Privacy Policy

We collect:

• Account information — username, email address, password (stored hashed), and date of birth (used to verify your age).
• Profile and content — your profile details, custom profile HTML/CSS, social posts, comments, and any photos you upload (including dating photos).
• Dating and matching data — if you enable dating: your dating profile, swipes, and matches.
• Messages — chat messages you send in shared rooms and to other users.
• Safety data — blocks and reports you file, and any moderation warnings or actions associated with your account.
• Technical data — IP address, device and app information, and approximate location (city/country) derived from your IP, used for security, abuse prevention, and basic localization.
• Usage and diagnostics — to keep the service reliable and understand which features are used, we collect technical and product-usage data. On our mobile apps, anonymous usage events and crash reports are collected via Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics. Across our website and apps, product-analytics events (such as sign-up, posting, and matching milestones) are collected via PostHog, and error and crash reports (such as error messages, stack traces, and device, browser, and app-version information) are collected via Sentry. This diagnostic and analytics data is tied only to an internal account identifier — never to your name or email — and we configure these tools to scrub personal information such as your email address and date of birth. You can turn off product analytics at any time in Settings, and we honor the Do Not Track browser signal.
• Precise location — only if you grant location permission for features that need it; you can revoke this in your device settings at any time.

We use your information to:

• Provide and operate the service — accounts, profiles, social feed, dating, and the 3D Beach Party.
• Verify that you are old enough (18+) to use the service.
• Keep the community safe — spam, abuse, and content moderation.
• Send service-related email such as verification and account notices.
• Comply with our legal obligations.

Conversations with our resident aliens are powered by an AI model that runs locally on your device. The text of those chats is not transmitted to or stored on our servers. Limited, non-content metadata about AI feature usage may be recorded for safety and product purposes.

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only:

• With other users — content you choose to make public or share (profile, posts, dating profile to your matches) is visible according to your settings.
• With service providers who process data on our behalf, including: Akamai/Linode (hosting and Object Storage for photos and files), Google (Sign-in with Google; Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications; in our mobile apps, Firebase Analytics for usage measurement and Firebase Crashlytics for crash diagnostics; and Google AdMob and Google AdSense for advertising — see "Advertising" below), RevenueCat (RevenueCat, Inc. — subscription management for our Premium plan) and the app stores and Stripe that process the payment (see "Premium Subscriptions and Payments" below), Sentry (Functional Software, Inc. — error and crash monitoring across our website and apps; data is processed in the United States), PostHog (PostHog, Inc. — product analytics; data is processed in the United States), and Twilio SendGrid (transactional email).
• For legal reasons — to comply with law, enforce our terms, or protect the rights and safety of our users.

Alien Tavern is free to use and supported by ads on the free tier. We use Google AdMob to show ads in our mobile apps and Google AdSense to show ads on our website. To serve ads, these Google services may receive technical data such as your device and app information, IP address (from which an approximate location may be inferred), and — where you allow it — advertising identifiers, in order to display and measure ads. Google's use of this data is governed by Google's Privacy & Terms.

• Personalized vs. non-personalized ads. By default we request non-personalized ads. Where required (for example in the EEA/UK), we present a consent form via Google's User Messaging Platform so you can choose whether to allow personalized ads.
• App Tracking Transparency (iOS). On Apple devices we ask for your permission before accessing your device's advertising identifier (IDFA). You can change this any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.
• Removing ads. Subscribing to Premium removes ads across our apps and website.

If you purchase a Premium subscription (which removes ads), the payment itself is handled by the platform you buy on — the Apple App Store, Google Play, or, on the web, Stripe. We do not receive or store your full payment-card details. We use RevenueCat to manage subscriptions and tell us whether your subscription is active; RevenueCat and the store/payment processor receive a pseudonymous account identifier and purchase information needed to process and validate the subscription. Your subscription status is stored on your Alien Tavern account so your ad-free access works across your devices and our website.

Dating is off by default and only active if you enable it. When enabled, your dating profile and photos are shown to other dating users for matching, and your swipes determine your matches. Dating is restricted to adults. You can disable dating or delete your dating profile at any time from Settings.

Alien Tavern is intended for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, and we verify date of birth at sign-up. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18; if we learn that we have, we will delete it. If you believe a minor has provided us with information, please contact us.

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, we delete your personal data and uploaded photos, retaining only what we are legally required to keep or what is necessary for security and abuse prevention. Some data tied to younger accounts is held to a stricter, minimal-retention policy under which messages and comments you post (including on social posts and news articles) are automatically deleted after a short period rather than kept for the life of the account.

Depending on where you live (including under GDPR and CCPA), you have rights to access, correct, export, and delete your personal information, and to object to or restrict certain processing. You can exercise the core rights directly:

• Access and export — download a copy of your data from Settings → Your Data.
• Deletion — permanently delete your account and data from Settings → Delete Account.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights.

We protect your data with industry-standard measures including encrypted transport (HTTPS), hashed passwords, and a strict content security policy. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to safeguard your information and respond promptly to issues.

We may update this policy from time to time. We will revise the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, provide a more prominent notice.

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, contact us at info+alientavern@greenrobot.com.