Privacy Policy

Welcome to Tifferend (“we”, “our”, or “us”). Tifferend operates a social discovery and matchmaking platform designed to help meaningful connections flourish. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, store, use, and protect your personal information when you access our mobile application and web services (collectively, the “App”).

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By creating an account or using Tifferend, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the practices described herein. If you do not agree with our policies, please do not use the App.

Tifferend is operated from India and is available to users globally where permitted by applicable law.

1. Information We Collect

To provide you with discovery and matchmaking services, we collect information in the following categories:

a) Information You Provide Directly

• Account Details: Your mobile phone number (for secure SMS OTP authentication) and optional email address.
• Profile Information: Your display name / first name, date of birth (used to compute and display your age), gender, gender preferences, bio, and lifestyle preferences.
• Profile Photos: Images you choose to upload to represent yourself to other members.
• Interests & Hobbies: Categories and tags you select to help find compatible matches with shared passions.
• Astrological / Vedic Information (Optional): Date, approximate time, and place of birth if you choose to use our automated astrological and kundali compatibility features.
• Biometric Data & Face Verification: When you voluntarily verify your profile, you submit a live verification selfie. Our machine learning system analyzes your facial geometry and generates a mathematical face embedding solely to confirm that your uploaded profile photos depict the account holder and prevent catfishing/impersonation. In compliance with applicable biometric privacy laws (including Illinois BIPA): (1) We never sell, lease, trade, or profit from your biometric data; (2) We do not share biometric data with third parties; and (3) Biometric face embeddings are permanently destroyed immediately upon account deletion, or within 3 years of account inactivity.
• Communications: Messages, chat history, likes, passes, and feedback you send within the platform.

b) Information Collected Automatically

• Location Data (With Your Permission): We collect your device's geographical location (coarse and fine GPS coordinates) while using the App to compute approximate distances to other profiles (e.g. "5 km away"). You can enable or disable location access at any time in your device settings.
• Device & Usage Data: Unique device identifiers, operating system version, app version, IP address, connection speed, and crash logs to ensure app stability and prevent abusive multi-accounting.

c) Payment Information

All in-app purchases and subscriptions are processed directly through Google Play Billing or authorized app store billing systems. Tifferend never collects, receives, or stores your credit card, debit card, or UPI PIN numbers. We only receive purchase tokens, transaction timestamps, and entitlement statuses to activate your premium features.

2. Information Shared With Other Users

Because Tifferend is a social matchmaking network, connecting with others requires sharing certain public profile attributes. We maintain a strict boundary between what is public and what remains private:

Visible to Other Users

• Your display name, age, and gender
• Your uploaded profile photos and bio
• Your selected interests, hobbies, and lifestyle tags
• Your approximate distance or city (e.g. "3 km away" — never your exact coordinates)
• Astrological compatibility score and match percentage
• Verification badge status (indicating a verified real user)
• Messages and media you voluntarily send in private chat to matched members

NEVER Shared With Other Users

• Your phone number and email address
• Your exact GPS coordinates or live real-time location
• Your verification selfies (used solely for AI facial authenticity validation)
• Your billing details, subscription history, or transaction amounts
• Your private blocks, reports, or customer support tickets
• Your pass/reject history (other users are never notified when you swipe left)

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your data strictly for legitimate operational purposes:

• Matchmaking & Discovery: To recommend compatible profiles near you based on age, distance, common interests, and relationship goals.
• Platform Safety & Integrity: To detect, investigate, and block bots, spammers, abusive users, and fake profiles.
• Communication: To deliver real-time messages via WebSockets and send push notifications for new matches or incoming messages.
• Service Improvement: To monitor system performance, identify bugs, and improve user experience.
• Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable laws, court orders, and law enforcement requests in accordance with Indian and international legal frameworks.

4. Information Sharing & Third Parties

We do NOT sell, rent, or monetize your personal data to any third parties for advertising or marketing.

