Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

To provide a meaningful discovery experience and connect you with compatible users through thoughts, interests, and location, Lovink collects personal data that you provide directly, data generated during your use of the app, and technical information from your device.

We only collect information that is necessary for the operation, safety, and core features of the Lovink app.

2. Account Information

When you register or maintain an account on Lovink, we collect:

• Sign-In Credentials: Email address, phone number (for SMS authentication), and password (stored securely in hashed format by Firebase Authentication).
• Third-Party Auth Data: If you sign in using Google Sign-In, we collect your authentication token, name, and email address associated with your Google account.
• Account Status: Registration timestamp, active status preferences, and notification configuration settings.

3. Profile Information

To construct your public profile and enable compatibility matching, you provide:

• Basic Details: Display name, age/date of birth, gender, and discovery/matching preferences.
• Bio and Prompts: Personal bio, interest tags, and responses to prompt questions.
• Thoughts and Statement Answers: Your written thoughts and responses to statement cards used by our discovery algorithm to match you with compatible profiles.

4. Photos and User-Generated Content

Lovink processes user-generated content to enable profile creation and interactive communication:

• Profile Photos: Images uploaded from your device camera or photo gallery. Before being stored in Firebase Storage, photos are compressed on-device to minimize data usage.
• Photo Verification Data: When requesting a verified badge, our photo verification feature uses on-device Google MediaPipe hand landmark detection via camera preview to verify pose gestures. MediaPipe pose processing takes place locally on your device; pose verification status is stored on our servers.
• Chat Messages: Messages and text exchanged with matched users during conversations.
• Safety Reports: User reports and problem feedback submitted to our support team, including optional screenshot attachments uploaded to Firebase Storage.

5. Location Data

Location information is central to connecting you with nearby matches:

• Geographic Coordinates: Precise GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude) obtained via device location services (`geolocator`), collected when you grant location permission.
• City & Country Name: Reverse-geocoded place names resolved via your device's native geocoder or fallback geocoding services (such as GeoNames).
• Geohash Storage: Location coordinates are stored as geohashes in Cloud Firestore to calculate distance between users and filter candidates within your chosen discovery radius.

6. Device/Technical Information

When you access Lovink, we automatically collect diagnostic and technical telemetry:

• Device Identifiers: Device hardware model, operating system name and version, app version, and unique device tokens.
• Push Notification Tokens: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) tokens required to deliver push notifications for new matches and chat messages.
• Security & Diagnostics: IP address, Firebase App Check security tokens, network state, and crash logs collected via Firebase Crashlytics to monitor stability and prevent security abuse.

7. How We Use Information

We process your personal information strictly for the following purposes:

• Account Management: Authenticating sign-ins, managing subscriptions, and maintaining your account profile.
• Discovery & Matching: Displaying your profile to potential matches based on distance, shared thoughts, statement answers, and age preferences.
• Communication: Facilitating chat messaging between matched users and sending push notifications for matches and messages.
• Trust & Safety: Automated message safety checking (evaluating chat content against harassment lexicons via Cloud Functions), conducting photo verification, and reviewing user reports.
• App Quality & Maintenance: Monitoring system crashes using Firebase Crashlytics and debugging performance issues.
• Customer Support: Responding to inquiries and troubleshooting issues sent to support.lovink@gmail.com.

8. How We Share Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to advertisers or third-party data brokers. We share information only in the following contexts:

• With Other Lovink Users: Your display name, age, profile photos, bio, thoughts, statement responses, city, and distance are visible to other users in the discovery deck. Chat messages are visible to the recipient of the match.
• Service Providers: Cloud infrastructure providers that store data and process operations on our behalf (detailed in Section 9).
• Legal & Safety Compliance: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or governmental regulation, or to enforce our Terms of Service, protect user safety, or prevent fraud.

9. Firebase and Third-Party Services

Lovink relies on established Google Cloud and third-party service providers to power app infrastructure:

• Firebase Authentication: Manages secure sign-in, token generation, and account authentication.
• Cloud Firestore: NoSQL cloud database storing user profiles, thoughts, matches, messages, and app state.
• Firebase Storage: Cloud storage for user profile photos and user report screenshots.
• Cloud Functions: Serverless backend executing match evaluation, chat safety moderation, and profile pause/deletion triggers.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM): Delivers real-time push notifications to your mobile device.
• Firebase Crashlytics & App Check: Monitors application stability, collects anonymous stack traces during crashes, and enforces API security.
• Google MediaPipe: Executes on-device computer vision hand landmark detection for photo pose verification.
• GeoNames API: Provides fallback reverse-geocoding for city name lookup when platform native geocoding is unavailable.

10. Google Play Billing and Payments

In-App Purchases and subscriptions within Lovink are processed exclusively through Google Play Billing on Android.

Lovink does not collect, process, or store your credit card numbers, debit card details, or banking information. All financial transactions are handled directly and securely by Google Play. We receive only non-sensitive transaction confirmation receipts and purchase tokens to unlock premium app features.

11. Data Security

We implement robust administrative, technical, and physical security measures to safeguard your personal data:

• All network communications between the Lovink app and server endpoints are encrypted using standard HTTPS / TLS (Transport Layer Security).
• Database access is guarded by strict Cloud Firestore Security Rules and Firebase Storage Rules, restricting data access solely to authorized, authenticated users.
• API access is validated via Firebase App Check to prevent unauthorized requests.

12. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your Lovink account remains active and as necessary to fulfill the services described in this policy.

• When you delete your account, your profile, photos, thoughts, statement answers, likes, matches, and chat messages are permanently deleted from our active database.
• Records pertaining to pending safety reports or severe policy violations may be retained separately for a limited period to prevent account deletion from being used to evade abuse investigations.
• System logs and automated database backups automatically expire according to standard cloud retention schedules.

13. Account and Data Deletion

You have full control over your data and can permanently delete your account at any time.

Option 1: Delete in the App (Immediate)

1. Open the Lovink app and tap on your Profile tab.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Scroll down to the Account section and tap Delete account.
4. Type DELETE to confirm. All your profile data, photos, chats, and matches will be permanently erased immediately.

Option 2: Delete via Web / Email Request

If you no longer have access to the app, visit our dedicated account deletion page at https://lovink-99cac.web.app/delete-account or send an email request to support.lovink@gmail.com from the email address registered to your account with the subject line "Delete My Account". We will process your request within 30 days of identity verification.

14. Children's Privacy

Lovink is strictly intended for adults aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect, solicit, or maintain personal data from anyone under the age of 18.

Age verification is enforced during account creation and in server-side discovery feeds. If we learn that an individual under 18 has registered an account, we will take immediate steps to terminate the account and permanently delete all associated personal data.

15. User Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you possess the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right to Access & Portability: View and review the personal information stored in your account profile.
• Right to Rectification: Update or correct your display name, bio, photos, and preferences at any time directly in app settings.
• Right to Erasure: Delete your account and all associated personal data permanently.
• Right to Pause / Restrict Processing: Enable "Pause my profile" in Settings to hide your profile from the discovery deck while maintaining existing chats.
• Notification Controls: Toggle push notification preferences for new matches, messages, and super likes at any time in app settings.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our legal requirements, data practices, or app features. When updates are published, the revised policy will be posted on this page with an updated "Effective Date" at the top.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to remain informed about how we protect your information.

17. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, your personal data, or support for the Lovink app, please contact us: