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Privacy Policy

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. Continued use of Neer means you agree to everything below.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

  • Account Information: Name, username, email address, phone number, date of birth (used to verify you are 18+ and to display your age if enabled), gender
  • Sign in with Apple: If you choose to sign in using Sign in with Apple, we receive your name and email address from Apple to create and manage your account. If you use Apple's "Hide My Email" feature, we receive a private relay email address instead of your real one, and any emails we send are forwarded to you through Apple. We use this information solely to create your account, authenticate you, and communicate with you about the Service. We never receive your Apple ID password. A verified phone number is still required to complete registration. You can stop using Sign in with Apple at any time by disconnecting it in the app (Personal Details → Sign in with Apple → Disconnect) or by managing your Apple ID settings at appleid.apple.com.
  • Profile Information: Profile photo, bio, interests, occupation, education, company
  • Preferences: Age range preferences, distance preferences, language, privacy settings
  • Communications: Messages, voice recordings, photos, and videos you send through the Service
  • Stories: Photos, videos, text, and location-sticker place names you add to your story, along with your chosen audience and "Hide story from" controls, used to show your story only to the people you select. Story drafts are kept on your device only and are not uploaded until you post them.
  • Consent Records: We keep a record of when you accepted our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, age confirmation (18+), and SMS consent, including the associated timestamps, for legal-compliance purposes.
  • Optional Referral Codes: If you provide a valid referral code, we record the code, your account ID, the associated promoter identifier where applicable, your account creation and referral timestamps, and the referral review status and reporting period. Providing a code is optional and is not required to create an account. Referral attribution is recorded once per account and is separate from Promotional Trial redemption.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

  • Location Data: Neer collects location only while the app is in use (foreground). We do not perform background tracking and never request "Always" permission. While iOS location permission is granted, an approximate last-known location (rounded to about 100 meters / 330 ft, 3 decimal places) is written to your profile each time you open the app, so other users can see how far away you are in their Nearby Users. We never store precise GPS coordinates and only the most recent rounded location is retained. Your last-known location is kept until you delete your account. Whether you appear to nearby users is controlled by a single Show in Discovery setting, which persists across sign-ins. (See Section 5.1.)
  • Travel Mode: When you use Travel Mode to browse another city, the city you choose is stored only on your device (in on-device storage) and is not sent to or stored on our servers.
  • Purchase and Billing Data: When you subscribe to Pro, we receive and store your subscription plan, billing cycle (monthly or yearly), subscription status, subscription start and end dates, Apple transaction IDs, and product identifiers. We also maintain a billing history that includes purchase amounts, dates, and receipt status. We do not have access to your credit card number, payment method details, or Apple ID password — all payment processing is handled exclusively by Apple.
  • Promotional Trial Data: When you request or redeem a Promotional Trial, we record your account ID, the promotional code, redemption time, trial expiry, and reservation or redemption status. We also store a cryptographic hash of your phone number, rather than the number itself in the trial eligibility record, to detect repeat redemption across accounts. These records are used to administer the trial and enforce the lifetime limit. The hash remains linked to redemption records and is not treated as anonymous data.
  • Device Information: Device platform (iOS), app version, push notification token, and basic device context (device model and operating system version) collected through Sentry crash reporting. When a crash or error occurs, your user ID and email may be attached to that specific error report to help us identify and resolve account-specific issues. Sentry does not receive this information during normal app use.
  • Device & Security Data: When you sign in, our login-security system records a device identifier, your IP address, and sign-in timestamps. We use this to detect new-device or unusual sign-ins, send you security-alert emails, and prevent fraud and abuse.
  • Verification & Anti-Abuse Logs: When you request or enter a verification code, we log security events such as verification attempt counts, failed attempts, temporary lockouts, the device identifier used, and related abuse-detection events. We use these logs to enforce rate limits, prevent brute-force attacks and account takeover, and protect the Service from fraud and abuse. These logs do not include the verification codes themselves.
  • Analytics Data: We use Google Analytics for Firebase (GA4) to collect first-party product analytics, such as screen views and in-app events, associated with your user ID and basic device/app information, to understand feature usage and improve the app. This is first-party analytics only and is not used for advertising or cross-app tracking.
  • Anonymous App Usage Statistics: Separately, we keep simple, anonymous counters of how often each screen in the app is visited (for example, how many times the Discover screen was opened today). These counters are aggregated totals only — they are not tied to your account, name, or any other identifier, and they cannot be used to determine what any individual person did in the app. We use this solely to see which parts of Neer Social are most useful so we can improve them.
  • Usage Data: Interaction metrics such as profile views received, messages sent, friend requests sent/received, and connections made. Activity status (an online indicator shown when you have been active within the last 15 minutes) and a last-active timestamp are updated automatically. You can disable activity status display in Settings. Recently viewed profiles are automatically logged when you tap on someone's profile. When you type in a conversation, a transient real-time typing indicator is shared with the other participant; typing status is not recorded or stored.
  • Discovery Impressions & Taps: We log when your profile appears in another user's Nearby Users (an impression) and when your profile card is tapped, as product analytics. Impression counts are shown to Pro subscribers in the app's Analytics page as aggregate counts only — they never reveal who saw your profile.
  • Connection Data: Users you connect with, friend requests sent/received, messages exchanged (including text, voice recordings, images, and videos), saved profiles, and profile views.
  • Anonymous Event Chat Participation: When you join an event chat anonymously, we still record your real account ID (UID) on the server so we can operate the chat, enforce membership, and investigate reports. Your entire profile is hidden from other members, and our server removes the sender ID from the push notifications other members receive. Anonymity applies to other users, not to Neer. See Section 3.7.
  • Group Chat Invitations: When you invite someone to a group chat, or are invited, we store an invitation record containing the inviter's ID, the invited user's ID, the group chat name, and a timestamp. These records are kept for up to 30 days and then automatically deleted.
  • Server Error & Service Health Logs: Our servers record technical failures from internal services (AI recommendations, email delivery, SMS delivery, push notifications, and media storage) into an internal service health log visible only to administrators. These entries contain error details, the service involved, and timestamps, and may include an associated user ID when a failure relates to a specific request. They are used solely for reliability monitoring, diagnostics, and administrator alerting.
  • Message Metadata (Spam Prevention): Message metadata such as send frequency and repetition counts (for example, whether an identical opening message has been sent repeatedly), used solely for spam prevention. This is a behavioral signal only — we do not monitor or read the content of your private conversations.

