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MindMatch — Privacy Policy
MindMatch is a place to connect through writing rather than photos. You write short personal letters, read others’ letters anonymously, and reveal your identity and photos only when you and another person both choose to. You must be 18 or older to use MindMatch. This policy explains what we collect, why, and your choices.
1. Information we collect
- Account — a unique account identifier and, if you sign in with email, your email address (handled by Google Firebase Authentication).
- Profile — your alias (pen name), and optionally your real name, date of birth (used only to confirm you are 18+ and to show an age), gender, city, intent (write / meet / romance), and profile photos.
- Content you create — letters, weekly-question answers, messages in a bottle, chat messages with people you connect with, highlights/notes, reactions, and kindness notes.
- Photos — stored privately; never shown to anyone until you and a matched person both choose to share, and then only via short-lived secure links.
- From our website — if you join the waitlist or submit a letter as a Founding Writer at getmindmatched.com, we collect your email address (and, for a Founding Writer, your chosen pen name and the letter you write).
- Technical & diagnostics — your device push-notification token (so we can notify you), your app version and device type, and basic crash/error logs to help us fix problems.
2. How we use it
- To run the service: publish your letters anonymously, surface letters to read, deliver messages and form connections.
- To keep it safe: age-gating (18+), content moderation, and handling blocks and reports.
- To send notifications you’ve enabled (e.g. “a bottle has arrived”). You can turn these off in Settings → Notifications.
- To run the waitlist and Founding Writer programme: to tell you when MindMatch opens and, with your consent, to add a letter you submitted into the app so you can claim it under your account.
3. Our legal basis (UK/EU)
Where UK or EU data-protection law applies, we process your data: to perform our contract with you (running your account and the service); with your consent (e.g. push notifications, joining the waitlist, or submitting a Founding Writer letter — which you can withdraw at any time); and for our legitimate interests in keeping the service safe and secure and improving it. We rely on your consent for any sensitive information you choose to share.
4. Anonymity & what others see
- While browsing, only your alias and avatar are visible — never your real name or photos.
- Your real name, age, city and photos are revealed to another person only when you have matched and both of you have chosen to share photos. Nobody shows first; the reveal is mutual and simultaneous.
- Letters and weekly answers are stored without your account identifier attached to the public copy.
- Your private messages stay private. We do not read the messages you exchange with people you’ve connected with, except where strictly necessary for safety, content moderation, legal compliance, or to respond to a support request you make.
5. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal information. We use trusted infrastructure providers to operate the app:
- Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore database, Cloud Storage, Cloud Functions) — hosting and processing your data.
- Expo / Google Firebase Cloud Messaging — to deliver push notifications.
- Google Play Billing (and RevenueCat) — only if and when you make a purchase; we do not receive your card details.
We may disclose information if required by law or to protect users’ safety.
6. Where your data is stored & international transfers
Your data is stored and processed on Google Cloud / Firebase infrastructure, currently located in the United States. When we transfer the personal data of UK or EU users outside the UK/EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards — including the Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the UK and the European Commission — which our infrastructure provider, Google, makes available.
7. Cookies & the website
Our website uses no advertising or tracking cookies. It uses only the minimal technical storage needed for the waitlist and letter-submission forms to work (provided by Google Firebase). We do not run third-party ad networks or sell website data.
8. Retention & deletion
- We keep your data while your account is active.
- Delete your account at any time in the app: Settings → Edit profile → Delete account. This permanently removes your account, profile, letters, answers, messages, photos and connections.
- You can also request deletion without the app at getmindmatched.com/delete or by emailing contact@getmindmatched.com.
- Waitlist and Founding Writer details are kept until launch or until you ask us to remove them, whichever is sooner. Limited records may be retained briefly where needed for legal or safety reasons.
9. Security
Data is protected by Firebase security rules and access controls; photos are served only through expiring secure links to matched, mutually-consenting users. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information.
10. Age
MindMatch is strictly for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18; if we learn an account belongs to a minor, we will delete it.
11. Your rights
Depending on where you live (e.g. UK/EU under GDPR), you may have rights to access, correct, export, restrict or delete your data, and to object to or withdraw consent for certain processing. To exercise these, contact contact@getmindmatched.com. If you are in the UK, you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk; EU users may complain to their local data-protection authority.
12. Changes
We may update this policy; we’ll change the “last updated” date and, for material changes, notify you in the app.
13. Contact
Questions or requests: contact@getmindmatched.com · MindMatch is operated by FBG START LTD, Flat 607, Emerald House, 23 Henley Cross, Kidbrooke, London.