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UK GDPR PRIVACY NOTICE

Privacy Policy

Find My Buddy • Version 1.0

Last updated: 30 October 2026 - Version 1.0

This policy explains what personal data Find My Buddy ("FMB", "we", "us") collects when you use our app and website, why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what your rights are.

Find My Buddy is for adults aged 18 and over who live in the United Kingdom.

1. Who we are

• Data controller: Michael Taylor, trading as Find My Buddy
• Contact for privacy questions: help@findmybuddy.co.uk
• Supervisory authority: the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), ico.org.uk

2. The short version

• We collect what we need to run a safe meet-up app: your account, profile, the activities you post or join, your chats and safety features you switch on.
• Other members see your first name, town, photo, interests and what you choose to show. They never see your email, phone number, surname, home address or exact position (unless you choose to show your exact spot on the map).
• Live location is off unless both people agree, works only around a meet-up, stops by itself, and no location history is kept.
• ID check photos are deleted as soon as our staff make a decision.
• We use AI to check public posts and reported chats for harmful content. We do not use your data to train AI.
• FMB Dating (when switched on) is opt-in and has its own profile. Only other daters see it, the dating map only shows a rough area, and you can delete your dating profile at any time (section 5A).
• We do not sell your data and we do not use advertising or analytics cookies.

3. What we collect

3.1 Data you give us

3.2 Data we collect when you use the app

3.3 Data from other people

• Other members may report you, block you, mark you as a no-show, give you a "would meet again" thumbs-up, or send a private safety note about you to our staff.
• Hosts decide whether to accept your join request.
• Trusted friends (who may not be members) only receive a link from you; we do not collect their contact details unless you pick a member as your trusted friend.

4. Why we use it (lawful bases)

Special category data. In the friends app we do not ask for health, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Some of it may appear in what you write or in an ID photo. In FMB Dating, your dating gender together with "show me men / women / everyone" may show your sexual orientation. Other daters can work this out from who you are shown to. We use it only to show you to the right people, and only because you chose to set up a dating profile. You can delete it at any time by deleting your dating profile. ID photos are compared by eye by staff; we do not use face-matching software or other biometric processing.

Automated decisions. Our AI check can hide a post, "about me" text, activity type name or message straight away. You are always told, staff can review it, and you can ask for a human review by contacting us. The server can also undo a join or close a post when a free plan limit is reached. None of these has a legal or similarly significant effect.

5. Location data

• Your town is used for distances. Other members see your town, never your address.
• The people map is off unless you choose "rough area" or "exact spot" in settings. You can change this at any time.
• Activity meeting points are set by the host and shown to members; the public map shows a rounded point and area.
• First-meet live location:
  • Only works when both people at a meet-up switch it on.
  • Available from 30 minutes before the start to the activity's end time, and never for more than 4 hours.
  • Stops when you both check in, when either of you stops it, at check-out, or at the end time.
  • While on, only the other person at that meet-up sees how far away you are (e.g. "400 m, about 5 min").
  • Your trusted friend sees the town and distance from the meeting point, not your exact position.
  • Nothing is kept afterwards. The live position is deleted when it stops; a server job deletes anything left over, and an automatic expiry removes it within 2 days at the latest.
• Battery and offline alerts: if you switch them on, your friend may be told your battery level and your last known place if your phone goes offline during a meet-up.

5A. FMB Dating (when switched on)

FMB Dating is a separate, opt-in dating area inside Find My Buddy. It is not switched on yet. If you never set up a dating profile, we hold no dating data about you.

