Privacy Policy

Why Knot Me (“WKM,” “Why Knot Me,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how Why Knot Me Inc. collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects information when you use our website, mobile applications, reservations systems, business dashboard, messaging tools, matchmaking features, events, and related services (collectively, the “Services”).

By using WKM, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of information.

A. Account Information

When you create an account, we may collect:

• Name
• Username
• Email address
• Phone number
• Date of birth
• Gender or identity selections
• Dating intentions
• Relationship preferences
• City and location preferences
• Profile photos and videos
• Bio and prompt responses

B. Usage and Activity Data

We may collect information about how you use Why Knot Me, including:

• In-app interactions (views, taps, time on screen, scroll engagement)
• Search queries and plan or journey requests you explore
• Profile engagement (sections and photos you view)
• Spark, match, invitation, messaging, and reservation activity
• Venue and event engagement (saves, follows, shares, comments)
• Relationship mode and preference selections
• Business interactions when you use venue tools
• Device and app diagnostics and crash logs

We use this information to operate the service, keep it secure, and personalize people, venue, event, and plan recommendations. See Activity-Based Personalization below.

C. Location Information

WKM uses location services to power:

• City Explorer
• Venue recommendations
• Sparks
• Matchmaking
• Reservation discovery
• Event discovery
• Proximity-based experiences

We may collect:

• Precise location data
• Approximate location data
• IP-based location information
• City-level location information

You may disable location access through your device settings, but portions of the Services may not function properly.

D. Reservation and Event Information

When using reservations or events, we may collect:

• Reservation details
• Party size
• Event participation
• Reservation timing
• Venue interactions
• Cancellation activity
• Attendance signals
• Payment-related information

E. Business Information

Businesses using WKM may provide:

• Venue details
• Menus
• Photos and videos
• Team member information
• Reservation availability
• Business analytics
• Event information
• Payment and payout information

F. Device and Technical Information

We may automatically collect:

• Device identifiers
• Browser type
• Operating system
• IP address
• App version
• Crash reports
• Usage logs
• Network information
• Cookies and tracking technologies

2. How We Use Information

We may use information to:

• Operate and improve Why Knot Me
• Personalize people, venue, event, and plan recommendations
• Provide matchmaking and Sparks features
• Facilitate reservations and events
• Improve venue recommendations
• Personalize experiences
• Prevent fraud and abuse
• Maintain platform safety
• Moderate content
• Respond to support requests
• Analyze platform performance
• Communicate updates and promotions
• Enforce our Terms
• Comply with legal obligations

3. Activity-Based Personalization

What we do

Why Knot Me uses information about how you use the app to personalize your experience. This may include:

• Profiles, venues, events, and places you view or engage with
• Searches and plans you explore in the app
• Sparks, invitations, reservations, and related dating interactions
• Content you watch, save, follow, or spend time on

We use this to rank and suggest people, venues, events, and plans that better fit your stated preferences and in-app activity.

Where it happens

Personalization runs to improve Why Knot Me for you. It is part of the core product experience, not a separate optional feature you must enable.

What we do NOT do

• We do not sell your personal information for third-party advertising
• We do not use this data for cross-app tracking (we do not link your Why Knot Me activity with other companies' apps or websites for ad targeting)
• We do not publicly display the technical details of how our recommendation systems work

Incognito browsing

If you turn on Incognito browsing in the app (Settings → Privacy), we pause activity-based personalization and related presence signals while Incognito is on. Previously collected activity may remain stored until you delete your account or submit a deletion request, but it is not used for personalization while Incognito is active.

Automated processing

Some recommendations are generated using automated processing (including profiling). These recommendations affect what you see in the app (e.g., suggested people, venues, or plans). They do not produce legal effects outside the app.

Your choices

• Incognito browsing — pauses personalization (in-app)
• Account deletion — removes your account and associated data per our deletion process
• Privacy request — contact privacy@whyknot.me for access, correction, or deletion requests

Legal bases (EU/UK users)

Where required, we rely on: performance of our contract with you (providing the Why Knot Me service); your consent where required (e.g., certain sensitive categories or optional features); and legitimate interests in improving and securing the service, balanced against your rights.

