Privacy Policy

Last Updated: July 2026

Introduction

Welcome to AskOut ("we," "our," or "us"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard personal information when you use our mobile app, website, and related services (together, the "Service" or "Services").

AskOut is an activity-based social platform. It helps you create and share plans (such as sports, coffee, trips, and events), discover plans posted by others, join plans, and interact with participants in those shared activities. The Service is designed for community interactions around activities—not for introducing users for any particular private or social outcome beyond participating in plans.

This Privacy Policy describes what data we collect, why we use it, who may see it, how we keep the community safer, and what choices and rights you have. If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use the Services.

What AskOut Is (and Is Not)

• AskOut is: A place to post plans, browse activities, join plans you are interested in, coordinate with participants, and communicate in connection with those plans.
• AskOut is not: A service whose purpose is to introduce users for private personal or intimate encounters, or to optimize the Service toward one-on-one pairing outside of shared plans. The platform is for organizing and joining activities—not for steering users toward private social outcomes beyond plan participation.

Interactions on AskOut are centered on shared activities and plans. Messaging and social features are provided so you can participate in plans safely and clearly—not as open-ended contact with the entire user base.

Who We Are

The data controller responsible for your personal data in connection with AskOut is the entity operating AskOut as identified in the app or on our website. For privacy questions, contact us at privacy@askout.com.

Information We Collect

We collect information you provide, information generated through use of the Services, and (where you allow it) device and location information.

Account and profile information

• Phone number (used for authentication)
• First name and last name
• Date of birth and age
• Gender identity
• Bio (up to 200 characters)
• Profile photos (up to 6 photos)
• Prompts (up to 5 prompt responses)
• Educational information (for example, university)
• Professional information (for example, job title, company)
• Location (subcity, city, country, and precise coordinates where you allow it)
• Hometown
• Interests (tags you choose)
• Religion
• Lifestyle preferences you choose to share (for example, smoking and drinking preferences)
• Social media handles you add (for example, Instagram, X (Twitter), Snapchat, LinkedIn)

Plans, participation, and activity data

• Plans you create, edit, publish, or withdraw
• Signals of interest in plans (for example, likes or similar actions you take on plans)
• Participation in plans (for example, when you join or leave)
• Messages you send and receive in connection with plans or with participants of plans you are part of
• Read status and delivery metadata for those messages
• Profile views and in-app interactions that we log for safety, product improvement, or as described in this policy
• Filters and preferences you set (for example, for discovering plans)
• Reports you submit about content or users

Content you upload

• Photos and media you add to your profile or to plans
• File metadata and timestamps associated with uploads

Authentication, device, and technical data

• One-time passwords (OTPs) and verification events
• Session or authentication tokens
• App events and feature usage that help us operate and improve the Services
• Basic technical data needed to run the app (for example, device type, operating system, app version, and diagnostic logs where applicable)
• IP address and approximate region derived from network information, used for security, analytics, and advertising as described below
• Identifiers used for notifications, fraud prevention, analytics, or advertising, consistent with your settings and applicable law
• Advertising identifiers (such as the Android Advertising ID or Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers), where available and permitted by your settings and applicable law
• Ad interaction data (for example, whether an ad was shown or tapped), used to serve and measure ads
• Consent and privacy choice signals (for example, responses to in-app consent forms or App Tracking Transparency prompts)

Why We Collect and Use Information

We process personal information where we have a valid legal basis under applicable law (for example, performance of a contract with you, legitimate interests that are not overridden by your rights, consent where required, or legal obligation). We use information to:

• Create and maintain your account and profile
• Authenticate you and protect account security
• Show you plans and activities that fit your preferences and filters, including approximate relevance by area when you enable location
• Let you join plans and interact with participants of a plan you belong to
• Deliver in-app messaging and notifications tied to plans and participation (for example, updates about plans you joined)
• Calculate and display distances or general area context between you and a plan’s location, where the product supports it, without exposing your exact coordinates to other users as raw GPS points
• Operate safety systems: detect abuse, enforce our terms and content rules, investigate reports, and reduce fraud
• Improve reliability, fix bugs, and develop features
• Show advertisements in the mobile app (including through Google AdMob), measure ad performance, reduce invalid traffic, and honor your consent and tracking choices
• Meet legal requirements and respond to lawful requests from public authorities
• Communicate with you about the Service (for example, service announcements or policy updates, according to your settings and applicable law)

Where European data protection law applies, we rely on legal bases such as: performing our contract with you (providing the Services); our legitimate interests (for example, securing the platform, improving the product, and preventing abuse, balanced against your rights); compliance with legal duties; and consent where we ask for it (for example, certain optional permissions, personalized advertising, or marketing, if offered). You may withdraw consent where processing is consent-based, without affecting processing that was lawful before withdrawal.

