LEGAL
Last updated: August 20, 2026 · Effective: June 27, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains what personal data SideQ collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have. It applies to the SideQ mobile app and the sideqofficial.com website. SideQ is an 18+ service. (For the pre-launch waitlist website specifically, see also our website privacy policy.)
SideQ is operated by SIDEQ LLC, a limited liability company registered in the State of Florida, United States ("SideQ," "we," "us," "our"). SIDEQ LLC is the controller responsible for your personal data.
This policy explains what personal data SideQ collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have. It applies to the SideQ mobile app and sideqofficial.com website. SideQ is an 18+ service; see Section 12.
Where EU/UK data protection law (GDPR/UK GDPR) applies, we rely on the following legal bases. We create and operate your account and provide matching and venue features to perform our contract with you. We confirm you are 18+ to meet our legal obligations and legitimate interests. We show you the map, gate hotspot features, and operate matching to perform our contract. We share your presence at a venue with other users and count you toward that venue’s activity level only on the basis of your consent, which you give by choosing to go “Live” (see Section 5); this is optional and off by default, and you can withdraw it at any time by switching back to “Ghost.” We moderate content, investigate reports, enforce our Terms, and keep users safe on the basis of our legitimate interests and legal obligations. We prevent fraud and abuse and secure the service on the basis of our legitimate interests. We respond to legal requests and comply with law (including NCII removal) to meet our legal obligations. We carry out product analytics to understand how the app is used and to improve it on the basis of our legitimate interests; you can opt out at any time in the app (see Sections 3, 8 and 10). Where you choose to verify student status, we process your school email and enrollment confirmation on the basis of your consent (which you give by starting verification) and our legitimate interest in offering student-oriented features; you can withdraw this by deleting your account, which removes your verification data.
We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Because SideQ connects you with people nearby and sends you to real venues, precise location is required for the core service. We use location in three ways, and only while the app is open, there is no background location collection:
Precise geolocation is treated as sensitive personal information under several US state privacy laws, and with particular care under EU law. SideQ uses it only for the purposes described above; we do not use it to infer sensitive characteristics about you, and we do not use it for advertising. You control location access through your device's operating-system settings and can revoke it at any time, this is also how you limit our use of this sensitive data. Separately, you control whether your presence is shared with other users at all using the Live / Ghost control on the map, which is off by default each time you open the app. If you revoke location access, core features (the map, matching, venue presence) will not function.
SideQ decides who to show you and where to send you to meet using an automated matching process based on factors such as proximity, who is currently available and inside an eligible area, and basic matching inputs. This is automated, but it does not produce legal or similarly significant effects about you within the meaning of GDPR Article 22, it pairs people for an optional in-person meeting and nothing more. If you have questions about how matching works, contact us at privacy@sideqofficial.com.
When you upload a profile photo, it is sent from the app to our backend server and, before it is published, transmitted to OpenAI and screened by OpenAI's automated content-moderation service to detect content that violates our rules. If the photo is flagged, it is rejected and never published; only photos that pass are stored and shown to other users. Your photo is sent to OpenAI solely for this automated check. This screening is content classification only, it checks whether an image contains prohibited content. SideQ does not use facial recognition, build face templates or "faceprints," or collect biometric identifiers, and does not use your photo to identify you.
Per OpenAI's published API terms, inputs sent to the OpenAI API (including these images) are not used to train OpenAI's models by default, and are retained for up to approximately 30 days for abuse monitoring before deletion, unless OpenAI is legally required to retain them. OpenAI processes this data in the United States, see Section 8.
Published profile photos are stored by Supabase and served from a public URL, which means a person who has the direct link can view the image. This is standard for profile pictures, but be aware that an avatar is not access-restricted once published. You can remove your own profile photo at any time from your profile, which deletes it from display.
We share personal data only with service providers ("sub-processors") that process it on our behalf under data processing agreements, and where required by law. Our current sub-processors are:
We may also disclose data to law enforcement or other parties where required by law, to comply with the TAKE IT DOWN Act or other legal obligations, or to protect the safety of users or the public.