1.3 Information from Third Parties

  • Sign in with Apple: If you sign in with Apple, we receive your name and email address (or a private relay email address if you use Hide My Email) from Apple for account creation and authentication.
  • Backend Services: We use Google Firebase for authentication, real-time database, cloud storage, and server-side Cloud Functions.
  • SMS Verification: We use Twilio to send verification codes to your phone.
  • Email Services: We use Zoho SMTP for email communications, including verification codes, sign-in links, support messages, reports, and billing receipts.
  • Cloud Storage: We use Firebase Storage (powered by Google Cloud Storage) to store media files such as profile images, chat media (photos, videos, and voice recordings), and event images.
  • Crash Reporting: We use Sentry to collect crash reports and diagnostic data, which may include device model, operating system version, and error details.
  • Push Notifications: We use Expo's push notification service to deliver notifications to your device.
  • Analytics: We use Google Analytics for Firebase (GA4) for first-party usage analytics (screen views and in-app events) tied to your user ID.
  • Place Search: We use OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service for place-name and address search. Only the text query you type is sent — used by Story location stickers and event addresses.
  • Public Event Information: Some events on Neer are sourced from public university and campus calendars as a factual reference only (for example, title, date, time, and venue). Those calendars are publicly posted by the institutions. We do not collect personal information about students, attendees, or other individuals from them. Our team reviews each listing, rewrites the description in original language, and only then publishes it. We do not copy original photos, logos, trademarks, or copyrighted calendar text. Neer is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any university. See Section 14.2.

1.4 Summary of Data Types and Purposes

  • Account & Profile Data (name, username, email, phone, date of birth, gender, photos, bio, interests) — to create and operate your account and profile.
  • Approximate Location (GPS, rounded to ~100 m) — to power nearby discovery and show approximate distance; never precise coordinates. For users more than 250 miles away, other users see the user’s city and state instead of a distance. If the user has Show as Nearby enabled, only their state is shown.
  • Device Identifiers & Device Information — for account security, fraud prevention, crash diagnostics, and app compatibility.
  • IP Address — to detect suspicious sign-ins, send security-alert emails, and prevent fraud and abuse.
  • Verification & Anti-Abuse Logs (attempt counts, lockouts, device identifiers, abuse events) — to enforce rate limits and prevent brute-force attacks and abuse.
  • Push Notification Tokens — to deliver push notifications you have enabled.
  • Anonymous Event Chat Records (your real account ID retained server side behind a hidden display name), used to operate event chats, enforce membership, and investigate reports. Hidden from other members, not from Neer.
  • Group Chat Invitations (inviter ID, invited user ID, group name, timestamp), used to deliver and manage invitations. Automatically deleted after 30 days.
  • Service Health and Error Logs (service name, error details, timestamp, and any related user ID), used for reliability monitoring, diagnostics, and administrator alerting. Not used for advertising or profiling.
  • Usage & Analytics Data (screen views, in-app events, profile views, messages sent, connections) — to operate features and improve the app (first-party analytics only).
  • Anonymous, Aggregated Usage Statistics (screen visit counts) — to identify which parts of the app are used most, with no personal identifiers attached.
  • Messages & Media — to deliver your communications and, when reported, investigate safety violations.
  • Message Metadata (send frequency and repetition counts) — used solely for spam prevention; never used to read or analyze the content of your conversations.
  • Sign in with Apple Data (name and email or private relay email) — to create your account, authenticate you, and communicate with you about the Service.
  • Payment & Billing Data (via Apple) — to manage your Pro subscription; payments are processed by Apple, which does not share your full payment method details with us.
  • Promotional Trial and Referral Records: Code and account records, relevant timestamps and status, promoter attribution where applicable, and a phone hash for trial eligibility. Used for trial administration, referral reporting, promoter compensation where applicable, and fraud prevention. See Sections 1.1, 1.2, and 5.2.
  • Public Event Facts (title, date, time, and venue drawn from public campus calendars) — to create independently written, reviewed event listings. Not used to identify or profile individuals.

2. How We Use Your Information

  • Account Management: Email or phone number for account identification. Passwordless authentication (one-time verification codes) is handled by Firebase Auth.
  • Email Communications: Email address for transactional emails, sign-in verification codes, and support communications. We use Zoho SMTP for all outbound email communications.
  • Nearby Discovery: Your approximate, rounded location (to ~100 m precision) and user preferences (age range, distance, and interests) to discover nearby users.
  • Profile Display: Name, age, gender, photos, bio, interests, occupation, education, company, location, social media links, mutual friends, Pro badge (if applicable), and activity status shown on user profiles.
  • Messaging: User ID, message content, timestamps, and media files (including images, videos, and voice recordings).
  • Smart Recommendations: We use your profile data (interests, age, last known location, and profile completeness) to calculate connection recommendation scores using a weighted matching algorithm. Smart and AI Recommendations do not use the content of your private messages.
  • Profile views (including viewer identity for Pro subscribers), gender and age demographics, peak activity times, connection success rate, average connection distance, and network growth trends. Profile Viewers is a Pro feature: Pro subscribers can see the name, photo, and profile information of users who viewed their profile within the last 3 hours. Viewer records are automatically deleted after 3 hours. Pro subscribers may also receive a notification when someone views their profile. To protect the privacy of the person viewing, these notifications are randomised and throttled: they are delayed by roughly 5 to 10 minutes, are not sent for every single view, and are rate limited, so a notification cannot be used to work out the exact moment someone opened your profile. Pro subscribers may also enable Incognito Mode to browse without their own visits being recorded, in which case their visit does not appear in the viewed user's Profile Viewers list and does not trigger a notification. This data is stored in our database and is not shared with third parties.
  • Discovery Impressions & Taps: Pro subscribers can view a count, in the app's Analytics page, of how many times their profile appeared to other users in Discovery. We also record when profile cards are tapped in Discovery. These counts are aggregate only and do not reveal who saw your profile.
  • Product Analytics: We use Google Analytics for Firebase (GA4) to collect screen views and in-app events associated with your user ID to understand feature usage and improve the app. This is first-party analytics only and is not used for advertising.
  • Security & Fraud Prevention: We use device identifiers, IP address, and verification & anti-abuse logs (attempt counts, failed attempts, lockouts, and abuse events) to detect suspicious sign-ins, enforce rate limits, send security alerts, and prevent fraud and abuse.
  • Promotional Trials and Referrals: We use the records described in Sections 1.1 and 1.2 to administer trial access, prevent repeated redemption, measure accounts introduced by each promoter, and calculate promoter compensation where applicable. Referral reporting is internal and is not used to track you across other apps or websites.
  • Spam & Abuse Prevention: To protect users from spam and abuse, we use automated systems that detect behavioral patterns such as identical messages sent repeatedly. We do not monitor or read the content of your private conversations. Accounts exhibiting spam behavior may be automatically and temporarily suspended. You may appeal any suspension in-app or by contacting support.
  • Notifications: We send push and in-app notifications for messages, connection activity, stories, nearby people and events, event invitations, and weekly activity summaries, plus (for Pro subscribers) profile viewer alerts. You can control these in Settings → Notifications; certain security and account notices may still be delivered as required.
  • Customer Support: Use the in-app Report a Problem system or Contact Us, and the content of your support inquiries.
  • Service Improvement: Crash reports and error diagnostics collected via Sentry.

3. How We Share Your Information

3.1 With Other Users

  • Referral Privacy: We do not share referred users' personal information with promoters. Any reporting provided to promoters for compensation uses totals rather than individual account details. Authorized Neer administrators can review referral records internally.
  • Public Profile: May include your name, age (if enabled), gender (if enabled), photos, bio, interests, occupation (optional), education (optional), company (optional), location, social media links, Pro badge (if applicable), and AI-generated compatibility score (calculated locally for the viewer). This information may be visible to nearby users based on your privacy settings.
  • Location Display: Other users see your proximity as an approximate distance range (e.g., "Under 500 ft", "Under 1.0 mi"), not exact coordinates. If you are more than 250 miles away from a viewer, they see your city and state instead of a distance. If you enable Show as Nearby in Settings, viewers within 250 miles see "Nearby" instead of a distance range, and viewers more than 250 miles away see only your state (not your city).
  • Activity Status: Online/offline indicator (green dot if active within the last 15 minutes). Users can disable activity status display in settings.
  • Typing Indicator: When you are typing in a conversation, the other participant sees a real-time typing indicator. This signal is transient — it is not recorded or stored.
  • Connections: Mutual connections count (displayed in approximate ranges for privacy, e.g., "10+ mutual friends").
  • Profile Views: When you view another user's profile, your name, profile photo, and basic profile information may be visible to that user if they are a Pro subscriber. This data is automatically deleted after 3 hours, and any resulting notification to that user is delayed and throttled as described in Section 2. If you are a Pro subscriber with Incognito Mode enabled, your visit is not recorded and the profile owner is not notified.

3.2 With Service Providers

  • Apple (In-App Purchase): All Pro subscription payments are processed exclusively through Apple's App Store. Apple handles payment processing, billing, and currency conversion. We receive transaction confirmations, product identifiers, and subscription status from Apple but do not have access to your payment method details. Apple's use of your data is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy.
  • Google Firebase: Authentication, real-time database, cloud storage, and server-side Cloud Functions. Servers located in the United States.
  • Twilio: Phone number for SMS delivery of one-time verification codes. Message logs are retained for up to 400 days (13 months).
  • Zoho: Email address and content of transactional emails (verification codes, support messages, reports, and billing receipts).
  • Sentry: Crash reports and diagnostic data. User identifiers (user ID, email, and display name) are attached only when errors occur, to help us identify and resolve issues affecting your account.
  • Google (Google Analytics for Firebase / GA4): First-party usage analytics (screen views and in-app events) associated with your user ID and basic device/app information. Not used for advertising.
  • Expo: Push notification token and notification content (including text messages, friend requests, and nearby alerts) for delivery of push notifications.

3.3 For Legal Reasons

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or:

  • To comply with legal obligations
  • To protect the rights, property, or safety of Neer Social, our users, or the public
  • To prevent fraud, abuse, or illegal activity
  • In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets

3.4 With Your Consent

We may share your information with third parties when you provide explicit consent, such as sharing event details or billing receipts outside of Neer.

3.5 Account Verification & SMS Messages

Neer Social sends transactional SMS messages to users of the Neer Social mobile app via Twilio. These messages are strictly transactional, are never used for marketing or promotional purposes, and are sent only in direct response to a user-initiated action within the app.