How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share information as follows:

• With other users, as needed for the Service: Depending on your settings and how a feature works, other users may see profile fields you choose to display, content you post on plans, and information needed to coordinate an activity (for example, that you joined a plan). Messaging is limited to the contexts our product provides (for example, threads tied to plans you participate in)—not unrestricted contact with every user on the platform. Do not share sensitive information in public plan fields or with people you do not trust.
• With service providers: We use vendors for hosting, messaging delivery, analytics, notifications, advertising / ad serving, customer support tools, and similar functions. They process data on our instructions and under contractual safeguards.
• With advertising partners: In the mobile app we use Google AdMob (Google LLC) to show ads. Google may receive device and advertising identifiers, IP address, approximate location, device and app information, and ad interaction data as described in the Advertising section below and in Google’s policies.
• For safety and integrity: We may disclose information when we reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent harm, investigate abuse, or protect AskOut, our users, or the public.
• Legal and compliance: We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, legal process, or to establish or defend legal claims.
• Business transfers: If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or asset sale, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to appropriate protections.
• With your direction or consent: When you ask us to share information or when you agree to a specific disclosure.

Analytics and Session Replay (Microsoft Clarity — Mobile App)

We use Microsoft Clarity in our mobile app only (not on our marketing website). Clarity helps us understand how the app is used through behavioral metrics, heatmaps, and session replay (recordings of in-app interactions) so we can improve performance, fix bugs, and develop features.

When Clarity is enabled, it may collect or receive:

• How you navigate and interact with screens and features in the app
• Technical and usage data (for example, device type, app version, and general interaction signals)
• An internal user identifier we associate with your Clarity session, when you are signed in
• Demographic tags we send for product analytics (for example, a normalized gender label such as female, male, other, or unknown), where available from your profile

We use this information for product improvement, reliability, and understanding feature usage—not to sell your personal information. Clarity may be turned off for all users through our remote configuration when we choose to disable it.

Microsoft as a service provider. Clarity is operated by Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft processes the data described above on our behalf as our analytics provider. By using the mobile app when Clarity is active, you acknowledge that we and Microsoft may collect and use this data as described in this policy. For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses data, see the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights regarding this processing (see Your Rights and Choices below). You can also contact us at privacy@askout.com with questions about Clarity.

Website Analytics (Google Analytics)

On askout.me (our marketing website), we use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors use our pages—for example, page views, referrers, and general browser or device information. This helps us improve the site and measure plan-link sharing. We do not use Microsoft Clarity on the website.

Google Analytics may use cookies or similar technologies. You can learn more in the Google Privacy Policy. For questions, contact privacy@askout.com.

Advertising (Google AdMob — Mobile App)

We use Google AdMob, operated by Google LLC, to show advertisements in our mobile app. Ads may appear between content in discovery feeds or in similar placements. AdMob is not used to show ads on our marketing website.

When ads are enabled, Google and AskOut may collect or receive information such as:

• Device and advertising identifiers (for example, AAID or IDFA), where available and allowed by your settings
• IP address and approximate location derived from network or device signals
• Device type, operating system, app version, and similar technical data
• Information about ads shown and how you interact with them (for example, impressions and clicks)
• Consent, age-restricted treatment, and tracking-authorization signals we or the device provide to ad systems

Personalized and non-personalized ads. Where permitted by law and by your choices, AdMob may show personalized ads based on interests inferred from identifiers and other signals. Where required (for example, in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland) or when you decline personalized advertising or tracking, we request ads in a way that supports non-personalized serving to the extent Google’s systems allow. Personalized advertising is based on consent where applicable law requires it.

Google as an advertising partner. Google processes advertising-related data as described in Google’s policies. Learn more in the Google Privacy Policy and How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Your choices. You can:

• Respond to in-app consent prompts (including Google’s User Messaging Platform forms, where shown) and, on iOS, App Tracking Transparency prompts
• Reset or limit your device advertising identifier in your device settings (for example, “Reset advertising ID” / “Limit Ad Tracking” or equivalent)
• Manage Google ad personalization at adssettings.google.com (where available)
• Contact us at privacy@askout.com with advertising-related privacy questions

The AskOut mobile app is intended for users who meet our minimum age (typically 18). We do not knowingly use AdMob to serve ads directed at children.

