Privacy policy

The Circle is a matchmaking service. This policy covers both intothecircle.org and The Circle app, which are run by the same organisation and share the same database.

An earlier version of this policy said we did not collect personal information through this website. That described an earlier, brochure-only site. It is no longer accurate, and this replaces it.

How to reach you: a phone number or an email address. This is also how you sign in — we send a one-time code rather than keeping a password.

Your profile: your name, gender, date of birth, height, the city you live in, a short description of yourself, and your religious level.

Your questionnaire answers: everything you tell us about yourself, your family, your education and work, your observance, and what you are looking for in a match.

Your photographs, which you choose to upload.

Your messages with us and, once an introduction is mutual, with your match.

Some of what we ask is sensitive. Your religious observance, your family circumstances and your marital history are recorded because matching within this community is not possible without them.

You give it to us knowingly and you can decline any question. If you would rather not answer something, leave it — an incomplete profile is still a profile.

We do not use any of it for advertising, and we do not sell it.

When you use the app we record the device you are using — its model, operating system and the version of the app — so we can tell whether a problem is yours or everyone’s.

If you turn on notifications, we store a token from Apple that lets us send them to that device. It identifies the installation, not you.

Ordinary server logs record requests to the site, including IP address, for security and diagnosis.

The app can offer to fill in your city for you. If you allow that, your phone works out the name of the place you are in and sends us only that name.

Your coordinates never leave your phone. We do not store them, and we cannot see where you are.

You can always type your city instead, and declining the permission costs you nothing else.

We can see your profile, your answers and your photographs. That is the service: a person reads what you wrote and decides who you should meet.

Another member sees only what an introduction requires — your first name, age, city, height, religious level and description — and your photograph only once an introduction has been made.

We can read conversations that take place in the app. Messages are encrypted where they are stored, but the key is ours, so this is not end-to-end encryption and you should not treat it as private from us. It is how we respond to a report of harassment.

We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with advertisers.

Your phone number, and your agreement to be texted, are never shared or sold to anybody else for marketing. No third party, no affiliate, no partner. The only company that sees your number is the one that carries the message to you.

The Circle and Mekudeshet are related services. If you ask to be moved to Mekudeshet’s personal matchmaking, we transfer your profile and answers so you do not fill everything in twice.

That transfer happens only when you ask for it, and only what you have agreed to share is sent.

When you upload a photograph we run an automatic check on it before anybody here sees it. The image is sent to Google, which reports back what it can see: how many people are in the frame, whether a face is clear, and whether the picture is explicit.

We do this so that an obvious problem — more than one person in the shot, or something that should never have been sent — is caught in seconds rather than waiting for a person, and so that nobody here is shown things they should not have to look at.

Google returns a description and does not keep your photograph to train on. The reading is stored with your photo so we can see why it was accepted or refused, and so you can argue with it.

A blurry photograph is never refused for being blurry. We will say a clearer one would show you better, and leave yours where it is.

We text you only for the two things named on our messaging page: the sign-in code you have just asked for, and occasional notices about your own account. We never text you marketing.

Your mobile number, your text-message opt-in, and your consent are never shared with any third party or affiliate for marketing or promotional purposes. No third party, no affiliate, no partner. The only company that ever sees your number is the one carrying the message to your phone, and it may not use it for anything else.

Reply STOP to any message and the texts stop. Stopping them does not close your account: you can still sign in with your email address, and nothing else about your membership changes. Reply HELP, or write to hello@intothecircle.org, for help.

Our servers are rented from a hosting provider, and your information — including your photographs — is stored on machines we control there. Photographs are not handed to any third-party storage service.

When we send a sign-in code, the message goes through an SMS or email provider so it can reach you. They see the destination and the code.

Notifications are delivered by Apple. The notification tells your phone that something happened; the contents of your conversations are not sent through it.

While your account is open, we keep what you have given us so the service works.

When you delete your account we remove your profile, your answers, your photographs and your conversations. Deleting is immediate and it is not reversible.

Two things outlast a deleted account, deliberately. A report somebody else made about conduct is kept, with the reporter’s name removed, because a complaint should not disappear when the person who made it leaves. Ordinary server logs and backups age out on their own schedule.

In the app: Settings, then “Delete my account”, at the bottom. It asks you to confirm and then removes everything described above.

If you would rather we did it, write to hello@intothecircle.org from the address or number on your account.

You can see and change your profile and answers at any time in the app.

You can turn notifications off, in the app or in your phone’s settings.

You can block another member, which stops all messages between you, and you can report anyone. Both are in the app.

You can ask us for a copy of what we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, at hello@intothecircle.org.

The Circle is for adults. You must be 18 or older to create an account, and we do not knowingly keep information about anyone younger. If you believe a minor has an account, tell us and we will remove it.

Sign-in is by one-time code, so there is no password of yours for us to lose.

Messages are encrypted where they are stored. Photographs are served through links that expire rather than from a public folder.

No system is perfectly secure, and we will tell you if something happens that affects you.

If we change how we handle your information we will update this page and change the date above, and we will say so in the app when the change is a material one.

Questions, requests, or anything that worries you: hello@intothecircle.org.