Privacy Policy

Last Updated: May 2026

We do not sell your personal information. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing or commercial purposes, and we do not share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Aligned ("Aligned," "we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and share it, and the choices you have.

This Policy applies to alignedsocial.app, our mobile application, and all related services (together, the "Service"). By using the Service you agree to this Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. This Policy is incorporated by reference into our Terms of Service, available at alignedsocial.app.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

Account information: email address, password, date of birth, and profile type.
Profile information: display name, city and state, photos, profile prompts, interests, lifestyle preferences, and account settings.
Verification information: if you choose to complete identity verification, your government-issued ID and selfie are processed by our third-party verification partner. We receive only a pass/fail verification result and a verification token. We do not receive or store copies of your government ID.
Content: photos, messages, forum posts, event RSVPs, venue reviews, and all other content you create or share through the Service.
Billing information: subscription tier and billing status. Payment processing is handled by third-party providers. We do not store full payment card details.

1.2 Sensitive Personal Information

The Service collects certain categories of sensitive personal information as defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA/CPRA) and similar state laws. We collect this information only with your consent and solely for the purposes described in this Policy:

Sexual orientation, lifestyle preferences, and relationship structure preferences, collected through your profile settings and used solely for matching and compatibility features.
Health and wellness information, collected only if you voluntarily engage with health and wellness features, used solely to provide those features.
Precise geolocation, collected temporarily and only when you enable location sharing (see Section 1.5), used solely to calculate proximity between consenting members.
Government-issued identification, processed by our verification partner only if you choose identity verification, used solely to verify your identity.
Biometric identifiers (a selfie processed for identity matching), processed by our verification partner only if you choose identity verification, used solely for that purpose.

You may decline to provide sensitive personal information, but doing so may limit your ability to use certain features. You may withdraw consent at any time by updating your settings or deleting your account.

1.3 Information Collected Automatically

Device and log data: IP address, browser and app version, device type and identifiers, operating system, crash logs, and error reports.
Usage data: pages and profiles viewed, messages sent, connections made, events attended, notifications opened, and other interactions with the Service.
Device fingerprint: a non-unique identifier derived from device characteristics, used for security and fraud prevention.

1.4 Information from Third Parties

Verification providers return a pass/fail verification status and token when you complete identity verification.
Content analysis providers analyze photos you upload to classify content for moderation purposes. Photos are analyzed and the classification result is returned to us. Providers do not retain copies of your photos beyond the analysis process.
CSAM detection: all user-uploaded photos may be scanned using hash-matching technology to compare uploads against databases of known child sexual abuse material. No identifiable personal information beyond the image hash is transmitted in this process. Detected CSAM is immediately removed and reported to NCMEC as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2258A.
AI service providers: certain features including profile suggestions, search parsing, and compatibility scoring use third-party AI services. We transmit only the minimum necessary input data and do not send your full profile, identifying information, or sensitive personal information as part of AI prompts.

1.5 Location Data

The Service includes an optional location sharing feature that allows compatible members to see approximate distances between each other. This feature is strictly opt-in and disabled by default. When you enable it:

Your device's GPS coordinates are collected while the app is in the foreground only. We do not collect background location.
Your coordinates are converted to a geohash (a geographic cell approximately 1.2 km by 0.6 km) before any processing or storage.
The geohash is stored in a temporary cache with a maximum retention of 30 minutes and is automatically deleted after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Your precise coordinates are never stored in our permanent database.
Other members see only a fuzzed distance string (such as "Nearby" or "4 miles away"). They are never shown your coordinates or geohash.
Distance calculations are performed server-side. Raw location data is never transmitted to other users.

You can disable location sharing at any time from your privacy settings. Disabling immediately expires your cached geohash.

2. How We Use Your Information

2.1 To Operate the Service

We use your information to provide core functionality including account creation and authentication, profile display and discovery, matching and compatibility features, messaging, content sharing, event participation, and forum access.

2.2 Safety, Integrity, and Legal Compliance

We use your information to detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, harassment, policy violations, CSAM, and other harmful activity. This includes automated scanning, community reports, and human review. We also use your information to comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests from law enforcement, enforce our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, and protect the rights, safety, and property of Aligned and our users.

2.3 Personalization and Matching

We use your profile information, preferences, and usage patterns to suggest compatible members, generate compatibility indicators, show nearby events and venues, and personalize your experience. These features are assistive tools and do not guarantee outcomes, compatibility, accuracy, or safety.

2.4 Automated Decision-Making

We use automated processing for the following purposes that may affect your experience:

Content classification: uploaded photos are automatically analyzed to assign a privacy tier and to queue content for human moderation review where necessary.
Compatibility scoring: your profile data and preferences are used to generate compatibility indicators displayed to you and to compatible members.
Spam and abuse detection: automated systems analyze account behavior and content to detect policy violations.
Search ranking: your profile is ranked in discovery results using an algorithm based on preferences, activity, and compatibility signals.

You have the right to request human review of any automated decision that materially affects your account, including content removal or account restrictions. To request review, contact privacy@alignedsocial.app.

2.5 Communications

We send service-related communications (account alerts, connection notifications, password resets, billing confirmations) that are necessary to operate the Service and cannot be opted out of while your account is active. We send marketing communications (feature announcements, digest emails) only with your consent. You may opt out of marketing at any time via the unsubscribe link or your notification settings.