Location Data

Where you allow it, we may collect or derive location information (including precise coordinates) to:

• Help you discover plans and activities in areas you care about
• Show helpful distance or area context for plans relative to you
• Help participants coordinate real-world meetups
• Support safety and fraud-prevention signals tied to how the Service is used

We handle precise location carefully. Other users typically see derived information (for example, distance to a plan or general area), not your exact live coordinates, except where you deliberately share location inside a feature that makes that clear.

You can control location permissions through your device settings. Turning off location may limit discovery and distance-related features.

Messaging and Communication

AskOut is built so communication supports participation in plans—not open-ended messaging with arbitrary users. Depending on product design, messages may be stored on our systems for delivery, synchronization, and safety review as described here.

• Messages are available to the participants and contexts the Service allows (for example, participants of the same plan).
• We may use automated and human review processes to detect policy violations, spam, and harmful content, within legal limits.
• Media you send in these contexts may be stored and shown to recipients in that context.

Safety, Moderation, and Community Standards

We want AskOut to stay respectful, welcoming, and safe for organizing real-world activities. You must follow our community guidelines and any in-app rules. We may:

• Enforce content guidelines that prohibit harassment, hate, illegal activity, spam, deception, impersonation, non-consensual intimate imagery, threats, attempts to exploit or harm minors, sharing others’ private information without permission, and other harmful behavior
• Investigate reports from users and take action such as removing content, restricting accounts, or contacting authorities when appropriate
• Use technical and operational measures to reduce abuse, spam, and fraud
• Retain limited records related to safety investigations where permitted by law

If you see something that violates our rules or puts someone at risk, use the in-app reporting tools where available, or contact us at privacy@askout.com. We take reports seriously, though we cannot guarantee outcomes in every case.

User-Generated Content

You are responsible for content you upload or post—including text, photos, and other media. You should only share content you have the right to use, and you should avoid posting anything unlawful, misleading, or harmful. We may remove content or suspend accounts that violate our terms or policies. You understand that public or semi-public content may be visible to other users according to how the Service works and your settings. We do not guarantee storage, display, or distribution of any user content.

Data Security

We use technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (and, where appropriate, at rest)
• Secure sign-in flows (for example, phone-based OTP where offered)
• Access controls and limited staff access on a need-to-know basis
• Monitoring for suspicious activity, within reasonable bounds
• Secure storage for photos and media

No online service is perfectly secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security. Please use a strong device passcode and protect your account credentials.

Data Retention

We keep information only as long as needed for the purposes above, unless a longer period is required by law. Factors include whether you still have an account, whether we must keep data to resolve disputes, enforce agreements, or maintain safety. If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize personal information except where we must retain limited data for legal, security, or legitimate business reasons (for example, a narrow audit trail of a serious abuse report).

Your Rights and Choices (Including GDPR-Style Transparency)

Depending on where you live, you may have rights under privacy laws (including, for individuals in the European Economic Area, the UK, and similar regions, rights under the GDPR and local equivalents). These may include:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction: Ask us to fix inaccurate or incomplete information
• Deletion: Ask us to delete your personal information, subject to exceptions
• Restriction or objection: Ask us to limit certain processing, or object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Portability: Receive some data in a structured, commonly used format where technically feasible
• Withdraw consent: Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time (this does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal)
• Advertising choices: Limit or reset advertising identifiers in device settings, manage Google ad personalization where available, and use in-app consent / tracking prompts as described under Advertising (Google AdMob — Mobile App)
• Lodge a complaint: You may complain to a data protection authority in your country or region

You can manage many choices directly in the app (profile edits, permissions, notifications). To exercise other rights, contact us at privacy@askout.com or use controls in the app where available. We may need to verify your identity before responding. You will not usually have to pay a fee, unless requests are manifestly unfounded or excessive.

International Transfers

If we transfer personal information across borders (for example, to servers or vendors in other countries), we use appropriate safeguards required by applicable law, such as standard contractual clauses or other lawful transfer mechanisms. Where required, we use appropriate safeguards for transfers of personal data from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland.

Children

The AskOut mobile app is not intended for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and we do not knowingly use AdMob to serve ads directed at children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, contact us and we will take steps to delete it.

Contact Us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices: privacy@askout.com

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated version on this page and change the "Last Updated" date. If changes are material, we will provide additional notice as required by law (for example, in-app notice or email).