Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

Information you give us:

• Account details: email address and password (stored in hashed form by our authentication provider).
• Profile: display name, date of birth (we show your age, not your date of birth), city, gender identity, who you want to see, relationship goal, bio, interests, prompts and answers, and optional details such as job title, height, education, drinking, smoking and children.
• Photos, voice intro recordings, Stories, Vibes (videos) and any media you upload.
• Your HeartPrint answers (communication, lifestyle, values and social-energy sliders) and your discovery preferences (age range, distance, who to show).
• Messages, circle posts and other content you send, and information you give in reports, support requests, DateGuard plans (place, time and a label for a trusted contact) and date plans.
• A verification selfie if you choose to get verified.

Information collected automatically:

• Approximate and precise location, if you allow it, used to show distance and nearby people. You can turn location off in your device settings.
• Activity such as likes, passes, pokes, Superhearts, matches, blocks, reports, the stories and posts you view, and when you were last active.
• Device and technical information: device type, operating system, app version, push notification token, IP address and crash or diagnostic data.
• Subscription status from the app stores through our payments partner. We do not receive your full card number.

2. Sensitive information

Some information you share can reveal sensitive details about you, such as your sexual orientation or gender identity, your relationship goals, your photos and your voice. You choose what to add. We use this information only to run the Service (for example to show you the people you asked to see) and do not sell it or use it for third-party advertising.

Photo verification: if you submit a verification selfie, our moderators compare it with your profile photos. We use it only to decide whether to give you a verified badge and to protect members from fake profiles. Verification selfies are stored privately and are visible only to authorised moderators. We do not use the selfie to identify you in other places.

3. How we use your information

• To create and run your account, show your profile to others, suggest people and show you compatibility information;
• To let you chat, translate messages, use Circles, Stories, Vibes, calls and live features, and plan dates;
• To keep the Service safe: moderate content, review reports, verify profiles, detect fraud, spam and abuse, block banned users and enforce our Terms;
• To send notifications and emails about matches, messages, likes and other activity, according to your settings;
• To process subscriptions and purchases and apply limits and premium features;
• To provide support, fix bugs, measure and improve the Service and develop new features;
• To comply with law and respond to valid legal requests.

Where the law requires a legal basis, we rely on: performing our contract with you (running the Service); your consent (for example location, push notifications, photos of a sensitive nature and the verification selfie); our legitimate interests (safety, security, fraud prevention and improving the Service); and legal obligations.

4. What other members can see

Your profile (name, age, city, photos, bio, interests, prompts, tags, voice intro, verification badge and an approximate distance) can be seen by members who are shown your profile. Your exact location is never shown. People you block cannot see your profile. Private photos are shown only to members you allow, where this feature is on.

Free members can see that someone liked them but not who, unless they match or upgrade to Premium. Premium members may see the names of people who liked them. Messages are visible to the person you send them to.

5. Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as described here:

• Service providers who process data for us: Supabase (database, authentication, file storage and server functions), an email delivery provider, a push notification service, a payments and subscription management provider (RevenueCat) together with Apple and Google, and a video and calling provider (Stream) for calls and live features.
• Translation: when automatic translation is on, the text of messages you receive is sent to a third-party translation provider (DeepL) to translate it. Only the message text is sent.
• Other members, as described above.
• Authorities and others where we believe disclosure is required by law, to protect someone’s safety, to investigate fraud or abuse, or to defend our rights.
• A buyer or successor if we are involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, with notice to you where required.

Our service providers may only use your information to provide services to us.

6. International transfers

We and our service providers may process your information in countries other than your own, including countries that may have different data protection laws. Where required, we use safeguards such as standard contractual clauses to protect your information.

7. How long we keep information

We keep your information while your account is active. When your account is deleted we remove or anonymise your profile and content within a reasonable period, except where we need to keep some data for longer: for example to keep a banned person from re-registering, to deal with safety reports or legal claims, or to meet legal, tax or accounting obligations. Stories expire automatically. Backups are overwritten on a rolling basis.

8. Your choices and rights

You can view and edit most of your profile in the app (Profile → Edit profile), delete photos and your voice intro, control notifications and emails (Profile → Notifications), turn location off in your device settings, block and report people, and stop using the Service at any time.

You can delete your account and its data yourself at any time in the app (Profile → Delete account). Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, to withdraw consent at any time, and to complain to your local data protection authority. To use these rights, contact us at support@heartwavedating.com. We may need to verify your identity first.

California residents and residents of other US states with privacy laws have similar rights. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising.

9. Security

We use technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encryption in transit, access controls on the database and private storage for sensitive files such as verification selfies. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please use a strong, unique password.

10. Children

Heartwave is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child is using the Service, tell us at support@heartwavedating.com and we will remove the account.

11. Cookies and similar technologies

The mobile app does not use advertising cookies. We and our providers may use device identifiers, local storage and similar technologies that are necessary to keep you signed in, remember your settings, send notifications and keep the Service secure.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy. If a change is significant we will notify you in the app or by email before it takes effect. The date at the top shows when this version took effect.

13. Contact us

For any privacy question or request, contact us at support@heartwavedating.com or use Contact support in the app.

Face verification (biometric information)

Get the verified tick by taking a quick selfie. We compare it with your main profile photo to check it is really you.

What happens: Your selfie and your main profile photo are sent to Amazon Web Services (AWS Rekognition), which compares the two faces. This uses face-recognition technology, so it handles biometric information about you.

Why we do it: Only to give real profiles the verified tick and to keep fake profiles off Heartwave. We do not use it for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not use it to recognise you anywhere else.

How long we keep it: Your selfie is deleted as soon as the check is done. If a person at Heartwave has to look at it, it is deleted right after they decide, and never kept longer than 14 days. We do not keep a faceprint of you. We keep only the result (verified or not) and the date.

Who can see it: If the automatic check is unsure, a Heartwave moderator may look at your selfie next to your profile photos. No other member ever sees your selfie.

Your choice: This is optional. You can say no and keep using Heartwave without the tick. You can delete your selfie or withdraw your consent at any time from your Profile.

Waitlist

If you join the Heartwave waitlist on our website, we collect your email address and, if you choose to give them, your first name, city, country and how you heard about us. We also record when and how you agreed to receive our emails, a scrambled (hashed) form of your internet address to stop repeated sign-ups, and which waitlist link you joined through.

We use this only to confirm your email, send you your referral link and progress, tell you when Heartwave launches, and give any free Premium week you earn. Emails are sent through our email provider, Resend.

Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can ask us to delete your waitlist details at any time by writing to support@heartwavedating.com. We delete waitlist details we no longer need within 12 months after launch.