5A.1 What we collect for dating

5A.2 Who sees your dating data

• Other daters (signed-in members with a dating profile) see your dating card: first name, age, dating gender, photos (unless you are blind dating), "about me", your answers to profile questions, what you are looking for, your basics, ID-verified badge and "active today". Members who do not use dating cannot see it.
• Paused profiles are hidden from Browse and the map. People you have a live match with can still see your card.
• Blocked people (either way) cannot see your card or map spot.
• Your likes and passes are seen only by you, with one exception: members with Dating Plus or Pro see who liked them (your dating card, in their "Liked you" list) until they like or pass you back. Members on Dating Free only see how many people liked them. Passes are never shown to anyone.
• Messages before a match (Dating Pro) are seen only by the sender and the person they are for, and only if that person switched off "Only matches can message me" (and, if they chose it, only from ID-verified senders). After you match, the message shows at the top of your chat.
• "Seen" read receipts. If your "Seen" switch is on (it is on unless you switch it off), a match with Dating Plus or Pro can see when you last read your chat with them. Switch it off any time (Dating Plus / Pro page): nobody then sees when you read, and your old "read" times are deleted.
• Boosts. While you are boosted, your card shows nearer the top of Browse for other daters. Nobody is told that you used a boost.
• Your plan, tokens and boosts are seen only by you (and our staff for support and refunds).
• Matches are seen only by the two people in them, and only while the match is live.
• The dating map shows only rounded spots of daters who switched it on. Blind daters show without a photo.
• Quiz answers. Other people only ever see a match % worked out by our server, never your answers. Two exceptions: (1) the daily question - after you answer it, you see your live matches' answers to that one question, and they see yours once they have answered; (2) "Quiz a match" - your real answers are held in a locked record that nobody can read until your match has guessed; then you both see the answers and the score.
• Uncensored chat. Your own "Uncensored chat OK" choice is private. The other person in a chat only sees the combined result for that chat ("on" only when you both chose it). If you have it on and the chat shows "off", you can tell the other person has it off; the app never says so directly.
• "Up for a game" is shown as a badge on your dating card and the dating map, so other daters know they can invite you. A game invite is seen only by the two people in it. If you decline, only you know: the sender is never told.
• Shared game results are seen by daters (Dating feed) or by members who see your Friends feed posts (Friends feed). A Friends feed post tells your friends that you use FMB Dating; the app warns you before you share there. Posts never include other people's answers or the name of the match whose quiz you played.
• The group card game ("Fill Me In"). Rooms are open to anyone in FMB Dating. The other players in your room see your first name, dating gender, your score and the cards or typed lines you play (who played which shows only after the judge picks). A line you type is kept with the room (deleted with it, or straight away if you delete your dating profile or account). If another player reports your line, the line, the room and your account id go to our staff for review (section 7). Only you see your own cards. A mixed room is half men, half women. Your own "Uncensored chat OK" choice is never shown, but the room shows whether it uses the uncensored cards: it does only when every player has it on (then clean and uncensored cards are mixed), so everyone in such a room knows every player chose it.
• Invite a friend. Anyone who opens your invite link sees your dating first name and what you invited them to (the game, game night or event), even before they sign up. The link itself holds only a random code. Nobody else sees your links. We use the scrambled device ID and your two email addresses only on our server, to spot someone inviting themselves; nobody can see them in the app.
• Dating events: everyone in FMB Dating sees an event's details and how many places are left. The venue (or the member) who posted it sees each booking's first name, dating gender, whether it is paid and whether that person is checked in, and how many are on the waiting list; it never sees your ticket code, your other dating details or your payment details. In the after-event round, only the checked-in people of that event see each other (first name, age, dating photo unless blind), and nobody sees who liked them unless it is a match.
• Stripe (our payment provider) gets what it needs to take your ticket payment, refund it and pay the venue.
• Our staff can see dating data when they handle a report, a safety alert or a support request.

5A.3 Safety checks in dating

• Phone numbers, email addresses and links are blocked in dating chats until you both connect.
• There is no swear-word filter in dating chats. Reported dating chats are checked by our AI and staff in the same way as other reported chats (section 7). When both people switched on "Uncensored chat OK", the check does not flag welcome sexual messages between them; it still looks for harassment, pressure, threats, hate, scams, signs of under-18s, contact-detail tricks and requests for nude or explicit photos. To do this the check reads the yes / no uncensored chat result on your match.
• If a dating message mentions money, gift cards or crypto, the app shows a safety tip. This is a simple word check on our server. It keeps no copy of the message, blocks nothing and uses no AI.