Types of SMS Messages

  • Neer Social: Your verification code is {CODE}. It expires in 5 minutes. Do not share this code. Reply HELP for assistance or STOP to unsubscribe.

Verification codes expire after 5 minutes. All messages contain time-sensitive information with clear instructions. Message frequency varies based on user-initiated actions. Message and data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Consent

By providing your phone number within the Neer Social mobile app and tapping the button to request a code, you consent to receive transactional SMS messages from Neer Social, including sign-in and account verification codes. A clear disclosure is displayed before submission, with links to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Opt-Out

You can opt out of SMS messages at any time by replying STOP to any message. After opting out, you will no longer receive SMS messages from Neer Social. You may also reply HELP to any message for assistance, or contact us at support@neersocial.com.

Mobile Information Sharing

Your mobile information (phone number) will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. We do not sell, rent, or share your phone number with marketers or advertisers.

3.6 International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in the United States, where our service providers (including Google Firebase, Twilio, Zoho, Sentry, and Expo) maintain servers. The United States may have different data protection laws than your jurisdiction. By using Neer, you consent to such transfers. For EU/EEA residents, data transferred outside the EU/EEA is protected by Standard Contractual Clauses.

3.7 Anonymous Event Chat Participation

Event chats let you take part anonymously. Understanding exactly what anonymity does, and does not, cover is important:

  • Hidden from other members: Your entire profile is hidden from the other members of that event chat. That includes your name, profile photo, age, gender, bio, interests, occupation, education, company, location and distance, social links, Pro badge, and activity status. Other members cannot open your profile from the chat. Our server also strips the sender ID out of the push notifications sent to other members, so your messages cannot be traced back to your profile through a notification.
  • Not hidden from Neer: Anonymity is from other users only. We retain your real account ID (UID) on the server for every message you send. This is required to operate the chat, enforce membership and event rules, apply spam and abuse protections, and investigate safety reports.
  • Reports remain traceable: If another member reports you, or you report another member, the report is filed with the real account ID of the reported user. Anonymous participation does not shield you from moderation, suspension, or a ban. Abuse in an anonymous event chat is investigated exactly like abuse anywhere else on Neer.
  • Law enforcement and legal requests: Because we retain the underlying account ID, anonymous event chat activity can be disclosed in response to valid legal process on the same basis as any other account data. See Section 3.3.

3.8 Blocked Users in Shared Chats

Blocking hides a user from you in Nearby Users, search, and direct messaging. In a shared room such as a group chat or an event chat, however, we may tell you that a user you have blocked is present in that chat. We disclose this deliberately as a safety measure so you can make an informed decision about staying in the chat or leaving it. The notice tells you only that a blocked user is present. It does not reveal any new information about that user, and we do not tell the blocked user that you blocked them.

4. Location Data & Privacy

Neer uses location to power nearby discovery. We designed this system to comply with Apple App Store Guideline 5.1.2(i): foreground-only collection, user-controlled visibility, rounded coordinates, and no background tracking.

4.1 Discovery Visibility

A single setting controls whether other people can find you:

  • Show in Discovery: Allows your profile to appear in other users' Nearby Users and search results. Distance is shown using your approximate last-known coordinates. This setting persists across app closes and sign-ins until you change it.

When Show in Discovery is OFF, your profile is hidden from Nearby Users and search, and other users cannot find you by proximity. You can turn it on or off at any time in Settings.

4.2 Foreground-Only Collection

  • Neer collects location only while the app is in use (foreground). We do not perform background tracking, and we never request the "Always" iOS location permission.
  • Your location is only read while the app is open. We do not collect or update your location while the app is closed or running in the background.
  • If you change your iOS Location setting for Neer to "Never," the app stops collecting your location; you can also turn off Show in Discovery to remove yourself from Nearby Users and search.

4.3 Last-Known Location & Precision

  • While iOS location permission is granted, your approximate last-known coordinates are written to your profile each time you open the app. These coordinates are rounded to approximately 100 meters of precision (3 decimal places). We never store your precise GPS coordinates and we do not retain location history.
  • Precise vs. Coarse Location: iOS provides apps with precise GPS coordinates when the "While Using the App" permission is granted, but Neer Social rounds those coordinates to approximately 100 meters (3 decimal places) before they are stored or transmitted. The precise reading is held only briefly in device memory and is never written to our database or shared with other users. For App Privacy purposes Neer Social collects and stores Coarse Location only.
  • Last-known coordinates are used to compute the distance shown to other users in their Nearby Users whenever Show in Discovery is ON.
  • Your last-known location is retained until you delete your account.
  • Other users see your approximate distance as a range (e.g., "Under 500 ft", "Under 1 mi") or "Nearby" — never exact coordinates.
  • Distances Over 250 Miles: When you are more than 250 miles from a viewer, the app shows your city and state instead of a distance. If you have Show as Nearby enabled, viewers more than 250 miles away see only your state (not your city), and viewers within 250 miles see "Nearby" instead of a distance.

4.4 Privacy Controls

  • You can turn Show in Discovery on or off at any time in Settings, or revoke location permission entirely from your device settings.
  • Banned, suspended, and pending-deletion accounts are removed from Nearby Users and search in real time until their status is lifted.
  • Users you block (and users who block you) are excluded from each other's Nearby Users, search results, and profile views immediately and bidirectionally.
  • All location data, including last-known coordinates, is permanently deleted when you delete your account.

