A little clarity.

Who we are

Del is a dating app for adults aged 18 and over, operated by SHARDS LABS LTD, United Kingdom. SHARDS LABS LTD is the controller responsible for the personal information described here. This policy covers the Del app, thedelapp.com and requests sent to our team.

For privacy questions or requests, contact info@thedelapp.com.

Information we collect

• Account details. Your email, phone number where provided, authentication records, account identifiers and sign-in sessions. Authentication is handled through Supabase.
• Your profile. Your name, date of birth, gender, preferences, city and hometown, profile prompts, languages, work, education, height, dating intentions, lifestyle answers and visibility settings. Depending on what you provide, profile details and preferences may reveal ethnicity, religion, political opinions, sexual orientation or sex life. These are particularly sensitive information.
• Location. City information and precise coordinates used for location-based discovery. Device location access depends on your device permissions. Location lookup may also use places you enter.
• Photos, video and audio. Profile media and report evidence you upload, voice recordings and selfies submitted through the selfie feature. Submitted selfies are stored separately in a private storage bucket. The selfie feature stores the submitted picture; it does not create a facial-recognition template.
• Connections and conversations. Likes, skips, matches, blocks, messages, read markers, Lock in requests and status, interactive answers, call status and technical connection signals. Profile history is also stored.
• Safety information. Reports, descriptions, dates, uploaded evidence and relevant profile, conversation and Lock in snapshots, together with moderation and ban records.
• Technical and support information. Service providers may process network addresses and operational logs when serving the app or website. If you request deletion, we receive your name, email and request correspondence. The deletion form uses a session cookie and temporary hashed network-address records to protect submissions from abuse.

Why information is used

Account, profile, location and interaction information supports the features you choose: signing in, discovering people, matching, messaging, Lock in and calls between matches. Information is also used to respond to support and privacy requests, investigate reports, enforce safety rules, prevent misuse and meet legal obligations.

We use performance of our service contract as the basis for core app features, legitimate interests for proportionate service security and abuse prevention, and legal obligations for applicable compliance and privacy requests. Where consent is required, it must be freely given and withdrawable. Device permission alone is not consent to every use of sensitive information.

Ethnicity, religious beliefs, political views and sexuality answers are optional. You can leave them unanswered, change them or choose which supported details appear on your profile. Removing a detail from your visible profile does not necessarily erase earlier profile history or separately retained safety records. Contact our privacy team to request removal of those records or discuss the handling of sensitive information.

Who can receive information

Other Del users. Profile information and media are shown through the app according to its features and your visibility choices. People you interact with receive your messages and shared content. Do not include information you would not want the intended recipients to see or save.

Service providers. Supabase supports authentication, databases, file storage and real-time features. IONOS hosts the website and supports delivery of deletion-request emails. Apple Push Notification service and Google Firebase Cloud Messaging deliver opted-in notifications using device tokens and recipient identifiers. Alerts use generic wording rather than message content. Google Maps services process location queries, and Google's STUN service assists live-call connections. Real-time peer connections can expose network information, including your IP address, to the other participant. Del does not implement server-side recording of calls; separately uploaded video and voice media are stored.

The Del team. Authorised staff can access account and profile information, likes, matches, message history and relevant evidence for support, safety reviews and service administration. Staff access is restricted by role, requires two-factor authentication and records private-record access and administrative decisions in an activity log. The Del team reviews reports; we do not automatically moderate uploaded text, photos or videos.

Safety and legal recipients. Information may be shared where necessary and lawful to address abuse, protect people, obtain professional advice, respond to valid legal demands or establish or defend legal claims. Reports and evidence are intended for authorised moderation access, rather than public profiles.

The app and website do not use advertising or third-party analytics SDKs. Hosting and infrastructure providers may keep operational logs.

International processing

Providers and communications with other users may involve processing outside the United Kingdom. Where a restricted international transfer applies, an appropriate legal transfer mechanism is required. Contact us for information about the safeguards applicable to your data.

How long information is kept

Retention depends on the purpose of the information, whether an account remains active, outstanding privacy requests, safety investigations and applicable legal requirements. Del stores profile history, messages, uploaded media, selfies and safety records; removing content from a screen or uninstalling the app does not necessarily remove those underlying records.

A verified deletion request can cover the account and associated profile, location, media, selfie, interaction, conversation and connection records. Any lawful retention exception must be assessed for the particular records, limited to what is necessary, and explained to the requester. Backup and provider-log copies may persist until their applicable expiry or deletion processes complete; contact us for the arrangements relevant to your request.

The Del team handles deletion and retention requests. Retention is assessed according to the purpose of each record, account status, unresolved reports or disputes, legal duties and applicable backup cycles. Where information must be retained after an account deletion request, we will explain the reason and applicable retention arrangements.

The deletion form's abuse-control entries expire after one hour and are removed when another submission triggers cleanup. Its session cookie lasts for the browser session. Emailed requests and staff request-tracking records are retained as needed to respond, document fulfilment and address related legal obligations.

Your choices and rights

You can edit supported profile details and visibility settings in the app and change camera, microphone, photo and location permissions in your device settings. Some features need the corresponding access to work. You can also manage blocked users in Settings and turn off notifications in the app or device settings.

Depending on the circumstances, you may ask to access, correct, erase or receive a portable copy of your information, restrict processing or object to processing based on legitimate interests. Where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw it without affecting earlier lawful processing.

Request deletion of your Del account and associated data ↗

You may also email info@thedelapp.com. We may need proportionate information to verify ownership before disclosing or deleting data. We respond without undue delay, normally within one month, and explain any lawful extension or exception.

You can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or an applicable local supervisory authority.

Security and children

The app uses authenticated access and access controls for private data and media. No online service can guarantee absolute security. Never share your password or sign-in codes with another person, including through our deletion-request form.

Del is for people aged 18 and over. If you believe a person under 18 is using Del or has provided personal information, contact info@thedelapp.com so the account and information can be investigated.

Changes to this policy

The date at the top identifies this version. We will communicate material changes to how information is handled through an appropriate app or website notice.