For more detail on automated features, see our AI Disclosure.

4. Incognito and Visibility Controls

Why Knot Me offers privacy tools including Incognito browsing and visibility settings.

These features reduce discovery and personalization while enabled, but they do not guarantee complete anonymity. Information may still become visible through messaging, reservations, events, shared content, venue interactions, user screenshots, reports, moderation activity, or legal obligations.

Users remain responsible for what they share.

5. Sharing of Information

We may share information with:

A. Other Users

Depending on your settings and activity, other users may see:

• Your profile
• Photos and videos
• Sparks and interactions
• Relationship mode information
• Event participation
• Shared reservation activity
• Comments and public interactions

B. Businesses and Venues

Businesses may receive information necessary to:

• Process reservations
• Manage events
• Coordinate experiences
• Confirm attendance
• Improve hospitality operations

Businesses receive only limited operational information necessary to support reservations, hospitality experiences, or event coordination.

Businesses may not:

• Resell user information
• Export user data improperly
• Build competing behavioral systems using WKM data
• Attempt to improperly identify anonymous users
• Use user information outside authorized operational purposes

C. Service Providers

We may share information with trusted providers that help operate WKM, including:

• Payment processors
• Hosting providers
• Analytics services
• Customer support tools
• Cloud infrastructure providers
• Email and messaging providers
• Mapping and location services

D. Legal and Safety Requests

We may disclose information when reasonably necessary to:

• Comply with law
• Respond to legal requests
• Protect users
• Prevent fraud
• Investigate abuse
• Protect WKM rights and property
• Respond to emergencies

6. Payments and Financial Information

Payments may be processed by third party providers including Stripe.

WKM does not store full payment card information.

Payment processors may independently collect and process financial information according to their own policies.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

WKM may use:

• Cookies
• Pixels
• Local storage
• Analytics tools
• Device identifiers
• Similar tracking technologies

These technologies may be used to:

• Maintain sessions
• Improve performance
• Analyze engagement
• Personalize experiences
• Prevent fraud
• Measure effectiveness

Users may control cookies through browser settings.

8. Data Retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Services, maintain safety, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements.

Activity and personalization data is retained while your account is active and used to personalize your experience unless Incognito is on or you delete your account.

Upon account deletion, we delete or anonymize associated personalization and activity data subject to the exceptions below. Incognito does not automatically delete past activity — account deletion or a verified privacy request does.

We may retain certain information after account deletion where legally permitted or required, including for:

• Legal compliance
• Fraud prevention and safety investigations
• Dispute resolution and chargebacks
• Financial and tax records

9. Account Deletion

You may delete your Why Knot Me account in the app or by contacting privacy@whyknot.me. See Delete Account for step-by-step instructions.

What deletion includes (subject to legal retention):

• Profile information and photos or videos
• Messages and match or Spark history, as applicable
• Saved places, collections, and preferences
• In-app activity and personalization data associated with your account

Timing: We process deletion requests within approximately thirty (30) days. Backups and logs may take additional time to clear.

Certain information may remain retained for:

• Legal compliance
• Fraud prevention
• Safety investigations
• Dispute resolution
• Financial records
• Platform integrity
• Reservation records
• Chargeback disputes

Deletion requests may require identity verification.

Deleted content may persist temporarily in backups, logs, or cached systems before permanent deletion occurs.

10. Security

WKM uses reasonable administrative, technical, organizational, and security safeguards designed to help protect personal information.

These measures may include:

• Authentication protections
• Access controls
• Secure infrastructure practices
• Encrypted communications where appropriate
• Fraud detection systems
• Platform monitoring systems

However, no system is completely secure, and WKM cannot guarantee absolute security.

Users are responsible for maintaining the security of their devices and credentials.

11. Children’s Privacy

WKM is intended only for users 18 years of age or older.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors.

If we learn that a minor has provided information, we may delete the account and associated data.

12. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have certain privacy rights regarding your personal information.

