This is the plain-language version. The legal long-form lives next to it; this is what we actually want you to read. We're a small team building a dating app and we'd rather lose users than abuse trust.
What we collect
When you sign in with Google, we receive your email address, name, and profile photo URL. As you fill in your profile, we also collect:
- Your age, gender, and what you're looking for
- Photos and prompts you choose to share
- Approximate location (rounded to about 1km — we never store your exact coordinates on your profile)
- If you choose to share live location with a match before a date, your position for that share only. It expires automatically, and your match sees your exact spot only when you're within 300m
- If you verify your profile, a selfie. It is compared with your profile photo and deleted straight after the check; we keep only the result
- Your match preferences and swipe activity
- Messages you send to other users
What we don't collect
- We don't track your activity outside Pheromone.
- We don't sell your data, ever.
- We don't feed your conversations into model training.
- We don't share your data with advertisers.
How we use what we collect
- Matching. To find compatible profiles based on interests, personality, and location.
- Moderation. AI-assisted screening of photos and messages for harassment and abuse.
- Verification. An AI check that your selfie matches your profile photo. This is not a biometric template and nothing about your face is stored.
- Improving the product. Aggregated, anonymised usage signals — not individual behaviour.
- Keeping you signed in. Standard auth tokens.
Where your data lives
Pheromone runs on Google Cloud (Firebase Firestore in the europe-west2 region — London). All data is encrypted in transit and at rest. AI features (moderation, verification, compatibility, icebreakers and date ideas) run on Google's Gemini models through Google Cloud Vertex AI. They receive only what each check needs, such as the message, photo, bio or interests being checked, never your email address, and Google does not use it to train its models.
Your rights
You can:
- Download a copy of all your data — email privacy@pheromone.app
- Delete your account and all associated data — Settings › Account actions › Delete account
- Object to AI-assisted moderation — at which point we'll revert to manual moderation, slower but human
Cookies & storage
We use cookies and local storage for authentication and to remember your preferences. If you accept, we also use Google Analytics cookies to see how people find and use Pheromone and to measure our ads. Nothing is set until you accept, and you can change your choice at any time from Cookie settings at the bottom of this page.
Children
Pheromone is for adults aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.
Changes
If we change anything material, we'll notify you in-app at least 14 days before it takes effect.
Contact
Questions, concerns, or data requests: privacy@pheromone.app.