Privacy Policy

StartTheDate ("we", "us", or "our") operates startthedate.com. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, how long we keep it, and your rights. StartTheDate is operated from Ontario, Canada, and is subject to Canadian privacy law, including the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and Quebec's Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (Law 25).

1. What We Collect

• Account information: your email address and a hashed (never plain-text) password when you register, or a Google account identifier if you sign in with Google.
• Usage data: the number of drafts and profile ratings you generate, your free-trial and access-pass status, and your subscription plan.
• Content you submit ("message input"): the profile bios, conversation text, and screenshots you paste or upload so we can generate a suggested message or analysis. This content is sent to Anthropic's AI API to produce your result (see Section 3).
  • For most one-off generations, this content is processed to produce your result and is not retained by the generation step afterward.
  • However, some content is saved on purpose to power optional and Pro features. When you use draft history, saved conversations ("Memory"), or your saved dating profile, we store the relevant text (for example, the match bio you pasted, the messages we generated, the conversation text you save, and the profile details you enter) so those features can work across sessions. See Sections 4 and 5.
  • Feedback: when you rate a suggestion or report an outcome, we store the text of that suggestion together with your rating to improve the service.
  • Screenshots: uploaded screenshot images are sent to Anthropic for reading/analysis but the image files themselves are not stored on our servers. Text extracted from a screenshot may be saved if it forms part of a feature you use (such as a saved conversation).
• Payment data: handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number or card details. We store records related to your purchases, such as a Stripe checkout/payment reference, the email used at checkout, the product, and the amount.
• Technical and security data: session cookies to keep you logged in, and, for rate-limiting and abuse prevention, your IP address (held only briefly — see Section 5).
• Usage analytics: we record product events (for example, when an analysis is run, the paywall is viewed, or a practice session starts), associated with your account or a random identifier. These analytics events do not contain your pasted conversation content.
• Signup source: when you create an account, we record the page on our site you first arrived on, the page you signed up from, and the general source you came from (for example, the name of the search engine or website that referred you — the website's address only, never the full link or your search terms). We use this to understand which of our guides and pages are genuinely helpful. It is not shared and is removed if you delete your account.

2. How We Use Your Data

• To provide and operate the StartTheDate service, including history, saved-conversation, and personalization features you choose to use.
• To track your free draft usage, access-pass status, and subscription.
• To process payments securely via Stripe.
• To generate personalized message drafts and analyses via the Anthropic Claude AI API.
• To prevent abuse, enforce rate limits, secure the service, and improve our suggestions.

We rely on your consent and the operation of the service you request as our basis for processing. Where the information is sensitive (for example, the content of your dating conversations), we treat it accordingly and limit access.

3. Third-Party Services & Cross-Border Processing

To run the service we share certain data with the providers below. Some of these providers are located in, or process data in, the United States or other countries outside Canada. This means your information may be processed outside your province or country and may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.

• Anthropic (United States): the content you submit (text and screenshots) is sent to Anthropic's API to generate your result. Anthropic's privacy policy applies: anthropic.com/privacy
• Stripe (United States): payment processing. Stripe's privacy policy applies: stripe.com/privacy
• Railway (hosting): our application and database run on Railway's infrastructure.

4. Data Storage & Security

Your data is stored in a database hosted on our infrastructure provider. Passwords are stored only in hashed form, never in plain text. We use HTTPS for all connections and restrict access to stored data. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. We are working to strengthen our security safeguards on an ongoing basis.

5. Data Retention

We keep different types of data for different periods:

• Account data (email, hashed password, usage counts, subscription status): kept for as long as your account exists, and for a reasonable period afterward where required for legal, accounting, or fraud-prevention purposes.
• One-off generation content that is not part of a saved feature: not retained after your result is produced.
• Saved content (draft history, saved conversations/Memory, your saved dating profile, feedback text): kept until you delete it through the in-app tools or until your account is deleted. You can delete individual history entries, conversation threads, and saved memories yourself in the app.
• Screenshot image files: not stored after processing.
• IP addresses used for rate-limiting: retained only briefly (on the order of a few days) and then automatically purged.
• Purchase and analytics records: retained as needed for accounting, fraud prevention, and product analytics.

We are formalizing defined retention schedules for each category and will update this section as they are finalized.

6. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, to ask us to correct it, and to ask us to delete it. Under Quebec's Law 25 you may also have the right to receive certain information in a portable format and to withdraw consent. You can exercise several of these rights directly in the app — deleting individual history, conversations, and memories, and clearing your profile.

To delete your entire account and associated data, contact our Privacy Officer at the address in Section 9. Verified deletion requests are processed through our account-deletion process; once processed, deletion is immediate and permanent and cancels any active subscription right away. Self-service account deletion from your account settings is being added. Certain records may be retained where required by law (for example, anonymized transaction records kept for accounting purposes).

7. Breach Notification

If a breach of security safeguards involving your personal information occurs and creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities (including the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and, where applicable, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec) as required by PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25, and we will keep records of breaches as required.

8. Children's Privacy

StartTheDate is intended for adults (18 and older) and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate steps.

9. Privacy Officer & Contact

We have designated a Privacy Officer responsible for our compliance with applicable privacy law. For privacy questions, access or correction requests, deletion requests, or complaints, contact:

Privacy Officer, StartTheDate
Email: privacy@startthedate.com

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, or, for Quebec residents, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy on this page with a new "last updated" date.