1. About FriendsIN
FriendsIN is a social discovery platform that helps adults meet people, practise languages, arrange Meetups, join Events, and make respectful online and real-world connections.
2. Information we collect
The information we collect depends on the features you use and the details you choose to provide.
- Account and sign-in information, including your name, email address, date of birth, and account credentials or authentication details.
- Profile information, such as photos, display name, interests, languages, city and country, country of origin, and profile or relationship preferences where applicable.
- Messages, reports, feedback, and other content you create or share.
- Meetup and Event participation, attendance, cancellations, feedback, and related safety records.
- Subscription status and transaction confirmations provided by the relevant store or payment processor.
- Device, app, network, diagnostic, and integrity information needed to operate, secure, and improve FriendsIN.
3. Location information
FriendsIN may use location information for local Discovery, Location Verification, recommendations, and proportionate fraud and safety checks. Signals may include location permission or GPS information, an IP-derived country, and app or device integrity signals.
Location permission may be required for verified local features. We do not publish your exact GPS coordinates to other users.
4. Selfie and identity verification
You may submit selfie material to support profile verification. We use it for verification, fraud prevention, safety, and moderation, and retain it according to the applicable retention policy and legal or safety needs.
A selfie check is a product verification step; this policy does not state that FriendsIN performs biometric identification.
5. How we use information
- Operate Discovery and personalise recommendations.
- Enable Language Exchange, Meetups, Events, messaging, and travel features.
- Provide Trust, reliability, location, and profile verification features.
- Prevent fraud and abuse, respond to reports, and support moderation and safety.
- Send service messages and notifications, provide support, and administer subscriptions.
- Measure performance, troubleshoot issues, and improve the product through appropriate analytics.
6. Trust, reliability, and Conduct signals
FriendsIN may maintain a Trust Score or level, verification status, participation and reliability signals, no-show or cancellation information, and moderation or Conduct history. These are contextual product signals, not guarantees. We do not publish private scoring formulas or internal abuse-prevention thresholds.
7. Information shown to other users
Depending on your settings and the feature, other users may see your display name, age, city or country, photos, interests, languages, Trust status, verification indicators, and activity or online indicators where enabled. Travel Plans are shown only when you choose to publish them through the relevant feature.
FriendsIN does not show your exact GPS coordinates publicly.
8. Messages and user content
We process messages and other user content to deliver them, prevent abuse, investigate reports, moderate content when necessary, and meet legal or safety obligations. This does not mean private conversations are routinely read manually.
9. Events and Meetups
We may process participation and attendance records, QR attendance verification where used, feedback, cancellations, no-show or reliability information, and related reports or safety records to operate these features and support community safety.
10. Travel features
Premium users may be able to publish Planned Travel. Information selected for a Travel Plan may be visible to other users through Travellers or Travel Buddy features until it is removed, expires, or is no longer displayed under the applicable product rules.
11. Subscriptions and payments
Subscriptions and payments may be processed by Apple, Google, or another approved payment provider. FriendsIN receives the information needed to confirm and manage entitlement or transaction status; we do not claim to store full payment-card details handled by those providers.
12. Service providers
Necessary service providers may process information on our behalf for hosting, authentication, notifications, analytics, payments, security, and customer support. They receive only the access needed for their role and are subject to applicable contractual and legal requirements.
13. Data retention
FriendsIN uses a versioned retention policy. Active account data is kept while needed to provide the service. Deleted-account data, technical records, messages, event or meetup history, and verification material are deleted or anonymised according to the applicable policy. Moderation, safety, fraud, payment, or legal records may be retained longer where necessary for legitimate safety, legal, dispute, or compliance purposes. Retention can also be paused for an appropriate legal or safety hold.
14. Account deletion
You can request account deletion through the existing account deletion flow in FriendsIN or through the public account deletion page. Deletion removes or schedules removal of account information under the retention policy. Some limited records may remain where required for safety, fraud prevention, legal obligations, disputes, or enforcement.
15. Your rights
Depending on applicable law, including the GDPR or UK GDPR where relevant, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, and portability of personal information. Rights can have lawful limitations. Contact us to make a request; we may need to verify your identity before responding.
16. Children
FriendsIN is for adults aged 18 or over. People under 18 may not create or use an account.
17. Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect information. No service or transmission method is completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security.
18. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the service, law, or our practices change. The current version and date appear on this page, and significant changes may be communicated in the app or through another appropriate channel.
19. Contact
For privacy questions or requests, contact us at support@friendsin.app.