Privacy Policy
This policy explains what Zera Dating collects, how we use it, what we share, and the choices you have. Short version: we collect only what we need to match you, we don't sell your data, your quiz results are never shown to other users, and you can delete your account any time.
What we collect
- You give us: email, password (hashed), your name, DOB, height, gender, city, bio, photos, prompts, voice notes and short videos, photos you send in chat, values, lifestyle answers, compatibility-quiz answers, messages, reports, and — only if you opt in — phone number for a confirmed date.
- We derive: your age, Big Five personality traits, attachment style, communication style, love-language ranking, compatibility scores with other users.
- We log: your IP address — the most recent one is stored on your account and updated as you use the App, and it's recorded with any feedback you send — for safety, abuse and fraud detection. We also log basic request metadata (method, path, request ID), app error reports (page, browser type, screen size), and feature interactions needed to run the App.
- Location (optional): if you allow it, your device location is rounded to roughly 300 m before it reaches us and is used only to calculate distance to other users. Other users see an approximate distance band, never your coordinates. You can use the App with just a city instead.
- Partner check-ins (optional): on the day of a date at a Zera Partner, you can tap “We’re here”. Your device location is checked once to confirm you’re at the venue, then discarded; we keep only that you checked in. Partners receive monthly counts of Zera dates, never names or other details, and small numbers are shown as “fewer than 5”. You can show a code at the counter instead.
- We don't use third-party advertising trackers. We don't fingerprint you. We don't participate in FLoC / Topics.
How we use it
- Finding and ranking your potential matches.
- Showing you your "Standouts," weekly insights, and notifications you've opted into.
- Delivering emails (welcome, password reset, match alerts, weekly digest, date reminders) — each respects your notification preferences.
- Enforcing our Terms of Service and responding to reports.
- Improving the matching algorithm based on anonymized patterns (e.g. "users who match Growth+Creative cluster stay in conversation longer").
What we share
- With other users: only your profile — photos, bio, prompts, values, intent, lifestyle, compat score. Never your quiz results, email, phone, or IP.
- With a matched user: your phone number only after you both confirm a date, and only if you chose to share it.
- With service providers that help run the App, only as needed for their part:
- Hosting (Railway) and email delivery (Resend).
- VPN/proxy detection (ip-api.com): your IP address is checked when you sign up or log in, to block anonymized connections used for abuse.
- Payments and optional ID verification (Stripe), if you use those features.
- Maps and address lookup (OpenStreetMap) when you pick a date location, and fonts (Google Fonts) — your browser contacts these directly, so they receive your IP address.
- Push notifications are delivered through your browser's push service (e.g. Google, Apple, Mozilla) if you turn them on.
- If AI opener suggestions are enabled, a short summary of the other person's public profile (no name, contact details or quiz results) is sent to our AI provider (Anthropic) to suggest a first message.
- With authorities: only when legally required, or to protect users from imminent harm.
- We do not sell your personal information.
Your choices
- Notification preferences: Profile → Settings → Notifications lets you toggle each email type.
- Visibility controls: Edit Profile lets you hide individual lifestyle chips (religion, politics, education, etc.) from other users.
- Pause account: Profile → Settings → Pause my account — hides you from Discover until you log back in.
- Delete account: Profile → Settings → Delete my account — immediately deactivates; data is purged after 30 days.
- Exit survey: optional, anonymous aggregate reason we use to improve the product.
- Access / export: email zeradating [at] gmail [dot] com (or use the feedback button in the app) to request a copy of your data.
How we protect it
- Passwords hashed with bcrypt. Login sessions use long random tokens in HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax cookies over HTTPS; we store only a one-way hash of each token, and sessions expire automatically.
- Private media (chat voice notes, videos and photos, verification selfies) is only served to the people allowed to see it.
- Strict security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options). Rate limits on authentication endpoints. Uploaded files filtered by MIME type + size.
- Admin actions are audit-logged.
- No plaintext user passwords ever leave our server.
Retention
We keep your profile while your account is active. When you delete, we mark you deleted immediately and purge the personal fields after 30 days. Reports and moderation records may be kept longer to enforce the Terms. Aggregate, non-identifying analytics may be retained indefinitely.
Children
Zera Dating is for adults 18+. If we learn someone under 18 has registered, we'll delete the account immediately.
Changes
If we make meaningful changes to this policy, we'll notify you in-app or by email. Continued use after notice means you accept the updated policy.
Contact
Questions, requests, data-access requests, or complaints: zeradating [at] gmail [dot] com (or use the feedback button in the app)