Introduction
This Privacy Policy explains how Frenz, Inc. ("Frenz," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects your personal information when you use the Frenz mobile application, our website, and related services (collectively, the "Service").
Who we are: Frenz, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with our principal place of business at 2130 Castilian Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90068, United States.
For the purposes of European data protection law (including the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, and the UK GDPR), Frenz, Inc. is the data controller for personal data processed through the Service.
Your consent and choices: By using the Service, you acknowledge the practices described in this Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service. You have choices and rights regarding your information, as described below.
1. Information We Collect
We collect information in three ways: information you provide directly, information collected automatically when you use the Service, and information from third parties.
1.1 Information You Provide Directly
Account and Authentication Information You can create an account and sign in with Google, with Apple, or with your mobile phone number. When you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name, email address, and a unique account identifier from those providers, together with the sign-in tokens they issue, which we store encrypted. When you sign in with your phone number, we verify the number with a one-time passcode and create an account tied to it. We do not receive or store your password.
Profile Information You may provide your display name, a unique @handle, a profile photo (optional), your interests, and, optionally, your Instagram handle. You may also save defaults for your posts in Settings: default text, duration, audience, and a default location for Free Now and for availability.
Availability Posts ("Free Now" and Availability) When you post that you are free now, or mark yourself available for a morning, afternoon, or evening, you provide a free-text description of what you're free for (for example, "drinks" or "want to hang"), the place you attach to the post (a place you search for, or your current location — see Section 1.2), and your chosen visibility audience.
Hangchat Content Messages, photos, emoji reactions, Hangchat names, and the plan details you add to a Hangchat (date, time, and place) that you share with the other participants.
Friend and Group Information Your friend connections, the friend requests you send or receive, the users you block, your Friends of friends setting, and the groups you create. A group is a private list of your friends that only you can see; the people in it are not shown the group or each other through it.
Phone Contacts Connecting your address book is optional. If you grant contacts access, the app reads the names and phone numbers in your address book (or, on iOS, only the contacts you choose to share) and sends the phone numbers to our servers to check which belong to verified Frenz users. We use this only to show you which of your contacts are already on Frenz. Numbers checked this way are not stored, and contact names are not sent unless you invite or add that contact as described below.
Invitations If you invite a contact to Frenz, or add a contact to a Hangchat or to one of your groups, we store that contact's phone number and the name you have saved for them, together with the time of any invitation, so that we can send the invitation SMS, prevent repeated invites, and connect you when they join. When someone later verifies that phone number on Frenz, we send them a friend request from you, add them to any Hangchat or group you added them to, and notify you that your contact joined. You can remove a saved contact at any time in the app.
Phone Number and Verification Every Frenz account must have a verified mobile phone number. We collect the number you enter and send a one-time verification passcode to it by SMS to confirm the number belongs to you. Your verified number is used to sign you in (if you sign in by phone), to let people who already have your number in their contacts find and add you, and to connect you to Hangchats or groups you were invited to before you joined. You enter your own number directly in the app; your address book is not read for this purpose.
Reports If you report a user, post, or message, we collect the reason you select, any details you add, and a snapshot of the reported content at the time of the report so that we can review it.
Communications with Us If you contact us by email or through the Service, we collect the contents of your message and any attachments.
1.2 Information Collected Automatically
Precise Geolocation Data We collect your device's precise geolocation (latitude and longitude) in two situations. First, when you choose "Use current location" while creating a post or Hangchat, we send your coordinates to our servers, resolve them to a place name and city using a mapping provider (Section 3.2), and store that place, including its coordinates, as part of the post. Second, when you allow location for the home feed, your current coordinates are sent with each feed request so we can calculate distances and sort by nearest; those coordinates are used for that request and are not stored as part of your profile or posts, although they appear in our server request logs (see Device and Technical Information). If you save a default location in Settings, that place and its coordinates are stored with your profile until you change or clear it. You can disable location access at any time through your device's operating system settings; you can still post by searching for a place, but distances and nearest sorting will be unavailable.
Approximate Location and Session Information We may infer your approximate location (such as your city or region) from your IP address. We also record the IP address and device or browser identifier of each sign-in session for security.
Device and Technical Information We collect the platform (iOS or Android) of each device you register for notifications, and our servers keep standard request logs: the requested address (including any coordinates a feed request carries), the response status, and timing. We do not collect advertising identifiers, and the app does not currently include analytics or crash-reporting software.
Usage Information We keep server-side records that result from your use of the Service, such as your notification history (which powers the in-app notifications feed), the times your posts and messages were created, and the request logs described above. We do not track the screens you view or the buttons you tap.
Push Notification Tokens To deliver notifications we collect a device push token issued by Expo's push notification service, which delivers through Apple Push Notification service (APNs) on iOS and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) on Android. On iOS we also collect your APNs device token and register it with our chat provider (Stream) so that new Hangchat messages can be delivered as notifications.
