GetFriendly ("GetFriendly", "we", "us") is a privacy-first app for making real, platonic friendships. Privacy isn't a feature we added — it's the reason the app exists. This policy explains, in plain language, what we collect, why, and the control you have over it.
- We don't sell your data, run ads, or track you across other apps or websites.
- Your messages are end-to-end encrypted — we cannot read them.
- We never share your exact location; only a general area, and only if you choose.
- You can delete your account and data from inside the app at any time.
1. Who we are
GetFriendly is operated by Get Friendly Ltd, a company registered in Scotland, United Kingdom. For any privacy question or request, contact us at ewan@getfriendly.co.uk. We are the data controller for the personal data described below.
2. Information we collect
Information you give us
- Account details: your email address (used to sign in and for password recovery), and an optional phone number if you choose to verify it.
- Profile: your display name and the things you choose to add — interests, hobbies, values, life stage, things you'd like to try, and an optional profile photo.
- Support messages: anything you send us directly when you ask for help.
Information created as you use the app
- Connections & activity: friend requests, connections, meetups, calendar events and planner items you create. These are stored to make the app work.
- Messages: stored only in end-to-end encrypted form. The encryption keys live on your device — we and our service providers cannot decrypt the contents.
- Approximate location: if you enable local discovery, we use a general area (not your precise coordinates) to suggest nearby people. You can turn this off.
Contact matching (privacy-preserving)
If you choose to find friends from your phone contacts, the matching is done using one-way SHA-256 hashes of email addresses and phone numbers. We store a hash of your email and phone so others who already have you in their contacts can find you — but a hash cannot be reversed back into your real email or phone. We do not upload or store your contact book.
3. What we do not collect or do
- No advertising, and no advertising identifiers.
- No third-party tracking or behavioural profiling.
- No public feed, followers, or engagement metrics.
- No selling, renting, or trading of your personal data — ever.
4. How we use your information
- To create and run your account.
- To suggest compatible friends based on shared interests, values, hobbies, life stage and general area — never on appearance.
- To deliver messages and notifications you've asked for.
- To keep the service safe — for example, acting on reports of abuse.
- To process subscriptions (see "Payments" below).
5. Legal bases (UK/EU GDPR)
We process your data to perform our contract with you (running the app), on the basis of your consent (e.g. location, contact matching, notifications — each of which you can withdraw), and for our legitimate interests in keeping the service secure and functioning.
6. Who processes your data for us
We use Google Firebase as our infrastructure provider (authentication, database, file storage and push delivery). Data is stored in Google's europe-west2 (London, UK) region. Apple processes subscription payments. These providers act as our processors under contract and are not permitted to use your data for their own purposes. Push notifications are routed through Apple (APNs) and Google (FCM); message content is never included in a push.
Organisations at events you attend
When you take a spot at, or check in with a location tag at, an event hosted by a verified business or community organisation, that organisation can see limited information needed to run the event — such as your display name and that you checked in. Under our Business Terms and Community Terms, organisations may use that information only to run that event, must keep it secure, and may not use it for unrelated marketing or export it. For any personal data an organisation collects from you directly (for example at the venue), the organisation is an independent controller and responsible for its own compliance.
If you run a business or community organisation
For a Business or Community account we collect the organisation details you provide — such as name, description, address/postcode, logo, contact name, email and phone, and (for community organisations) an official email, charity number, NHS board/trust or council department. To verify a community organisation we also collect the verification documents you upload (for example a charity registration certificate). This information is used only to operate your listing and to confirm your organisation is genuine; verification documents are accessible to our review team and are not shown publicly. We process it to perform our contract with you and for our legitimate interest in keeping the map trustworthy.
7. International transfers
Your data is primarily held in the UK. Where a provider processes data outside the UK/EEA, it is protected by appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.
8. How long we keep it
We keep your data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, we remove your profile, connections and associated data on a best-effort basis promptly thereafter. Some records may persist briefly in backups before being overwritten. Abuse reports may be retained longer where needed to keep people safe.
9. Your rights
Under UK/EU data protection law you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or port your data, and to object to certain processing. You can:
- Edit your profile and toggle location, contacts and notifications in the app at any time.
- Delete your account and data from Settings → Delete account.
- Email ewan@getfriendly.co.uk to exercise any right.
You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
10. Security
Messages are end-to-end encrypted. Access to data is controlled by per-user security rules, transport is encrypted (TLS), and stored contact identifiers are hashed. No system is perfectly secure, but we design for data minimisation — the less we hold, the less there is to protect.
11. Children
GetFriendly is for adults only. You must be 18 or older to use it. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18; if we learn that we have, we will delete it.
12. Payments
Friendly+ subscriptions are billed by Apple through the App Store. We don't receive or store your card details. We receive confirmation that a subscription is active in order to unlock features.
13. Changes to this policy
If we make material changes we'll update this page and the "last updated" date, and notify you in the app where appropriate.
Contact: ewan@getfriendly.co.uk