Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

• Full name
• Email address
• Username
• Gender
• Date of birth
• Relationship status
• Marriage timeline
• Profile picture (optional; only you can see it)

Relationship Responses

Your answers to daily conversation questions on topics such as religious values, personality, lifestyle, marriage roles, family, parenting, finances, and wellbeing.

Personal Notes

A private rating and note you can leave on each day's questions. These are only visible to you.

Topic Preferences

Your prioritisation of conversation topics, which helps us personalise your experience.

Device Information

Device token for push notifications to keep you informed about your partner's activity and new questions. We also use an identifier Firebase assigns to this installation of the app, and an integrity check from Apple (App Attest or DeviceCheck) or Google (Play Integrity) that confirms requests come from the genuine app.

Our analytics, crash reporting, membership, and app update providers each give the app on your device their own random identifier. Our membership provider also reads the identifier your device gives our app (the identifier for vendor on iPhone, the Android ID on Android; see section 6).

Support Messages

When you contact support, we collect your message along with device information (app version, whether you use an iPhone or an Android device, and on iPhone the iOS version) to help us diagnose issues and provide better assistance.

Chaperone Information

If you participate as a chaperone or invite chaperones to oversee you:

• Chaperone invitations and their status
• Who you chaperone, and who chaperones you
• Account type (partner, chaperone, or both)

Messages

When you are matched through matchmaking, you and your match can message each other in the app. We collect the messages you send, when you sent them, and whether they were read. If you choose to share your phone number, Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok username in a conversation, that detail is stored in our own database, not by our messaging provider. Only you and the match you sent it to can see it. It is deleted 90 days after the match ends, when either of you deletes your account, or straight away if you report the person you sent it to.

Matchmaking Profile

If you create a matchmaking profile: your city and country, height, sect and religious practice, ethnicity, languages, marital history, children and family intentions, whether you are a British citizen or a revert, your views on marriage roles, finances, family and living arrangements, education, work, income band, hobbies, sports, activity level, lifestyle and personality answers (including smoking, vaping, nicotine and alcohol use), up to six photos, your written bio and answers, your preferences for a spouse, and how you heard about Zawāj.

Identity Verification

To verify members we ask for a photo of a government ID and a live selfie. Verification is required for matchmaking members and for chaperones, and optional for courtship members. Automated checks extract your name and date of birth and compare your face with your ID and, for matchmaking members, your profile photos. When verification passes, the ID and selfie images are deleted and we keep only the verification result and the extracted name and date of birth. When automated checks cannot confirm a match, the images are held for manual review by our team and deleted once the review is complete.

Phone Number and Payments

Every member verifies a UK mobile number when creating an account. It is never shown to a match automatically: it reaches a match only if you choose to share it from inside your conversation. Chaperones you invite can see it (see section 5). Payments are processed by Apple on iPhone and by Google Play on Android; we never see your card details. We receive confirmation of your subscription status, the product purchased, the price paid, and the store country. On Android we also keep the Google Play purchase token for your subscription, which we use only to check your subscription with Google and to apply Match Guarantee credits.

Discount Codes

If you apply a discount code on our membership page, we record the code, the plan, your platform, and when you applied it, and later whether your first payment used the code's offer. We link the payments you make in your first three months to the code to work out the commission owed to its source, such as an influencer, mosque, or partner organisation.

Reports and Feedback

When you end a match we ask why, and you can report the other person for a safety concern such as harassment or a fake profile. We store your reason, any details you write, and the match it concerns, so our team can review it. If we ask why you are not ready to subscribe, we store your answer, or that you skipped the question, so we do not ask again.

App Activity

When you search for a partner by username or email, we use your search only to find that member and do not keep it. We record when you last used the app, because members who have not opened it in the past seven days are not included in that week's matchmaking.

Weekly Dilemmas

Your answers to Weekly Dilemmas are stored anonymously: we keep your answer and your gender, never anything that links it to your account. Separately, we record that you have answered (not what you answered), so you are not asked twice. If you suggest a dilemma, we store your suggestion with your account so our team can review it.

Waitlist and Website Forms

When you join the waitlist on our website we collect your name, email address, country, city, gender, preferred platform, and the features you are interested in. You may also choose to give your date of birth and a mobile number. We then email you a link to confirm your address; since September 29th, 2026, new signups are added to the waitlist only once they confirm it. We record when you joined and whether you have confirmed your email address. When you use the website contact form we collect your name, email address, and message, and store them in our database so our team can read and reply to your message. We do not store your IP address with it. Both forms use Cloudflare Turnstile to check that a person, not an automated program, is sending them.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To create and manage your account
• To connect you with your partner
• To deliver daily conversation questions
• To share your responses with your partner after both of you complete your questions
• To send push notifications about new questions, partner activity, and reminders
• To improve app functionality and user experience through analytics
• To respond to your support requests and provide customer assistance
• To facilitate chaperone supervision of partnerships when invited
• To propose compatible matches to matchmaking members
• To verify identity and photos
• To manage your membership and handle Match Guarantee claims
• To pay commission to the source of a discount code you applied
• To review safety reports and protect members from misuse
• To send membership-related notifications
• To email you about the Zawāj launch, and to send you future updates, news, and offers by email (see Marketing Messages below)
• To text you about the Zawāj launch, if you gave us a mobile number on the waitlist. We do not use that number for anything else

3. Information Shared with Your Partner

Profile Information

Your partner can see your:

• First name and the initial of your surname
• Username

If you were matched through matchmaking, your match also sees the profile described in section 4.