Cookies and Similar Technologies Our mobile app does not use browser cookies. It stores your sign-in session securely on your device and uses the identifiers described above for authentication and functionality. Our website does not use analytics or advertising cookies; it may set a cookie strictly needed for basic functionality, and it loads fonts from Google Fonts, which receives your IP address when a page loads.
1.3 Information From Third Parties
Identity Providers Google and Apple share basic profile information (name, email, and account identifier) with us when you sign in using their services.
Service Providers Our hosting, chat, mapping, SMS, and push notification providers may share technical information about delivery and errors (for example, whether a notification or text message was delivered) to help us operate the Service.
Other Users Other users may provide information about you, such as sending you a friend request, adding you to a Hangchat or group, inviting you to Frenz using your phone number, saving your phone number as a contact in the app, or reporting your content.
1.4 Children's Privacy
The Service is intended for users 18 years of age and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at contact@frenzapp.com and we will take steps to delete it promptly.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
| Purpose | Legal Basis (GDPR / UK GDPR) |
|---|---|
| Provide, operate, and maintain the Service, including showing your availability to the people you choose, enabling Hangchats, and delivering messages and notifications | Performance of contract (Art. 6 (1) (b)) |
| Authenticate you and manage your account | Performance of contract (Art. 6 (1) (b)) |
| Send SMS invitations on your behalf when you invite someone to Frenz or add a contact to a Hangchat | Performance of contract (Art. 6 (1) (b)); Consent (Art. 6 (1) (a)) |
| Send you one-time passcodes by SMS to verify your phone number | Performance of contract (Art. 6 (1) (b)) |
| Check the phone numbers in your address book against Frenz accounts so you can find friends, and connect you with people who saved your number when you join | Consent (Art. 6 (1) (a)) — you choose whether to grant contacts access; Legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (f)) — connecting users who know each other |
| Resolve the places you attach to posts into a name, city, and coordinates using a mapping provider | Performance of contract (Art. 6 (1) (b)) |
| Review reports of users or content and act on them | Legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (f)) — safety and enforcing our Terms |
| Personalize the Service, including sorting availability by distance, showing friends of friends when you opt in, and (in the future) suggesting groups based on shared interests | Consent (Art. 6 (1) (a)) for friends of friends and location; Legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (f)) — improving user experience |
| Communicate with you about the Service, including service announcements, security alerts, and responses to your inquiries | Performance of contract (Art. 6 (1) (b)); Legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (f)) |
| Monitor, analyze, and improve the Service, fix bugs, and develop new features | Legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (f)) — product improvement and security |
| Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, security incidents, and violations of our Terms of Service | Legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (f)) — security and fraud prevention |
| Comply with legal obligations, enforce our agreements, and protect the rights, property, or safety of Frenz, our users, or others | Legal obligation (Art. 6 (1) (c)); Legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (f)) |
| Collect and use precise geolocation for location-based features | Consent (Art. 6 (1) (a)) — you can withdraw consent at any time via device settings |
Note on Consent: Where we rely on your consent (such as for precise geolocation or push notifications), you may withdraw that consent at any time through your device settings or in-app controls. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before withdrawal.
Automated Decision-Making and Profiling: We do not use your personal information for automated decision-making (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.
2.1 Text Messaging (SMS)
Frenz sends SMS text messages only in two categories: (1) one-time passcodes to verify a phone number you enter, and (2) invitations sent one-to-one when you choose to invite a personal contact to join Frenz or add one of your phone contacts to a Hangchat (group hangout). Adding a contact to one of your private groups does not send a text; we only record the invitation so they are added if they later join. Verification codes are sent when you request them. Invitations name you as the sender (when available), link to Frenz, and end with opt-out instructions; manual re-invites to the same contact are limited to one per 24 hours. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to any message to opt out, or HELP for help. We never send marketing or promotional text messages.
3. How We Share Your Information
We share your information only in the limited circumstances described below.
We do not sell your personal information for money, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
No mobile information — including phone numbers and any SMS or text-messaging opt-in or consent data — is shared with third parties or affiliates for their own marketing or promotional purposes. We share phone numbers only with our SMS delivery provider (Twilio), and only to deliver the verification codes and invitations you request.