5. Data Retention

5.1 Account Deletion

  • Grace period: When you request account deletion, your account is deactivated for 30 days. During this period your profile, messages, and content are hidden from other users but still exist, so they can be restored if you reactivate by logging back in. After 30 days your account and associated data are permanently deleted, including all userLocations entries and last-known coordinates, and your profile, messages, and content are erased from other users' views permanently.
  • Group and event chats during the grace period: Your memberships in group chats and event chats are not torn down while your account is in the 30 day grace period. During that window you appear to other members as "Hidden User" with your name and photo removed, and notifications for those chats are turned off for you. Your memberships are removed only when your account is permanently deleted at the end of the grace period. This exists so that reactivating within 30 days restores your conversations intact.
  • What is permanently deleted: Profile information, photos and media (including profile photos, additional photos, and chat media), messages and conversations, per‑user analytics, events you created, friend connections, group and event chat memberships, location data, and your authentication record.
  • Safety & Compliance Records (retained indefinitely): To prevent banned or removed users from evading enforcement by deleting and re-creating an account, we retain a limited deletion record after your account is deleted. This record contains your email address, phone number, full name, account creation date, deletion date, deletion reason (e.g., user-requested or inactivity), and last activity timestamp. It is used solely to enforce existing bans, prevent fraud, and protect community safety — not for marketing, profiling, advertising, recommendations, or any other purpose. For Pro subscribers, billing and transaction history is also retained as required by law for tax compliance. Support inquiries you submitted may be retained for legal and operational purposes. Where local law (e.g., GDPR Article 17 or CCPA/CPRA) grants you a right to deletion of this record, we will honor the request unless we are legally required or permitted to retain it for safety, fraud-prevention, or legal-compliance reasons.
  • How to delete: You can request account deletion through Settings → Personal Details → Delete Account.
  • Promotional Trial and referral records are subject to the separate retention rules in Section 5.2, including the records that remain after account deletion.

5.2 Data Retention Periods

  • Account information: Retained while your account is active (and during the 30‑day deletion grace period).
  • Messages: Retained until deleted by you or when your account is permanently deleted.
  • Location data: Only your most recent location is stored (overwritten on each update). Removed on permanent account deletion.
  • Photos & media: Retained until you delete them or your account is permanently deleted — stored media files are permanently removed upon account deletion.
  • Analytics (per‑user): Profile views and connection statistics are retained while your account is active and are permanently deleted when your account is deleted.
  • Billing and Transaction History: Subscription records, transaction IDs, purchase amounts, dates, and billing receipts are retained while your account is active. Upon account deletion, billing and transaction history is retained as required by law for tax and legal compliance purposes, even after all other personal data has been permanently deleted.
  • Promotional Trial eligibility records: Account redemption records and the associated phone hash are retained indefinitely, including after account deletion, to enforce the lifetime trial limit and prevent abuse. They are not used for marketing or profiling.
  • Referral records: There is no automatic expiry for referral attribution records. They remain after account deletion for attribution integrity, internal reporting, promoter compensation where applicable, and fraud prevention. You may request access, correction, or deletion of referral and trial records by contacting us as described in Section 15. We handle these requests under applicable law, including any lawful retention exceptions.
  • Group chat invitations: Invitation records (inviter ID, invited user ID, group chat name, and timestamp) are retained for up to 30 days and are then automatically deleted.
  • Event chats: An event chat closes automatically at the event's end time. An automated job runs every 15 minutes to close ended event chats and remove members from them. Messages already sent in the chat follow the normal message retention rules above.
  • Server error & service health logs: Internal failure records for AI, email, SMS, push notification, and storage services are retained for a limited period for reliability monitoring and diagnostics, then deleted.
  • Verification codes: Expire and become invalid after 5 minutes.
  • Reported content: Retained for up to 1 year for safety and legal compliance, then automatically deleted.
  • Security & device data: Device identifier, IP address, sign-in history, and verification & anti-abuse logs (attempt counts, failed attempts, lockouts, and abuse events) are retained for a limited period for account security and fraud prevention, and are deleted on account deletion except where longer retention is required for legal or security purposes.
  • Analytics data: First-party analytics events (Google Analytics for Firebase) are retained according to our analytics provider's configured retention period and are not used for advertising.
  • Safety records (post-deletion): A limited post-deletion archive — email, phone number, full name, account creation date, deletion date, deletion reason, and last activity timestamp — is retained indefinitely for the sole purpose of preventing banned or removed users from evading enforcement by signing up again. This archive is not used for marketing, profiling, advertising, recommendations, or any other purpose. See §5.1 for your deletion rights.

5.3 Third-party Data Retention

  • Third-party service providers (for example, crash reporting, SMS, email) may retain logs or copies of certain information under their own retention policies. We cannot control deletion of logs held by third parties (e.g., Sentry, Twilio, Zoho).

6. User Rights and Controls

6.1 Account Controls

  • Profile Visibility: A single setting controls how you appear to others — Show in Discovery (Settings → Location).
  • Show in Discovery: When ON, your profile appears in other users' Nearby Users and search results, with distance computed from your approximate last-known location. When OFF, you are hidden from Nearby Users and search. This setting persists across sign-ins.
  • Messaging Privacy: Choose who can message you — Anyone or Friends only (Settings → Messaging Privacy).
  • Friends Only Reply: If Messaging Privacy is set to "Friends only," non-friends cannot initiate a conversation with you. However, if you message a non-friend first, they will be able to reply to that conversation.
  • Show as Nearby: When enabled, your profile displays your proximity as "Nearby" to other users instead of a specific distance (e.g., "500 ft" or "3.0 mi"). Toggle this in Settings → Show as Nearby. This setting does not change how location data is collected internally.
  • iOS Permission: You can revoke location permission for Neer at any time in your device's Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services. If iOS permission is set to "Never," Neer can no longer collect your location, so you will not appear in Nearby Users with a live distance.
  • Block Users: Block specific accounts to prevent them from seeing your profile or messaging you. Blocks are enforced bidirectionally in Nearby Users and search in real time.
  • Profile Viewers (Pro): Pro subscribers can see who viewed their profile in the last 3 hours. Viewer records expire automatically after 3 hours, and viewer notifications are delayed and throttled so they cannot be used to pinpoint when a specific person opened a profile. You can turn profile viewer notifications off in Settings → Notifications.
  • Incognito Mode (Pro): Pro subscribers can enable Incognito Mode to browse profiles without their visit being recorded or shown to the profile owner. While Incognito Mode is on, your visits are not written to that user's Profile Viewers list and do not trigger a profile viewer notification.

