Privacy Policy | BuddyMe

Protecting your personal data is important to us. In this privacy policy, we inform you about what data we collect, why we collect it, and how we use it.

1. Data Controller

The data controller responsible for data processing is:

2. Data We Collect

We collect various types of data to provide you with our service:

Profile Data

Name, age, city, profile picture, bio text, interests

Usage Data

Your Loops, the ones you joined, chat messages, app activity, which profiles you viewed (not in incognito mode)

Technical Data

IP address, device type, operating system, app version

Location Data

City (to show you nearby people), optional: GPS for "Nearby" feature

Visibility to other users

Your profile is visible to other users near you: first name, photo, age, district, approximate distance and the interests you listed. This applies even if you never create an activity yourself — it is how people with shared interests find each other. You can switch this visibility off at any time in the app (People → visibility); your account, chats and buddies are unaffected. Your exact location is never shown, only a rounded distance. The "Active today" label is just as coarse: it only says that you opened the app today — never when, and there is no live status.

3. Purpose of Processing

We process your data for the following purposes:

• Providing and improving the service
• Bringing you together with other users nearby
• Security and protection against abuse
• Communication about the service (e.g. someone joining your Loop)
• Anonymous statistics to improve the app

4. Legal Basis

We process your data based on the following legal grounds:

• Contract performance (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) – for using the app
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) – for push notifications and optional features
• Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) – for security and fraud prevention

5. Third-Party Services

To provide our service, we use the following third-party providers:

• Auth0 – Auth0 (EU region) – Authentication and login
• Firebase – Firebase Cloud Messaging – Push notifications
• Resend – Resend (EU region) – Transactional emails
• OpenRouter – OpenRouter – turns the text you write for a Loop into a suggested title and, when you join a Loop, into two suggestions for your first message in the Loop chat. Only the Loop's title and description plus its category and date are sent – no names, no location, no chat messages. We only route to providers that store nothing and do not train on it (zero data retention); processed under Art. 28 GDPR.

6. Data Retention

We only store your data for as long as necessary for the purposes:

• Account data: Until you delete your account
• Chat messages: Until the chat is deleted or your account is removed
• Server logs: 30 days
• Viewed profiles: 90 days (none are stored in incognito mode)

7. Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access (Art. 15 GDPR)
• Rectification (Art. 16 GDPR)
• Erasure (Art. 17 GDPR)
• Restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
• Data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
• Objection (Art. 21 GDPR)

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The competent authority is the data protection authority of your country.

8. Cookies

Our website only uses technically necessary cookies that are required for operation. We do not use tracking or advertising cookies.

9. Data Security

We implement technical and organizational measures to protect your data, including encryption, secure servers, and regular security audits.

10. Minors

BuddyMe is intended for persons aged 13 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.

11. Changes

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated to you via email or in the app.

12. Contact

For questions about data protection, you can reach us at: