Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to MatchyWorld ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring you have a positive experience on our platform. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our matching service.

1.1 Data Controller

The data controller responsible for the processing of your personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the operator of MatchyWorld, as identified in our Impressum. You can reach the controller for any privacy-related question or request at team@matchyworld.net.

We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) because our processing activities do not currently meet the thresholds in Article 37 GDPR that would require one. You may still direct any GDPR request to the contact above and we will respond as the controller.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

• Account Information: Email address, password, and authentication credentials (including data from Apple Sign-In or Google Sign-In when you choose those options)
• Profile Information: Display name, date of birth (used to calculate your age — collected once at sign-up to confirm you are 18 or older), gender, self-declared location (a city or country you type during onboarding — we do not collect precise GPS coordinates), bio, favorite color, and interests
• Profile Content: Photos organized into a personal gallery and albums, blog posts you publish to your profile, and your current mood
• Compatibility Data: Responses to our compatibility questionnaire covering communication styles, values, relationship goals, and preferences
• Preference Settings: Matching preferences including age range, relationship type, and other criteria
• Communication Data: Messages, chat history, and interactions with matched users
• Test Responses and Badge Data: Your answers to personality tests (e.g., Personality Test, Spirit Animal, Love Pattern), the resulting badges, and which badges you choose to display on your profile
• Safety Data: Records of users you block and reports you submit about other users
• AI Chat Data: The messages you exchange with our in-app AI assistant "Blob," and the structured preference signals (e.g., interests, values, dealbreakers) that we extract from those conversations to improve your matchmaking results

2.2 Automatically Collected Information

• Platform: Whether your device is iOS or Android — stored alongside your push notification token so we can deliver notifications via the correct service
• IP Address: Collected by our hosting infrastructure (Supabase) for security, abuse prevention, and request logging
• Push Notification Tokens: When you enable notifications, a device token from Apple Push Notification service (APNs) or Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) is stored on our servers solely to deliver notifications to your device
• Log Data: Standard server access logs (timestamps, request paths, IP addresses, and user-agent strings) maintained by our hosting provider for technical and security purposes
• Crash and Error Diagnostics: When the app or our backend encounters an error, we collect a diagnostic event (error message, stack trace, the screen or endpoint where it happened, app and OS version, and an internal user identifier) through our error-monitoring provider so we can fix bugs and keep the Service stable. We do not capture screen recordings or the content of your messages, photos, or profile in these events.

2.3 Special Category Data (GDPR Article 9)

Some of the information you provide on MatchyWorld may reveal your sexual orientation, which qualifies as a "special category" of personal data under Article 9 GDPR. Specifically:

• The "Looking to Meet" preference (the gender or genders of the people you want us to show you) combined with your own gender may reveal your sexual orientation.
• Free-text fields such as your bio or messages with Blob may, if you choose to write about it, contain information about your orientation.

We process this special-category data on the basis of your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a) GDPR). When you set the "Looking to Meet" preference during onboarding, you are giving us explicit consent to use this information for the sole purpose of finding compatible matches. We do not use this data for any other purpose, and we do not share it with any third party except as strictly necessary to operate the matching service (e.g., showing it to users you have matched with, only to the extent you have made it visible on your profile).

You can withdraw this consent at any time by changing or clearing the "Looking to Meet" setting in the app, by hiding it from your profile, or by deleting your account. Withdrawal does not affect processing carried out before the withdrawal.

We do not intentionally collect other special categories of data such as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade-union membership, genetic data, biometric data, or health data. Please do not include such information in your profile or messages.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and manage your account and profile
• Match you with compatible users based on your preferences and compatibility data
• Facilitate communication between matched users
• Enable interactive features such as personality tests and badges
• Send you notifications about matches, messages, and important account updates
• Allow you to block other users and report safety concerns
• Ensure platform safety and prevent fraud, abuse, and illegal activities
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service

3.1 Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal information based on the following legal grounds:

• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): When you create an account and accept this Privacy Policy, you consent to our data processing activities
• Explicit Consent (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR): For special-category data that may reveal your sexual orientation (see Section 2.3), we rely on your explicit consent given when you set the "Looking to Meet" preference
• Contract Performance (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR): To provide our matching and communication services as part of our Terms of Service
• Legitimate Interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): To improve our services, ensure platform safety, prevent fraud, and operate error monitoring
• Legal Obligations (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR): To comply with applicable laws and regulations

3.2 Automated Decision-Making and Profiling

We use automated algorithms to match you with other users based on your compatibility data and preferences. You have the right to object to this automated processing and request human review of any automated decisions that significantly affect you.

4. Data Sharing and Disclosure

4.1 With Other Users

When you match with another user, we share your profile information, photos, albums, displayed badges, blog posts, mood, and compatibility data as shown in your profile. Your messages are shared only with matched users. Users you have blocked cannot see your profile or contact you.

