Privacy Policy

Strangers Meeting Strangers LLC (“SMS,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a Minneapolis events company that brings strangers together in real life. This Privacy Policy describes how we process personal information that we collect through our digital properties that link to this Privacy Policy (including our website at strangersmeetingstrangers.com and our mobile application), as well as through our marketing activities and live events (collectively, the “Service”).

Personal information we collect

Information you provide to us

• Contact data, such as your name, email address, and phone number — for example, when you join our waitlist.
• Demographic data, such as your city.
• Communications data based on our exchanges with you, including when you contact us through the Service, by email or text message, on social media, or otherwise.
• Marketing data, such as your preferences for receiving communications from us and details about your engagement with them.

Live events

We host in-person gatherings. If you attend one, photographs, video, or audio may be captured at the event, and we may publish that material in our event archive, on our website and social media, and in our marketing. If you appear in event material and would like it removed, contact us at smsthecompany@gmail.com and we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your request.

Mobile app

When you use our mobile app, we may also collect:

• Account and profile data, such as your name, profile photo, and other details you add to your profile. Your phone number is used to verify your account and functions as your login key — it is never displayed to other users of the Service and is not how other users find you.
• Gatherings and content data, such as gatherings you host or join, the places you pin for them, messages you send to other participants, RSVPs and attendance, poll votes, and checklist items.
• Location data.With your permission (requested through your device’s operating system), the mobile app reads your device’s location to centre the map on where you are. That precise location stays on your device — we do not transmit or store it. What we do store is the city you tell us you want to meet people in, and, if you host a gathering, the spot you deliberately choose to publish for it. You can disable our access to your location at any time in your device settings, and the app still works — you can type a city instead.
• Camera, photos, and microphone. With your permission, we access your camera, photo library, or microphone when you use features that capture or attach photos or audio.
• Push notification tokens. With your permission, we collect a device token to send you push notifications. You can disable push notifications at any time in your device settings.

Information collected automatically

We and our service providers may automatically log information about you, your device, and your interaction with the Service over time, such as:

• Device data, such as your device’s operating system, browser type, screen resolution, IP address, language settings, and general location (such as city and state).
• Online activity data, such as pages you viewed, how long you spent on a page, the website you visited before ours, navigation paths, and access times.

We do not purchase personal information from data brokers. We do not collect precise geolocation: the mobile app reads your device’s location only to centre the map on your screen, and that reading never leaves your device.

Cookies and analytics

Some of our automatic data collection is facilitated by cookies and similar technologies. We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the Service — for example, which pages are most visited and how visitors move around the site. You can learn more about Google Analytics and opt out of it at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Most browsers also let you block or delete cookies through their settings. Some internet browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals; we currently do not respond to them.

How we use your personal information

• Service delivery. To provide the Service, maintain the waitlist, communicate with you about the Service and our gatherings (including service-related announcements and administrative messages), and respond to your requests, questions, and feedback.
• Text messages. If you provide your phone number, you agree that we may text you about the Service and our gatherings. Message and data rates may apply. You can opt out of texts at any time by replying STOP.
• Service improvement and analytics. To analyze usage of the Service, improve it, and develop new products and services.
• Compliance and protection.To comply with applicable laws and legal process; protect our, your, or others’ rights, privacy, safety, or property; enforce the terms that govern the Service; and prevent, investigate, and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, or illegal activity.
• Aggregated and de-identified data. We may create aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized data from personal information and use and share it for our lawful business purposes. We will not attempt to re-identify such data.

Retention

We generally retain personal information as long as needed to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it, including satisfying legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. When we no longer need it, we delete it, anonymize it, or isolate it from further processing.

How we share your personal information

• Service providers. Third parties that provide services on our behalf or help us operate the Service: website hosting (Vercel), waitlist database hosting (Neon), website analytics (Google Analytics), mobile app backend and file storage (Convex), phone number verification for signing in to the mobile app (Prelude), and push notification delivery (Apple and Expo). These providers process personal information only to provide their services to us.
• What the mobile app does not do.The mobile app contains no analytics, advertising, or tracking software of any kind, and we do not track you across other companies’ apps or websites. Google Analytics runs on our website only. We do not sell your personal information.
• Professional advisors, such as lawyers, accountants, and insurers, in the course of the professional services they render to us.
• Authorities and others. Law enforcement, government authorities, and private parties, as we believe in good faith to be necessary or appropriate for the compliance and protection purposes described above.
• Other users. In the mobile app, your profile, the gatherings you host, and the content you share into a gathering (such as messages to its participants) are visible to the users they are shared with. Gatherings you host are visible to users browsing the map. Your phone number is never among the information shown to other users.
• Business transferees. Parties to an actual or prospective business transaction involving the Company, such as a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not process it for targeted advertising.

Your choices

• Opt out of communications. You may opt out of marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions in the email, opt out of texts by replying STOP, or opt out of either by contacting us at smsthecompany@gmail.com. You may continue to receive service-related, non-marketing messages.
• Delete your account.You can delete your account at any time in the mobile app’s settings, or by contacting us at smsthecompany@gmail.com.
• Device permissions.You can disable the mobile app’s access to your location, camera, photos, microphone, and push notifications at any time in your device settings.
• Declining to provide information. We need to collect certain personal information to provide parts of the Service. If you decline to provide it, we may not be able to provide those parts.

Other sites and services

The Service may contain links to websites and online services operated by third parties, such as Instagram. Those links are not an endorsement, and we are not responsible for third parties’ actions. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of the other services you use.

Security

We employ technical, organizational, and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information we collect. However, security risk is inherent in all internet technologies, and we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.

International data transfer

We are headquartered in the United States and may use service providers that operate in other countries. Your personal information may be transferred to the United States or other locations where privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your state, province, or country.

Children

The Service is not intended for anyone under 18 years of age. If you are a parent or guardian of a child from whom you believe we have collected personal information in a manner prohibited by law, please contact us, and we will comply with applicable legal requirements to delete the information.

State privacy rights

Some U.S. states — including Minnesota, California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Virginia — have privacy laws that, to the extent they apply to us, grant their residents rights with respect to personal information, which may include the right to know what personal information we have collected, to access or obtain a copy of it, to correct inaccuracies, to delete it, and to appeal a denial of a request. These rights are not absolute, and we may decline requests as permitted by law.

We do not sell personal information, process it for targeted advertising, or use it for profiling or automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

To exercise any right that may be available to you, email us at smsthecompany@gmail.com. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request, and we reserve the right to confirm your residency. Where state law permits, you may use an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf; we may need to verify the agent’s identity and authority.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by updating the date of this Privacy Policy and posting it on the Service or by other appropriate means. Your use of the Service after the effective date of any modified Privacy Policy indicates your acknowledgment that the modified Privacy Policy applies.

How to contact us

• Email: smsthecompany@gmail.com

See also our Terms of Use.