Privacy Policy

Soul Mate is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Soul Mate is a privacy-first matrimony platform based in the United Kingdom. For any privacy-related enquiries, please contact us at support@soulmate.com.

2. Data We Collect

When you create a Soul Mate account we collect:

• Email address (for account creation and communication)
• First name and last name
• Age, gender, city, country
• Religion, mother tongue, education, occupation
• Partner preferences
• Back-side photos (visible to other members)
• Face/reveal photo (hidden until you choose to reveal)
• Voice introduction recording
• Personality and interest information
• Subscription and billing information (processed by Stripe)

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data to:

• Provide the Soul Mate matchmaking service
• Display your profile to other members
• Facilitate photo reveals and video meeting requests
• Process subscription payments
• Send you verification codes and service notifications
• Improve and personalise your experience using AI matching
• Comply with our legal obligations

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not use your data for advertising purposes.

4. Your Face Photo

Your face (reveal) photo is stored securely and is never visible to other members by default. It is only revealed when you actively choose to reveal it on another member's profile. This is central to how Soul Mate works — personality and voice come before appearance.

5. Third-Party Services

We use the following trusted third-party services:

• Supabase — secure database and file storage (EU/US servers)
• Stripe — payment processing (PCI-DSS compliant, no card data stored by us)
• Vercel — website hosting
• Anthropic Claude — AI-powered compatibility matching (no data retained)
• Jitsi Meet — video calls (end-to-end encrypted, no data stored)

6. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or financial compliance purposes (e.g. payment records for up to 7 years).

7. Your Rights (UK GDPR)

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct any inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten")
• Object to or restrict how we process your data
• Data portability — receive your data in a portable format
• Withdraw consent at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please email us at support@soulmate.com. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Cookies

Soul Mate uses only essential cookies required for authentication and security. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

9. Security

All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Photos and voice recordings are stored in a private, access-controlled storage system. Signed URLs are generated on demand and expire within 1 hour. We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data against unauthorised access.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by email. The date at the top of this page reflects when the policy was last updated.

11. Complaints

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.