Question Responses

After both you and your partner complete your daily questions, you can each view the other's written responses and selected answers.

Information NOT Shared

The following information is never shared with your partner:

• Your email address and date of birth
• Your phone number, unless you choose to share it in a matchmaking conversation
• Your private ratings and notes on each day's questions

4. Information Shared with Matches

A proposed match sees your first name, age, city, and your bio and profile answers first. Photos are shown only after you both accept. Once a match is confirmed you can message each other in the app; your phone number and social usernames are shared only if you choose to send them from inside the conversation. While you are matched, your profile is not shown to any other member. A match and their chaperones never see your email, your full surname (only its initial), your date of birth (only your age), your ID document, or your payment details. Your own chaperones can see more about you (see section 5). They do not see match proposals; they see your match only once it is confirmed.

5. Information Shared with Chaperones

A chaperone you add can see:

• Your full name, email address, date of birth, and verified phone number
• Your active courtships and your current match, including both first names
• Both partners' responses to questions, only once both partners have completed them
• Assignment completion status
• Your conversation with your current match, as it happens. A chaperone your match has added can read it too. The conversation shows a notice when a chaperone joins, and you can always see who can read it

Of your personal details, a chaperone added by your partner or match sees only your first name, the initial of your surname, and your username. They never see your email address, date of birth, or phone number. Like your own chaperones, they can see both partners' responses once both have completed them, and read your conversation with your current match.

Chaperones cannot see:

• Your private ratings and notes on each day's questions
• Any responses before both partners have completed their questions
• Match proposals, or anyone you were proposed to but did not match with
• Any phone number or social username shared in a conversation; a chaperone only sees that details were shared, never what they were
• Conversations with past matches. A chaperone's access ends when the match ends or when the chaperone link is removed

6. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate our app:

Firebase by Google

For user authentication, database and file storage, cloud functions, push notifications, and App Check, which confirms that requests come from the genuine app. Google's privacy policy applies to data processed by Firebase.

Apple Services

For Sign in with Apple authentication and push notification delivery through Apple Push Notification service (APNs).

Google Sign-In

As an optional authentication method for creating your account.

PostHog

For product analytics to help us understand how our app is used and improve the experience. Events are linked to the random identifier of your account and to a random identifier PostHog assigns to the app on your device. They carry coarse details such as your gender, account type, the sign-up step you are on, membership events, which version of a membership offer you were shown, and the reason you pick if you tell us why you are not ready to subscribe. We never send PostHog your name, email, phone number, answers to questions, notes, or messages, and we have turned off its use of your IP address to work out your location. We do not record your screen, your taps, or what you type, and we do not use session recordings.

Sentry

For crash reporting, error tracking and performance monitoring (how long parts of the app take to load) to help us identify and fix issues quickly. When an error occurs, device and app state information may be sent to Sentry to assist with diagnosis, together with a random identifier Sentry assigns to the app on your device. No personal content (such as your responses, messages, photos, or ID images) is included in error reports.

Superwall

Manages membership and payment events for the app. Superwall receives a random membership identifier, your age range, gender, and country, which version of a membership offer you were shown, any discount code you type on its membership pages, and purchase and renewal events from Apple and Google. Its software also reads identifiers for your device (the identifier for vendor on iPhone, the Android ID on Android), and Superwall works out an approximate location (country, region, and city) from your device's IP address. We do not send it your name, email, phone number, exact age, or city.

Stream

Delivers and stores in-app messages between matched members (Stream.io, Inc.). Stream receives an account identifier and your first name, the messages you write, and a device token so it can send you a notification when a message arrives. Stream does not receive your email, surname, phone number, social usernames, or payment details. When you share contact details in a conversation, Stream records only that details were shared, never what they were. A conversation is deleted from Stream 90 days after the match ends.

Expo

Delivers updates to the app's code, so we can fix problems without waiting for an App Store or Google Play release (EAS Update, run by 650 Industries, Inc., trading as Expo). When you open the app, and from time to time when you return to it, the app asks Expo's servers whether a newer version is available. The request carries technical details only: your device platform (iOS or Android) and its system version, identifiers for the version of the app's code you are running, a random identifier for this installation that is not linked to your account, and, if the app failed to start the last time, a short technical description of that error. Like any server, Expo also sees your device's IP address. Expo is never sent your name, email, phone number, profile or messages.

Google Gemini

Processes ID and selfie images for identity verification, comparing your face with your ID and your profile photos, and reviews your verified profile photos to suggest photo tips. From the written parts of your matchmaking profile it generates profile tips, short compatibility notes for a proposed match, and a numerical summary and topic tags that help us judge how well two members' written answers fit together when proposing matches. We use Google's paid Gemini API service. Under Google's terms for that service, Google processes this data only to provide it to us and does not use it to train its models. Google may keep it for a short time solely to detect abuse, after which it is deleted.