International data transfers. SideQ is operated from the US, and some processing happens in the US. For an EU/EEA/UK user:
Analytics and advertising: SideQ uses PostHog for first-party product analytics, as described in Section 3, to understand how the app is used and to improve it. We do not use advertising SDKs, we do not share analytics data with advertising networks or data brokers, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites. SideQ does not currently use a third-party crash-reporting SDK. You can turn analytics off at any time in Profile → Privacy & Safety → Share usage data; when it is off, no usage events are sent.
We keep personal data only as long as needed for the purposes above. Our retention schedule is:
After account deletion, data is removed as described in Section 10, except where we must retain certain records longer to comply with law, resolve disputes, or enforce our Terms.
Everyone: You can review and update profile information in the app, and you can delete your account at any time from Profile → Account → Delete Account, which permanently removes your account and personal data (subject to limited legal-retention exceptions). Some records are retained in de-identified form with your identifiers removed rather than fully deleted — in particular safety and moderation reports (kept to enforce our Terms and meet legal obligations) and match records. You can download a copy of your data from Profile → Account → Download your data, which provides your personal data as a plain-text summary you can save or share. Both features are built into the app. You can also turn off product analytics at any time from Profile → Privacy & Safety → Share usage data; turning it off stops all usage events immediately and unlinks this device from your analytics profile. To request a complete copy of all data we hold in a structured, machine-readable format, contact us at privacy@sideqofficial.com. If you verified student status, deleting your account also removes your school email and student-verification records.
If you are in the EU/EEA/UK, you have the right to access, correct, delete, and port your data; to restrict or object to certain processing; and to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
If you are in California or another US state with a comprehensive privacy law (for example, California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Utah, Oregon, and a growing number of others), you may have rights to access, delete, correct, and obtain a portable copy of your personal information; to opt out of the "sale" of personal information, "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising, and targeted advertising; to limit the use of sensitive personal information (such as precise geolocation); and to not be discriminated against for exercising these rights. SideQ does not sell personal information, does not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and does not use it for targeted advertising. To exercise any right, contact privacy@sideqofficial.com.
We will respond to rights requests within the timeframe required by applicable law.
We take reasonable measures to protect your data:
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
SideQ is intended only for adults 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. Age is collected at signup to enforce this. If we learn that someone under 18 has created an account, we will remove it. If you believe a minor is using SideQ, contact contact@sideqofficial.com.
If an intimate image of you (including an AI-generated or "deepfake" image) has been shared on SideQ without your consent, you can ask us to remove it. You do not need a SideQ account to make this request.
How to report:
To help us act quickly, and consistent with the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act, a valid request should include: (1) your physical or electronic signature (you may be an authorized representative of the person depicted); (2) enough information to identify and locate the image on SideQ (for example, where it appears or a link to it); (3) a good-faith statement that you have a reasonable belief the image is non-consensual and was published without the depicted person's consent; and (4) your name and contact information (such as an email address).
We will remove validly reported non-consensual intimate imagery within 48 hours of a valid request and make reasonable efforts to remove known copies.
The SideQ mobile app does not use cookies or advertising identifiers, and does not use tracking technologies that follow you across other companies' apps or websites. It does use first-party product analytics (PostHog) to record in-app feature usage — see Sections 3 and 8, and the opt-out in Section 10. Apart from that, the only things stored on your device are what is needed to keep you signed in (a session token in your device's secure storage; see Section 11) and your analytics preference. If any non-essential cookies are later added to the sideqofficial.com website, such as analytics, advertising, or embedded media, we will add a consent banner and update this section.
We may update this policy. If we make material changes, we will notify you in the app or by other appropriate means and update the "Last updated" date above.
Questions or requests: privacy@sideqofficial.com. EU/EEA/UK users may also contact their local supervisory authority.
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