01 · THE SHORT VERSION
No ads. No data sales. No marketing trackers.
Matters is built for sharing with a small number of people, not a public audience. We use your information to run the app, connect you with accepted friends, show updates inside the app, respond to support requests, and keep the community safe. Matters does not send push notifications. We do not upload your full address book.
02 · WHAT WE COLLECT
The information that makes Matters work.
Account and profile
An internal account identifier, display name, initials, bio, and optional location or timezone.
Your content
Matters, prompts, ratings, streaks, poll answers, emoji reactions, profile changes, and related dates.
Connections
Friendships, invitations, invitation status, and activity needed to show friends what changed.
Device and diagnostics
Platform and technical records needed to operate and troubleshoot the service. Firebase uses an installation identifier to deliver app configuration. Optional usage analytics and crash reports are off by default and have separate controls in Settings.
Safety and support
Reports, reasons, details you choose to provide, limited target snapshots, and messages you send us for help. Encrypted Matter text is not automatically sent in readable form with a report.
When you invite someone from contacts
Contact access is optional. Your contacts remain on your device and we do not upload your full address book. When you choose one person to invite, the selected name and phone number are sent to create that invitation. We store a one-way hash of the normalized phone number rather than the raw number in the invitation record. Your device’s messaging app handles the SMS you choose to send.
03 · HOW WE USE IT
To help close friends stay close.
- Create and maintain your profile and account.
- Show your updates to the friends you have accepted.
- Manage invitations, friendships, polls, emoji reactions, and in-app updates.
- Protect people, review reports, prevent abuse, and enforce our rules.
- Provide support, diagnose errors, and improve reliability.
- Comply with applicable law and protect our legal rights.
04 · SHARING AND VISIBILITY
Private sharing, with a few necessary helpers.
Your accepted friends can see the profile and Matters you share with them. Each emoji reaction is visible only to its sender and the Matter’s author. Recipients cannot see who else received the same Matter or anyone else’s reactions. Safety reviewers can read report reasons and details you submit, plus limited account or technical context. Encrypted Matter text is not automatically readable by reviewers. We use Supabase for authentication and app data, Google and Apple for sign-in, Firebase for app configuration and optional usage analytics and crash reports, and OpenAI Sites for this public website. These providers process information to deliver their services.
Matters has no in-app text chat. When you choose an external messenger, the Matter context is prepared for your message: prefilled where supported, or copied for you to paste in Signal. You choose the recipient where needed and send the message yourself. The selected service handles it under its own privacy and security rules.
We may disclose information if required by law, to respond to a valid legal request, or to protect the safety and rights of Matters, our users, or others. We do not sell personal information.
05 · WHERE DATA IS HOSTED
The primary app data stays in the European Union.
Matters’ production and staging Supabase projects are deployed in the AWS eu-central-1 region in Frankfurt, Germany. The project’s database, authentication data, encrypted content, and service metadata are stored and primarily processed there.
This keeps the primary app database inside the European Economic Area and supports EU data-residency requirements. It does not, by itself, prove GDPR compliance or mean that every technical operation happens only in Germany. Supabase and our other providers may use support systems or subprocessors in other countries, subject to their data-processing terms and the safeguards required for international transfers.
06 · SECURITY
Protected, but never described as perfect.
Personal content is end-to-end encrypted before it leaves your device. Private keys remain in the operating system’s secure storage, while database access controls limit which encrypted records each account may request. No online service can guarantee absolute security, and the current protocol has not yet received an independent audit. Read the technical details on our Security & Privacy page.
07 · RETENTION AND DELETION
Keep it while needed. Delete it when you leave.
We keep account information and content while your account is active or as needed to provide the service. Invitations normally expire after 30 days. You can delete your account in Settings → Delete My Account; this removes your account and associated app data from our active systems.
We may retain limited records when reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, legal compliance, dispute resolution, or enforcement. For example, a safety report made by another person may retain its reason, submitted details and a limited record of the reported target after the reported account is deleted.
08 · YOUR CHOICES
You stay in control.
- Edit your profile and Matters in the app.
- Choose whether to grant contacts access in device settings and manage the two optional Firebase sharing controls in the app.
- Export your data from Settings → Export all my data.
- Delete your account from Settings.
- Ask to access, correct, or delete personal information by emailing us.
Your rights may vary by location. We may need to verify a request before acting on it.
09 · CHILDREN
Matters is for people aged 16 and over.
You must confirm that you are at least 16 years old before signing in. If you believe someone under 16 has created an account, contact us so we can investigate and remove it.
10 · CHANGES
If this changes, this page changes too.
We may update this policy as Matters develops. We will publish the revised policy here, change the “last updated” date, and provide additional notice when a change materially affects your privacy.
11 · CONTACT
Questions about your data?
Email marc.balas@gmail.com. Please write “Matters privacy” in the subject line.
Website statistics and Matters news.
Website statistics are optional. After you accept, Firebase / Google Analytics measures page openings, sections visible for at least one second, scroll milestones, link clicks, and views and clicks on fictional profile scenarios. It also uses a cookie identifier and technical device/session information. We do not send email addresses, form contents, account identifiers, URL query parameters or invitation links to Analytics. Advertising features are disabled.
Your accept/refuse choice is stored on this device for 180 days. You can change it through Privacy preferences in the footer. Refusing statistics does not prevent newsletter registration. Analytics data may be processed outside the EU; selecting a European reporting country does not guarantee EU-only storage.
The newsletter is managed manually through Gmail (Google). To subscribe, send an email to marc.balas+matters@gmail.com; opening the email link alone does not subscribe you. We retain your email address, language preference and subscription request to send occasional beta, release and feature news, and reply to confirm your registration. This is independent of your app account and optional website analytics. Emails are sent individually or with recipients in BCC. Reply to request unsubscription or deletion. Gmail data may be processed outside the EU.