This article explains what you (a participant) can control in Pacer when you join a Pacer for Teams challenge, and what information may be visible to other participants and your organization’s challenge administrators.

What other people can see in a Teams challenge

Other participants (typical)

In most step/distance challenges, leaderboards exist specifically to rank progress. Pacer for Teams describes individual and team leaderboards and automatic leaderboard syncing as core features.

Usually visible on the leaderboard:

• Your display name (the name you use in Pacer) 
• Your challenge score (steps, distance, points, etc.) 
• Your team (if the challenge uses teams)

What may be visible if someone opens your profile (depends on your privacy settings):

• Your profile content (varies by what you’ve filled in) 
• Some activity/achievement information

Profile visibility can be adjusted so your profile is not open to everyone by default (example: switching profile visibility to “Follower”).

Challenge admins / organizers (typical)

Admins generally need visibility to run a fair competition and manage teams. Pacer for Teams lists admin capabilities like user management, custom onboarding questions (e.g., departments/locations), and challenge organization controls.

So your organizer may see:

• Your display name and challenge score 
• Your team assignment 
• Any extra onboarding fields the organizer chose to collect (e.g., department/location)

Your privacy controls (what you can change)

1) Control who can view your Profile (your main privacy lever)

You can manage who can view your Profile via Settings → Privacy Settings, including restricting visibility to “Follower” (so others need to follow you to see your Profile).

What this does well

• Reduces what others can see when they tap into your Profile page.

What it usually does not do (important)

• It typically does not remove you from a Teams leaderboard, because leaderboards need a name and score to function. (If your organization needs fully anonymous participation, ask your organizer—see “Organization-level options” below.)

2) Use a display name that matches your comfort level

Pacer collects basic account/profile info including display name and profile details like profile picture and region/country.

If you don’t want your legal name shown on leaderboards, use a display name you’re comfortable sharing within your organization (for example: “Sam L.”).

3) Limit what you share in your Profile

Because profile fields (picture, description, region/country) are collected and used as part of the service, the simplest privacy practice is: don’t add what you wouldn’t want other participants to see (especially if your Profile is public).

4) Manage Location sharing (especially for GPS activities)

• Location may be required for some services while you’re using Pacer 
• You can stop device location tracking by adjusting device settings

Recommended participant choice

• If your Teams challenge is steps-only, you may not need GPS permissions at all. 
• If your challenge includes GPS-tracked activities (runs/walks), you can still choose stricter device-level location permissions (for example, “While Using the App” instead of “Always,” depending on OS options).

5) Manage connected devices and third-party services (Fitbit/Garmin/Apple Health/Google Fit, etc.)

Pacer collects fitness/wellness data and also collects data when you connect third-party devices/services; Pacer uses Health Services data (Apple Health/Google Fit, etc.) only to provide and improve functionality, and not for marketing/advertising, and does not share/sell it to advertisers/data brokers.

Practical controls you have

• Only connect the sources you actually want to use. 
• Disconnect services you no longer want linked (usually within Pacer settings and/or within the third-party service settings).

6) Contacts / friend discovery (optional)

You may give access to your contacts for finding friends on Pacer, that it’s with explicit consent, and you can remove that consent from device privacy settings; it also notes it does not retain contacts info on its servers.

If you’re using Pacer only for a workplace challenge, you can keep Contacts permission turned off.

Organization-level privacy options (your organizer can enable)

1) Restrict who can join (Allowlists)

Organizations can use allowlists to strictly control access to the organization, and that allowlists must be set up with a Pacer for Teams account manager.

This is the best option when your organization wants:

• Only employees invited by email/domain to join 
• Reduced risk of outsiders entering the challenge

2) Minimize extra onboarding questions (department/location)

Admins can add onboarding questions (like departments & locations) to create targeted teams and generate reports.

If you want a more privacy-preserving challenge, encourage organizers to:

• Make extra fields optional (where possible) 
• Avoid collecting sensitive personal data unless truly needed

Data security

Pacer uses reasonable protections and SSL for encrypting personal information.

For business/enterprise contexts, Pacer also publishes “Security Measures” describing layered protections and encryption for data in transit (SSL/TLS) and at rest (AES), along with access controls and monitoring.

FAQ

Can I completely hide my presence from other participants?

Usually, no—if the challenge has a leaderboard, your display name and score are normally required for ranking. (If your organization needs anonymous participation, ask your organizer whether the challenge can be configured differently.)

Can I limit who sees my profile details?

Yes. You can change Profile visibility under Settings → Privacy Settings (example: set to “Follower”).

Can I stop location tracking?

Yes. You can stop location tracking by changing your device settings.

Quick checklist for privacy-conscious participants

• Set Profile visibility to a more restrictive option (e.g., “Follower”). 
• Use a comfortable display name (what will show on leaderboards). 
• Avoid adding sensitive info to Profile fields. 
• Keep Contacts permission off unless you need friend discovery. 
• Keep Location permission minimal (or off) unless the challenge needs GPS. 
• Connect only the step sources you intend to use.