6.2 Data Rights

  • Access: Request a copy of your personal data by contacting support@neersocial.com (subject: "Data Access Request").
  • Correction: Update incorrect or out‑of‑date information in Settings → Personal Details, or contact us to request a correction.
  • Deletion: Delete your account from Settings or Settings → Personal Details → Delete Account. Accounts are deactivated for a 30‑day grace period and permanently removed afterward.
  • Portability: To request your data in a portable (machine‑readable) format, contact support@neersocial.com.
  • Restriction of Processing (GDPR Art. 18): You can ask us to restrict how we process your personal data — for example, while we investigate a correction request or where processing is unlawful but you do not want it deleted.
  • Objection (GDPR Art. 21): You can object at any time to processing carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests, including for analytics or security purposes. We will stop such processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests.
  • Withdrawal of Consent (GDPR Art. 7(3)): Where we rely on your consent (e.g., location sharing, push notifications), you can withdraw consent at any time by toggling the relevant feature off in Settings or revoking permission in your device settings. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
  • Lodge a Complaint (GDPR Art. 77): If you are in the EU/EEA or UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority.
  • Opt‑Out per Feature: You can disable feature‑specific processing in Settings (for example: location sharing, Show in Discovery, activity status). Opt‑outs are provided per feature.

6.3 Communication Preferences

  • Push Notifications: Manage in‑app notification preferences in Settings → Notifications (per‑category controls for Messages, Connection Requests, Nearby Alerts, etc.), or disable all notifications via your device settings.
  • Marketing: We do not send promotional or marketing communications.

7. Security Measures

We take data security seriously and implement:

  • Encryption: All data transmitted between the app and our servers is encrypted in transit via HTTPS/TLS, enforced by our cloud infrastructure (Google Firebase). Data stored on servers is encrypted at rest using AES‑256 encryption.
  • Passwordless Sign-In: Neer Social does not use passwords. You sign in with a one-time verification code sent to your phone number or email address, or with Sign in with Apple. Because there is no password to steal, guess, or reuse, your account is protected against credential-based attacks.
  • Authentication: Secure token‑based authentication using JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) managed by Firebase Authentication with local persistence on the device. Sessions persist until the user explicitly logs out. Rate limiting prevents brute‑force attacks, with temporary account locks after multiple failed attempts. Verification attempt counts, lockouts, device identifiers, and abuse events are logged for security and fraud prevention.
  • Phone & Email Verification: One-time verification codes are used to verify your identity during account registration, sign-in, phone number changes, and account recovery. Codes can be delivered by SMS to your phone number or by email. Logging out securely clears all locally stored data and terminates your Firebase session.
  • 48‑Hour Email Verification: When you register with an email address, your account is created immediately but your email is marked unverified and a verification link/code is sent. If you do not verify within 48 hours, an automated server job removes the unverified email from your account so the address is freed for reuse; your account itself is not deleted, and you can still sign in via phone (or Sign in with Apple) and re‑add and verify an email. Phone‑only and Sign in with Apple accounts are exempt.
  • Account Recovery: If you lose access to your account, you may use our account recovery process to regain access via a verification code sent to your registered email address or phone number. By providing your phone number, you consent to receiving SMS messages from Neer Social for account verification and recovery purposes. Standard messaging rates may apply.
  • Access Controls: Firebase Security Rules enforce authentication‑based access control. Users can only modify their own data; admin‑level privileges exist for moderation. Our cloud infrastructure (Google Firebase) complies with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 security standards.
  • Account Protection: Banned accounts are blocked from logging in and filtered from all app features. Suspended accounts receive real‑time enforcement with in‑app restrictions.

7.1 Moderation & Reported Content

To maintain a safe and respectful community, Neer Social reserves the right to access and review content when accounts or content are reported. This access is necessary to enforce our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service and to ensure user safety.

Zero Tolerance: Neer Social has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive behavior. We review reports of objectionable content and act within 24 hours by removing the content and ejecting or banning the user who provided it.