3.1 With Other Users (According to Your Visibility Settings)
| Type of Information | Who Can See It |
|---|---|
| Display name, @handle, profile photo | Any signed-in Frenz user can find you by name or @handle in search, and anyone who has your verified phone number in their contacts can see that you are on Frenz; in both cases they see your display name, @handle, and profile photo. Profile photos are served from a public storage address, so anyone who has that link can view the image. |
| Interests and Instagram handle | Your friends |
| Availability and Free Now posts | Friends in the audience you select (all friends, selected friends, or selected groups). If you turn on Friends of friends, posts you set to all friends are also visible to friends of your friends who have turned the setting on, labeled with the name of the friend connecting you. |
| Hangchat content (messages, photos, reactions, plan details) | Other participants in the Hangchat, including people added later |
| Location | The audience of a post sees the place name you attached (a venue name, street address, or neighborhood when you use your current location), its city, and their approximate distance from it. For direct friends, the app also receives the coordinates of that place so they can start a Hangchat there; friends of friends receive only the place name and city. Your current coordinates are never shared with other users when you only view the feed. |
| Groups | Nobody. Groups are private lists visible only to you; the people in a group are not told they are in it. |
| Blocks and reports | Nobody. A person you block or report is not notified. |
3.2 With Service Providers
We use third-party service providers to operate the Service. These providers process information on our behalf under written agreements that require them to protect it in accordance with this Policy and applicable data protection law.
Our service providers include:
- Replit — application hosting for our servers and website
- Google Cloud Platform — database hosting and storage of profile photos
- Google (Sign in with Google) and Apple (Sign in with Apple) — authentication
- Google Maps Platform — place search, place details, and converting your coordinates into a place name and city when you use "Use current location"
- Stream (GetStream.io) — hosting and delivering Hangchat messages, reactions, and channel details (including plan date, time, and place), and sending new-message push notifications; Stream receives your user ID, display name, profile photo address, and, on iOS, your device push token
- Expo (Expo Application Services) — delivery of push notifications, via Apple Push Notification service and Firebase Cloud Messaging
- Twilio — SMS delivery for verification codes and invitations
Each provider processes data only as necessary to perform the services described in Section 2 and is contractually required to maintain appropriate security and confidentiality.
3.3 People You Invite
If you invite someone to Frenz or add them to a Hangchat, we share the information necessary to send the invitation (your display name and a link to Frenz) with our SMS delivery provider (Twilio), which delivers the message to the phone number you provide. Adding a contact to a private group sends them no message.
3.4 For Legal and Safety Reasons
We may disclose your information if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to:
- Comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request
- Enforce our Terms of Service or investigate potential violations
- Detect, prevent, or address fraud, security, or technical issues
- Protect the rights, property, or safety of Frenz, our users, or the public, as required or permitted by law
3.5 Business Transfers
If Frenz is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you (via email or a prominent notice in the Service) of any such transfer and any choices you may have regarding your information.
3.6 With Your Consent or at Your Direction
We may share information for other purposes with your explicit consent or at your direction.
4. International Data Transfers
Frenz is based in the United States, and we process and store information in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate. These countries may have data protection laws that differ from those in your country.
For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and Switzerland: When we transfer personal data from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland to countries that have not been deemed by the European Commission to provide an adequate level of data protection, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to protect your data.
You may request a copy of the safeguards we use by contacting us at contact@frenzapp.com.
5. Data Retention
We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Policy, to comply with legal obligations, or to resolve disputes.
Specific retention periods:
| Data Category | Retention Period |
|---|---|
| Account and profile information (name, email, phone number, @handle, photo, interests, defaults, saved locations, saved contacts, friends, groups, blocks, notification history, sign-in sessions, reports) | Duration of your account; deleted when you delete your account (see below) |
| Availability slots | Duration of your account; past slots are not shown to others |
| Free Now posts (including the attached place) | Duration of your account; expired posts are not shown to others |
| Hangchat messages and plan details | Duration of the Hangchat; deleted when you delete a message or the creator deletes the Hangchat. Your messages remain for other participants after you delete your account (see note below) |
| Coordinates sent while viewing the feed | Not stored, except in server request logs |
| Server request logs | No more than 90 days |
| Support communications | 3 years from last contact |
You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Delete account. Everything listed as "duration of your account" is deleted from our database immediately. Within 30 days we also remove your profile photo from storage and your user record from our chat provider, except where longer retention is required or permitted by law (for example, for fraud prevention or legal obligations).
Note on Hangchat messages: If you delete your account, messages you sent may remain visible to the other participants of those Hangchats under the display name you used, unless they delete the Hangchat. This preserves the conversation for the people you were talking with.
6. Security
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect your information, including:
- Encryption of data in transit using TLS
- Encryption of sign-in tokens at rest; we never store passwords
- Access controls and authentication on every request, and rate limits on verification codes
- Regular security assessments and monitoring
However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is completely secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Security Breach Notification: If we become aware of a security breach that affects your personal information and is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by applicable law, without undue delay.
7. Your Rights and Choices
You have a number of choices and rights regarding how your information is collected, used, and shared.
