Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Information You Provide

• Phone Number: Required for account creation, verification, and SMS notifications
• Profile Information: Name, age, gender, interests, relationship preferences, education level, and other profile details you choose to share
• Location Data: GPS coordinates when you check in to find nearby matches
• Messages: Content of SMS messages sent through our relay service
• Payment Information: Processed securely through PayPal (we do not store your credit card details)

Information Automatically Collected

• Usage Data: How you interact with the service, features used, and timestamps
• Device Information: Browser type, operating system, IP address
• SMS Delivery Data: Message delivery status and timestamps

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Provide the Service: Match you with compatible people nearby, facilitate communication, and coordinate meetups
• Send SMS Notifications: Alert you about matches, relay messages between matched users
• AI Matching: Generate compatibility scores, create personalized match descriptions, and suggest conversation starters
• Account Management: Verify your identity, manage your subscription, process payments
• Safety & Security: Prevent fraud, investigate reports, enforce our Terms of Service
• Improve the Service: Analyze usage patterns, fix bugs, develop new features, improve AI matching algorithms and prompts
• Legal Compliance: Respond to legal requests, protect our rights

3. How We Share Your Information

With Other Users

• Profile Information: Shared with potential matches through AI-generated descriptions (your full profile is never shown)
• Messages: Relayed to matched users during the 30-minute chat window
• Location: Only used to determine proximity (never shared directly with other users)

With Service Providers

• Airtable: Database hosting for user profiles and match data
• Twilio: SMS delivery service
• OpenAI: AI-powered matching and conversation generation
• PayPal: Payment processing
• Vercel: Application hosting

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Project Mistletoe, our users, or others.

We Never Sell Your Data

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

4. SMS Communications

Message Frequency: Varies based on your activity and matches. You may receive multiple messages per day when actively using the service.

Message & Data Rates: Standard SMS rates apply as determined by your mobile carrier.

Opt-Out: You can stop receiving SMS messages at any time by replying STOP to any message.

Help: Reply HELP to any message for support information.

5. Data Retention

• User Profiles: Retained until you delete your account
• Check-ins: Location data deleted after 24 hours
• Matches: Active for 90 days, then archived
• SMS Logs: Retained for 24 hours for operational purposes
• Deleted Accounts: Personal data anonymized within 30 days (some data retained for legal/safety purposes)

6. Your Privacy Rights

You have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of your personal data
• Correction: Update inaccurate or incomplete information
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and personal data
• Opt-Out: Stop receiving SMS messages (will deactivate your account)
• Data Portability: Receive your data in a portable format
• Object: Object to certain uses of your data

To exercise these rights, contact us at the information below.

7. Security

We implement reasonable security measures to protect your information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit and at rest
• Secure authentication with OTP verification
• Anonymous SMS relay to protect phone numbers
• Regular security audits and updates
• Limited employee access to personal data

However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Children's Privacy

Project Mistletoe is not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect information from minors. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from someone under 18, we will delete it immediately.

9. International Users

Project Mistletoe is operated in the United States. If you are accessing the service from outside the U.S., your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. By using our service, you consent to this transfer.

10. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

• Right to know what personal information is collected, used, shared, or sold
• Right to delete personal information
• Right to opt-out of the sale of personal information (we do not sell personal information)
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising CCPA rights

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. Your continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

13. SMS Terms & Compliance

By using Project Mistletoe, you agree that:

• You are the account holder or have authorization to use the phone number provided
• You consent to receive automated SMS messages
• You understand that consent is not a condition of purchase (free tier available)
• Standard message and data rates may apply
• You can opt out at any time by replying STOP

Our SMS service is provided via Twilio. For questions about SMS delivery or carrier-specific issues, see Twilio's Privacy Policy at twilio.com/legal/privacy.