5A.4 Keeping and deleting dating data

• Delete my dating profile (in FMB Dating, My profile > Delete) removes for good: your dating profile, card, photos and photo files, blind photos record, map spot, daily like count, every like and pass you gave or received, every match you are in, and all your quiz game data: your Match % answers, your daily question answers, and every "Quiz a match" quiz you sent or received (both people's copies), every game result you shared (Dating feed posts and the Friends feed posts they made), and every game invite you sent or received (with its locked answers) and your invite box, and your card game data: you are taken out of every "Fill Me In" room (your first name, ID, score and cards come off; a room left with nobody in it is deleted) and your seat and cards are deleted. It also deletes your perk use (games and messages used, last pass), your "Seen" switch and read times, your boost mark, every message before a match you sent or received, and your tokens history except purchases (tokens earned, spent and the weekly top-ups). Your friends profile and your other Friends feed posts stay.
• Dating events, when you delete: a booking for an event that has not started yet is cancelled in the normal way (the usual refund rules: the ticket price back if it is 48 hours or more before the start, the booking fee kept) and your place goes to the waiting list; any refund is then sent to you automatically. A payment page you left open is closed, and if a payment still comes through it is refunded in full. Your free places, ticket codes, waiting-list places and after-event likes (given or received) are deleted. Events you posted as a Dating Pro member are cancelled if they have not ended (the people booked are told), and your name is taken off them. If you run a venue, the venue's events stay: they belong to the venue.
• Deleting your Find My Buddy account does the same, and also deletes your tokens balance and any boosts you bought (no one is left to use them). While the account is paused (the 30 days before deletion) your dating card and map spot are hidden at once; undo puts them back.
• Kept after a dating delete: records of a paid dating plan and its changes (tax law), records of free Dating Plus days you were given, pack purchases and the tokens they gave you, and paid ticket records
• Unmatched matches are hidden from both people at once and kept for our staff for 30 days in case of a report. After 30 days the match and its "Quiz a match" records are deleted automatically.
• Matches that ended (no message within 3 days) are hidden from both people at once and kept for 30 days in the same way, then deleted automatically with their "Quiz a match" records.
• After an ended match is deleted, we keep the record that you both liked each other, only so that you are not shown to each other again. It is deleted when either of you deletes your dating profile.
• Quiz games: only the last 30 days of daily answers are kept. Your Match % answers are kept while your dating profile exists. All of it is deleted with your dating profile or your account.
• Shared game results stay on the Dating feed for 14 days, then are deleted automatically (you can remove one sooner). A Friends feed post stays until you delete it (or your dating profile or account).
• Game invites are kept for 30 days, then deleted automatically with their locked answers.
• Card game rooms are deleted automatically, with everyone's cards, seats and the locked record, 7 days after the game finishes, or 1 day after the last move if the game never started or was abandoned (a booked game night room is kept until a day after its start time).
• Invite a friend: links are deleted 30 days after they stop working; the note that a new account opened a link is deleted after 30 days. Deleting your dating profile or account deletes your links, those notes and the reward records that name you. The record of free Dating Plus days you were given is kept with your dating plan.

6. Optional ID check

• It is optional. It gives you an "ID-verified" badge and lets you join activities limited to verified members.
• You send a photo of your passport or driving licence and a selfie. Our staff check them by eye.
• The photos are deleted as soon as staff decide. We keep only the result, the date, the gender and the year of birth shown on the ID (to confirm you are 18+ and for women-only or men-only activities).
• If the ID shows you are under 18, your account is closed.
• Until staff decide, the photos are held in a locked server area no member can read.
• You can withdraw consent before the decision by contacting us; we will delete the photos. After approval, you can ask us to remove the badge and the stored result.

7. AI

We use AI in two ways. We do not allow our AI providers to train their models on your data.