We only share data with trusted infrastructure service providers under strict data processing agreements:

• Cloud Hosting & Databases: Secure cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud) for database hosting, caching, and running our backend microservices.
• Push Notifications & SMS: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for push notifications; telecom SMS providers (e.g. Fast2SMS) for one-time login passcodes (OTP).
• Transactional Emails: Secure email infrastructure (e.g. ZeptoMail) for official service announcements and account alerts.
• App Store Gateways: Google Play Store for processing in-app purchases and subscription renewals.
• Law Enforcement & Safety: We may disclose information only if required by valid legal process (e.g., subpoena, court order) or when necessary to protect the physical safety of any person.

5. Account Deletion & Data Retention

You have full control over your account and personal data. You can delete your account at any time directly in the App via Profile ➔ Edit Profile ➔ Delete Profile.

a) Immediate Actions (Upon Deletion)

• Profile Removal: Your profile is immediately deactivated, hidden from discovery, and will no longer appear in searches, matches, or recommendations.
• Media Purge: Uploaded media (profile photos and verification selfies) are immediately and permanently deleted from our cloud storage (AWS S3) and CDN edge caches.
• Subscriptions & Entitlements: Active subscriptions are cancelled, and premium entitlements are revoked.
• Session Invalidation: All active sessions, refresh tokens, and device associations are immediately revoked, logging you out across all devices.

b) 30-Day Retention Grace Period & Permanent GDPR Purge

• Fraud & Safety Grace Period (30 Days): Your basic account identifiers (email, phone number, and device IP records) are retained for 30 days strictly to prevent fraud, abusive repeat registrations, and to assist with ongoing safety or law enforcement investigations.
• Automated Permanent Anonymization: Once the 30-day retention period elapses, our automated GDPR purge job permanently anonymizes your account (email and phone are overwritten with anonymous identifiers) and wipes all associated device IP addresses. This process is irreversible.
• Statutory Financial Records: Non-personal purchase tokens and billing records may be retained solely to comply with statutory tax, accounting, and legal requirements.

c) Web & Non-App Deletion Requests (Without App)

If you have uninstalled the App or cannot access your account, you can request permanent deletion of your account and personal data via our web deletion procedure:

• How to Submit: Send an email to privacy@tifferend.com with the subject line "Account Deletion Request", including your registered phone number (with country code) or registered email address.
• Identity Verification: To protect our users against unauthorized or malicious deletion requests, our security team will verify account ownership before executing deletion. Verification is performed by sending a one-time verification challenge (OTP or confirmation link) to the registered email address or phone number on file.
• Execution: Once ownership is verified, your account and profile media are immediately purged and deactivated, entering the same automated 30-day GDPR data sanitization cycle as in-app deletions.

6. Child Safety & Age Restriction (18+)

Tifferend strictly enforces an adult-only policy:

• You must be at least 18 years of age to create an account or use Tifferend. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.
• If we discover that a user is under 18, their account and data will be terminated immediately.
• We enforce a zero-tolerance policy regarding Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSAE). Suspected violations are reported immediately to law enforcement agencies and international child safety organizations (such as NCMEC).

7. Data Security & Storage

We employ industry-standard technical and organizational security measures to protect your data:

• All data in transit is encrypted using HTTPS and TLS 1.3 protocols.
• Sensitive information is stored in secured, firewalled database clusters with strict least-privilege access controls.
• Automated rate limiting and anti-abuse firewalls protect against automated brute-force attacks and credential stuffing.

8. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location, you hold the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to Access: You can review the personal information you have shared with us at any time within your profile.
• Right to Rectification: You can update or correct your profile information, photos, and preferences anytime in the Edit Profile screen.
• Right to Erasure: You can request complete deletion of your account and personal data.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: You can revoke device permissions (such as Location, Camera, or Push Notifications) directly in your device’s system settings.

9. Resident Grievance Officer (India) & Contact Us

In accordance with the Information Technology Act 2000, and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the contact details of our Resident Grievance Officer in India are as follows:

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect operational, legal, or regulatory modifications. When updates occur, we will revise the “Effective Date” at the top of this page. In the event of material changes, we will notify you through an in-app notice or via SMS/email prior to the changes taking effect.

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For questions, privacy inquiries, or data requests, please contact our support team at support@tifferend.com.