  • Our Moderation Method: All users must accept our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service — which prohibit objectionable material — before creating an account or posting content. Anyone can report any user, event, message, story, photo, or profile, and our moderation team reviews and acts on reports of objectionable content within 24 hours by removing the content and ejecting or banning the responsible user.
  • Private Messages: We do not proactively scan or filter the content of private messages. If a message is reported, our moderation team may review that specific message and its surrounding context to investigate the report.
  • Automated Spam Detection: To protect users from spam and abuse, we use automated systems that detect behavioral patterns — such as identical messages sent repeatedly to different users. This relies on message metadata (repetition counts), not on reading or analyzing conversation content. Accounts exhibiting spam behavior may be automatically and temporarily suspended. Any automatic suspension can be appealed in-app or by emailing support@neersocial.com.
  • Automated Image and Video Screening: Media you upload to public-facing surfaces (such as profile photos, event images, and stories) is screened automatically for explicit or unsafe content before or shortly after it is published. For images, we submit the image to an automated safe-content detection service. For videos, our servers additionally extract still frames from the video and run those frames through the same automated detection. Screening is automated and is used only to detect policy-violating media. It is not used for advertising, profiling, or facial recognition, and we do not use it to identify individuals.
  • Report Review: You can report any user, event, message, story, photo, or profile. When a user reports an account, message, story, event, or other content for violations of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, our moderation team may access chat messages, profile information, media, and other related conversation history to investigate the report.
  • Anonymous Event Chats Are Not Exempt: Messages you send anonymously in an event chat are still linked to your real account ID on our servers. Reports filed against anonymous participants carry the reported user's real account ID, so anonymous participation does not prevent moderation, suspension, or a ban. See Section 3.7.
  • Safety Priority: This access is strictly limited to investigating reports of harassment, threats, spam, impersonation, explicit content, illegal activity, or other policy violations.
  • Limited Scope: Only authorized moderators have access to reported content. All access is logged and audited.
  • Privacy Respect: We only review content directly related to the report and related conversation history. We do not access unrelated private conversations.
  • Content Removal: Violating content is removed immediately upon confirmation of violation.
  • Data Retention: Reported content is retained for up to 1 year for safety and legal compliance, then automatically deleted (see Section 5.2).
  • Enforcement Actions: After investigation, appropriate action is taken including warnings, temporary suspensions, or permanent bans depending on the severity of the violation. Submitting false or malicious reports may also result in action against the reporting account (see Terms Section 9).
  • Appeals: If your account has been suspended or banned, you may submit an appeal by visiting our Contact page or emailing support@neersocial.com. Please include your account username and reason for appeal. Appeals are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

By using Neer, you acknowledge and consent to this access when necessary to enforce our policies and protect our community.

8. Children's Privacy

  • Age Restriction: Neer is only for users 18 years and older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
  • Account Termination: If we discover a user is under 18, we will immediately terminate their account and delete all associated data.
  • Parents who discover their child has created an account must delete it immediately.
  • Age Verification: We verify age during signup through birthday validation and may request additional verification if needed.
  • COPPA Compliance: We comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and do not target or market to minors.

9. International Users & Data Transfers

  • Data Location: Your data is stored on servers in the United States operated by Google Firebase.
  • International Transfers: By using Neer, you consent to data transfer to the US, which may have different data protection laws than your jurisdiction.
  • EU Users: We comply with GDPR requirements for EU data subjects. Data transferred outside the EU/EEA is protected by Standard Contractual Clauses.
  • Legal Basis: International transfers are necessary for the performance of our contract with you and to provide the Service.
  • California Users: See Section 11 for CCPA rights.

10. Cookies and Tracking

  • Device storage (no browser cookies): the app uses on‑device storage (React Native AsyncStorage) to persist login state, UI preferences, onboarding progress and short‑lived rate‑limit counters.
  • Crash reporting: we use Sentry for error/crash reports; Sentry may receive error details and user context (user ID/email) to help diagnose issues.
  • In‑app statistics (first‑party): product metrics you see in the app (profile views, connection stats, network growth) are stored in our database (Firebase Database) and are not shared with advertising partners.
  • First‑party analytics (Google Analytics for Firebase): we use Google Analytics for Firebase (GA4) to measure screen views and in‑app events for product improvement. This data is tied to your user ID but is not shared with advertising networks and is not used for cross‑app tracking.
  • Analytics Identifier (GA client ID): Google Analytics for Firebase generates a persistent, pseudonymous identifier (a GA-style client_id) that is stored locally on your device (in app storage) and sent to Google with each analytics event so events can be associated with the same installation. This identifier is not the IDFA, is not linked to advertising profiles, and is not used for cross-app tracking. It is regenerated if you uninstall the app or clear app data.
  • No third‑party advertising/tracking: we do not include AdMob, Meta/Facebook ads, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Segment, or tracking pixels.
  • Local Control: You can clear on-device data by logging out or uninstalling the app. To delete server-side data and your account completely, use Settings → Personal Details → Delete Account.

11. Apple Tracking & Privacy

App Tracking Transparency (ATT)

Neer does not track your activity across other companies' apps or websites. Because we do not perform cross-app or cross-site tracking, no App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt is required or shown.

  • No Cross-App Tracking: We do not track your activity across other apps or websites. All data collection is limited to your use of Neer.
  • No Advertising: We do not serve ads or use any advertising SDKs. There is no personalized or targeted advertising in Neer.
  • First-Party Analytics Only: We use Google Analytics for Firebase (GA4) for first-party product analytics (such as screen views and in-app events) tied to your user ID, plus limited statistics stored in our own database. No analytics data is shared with advertising networks or used for cross-app tracking.

Third-Party SDKs

The third-party SDKs running on your device are Sentry (crash reporting) and Google Analytics for Firebase (first-party product analytics). No advertising or social media SDKs are used. Server-side services such as Firebase (authentication, database, cloud storage) and Twilio (SMS verification) operate as part of our own backend infrastructure and do not run on your device.

Crash Reporting (Sentry)

Neer uses Sentry to collect crash reports and error diagnostics to improve app stability. Sentry may receive:

  • Basic device context (OS version, device model) for debugging purposes
  • Your user ID and email address to help us identify and resolve issues affecting your account
  • Error stack traces and app state at the time of a crash

Sentry does not collect the Advertising Identifier (IDFA), and no device fingerprinting is performed. IP addresses are not stored with crash reports. For more information, see Sentry's Privacy Policy.

Separately, our login-security system collects your IP address to detect suspicious sign-ins and prevent fraud. We do not collect the IDFA, but we do use a non-advertising device identifier for account security.

Privacy Labels

Our App Store privacy label lists all data we collect and how it is used. You can view this label on the Neer App Store page.