4.2 Service Providers

We use the following third-party service providers solely for technical operations necessary to deliver MatchyWorld:

• Supabase, Inc. — hosting, database, authentication, and file storage for photos
• Fly.io, Inc. — hosting of our backend API server (Frankfurt region)
• Anthropic, PBC — AI model provider that powers our in-app assistant "Blob." Only the content of your chat with Blob (and a system prompt that defines Blob's behavior) is sent to Anthropic. Your name, age, gender, photos, profile fields, and matches are NOT sent. Anthropic does not train its models on this data, and under their commercial terms inputs and outputs are retained for up to 30 days for abuse-monitoring purposes and then deleted.
• Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry) — error and crash monitoring for the mobile app and backend. Receives diagnostic events (stack traces, request paths, app/OS version, and an internal user identifier) when something goes wrong. Sentry does not receive your messages, photos, profile content, or chats with Blob.
• Resend, Inc. — transactional email delivery (e.g., internal notifications when a report is submitted)
• Apple Inc. — Sign in with Apple (only if you choose this method)
• Google LLC — Sign in with Google (only if you choose this method)
• Apple Push Notification service (APNs) and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) — push notification delivery (only when you have enabled notifications)

These providers process your data only as necessary to provide the service and are contractually bound to protect your information. They do not use your data for their own marketing or commercial purposes, and they do not train AI models on your data.

4.3 No Sale or Marketing Sharing

We do not sell, rent, trade, or share your personal information with third parties for their marketing or commercial purposes. We do not use third-party advertising or behavioural-analytics SDKs, and we do not track your activity across other apps or websites. The only third-party SDK embedded in the app is Sentry (used strictly for error and crash diagnostics, as described above).

4.4 Legal Disclosures

We may disclose your information when required by law, in response to valid legal process (such as subpoenas or court orders), to protect our rights and property, or to prevent fraud, abuse, or harm to users or the public.

5. Local Storage and Tracking Technologies

MatchyWorld is a mobile application and does not use web cookies. We store the following information locally on your device for the app to function:

• Authentication tokens (so you stay signed in)
• Cached profile and content data (for offline access and faster load times)
• User interface preferences (e.g., language selection)
• Push notification tokens (when notifications are enabled)

We do not use third-party analytics, advertising identifiers, or cross-app tracking technologies.

5.1 iOS and Android Permissions

The MatchyWorld mobile app may ask you to grant the following operating-system permissions. You are always free to deny or revoke them in your device settings; doing so will only disable the corresponding feature, not the whole app.

• Camera: Used only when you choose to take a new photo to add to your profile gallery or album.
• Photo Library: Used only when you choose to pick an existing photo for your profile or album. We only access the specific photos you select.
• Notifications: Used to deliver push notifications about new matches, messages, and important account updates. Granting this permission generates a push token (see Section 2.2) that is stored on our servers.

5.2 Apple App Tracking Transparency (ATT)

MatchyWorld does not track you in the sense defined by Apple's App Tracking Transparency framework. We do not link data collected in our app with data from other companies' apps, websites, or offline products for advertising or measurement purposes, and we do not share device identifiers (such as the IDFA) with data brokers. For this reason, the app does not display the iOS App Tracking Transparency prompt.

6. AI-Powered Features (Blob)

MatchyWorld includes an in-app AI assistant called Blob that chats with you to help you describe what you are looking for in a match. We want to be specific about how this works:

6.1 What is sent to the AI provider

When you send a message to Blob, the following is sent to our AI provider (Anthropic) over an encrypted connection:

• The text of your current message
• Recent messages in the same Blob conversation, so Blob can follow the thread
• A fixed system prompt that defines Blob's behaviour and safety rules

6.2 What is NOT sent to the AI provider

• Your name, date of birth, age, gender, or any other profile field
• Your photos, albums, blog posts, or mood
• Your preference settings, compatibility answers, or test results
• Your matches, your other chats, or any other user's data
• Your email address, IP address, or device identifiers

6.3 How Blob's output is used

Blob's reply is shown to you in the chat and stored alongside your conversation. A second AI pass periodically reads the Blob conversation to extract structured preference signals (for example: "user enjoys hiking," "user values honesty," "user does not want smokers"). These signals are stored in your account and used by our automated matchmaking system when you tap "Match me" to find suitable candidates. You can review or delete this data by deleting your account or contacting us.

6.4 Moderation

Every message you send to Blob is automatically checked for hate speech against protected groups. Messages classified as hate speech are not stored in your conversation history, and Blob will respond with a brief redirect. We retain a minimal record of moderation decisions for safety and abuse-prevention purposes.

6.5 AI provider data handling

Our AI provider, Anthropic, PBC, processes chat content solely to generate Blob's responses. Under their commercial terms, Anthropic does not train its models on your data, and inputs and outputs are retained for up to 30 days for abuse-monitoring purposes and then deleted from their systems. The conversations we store on our own servers are governed by the retention rules in Section 9.

