# Privacy Policy — Vicinity
**Company:** Vicinity Social, LLC
**Effective date:** September 18, 2026
**Address:** 25852 McBean Parkway #831, Valencia, CA 91355
**Privacy contact:** privacy@vicinity-social.com
**Support:** support@vicinity-social.com
## 1. Who this applies to
Vicinity is a proximity-based social app for adults 18 and older. The app is offered to people in the United States. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
## 2. What we collect
**You give us:**
- **Account:** email address, password (stored only as a secure hash), and date of birth, which we use to confirm you are 18 or older.
- **Profile:** display name, headline, about text, what you are here for, your gender and the genders you want to meet, interests, and optional details such as height, body type, relationship status and languages.
- **Photos and video:** up to five profile photos, and photos or short videos you send in chat.
- **Messages:** the messages you send and receive in the app.
- **Support:** anything you write to us in a support request.
**Your device gives us:**
- **Location:** with your permission, so we can show you people nearby. See section 4.
- **Technical data:** IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you open. We use this for security, abuse prevention and basic traffic counts.
- **Notifications:** a push notification token, if you turn notifications on.
**Payment processors give us:**
- **Membership status** and billing records such as amount, date and plan. We never see or store your full card number.
**Your gender and the genders you want to meet, and your location, are treated as sensitive information.** We collect them only with your consent, use them only to run the app, and never sell them.
## 3. Why we use it
- To create your account and confirm you are an adult.
- To decide who you can see and who can see you, which depends on gender and preference matching both ways.
- To show approximate distance between you and other members.
- To deliver messages, likes and notifications.
- To screen photos and videos for illegal and prohibited content, and to review reports.
- To take payment for a membership, where you buy one.
- To keep the service secure, prevent fraud and abuse, and enforce our Terms.
- To answer your support requests.
- To count visits and understand which pages people use, in a form that does not identify you.
## 4. Location, and how we protect it
- **Your exact coordinates are never stored.** When your device sends your position, our server immediately snaps it to a grid and shifts it by a fixed amount unique to your account, then stores only that adjusted point.
- **Other members never see a distance in exact terms.** They see a range, such as "1–5 mi", and only if you allow it.
- **You control it.** You can turn off "Show my distance", turn on incognito so you are hidden from browsing, or delete your account, which removes your stored location.
- **Map feature:** when you use the map, the area you are looking at and anything you type into the map's search box are sent to our map provider so it can draw the map and find places.
## 5. Automatic content screening
Every photo, and several frames from every video, are checked automatically before other members can see them:
- **Prohibited content check.** An image analysis service scores the image for nudity, violence and similar categories. High scores are rejected. Middle scores are held for a person on our team to review.
- **Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) check.** Images are compared against databases of known illegal material. **A match is reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) as US federal law requires, along with the information the law requires us to include, and the content is preserved for authorities.**
## 6. Who we share it with
**We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.** We have never done so, and that includes the categories of sensitive information listed above.
We share only what each of these needs to do its job for us, under contract:
| Who | What they get | Why |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Hosting and database provider | Everything stored by the app | Runs our servers and database |
| Image and video screening service | The photos and video frames you upload | Safety screening |
| CSAM detection service and NCMEC | Image fingerprints; reported material and related account information when there is a match | Legal requirement |
| Payment processors | Email and payment details you enter with them | Taking payment |
| Email provider | Your email address and the message | Sending account and support email |
| Push notification provider | Your device token and the alert | Sending notifications |
| Map provider | The map area you view and what you type in map search | Drawing maps and finding places |
**Law enforcement.** We cooperate with active criminal investigations involving activity on Vicinity. We disclose information when required by valid legal process such as a subpoena, court order or warrant, and in emergencies involving a risk of death or serious injury. Where we are legally allowed to, we will tell you first.
**Business transfer.** If the company is sold or merges, member information may transfer to the new owner, who would have to honor this policy or give you notice before changing it.
## 7. How long we keep it
- **While your account is open,** we keep your account, profile, photos, messages and stored location.
- **When you delete your account,** we remove your profile, photos, coarse location, likes, blocks and messages. Deletion is available in Settings.
- **Records we must keep:** payment records for tax and accounting, limited safety records such as bans used to keep removed members from returning, and any material we are legally required to preserve for a CSAM report or an investigation.
- **Backups** are overwritten on a rolling basis, so deleted data can persist in backups for a short period.
## 8. Your choices
- **In the app:** edit or delete your profile and photos, hide your distance, turn on incognito, block or report members, download a copy of your data, and delete your account.
- **Notifications and location:** turn both off in your device settings at any time.
- **Email us** at privacy@vicinity-social.com for anything you cannot do in the app.
**California residents.** Under California law you may request access to the personal information we hold about you, a copy of it, correction of it, and deletion of it, and you may limit the use of sensitive personal information. You may also ask which categories we collected, used and disclosed. We will not treat you differently for exercising these rights. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, including the personal information of anyone under 16. To make a request, email privacy@vicinity-social.com from the address on your account, or write to us at the address above. We will confirm your identity through your account before acting.
## 9. How we protect it
- Passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes; we cannot read them.
- Traffic between your device and our servers is encrypted (HTTPS).
- Sign-in sessions are stored as hashes and can be revoked.
- Staff accounts are separate from member accounts, require two-step verification, and their actions are recorded in an audit log.
- Your exact location is never written to our database.
No service can promise perfect security. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by law.
## 10. Adults only
Vicinity is for people 18 and older. We ask for your date of birth at sign-up and remove accounts we believe belong to minors. If you believe a minor is using Vicinity, email support@vicinity-social.com immediately.
## 11. Changes
If we make a material change, we will notify you in the app or by email before it takes effect, and update the date at the top.
## 12. Contact
Vicinity Social, LLC
25852 McBean Parkway #831
Valencia, CA 91355
privacy@vicinity-social.com