3. How We Share Your Information

We share your information only in the following circumstances:

3.1 Service Providers

We share information with service providers who process data on our behalf under written contracts that prohibit them from using your information for their own purposes. Our service providers include companies that provide infrastructure hosting, media storage, payment processing, email and push notification delivery, content analysis and moderation, AI features, identity verification, and CSAM detection.

3.2 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information when required by applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, including in response to a valid subpoena, court order, or law enforcement request. We will attempt to notify you where legally permitted and practicable.

3.3 Safety and Protection

We may disclose your information where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the safety, rights, or property of Aligned, our users, or the public.

3.4 Business Transfers

If Aligned is involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will provide notice before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

3.5 With Your Consent

We may share your information for other purposes with your explicit consent.

4. Your Content Visibility and Controls

You control who can see your content through the Service's privacy settings:

Public: visible to any member who meets your age and profile-type filters.
Connected: visible only to members you have accepted as connections.
Private: visible only to members to whom you have granted an explicit access pass.
Stealth Mode: hides your profile from discovery and search results.
Discreet Mode: blurs your profile photo for members outside your approved connections.

We do not guarantee the confidentiality of content you share with other users. Once you share content with another member, you assume all risks associated with that sharing.

On iOS and Android, above-Public content is obscured by default to comply with App Store and Google Play policies. Members accessing the Service through a web browser may have different content display settings.

5. Your Rights and Choices

5.1 General Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, port, restrict processing of, or opt out of marketing uses of your personal information. To exercise these rights, visit your account settings or contact privacy@alignedsocial.app. We will respond within the timeframes required by applicable law.

5.2 California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)

California residents have additional rights under the CCPA/CPRA:

Right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information collected, the purposes for collection, and the categories of third parties with whom it is shared.
Right to delete personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
Right to opt out of sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Right to limit use of sensitive personal information to what is necessary to provide the Service.
Right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights.

To submit a verifiable consumer request, contact privacy@alignedsocial.app. We will respond within 45 days, with a possible 45-day extension with prior notice.

5.3 EU and UK Residents (GDPR)

If you are in the EU or UK, you have rights under the GDPR including access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection, and rights related to automated decision-making. Our legal bases for processing are: (a) contract performance, for processing necessary to provide the Service; (b) legitimate interests, for safety, fraud prevention, and Service improvement; (c) consent, for sensitive personal information and marketing; and (d) legal obligation, for processing required by law. To exercise your GDPR rights, contact privacy@alignedsocial.app. We will respond within 30 days.

6. Messaging Privacy

Private messages are stored on our servers to deliver them, to allow you to access your message history, and to enable moderation of policy violations.

Messages are retained for the duration of your account and for up to 12 months following account deletion, after which they are permanently deleted.
We may scan message content using automated systems to detect CSAM, harassment, spam, and illegal activity.
Access to message content by Aligned staff is limited to safety investigations, legal compliance, or responses to valid legal process.
When a sender deletes a message, it is removed from their view but may remain visible to the recipient.
When an account is deleted, sent messages may remain in recipients' message history for the retention period above.

7. Data Retention

7.1 Active Accounts

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active and as necessary to provide the Service.

7.2 Deleted Accounts

When you delete your account:

Your profile, photos, and public content are removed from the Service within 30 days.
Messages are retained for up to 12 months and then permanently deleted.
Photos are removed from active storage within 30 days; CDN edge cache copies may persist for up to 7 additional days.
Safety, fraud, and moderation records may be retained for up to 24 months where necessary to protect the Service and other users.
CSAM detection logs and law enforcement records are retained in accordance with applicable law.
IP address and device logs are retained for up to 12 months.
Financial and billing records are retained for the period required by applicable tax and accounting law (generally 7 years).

7.3 Legal Holds

We may retain information beyond the periods above where required by law, legal process, or to protect the rights and safety of Aligned or others.

8. Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your personal information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), hashed and salted credentials (passwords are never stored in plain text), least-privilege database access, signed URLs for private media (accessible only through time-limited authenticated links), and access controls with audit logging for staff access to sensitive data.

No security system is completely impenetrable. In the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and applicable regulatory authorities within the timeframes required by law. You are responsible for protecting your account credentials. Notify us immediately at privacy@alignedsocial.app if you believe your account has been compromised.

9. Children

The Service is strictly for users 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If we become aware that a user is under 18, we will immediately suspend and permanently delete the account and all associated data. If you believe a minor is using the Service, report it to privacy@alignedsocial.app immediately.

10. International Data Transfers

Aligned is based in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, your personal information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate. For transfers from the EU or UK, we rely on standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission or UK Information Commissioner's Office.

11. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for authentication, preferences, security, and core functionality. We do not use third-party advertising cookies, tracking pixels for advertising, or build advertising profiles based on your activity. If we use analytics tools, we will update this section to identify them. You can control cookies through your browser settings. If you are in the EU or UK, we will obtain consent for non-essential cookies in accordance with applicable law.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you by posting a notice within the Service and by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Your continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree, stop using the Service before the effective date.

13. Contact

General privacy questions: hello@alignedsocial.app
Data subject requests: privacy@alignedsocial.app
Security incidents: privacy@alignedsocial.app (subject line: "Security Incident")
Mailing address: J4 Enterprises LLC d/b/a Aligned, c/o Registered Agent, 8 The Green, STE B, Dover, DE 19901, United States