6.6 Limitations and your choice

Blob is an AI and can occasionally produce inaccurate or inappropriate responses despite our safeguards. Blob does not provide medical, legal, psychological, or other professional advice. If you do not wish to use AI features, you can simply not chat with Blob — matchmaking still works using the structured profile and preferences you filled in during onboarding.

7. Error and Crash Monitoring (Sentry)

To keep the app stable, we use Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) to collect diagnostic events when an error, crash, or unhandled exception occurs in the mobile app or our backend API.

7.1 What Sentry receives

• The error message and stack trace
• The screen, endpoint, or function where the error happened
• App version, operating system version, and device model
• An internal user identifier (your Supabase user ID), so we can correlate errors across reports and contact you if a fix is needed
• Anonymised "breadcrumbs" describing the steps that led up to the error (e.g., "navigated to Settings," "tapped Save")

7.2 What Sentry does NOT receive

• The content of your messages, chats with Blob, photos, albums, or blog posts
• Your profile fields, preferences, compatibility answers, or test results
• Your email address, password, or authentication tokens
• Screen recordings or session replays

Sentry stores diagnostic events on our behalf as a data processor and does not use this information for its own purposes. Events are automatically deleted from Sentry after their standard retention period (currently 30 days for our project).

8. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit and at rest
• Secure servers and infrastructure provided by our hosting provider
• Row-level access controls and authentication measures

However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. We encourage you to use strong passwords and keep your account credentials confidential.

8.1 Data Breach Notification

In the event of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the competent supervisory authority without undue delay and, where feasible, within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach, in accordance with Article 33 GDPR. Where the breach is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will also notify you directly without undue delay, in accordance with Article 34 GDPR.

9. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to Access: Request access to your personal information and receive a copy of the data we hold about you
• Right to Rectification: Update or correct inaccurate or incomplete information in your profile and account
• Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your account and associated data (subject to legal retention requirements). You may also delete your account directly from the app under Settings > Delete Account
• Right to Data Portability: Request a copy of your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Right to Object: Object to processing of your data for certain purposes, including automated decision-making and profiling
• Right to Restrict Processing: Request that we limit how we use your information in certain circumstances
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw your consent at any time where processing is based on consent (this does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal)
• Privacy Settings: Control visibility of your profile and information through account settings

To exercise these rights, please contact us at team@matchyworld.net or use the settings in your account. We will respond to your request within 30 days, or as required by applicable law.

9.1 California Residents

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to know what personal information is collected and how it is used
• Right to delete personal information we have collected from you
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information
• Right to opt out of sale or sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising — we do not sell or share personal information for these purposes
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights

To exercise these rights, contact us at team@matchyworld.net.

10. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. If you delete your account (via Settings > Delete Account in the app, or by emailing team@matchyworld.net), we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for:

• Legal obligations (e.g., tax records, fraud prevention)
• Regulatory requirements
• Safety and security purposes (e.g., records of users banned for abuse)
• Dispute resolution

Some of our third-party processors apply their own retention windows for the data they hold on our behalf:

• Anthropic (AI chat): Inputs and outputs are retained by Anthropic for up to 30 days for abuse-monitoring purposes and then deleted. See Section 6.5.
• Sentry (error monitoring): Diagnostic events are retained for approximately 30 days under our current plan and are then automatically deleted. See Section 7.
• Server access logs: Standard hosting-provider access logs are typically retained for a short period (days to a few weeks) for security and abuse-prevention purposes.

11. Children's Privacy

Our service is intended for users who are 18 years of age or older, as specified in our Terms of Service. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 18. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child under 18, we will delete that information immediately. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately.

12. International Data Transfers

Your information is stored and processed by service providers that may operate in countries other than your country of residence — in particular, Supabase, Anthropic, Sentry, and Resend are based in the United States. These providers implement appropriate safeguards to protect your data in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including GDPR Standard Contractual Clauses where relevant.

13. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal information, you have the right to file a complaint with your local data protection authority. We encourage you to contact us first at team@matchyworld.net so we can address your concerns directly.

For users in the European Union, you can find your local data protection authority at edpb.europa.eu.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. We will notify you of any material changes by:

• Posting the new Privacy Policy on this page
• Updating the "Last updated" date
• Sending you an email notification for significant changes (if you have provided an email address)
• Displaying a notice on our platform

Your continued use of our service after such changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at team@matchyworld.net.

For service provider information, please see our Impressum. For questions about the Terms of Service, please see our Terms of Service.

We aim to respond to all inquiries within 30 days, or as required by applicable law.

16. Consent

By creating an account and using MatchyWorld, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described herein. If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use our service.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account or contacting us. However, withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.