7.1 Controls Within the Service
- Access and edit your profile (name, @handle, photo, Instagram, interests) in Settings
- Choose the audience of each Free Now or availability post with the audience selector, and set default audiences in Settings
- Turn Friends of friends on or off in Settings → Privacy
- Disable location access in your device's operating system settings, and clear saved default locations in Settings (you can still post by searching for a place)
- Choose which notification types Frenz sends in Settings → Notifications, and manage permissions in your device settings
- Block or report a user from their profile, post, or message; manage blocked users in Settings → Privacy → Blocked users
- End a Free Now post, delete availability slots, edit or delete your own Hangchat messages, and leave (or, as creator, delete) a Hangchat
- Remove saved contacts in the app, and revoke contacts access in your device settings
- Delete your account in Settings → Delete account, or by contacting us at contact@frenzapp.com
7.2 Rights of Users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland (GDPR / UK GDPR)
If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the following rights:
| Right | Description |
|---|---|
| Access | Obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you |
| Rectification | Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data |
| Erasure ("right to be forgotten") | Ask us to delete your personal data, subject to certain exceptions |
| Restriction | Ask us to restrict the processing of your data in certain circumstances |
| Portability | Receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format and transmit it to another controller |
| Object | Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes |
| Withdraw consent | Where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time (without affecting prior lawful processing) |
| Lodge a complaint | File a complaint with your local supervisory authority |
To exercise any of these rights , contact us at contact@frenzapp.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond to your request within one month (extendable by two further months in complex cases).
Supervisory Authority Contact: We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you contact a supervisory authority. However, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority in your country. A list of EU supervisory authorities is available at https://edpb.europa.eu.
7.3 Rights of California Residents (CCPA / CPRA)
If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):
| Right | Description |
|---|---|
| Right to Know | Request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the sources, purposes, and categories of third parties with whom we share it |
| Right to Delete | Request deletion of personal information we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions |
| Right to Correct | Request correction of inaccurate personal information we maintain about you |
| Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information | Limit our use of sensitive personal information (such as precise geolocation) to purposes necessary to provide the Service |
| Right to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing | We do not sell personal information for money and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, so no opt-out is necessary |
| Right to Non-Discrimination | We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights |
To exercise these rights , contact us at contact@frenzapp.com. You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf; we may require the agent to provide proof of authorization and may require you to verify your identity directly with us.
Categories of Personal Information We Collect (Past 12 Months):
- Identifiers: Name, email address, @handle, unique account identifiers, push tokens, IP address, your phone number, and phone numbers of contacts you invite or check against Frenz
- Internet or network activity: Server request logs, notification history
- Geolocation data: Precise geolocation (the place attached to your posts, your current location when you choose it, and coordinates sent while viewing the feed), approximate location (from IP address)
- Audio, visual, or similar information: Profile photos, images shared in Hangchats
- Inferences: Interests you provide, friends-of-friends connections when you opt in, potential group suggestions (future feature)
- Sensitive personal information: Precise geolocation; account credentials are handled by Google, Apple, or one-time SMS codes, and we store no passwords
Sources: Directly from you, your device, identity providers (Google, Apple), our service providers, and other users (when they invite or add you).
Business or Commercial Purposes: Providing the Service, account management, communication, security and fraud prevention, personalization, compliance with law, and as described in Section 2.
Categories of Third Parties: Service providers (hosting, authentication, SMS delivery, push notifications, chat hosting, mapping, customer support), other users (according to your visibility settings and as described in Section 3.1), and legal authorities or others as required or permitted by law.
Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: We use your precise geolocation only to provide the location features you choose to use: labeling the place on your posts, showing your audience their distance from it, and sorting your feed by distance. You can withdraw consent and disable location access at any time through your device settings. We do not use sensitive personal information for purposes other than those necessary to provide the Service.
7.4 Rights of Residents in Other Jurisdictions
Depending on where you live, you may have similar rights under your local privacy law (for example, in Brazil under the LGPD, in Canada under PIPEDA, in Australia under the Privacy Act, or in other U.S. states with comprehensive privacy laws such as Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and others).
To exercise any rights available to you, please contact us at contact@frenzapp.com.
8. Do Not Track Signals
Some browsers and devices transmit "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals. Because there is no industry consensus on how to respond to DNT signals, the Service does not currently respond to them. If a standard for responding to DNT signals is established in the future, we will reassess our approach.
9. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the Service, or applicable law. If we make material changes, we will notify you through the Service, by email, or by other reasonable means before the changes take effect. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this Policy reflects the latest revision.
Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of the updated Policy constitutes your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the updated Policy, please stop using the Service and delete your account.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Frenz, Inc. 2130 Castilian DriveLos Angeles, CA 90068United States Email: contact@frenzapp.com
For users in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland: We have not appointed a representative in the EU or UK at this time. You may contact us directly at contact@frenzapp.com, and you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority (Section 7.2).
Data Protection Officer: At this time, Frenz, Inc. is not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer. If this changes, we will update this Policy with the DPO's contact details.