1. Safety checks (our AI). New or edited community posts, "about me" text, new activity type names and chats that a member reports are sent to Anthropic's Claude model to look for harassment, hate, sexual content, self-harm, scams, signs of under-18 users and contact-detail tricks. A short summary of the result is stored. The same text checked again within 30 days reuses the saved answer.
2. Your own AI helper (optional). You can connect your own AI assistant (for example ChatGPT or Claude) to Find My Buddy. Your assistant then asks us for things on your behalf, such as people or activities that match a request or ideas based on the weather in your town. We only give your assistant what you could already see in the app (never contact details, exact positions, surnames or gender) and it cannot send messages, join activities or contact anyone. Your AI provider is a separate company and its own privacy policy applies to what you share with it. You can disconnect it at any time in Settings, and see a log of what it did.

8. Who can see your data

• Signed-out visitors see nothing about members, except: the "X invited you" first name on an invite link, and a trusted-friend page that only the person holding the secret link can open.
• Signed-in members see your public profile: first name, town, photo, about me, interests, activity types, free times, age (if you show it), ID-verified badge, badges, "would meet again" count and "turned up X of Y".
• Members of an activity or group see who else joined, the meeting point and the chat.
• Before you connect with someone, phone numbers, email addresses and street addresses are blocked in your chat. After you both connect you can share what you like. Group chats always block them.
• Our staff see what they need to handle reports, ID checks, safety alerts, support and moderation. Every staff view of ID photos is logged.
• Your trusted friend sees only what section 5 says.
• FMB Dating: only other daters see your dating profile, and only what section 5A.2 says.

9. Who we share it with (processors)

We do not sell personal data. We share it only with these services, each getting only what it needs:

We may also share data with the police or other authorities when the law requires it, or when someone's life or safety is at risk.

10. International transfers

Our main database is in London. Some processors (Anthropic, Stripe, parts of Google) may handle data in the United States. Where they do, we rely on the UK-US Data Bridge (for certified companies) or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

11. How long we keep data

12. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can:

• ask for a copy of your data (access);
• ask us to correct it;
• ask us to delete it (you can also do this yourself: Me > Settings > Delete my account, or, for dating only, FMB Dating > My profile > Delete);
• ask us to restrict or stop using it, or object to us using it on the basis of legitimate interests;
• ask for your data in a portable format;
• withdraw consent at any time (for the ID check, surveys and "Available" alerts), without affecting earlier use;
• ask for a human to review an automated decision (section 4).

Contact help@findmybuddy.co.uk. We reply within one month (we may extend this by two months for complex requests and will tell you why). We may need to confirm who you are. It is free unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive.

Complaints. Please contact us first and we will try to put things right. You can also complain to the ICO: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, 0303 123 1113.

13. Children

Find My Buddy is only for people aged 18 and over. We ask you to confirm your age at sign-up. If we learn that a user is under 18 (for example from an ID check, a report or our AI check), we close the account and delete their data, except what we must keep for safety. If you believe a child is using Find My Buddy, please report it in the app or email help@findmybuddy.co.uk.

FMB Dating also needs your date of birth, and refuses anyone under 18 (section 5A.1).

14. Cookies and storage on your device

We do not use advertising or analytics cookies. The app stores some things in your browser's or phone's own storage because it needs them to work:

These are "strictly necessary", so no consent banner is needed. If we ever add analytics or advertising, we will ask first.

15. Test period

While Find My Buddy is in testing, only invited testers can use it. Testers may see test profiles ("bots") that are clearly marked in our records and are all removed before launch. Tester feedback (including screenshots) is used to fix problems.

16. Future features

FMB Dating is described in section 5A. We will update this policy before launching features that use data in new ways, including: an automatic ID or age check (including any age check for dating), paid dating plans, tokens and event tickets, the recorded dating game show (video and clips), dating video calls (not offered), Google Calendar sync (busy times only), targeted adverts (opt-in) and the phone apps (which may use background location only with your permission).

17. Changes to this policy

We will post any changes here with a new date. If a change is important, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.

18. Contact

Michael Taylor, trading as Find My Buddy - help@findmybuddy.co.uk

Open Find My Buddy