These rights may include:

• The right to know what personal information we collect
• The right to access personal information associated with your account
• The right to request correction of inaccurate information
• The right to request deletion of certain personal information
• The right to limit certain uses of sensitive information where applicable
• The right to opt out of certain marketing communications
• The right to request data portability where applicable
• The right to appeal certain privacy-related decisions where permitted by law
• The right to non-discrimination for exercising privacy rights

To submit a privacy related request, contact:

privacy@whyknot.me

We aim to respond within the timeframe required by applicable law (for example, 45 days under California law, subject to permitted extensions).

We may require verification of identity before processing certain requests.

EU/UK rights may include access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection to processing, and withdrawal of consent where processing is consent-based.

California residents: We do not sell personal information for money. See our Do Not Sell or Share statement below.

13. California Privacy Rights

California residents may have rights under applicable California privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).

These rights may include:

• The right to know
• The right to access
• The right to correct
• The right to delete
• The right to limit certain sensitive data uses
• The right to non-discrimination

California residents may contact:

privacy@whyknot.me

to submit applicable privacy requests.

14. Do Not Sell or Share Statement

We do not sell your personal information for third-party advertising.

Why Knot Me does not sell user relationship data, private messages, reservation history, or personal profile information to data brokers for advertising.

We do not use your in-app activity for cross-app tracking or ad targeting on other companies' apps or websites.

WKM may share limited information with trusted service providers (hosting, payments, analytics, email, mapping, safety tools) only as reasonably necessary to operate the platform, under contractual protections.

California residents may contact privacy@whyknot.me regarding applicable opt-out or privacy rights. Because we do not sell personal information for advertising, a traditional "Do Not Sell" opt-out may not apply, but we will honor valid rights requests under applicable law.

15. AI and Service Providers

Core activity-based personalization is processed to provide the Why Knot Me service. Certain optional AI-assisted features, when offered, may send limited content to service providers as described in our AI Disclosure and only for the stated feature purpose.

We do not send your full activity history to third parties for advertising personalization.

16. Sensitive Information and Profile Data

WKM is designed around relationship, hospitality, and social discovery experiences.

Users may voluntarily share information relating to:

• Dating preferences
• Relationship intentions
• Hospitality preferences
• Lifestyle preferences
• Photos and videos
• Shared experiences
• Profile prompts and interactions

Users remain responsible for the information they choose to share.

Unless explicitly disclosed otherwise, WKM does not use facial recognition technology to identify users for biometric profiling purposes.

WKM does not guarantee that other users will respect shared information outside the platform.

17. Multi-State and International Use

WKM operates in multiple jurisdictions.

By using WKM, you understand that your information may be processed and stored in the United States.

If WKM expands internationally, personal information may be processed, transferred, or stored in jurisdictions with different privacy laws than those of your location.

Privacy rights may vary depending on your location.

18. Third-Party Services

WKM may integrate with third party platforms and providers including:

• Stripe
• Apple
• Google
• Firebase
• Mapbox
• Mailgun
• Restaurants and venues
• Event organizers

These third parties may operate under separate privacy policies.

19. Marketing Communications

We may send:

• Service announcements
• Reservation updates
• Event notifications
• Promotional communications
• Business updates
• Product updates

Users may opt out of certain marketing communications.

Some operational communications are necessary for platform functionality.

20. User Content and Public Activity

Information you voluntarily share may become visible to:

• Other users
• Businesses
• Event participants
• Venue staff

Examples include:

• Comments
• Profile content
• Photos
• Shared Sparks
• Event participation
• Reservation interactions

Users are responsible for the information they choose to share.

21. Relationship Features and Shared Experiences

Relationship and couple oriented features may involve:

• Shared reservations
• Shared venue history
• Shared planning tools
• Joint profiles
• Relationship journals
• Milestone tracking

Users are responsible for obtaining appropriate consent before sharing relationship information.

22. Safety and Moderation

WKM may use automated and manual moderation systems to:

• Detect abuse
• Prevent fraud
• Remove harmful content
• Investigate safety concerns
• Enforce platform rules

Moderation systems may analyze user generated content and interactions.

23. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically.

Updated versions become effective upon posting.

Continued use of WKM constitutes acceptance of updated policies.

24. Contact Information

Why Knot Me Inc.

For privacy related questions, requests, or concerns, contact:

privacy@whyknot.me

legal@whyknot.me

support@whyknot.me