Brevo

Stores the waitlist and sends our emails and launch text messages on our behalf, including the email that asks you to confirm your address. Brevo processes this data in the European Union.

Cloudflare

Hosts our website and passes waitlist submissions to Brevo. It does not keep a copy of them. Cloudflare Turnstile checks that the waitlist and contact forms are sent by a person; it looks at signals from your browser and does not use tracking cookies.

Apple In-App Purchase

Handles payment, receipts, renewals, and refunds on iPhone under Apple's privacy policy. We use Apple's App Store Server API to apply Match Guarantee credits by pushing back your next renewal date.

Google Play Billing

Handles payment, receipts, renewals, and refunds on Android under Google's privacy policy. We use Google's Play Developer API, with the purchase token of your subscription, to check your subscription and to apply Match Guarantee credits by pushing back your next renewal date.

7. Data Storage & Security

• Your data is stored securely on Google Firebase servers
• Access to your data is restricted through security rules that ensure only authorised users can view or modify their information
• Authentication is handled through Firebase Auth with encrypted credentials
• All data transmission uses HTTPS/TLS encryption

8. Push Notifications

We may send you the following types of notifications:

• New daily questions are available
• Your partner has completed their questions
• Partner request received or accepted
• Reminders from your partner
• Chaperone invitations received or accepted
• Chaperone removal requests
• You have matched, and new messages from your match (the notification never contains the message text)

Notifications never include anyone's name, or the content of answers or messages, so nothing personal shows on your lock screen. You can manage notification preferences in the app settings.

9. Data Retention

• Your data is retained while your account exists
• Waitlist details, including any mobile number, are kept until January 1st, 2027, unless you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them sooner. If you do not confirm your email address, your waitlist details are deleted within about five weeks of signing up
• Messages sent through the website contact form are kept until our team deletes them. You can ask us to delete yours at any time
• Partnership data is retained even after disconnection from a partner (archived)
• Conversations stay readable for 90 days after a match ends, then are permanently deleted. Deleting a conversation sooner hides it from you; the other person keeps their copy until the 90 days are up. If a member is reported, they lose access to the conversation straight away. Every message you wrote is permanently erased when your account is erased
• Verification images are deleted on a successful check or after manual review; verification results are kept while your account exists
• When we delete a photo or image from storage it is removed straight away; we do not keep a recoverable copy
• We keep a backup of sign-in accounts (email and sign-in method, never passwords in readable form) to recover from mistakes or outages. Each backup is stored in the European Union and deleted after 7 days
• Subscription and payment event records are kept for seven years to meet accounting obligations
• A deleted account is held, inaccessible to everyone but our support team, for 30 days so the deletion can be reversed at your request, then permanently erased
• After erasure we keep an anonymous summary of the account (account type, gender, age range, country, and activity counts) for product analytics. It contains nothing that identifies you

10. Your Rights & Account Deletion

You can remove or change specific data without closing your account. In the app you can edit your profile details, remove or replace your matchmaking photos (at least one verified photo must stay), withdraw partner requests, and remove a chaperone. You can also hide an ended conversation from your Chats; it is deleted for both of you 90 days after the match ends (see section 9). For anything else, email support@zawaaj.app and tell us what you would like deleted.

You can delete your account directly from the app: open the Profile tab, scroll to the bottom, and tap "Delete account". If you no longer have the app, email support@zawaaj.app from the address registered to your account. Full instructions are at zawaaj.app/delete-account. When you delete your account:

• It is deactivated immediately: you are signed out, your profile is hidden from everyone, and your matchmaking profile, verified phone number, identity verification images, answers to questions, and any contact details you shared or received in conversations are removed from the app
• Any pending partner requests and open match proposals are removed, and your partnerships are archived (your partner retains access to their own responses only)
• You are removed as a chaperone from anyone you were supervising, and your own chaperones are removed
• After 30 days your account, profile, photos, and all remaining personal data are permanently erased and cannot be recovered
• Within those 30 days you can ask support to reactivate the account. Partnerships, requests, and matches closed at deletion are not restored

You may pause or cancel matching at any time, and you may claim under the Match Guarantee by emailing support.

Marketing Messages

By joining the waitlist or creating a Zawāj account you agree to receive emails from us about the launch and future updates, news, and offers. Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, and unsubscribing takes effect straight away. If you give us a mobile number on the waitlist, you agree that we may text you about the launch; you can reply STOP to any text to opt out. We rely on your consent for these messages and you can withdraw it at any time, which does not affect your account or your place on the waitlist. You can also ask us to delete your waitlist details by emailing privacy@zawaaj.app.

You have the right to access, correct, or erase your personal data, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) if you are unhappy with how we have handled it.

11. Children's Privacy

Zawāj is not intended for anyone under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe we have collected information from someone under 18, please contact us immediately.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected in updated versions of the app. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

privacy@zawaaj.app