IDFA & Device Identifiers

  • We do not access or collect the Advertising Identifier (IDFA).
  • We use a non-advertising device identifier for account security and fraud prevention only.
  • Analytics Identifier (GA client ID): Google Analytics for Firebase generates a persistent, pseudonymous identifier (a GA-style client_id) that is stored locally on the device and sent to Google with each analytics event so events can be associated with the same installation. It is not the IDFA, not used for advertising, and not used for cross-app tracking. It is regenerated if you uninstall the app or clear app data.
  • No device fingerprinting is performed.

12. California Privacy Rights (CCPA / CPRA)

Notice at Collection

At the time we collect your personal information, this Privacy Policy serves as our Notice at Collection. The categories we collect, the purposes for collection, and our retention periods are described in Section 1.4 and Section 5.2. Under the CPRA, approximate geolocation qualifies as Sensitive Personal Information. We collect it only while the app is in use, round it to roughly 100 meters before storage, and use it solely to power nearby discovery and account security — not to infer characteristics about you.

Your Rights

California residents have the following rights:

  • Right to Know — request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we collect, the sources, the purposes for collection, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
  • Right to Delete — request deletion of personal information we maintain about you, subject to legal exceptions.
  • Right to Correct — request correction of inaccurate personal information we maintain about you (Cal. Civ. Code §1798.106).
  • Right to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing — Neer Social does not sell personal information and does not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of for advertising purposes. The first-party analytics we use (Google Analytics for Firebase, see Section 11) may, depending on your interpretation, be treated as “sharing” with Google; you can object to this processing at any time by contacting us using the address below.
  • Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information — you may request that we limit our use of Sensitive Personal Information (approximate geolocation) to what is necessary to provide the Service (Cal. Civ. Code §1798.121). You can also disable Show in Discovery in Settings, or revoke iOS location permission entirely, to stop further collection.
  • Right to Non-Discrimination — you will not be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights.

How to exercise your CCPA / CPRA rights

  • Email support@neersocial.com with the subject line “CCPA Request” or “CPRA Request,” or submit your request through the Contact us page. We will verify your request and respond within the timelines required by law.
  • You may also use an authorized agent. We may require written authorization and verification of your identity before responding.
  • Third-party processors (e.g., Sentry, Twilio, Zoho, Google for GA4) may retain logs under their own policies; we do not sell your data to third-party advertisers.

13. Changes to Privacy Policy

  • We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time
  • We will notify you of material changes via in-app notification before they take effect
  • Changes take effect 14 days after notification
  • Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance
  • Review this policy periodically for updates

14. Third-Party Services

Neer integrates with:

  • Apple In-App Purchase: Subscription payment processing — all Pro subscription billing, renewals, and refunds are handled by Apple (see Apple Privacy)
  • Twilio: SMS delivery of one-time verification codes (see Twilio Privacy)
  • Zoho: Email services — used to send transactional emails, verification codes, and account recovery emails (see Zoho Privacy)
  • Google Cloud (Firebase): Authentication, real-time database, cloud storage, and server-side functions (see Google Privacy)
  • Sentry: Crash reporting and error logging (see Sentry Privacy)
  • Google Analytics for Firebase (GA4): First-party app usage analytics — screen views and in-app events tied to your user ID (see Google Privacy)
  • Expo: Push notification delivery (see Expo Privacy)
  • OpenStreetMap (Nominatim): Place-name and address search — only the typed search query is sent; used by Story location stickers and event addresses (see OpenStreetMap Privacy)

14.1 Copyright & Intellectual Property

If we receive a valid Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice regarding content you have posted, we may remove or disable access to that content and notify you. In processing DMCA notices, we may share limited information (such as your username and contact details) with the complaining party as required by law.

For complete details on how we handle copyright infringement claims, takedown procedures, counter-notifications, and our repeat infringer policy, please see our DMCA Policy available in the app under Settings → Legal → DMCA Policy.

14.2 Public Campus Event Listings

Some events shown on Neer are independently created by our team using publicly available university and campus calendars as a factual reference only (for example, the event name, date, time, and venue). Those calendars are posted by the institutions for public viewing. We do not scrape or collect personal information about students, attendees, organizers, or other individuals from them, and we do not use calendar pages to build profiles of people.

Before any such listing is published, our team reviews it and writes an original description. We do not copy original photos, artwork, logos, trademarks, or copyrighted calendar text. Facts such as time and place are not copyrightable; our published wording is our own. Listings are informational only, may be incomplete or out of date, and are not an official university calendar.

Neer Social is an independent service. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any university, college, or campus organization whose public calendar we may consult. Names of institutions may appear solely to identify the location or host of an event. If you believe a listing infringes your rights, contact support@neersocial.com or follow the DMCA process in our DMCA Policy.

15. Contact Us & Data Requests

For privacy-related questions, data requests, or to exercise your rights:

16. Data Processing Lawful Basis (GDPR)

We process your data based on:

  • Consent: For optional processing such as location sharing during your session and push notifications, where you provide explicit consent through in-app toggles and device-level permission prompts.
  • Contract Performance: Processing necessary to provide the Service, including administering a Promotional Trial you request
  • Legitimate Interests: Improving the Service, preventing fraud, ensuring safety, maintaining referral attribution, and administering promoter compensation where applicable, balanced against your privacy rights
  • Legal Obligation: Compliance with applicable laws and regulations

Last Updated: September 5, 2026

By using Neer, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy.

About Neer Social

Neer Social helps people meet others nearby by making it easy to discover and create local connections. Whether you’re meeting friends, looking for networking opportunities, or finding community events, Neer Social is designed to help you connect effortlessly while prioritizing safety and inclusivity.

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