed for legal, tax, insurance, safety, and dispute purposes. A record of removal for cause may be kept indefinitely.
• Website logs: kept for a limited period by our hosting provider.

Whatever state you live in, you can ask us to:

• See the personal information we hold about you or your child, and get a copy.
• Correct anything that is wrong or out of date.
• Delete your information. We will delete everything except what we must keep under Section 10, and we will tell you what that is.
• Stop text messages by replying STOP to any text (Section 7.4).
• Stop marketing emails using the unsubscribe link in any such email. We will still send the emails needed to run your booking, such as invoices, waiver requests, and safety notices.
• Withdraw consent for health information (Section 6), for the use of a review in our marketing, or for the use of a photo or video.

Email support@instaswimusa.com or call (888) 610-2656. We will confirm your identity, usually by replying to the email address on your booking, and respond within 45 days. There is no charge, and we will not treat you differently for making a request. If we decline a request, we will explain why and you can appeal by replying. InstaSwim does not sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of.

We protect your information with measures that fit its sensitivity: the site runs over HTTPS; card payments are handled entirely by PayPal and Stripe; Instructors receive your name, address and contact details only after accepting your booking; Instructors agree in writing to keep Client information confidential and to delete it when their work with you ends; and InstaSwim staff access is limited to the people who need it.

No online system is completely secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

If you apply to teach or teach through InstaSwim, Section 2.3 lists what we collect. In addition:

• Background checks are run by an independent screening provider (Certn) under its own disclosure and authorization, which you complete with the provider. We receive the status and result. If a report could lead us to decline or remove you, we follow the notice steps in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including sending you a copy of the report and a summary of your rights before any final decision. We do not share background check reports with Clients.
• Your profile (photo, first name, biography, experience, specialties, ratings and reviews) is shown to families during matching. It is shown publicly on our website only if you gave permission on your profile form, and you can change that choice by contacting us. Your home address, date of birth, background check, payout details, and internal notes are never shown to Clients. The Client you are matched with receives your name, phone number and email address once you accept.
• Location: we convert your address to map coordinates to measure distance and estimated travel time to lesson locations. Clients do not see your address.
• Offers and pay: we keep a record of each offer sent to you, your response, the distance, and the pay rate, and we use that history to run matching and to set pay.
• Text messages: lesson offer texts are optional and follow Section 7. Reply STOP to any offer text to stop them. You will still receive offers by email.
• Payouts and taxes: we keep your payout address and the lesson briefings that support each payout. If your earnings reach the IRS reporting threshold, we ask for a W-9 and issue a 1099. Tax forms are kept only for tax purposes.
• Insurance: if you are included in the group liability insurance program, we share your name and program details with the insurer and its representatives as the program requires.
• References: if you give us references and consent to us contacting them, we email them to ask about your experience.
• Leaving the platform: if you leave or are removed, we keep the records Section 10 describes and stop all other contact. You can ask us to delete your personal information; we will keep only what tax, insurance, safety and legal obligations require.
• Client information you receive belongs to that Client. Your agreement with InstaSwim requires you to use it only for lessons arranged through InstaSwim, never share it, never use it for marketing, never photograph or film a participant without the parent or guardian’s advance written consent, and delete it when your work with that Client ends.

Links to other sites. Our site links to other websites, such as PayPal, Stripe, and Google. Their privacy practices are their own.

Where information is stored. InstaSwim is based in New Jersey, serves the United States only, and stores information on servers in the United States.

Legal requests. We disclose information to law enforcement or other authorities when required by law or a valid legal process, or when we believe it is necessary to protect a child or another person from harm.

Terms of Service. Your use of InstaSwim is also governed by our Terms of Service. For anything about how personal information and text messages are handled, this Policy controls.

We may update this Policy as the platform changes. The current version and its effective date are always posted here. If we make a change that materially affects how we use information we already hold about you, we will email the address on your booking or your Instructor profile before it takes effect. A change to this Policy never opts you in to text messages; that always takes your own action.

Questions, requests, or concerns about privacy: support@instaswimusa.com, or (888) 610-2656.

Mail: InstaSwim LLC, Attn: Privacy, 1550 Harbor Boulevard, Weehawken, NJ 07086.

Please write from the email address on your booking or your Instructor profile so we can confirm it is you.