Your privacy, in plain English

Together Off Grid is run by [Company legal name], [Registered business address]. We are responsible for the personal information described here. You can reach us about privacy at [Contact email].

This policy covers the Together Off Grid website and member area. It sits alongside our Terms of Service.

• Other members see an avatar and a handle. Photos are hidden by default, and hidden photos open only when you and a match both agree.
• Your phone number and email address are never shown to other members, unless you both reach the contact step and you choose to share one.
• Messages are masked: phone numbers, emails, links and handles are removed until you both agree to share contact.
• These rules are enforced in our database, not only on screen.
• We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use advertising trackers.

If you join the founding list

• Your email address, whether you are a woman or a man, who you are looking for, and the region you chose, so we can tell you when your region opens.
• The wording you agreed to and when. Other visitors only ever see a total count per region.

When you sign up

• Your email address and mobile number, to verify that you are a real person with one account.
• Your date of birth, to confirm you are 18 or older.
• Your ZIP code, which we turn into an approximate location for matching by distance.
• The version of the terms you accepted and when.

Your profile

• Your handle, avatar, quiz answers, homesteader type, profile text, skills, and who you are looking for.
• Photos you upload, and the screening result for each one.
• Your match preferences, such as distance and age range.

When you use the service

• Likes, matches, messages, blocks and reports. Messages are stored in their masked form.
• Each step of the reveal ladder you agree to, and when.
• Your membership plan and status. Card details stay with Stripe.
• Your IP address and browser details when you sign up, sign in or pay, to stop banned members creating new accounts.

Cookies and browser storage

We use cookies to keep you signed in, and your browser’s storage to remember small display choices. We do not use advertising or cross site tracking cookies.

Always visible to members: your avatar, handle, homesteader type, values profile, profile text, region and state, an approximate distance, any verification badges, and any approved photos you have chosen to show.

Only after you both agree: your hidden photos at the faces step, and the email address or phone number you choose at the contact step.

Never shown to other members: your date of birth, your exact location, your legal name, and any phone number or email address you have not chosen to share.

• To verify your account and keep it one per person.
• To suggest matches and explain the score behind each one.
• To deliver masked messages and manage the reveal ladder.
• To screen photos and review reports.
• To take payments and manage your membership.
• To send service emails, such as sign in links, new match and new message notices, and billing notices.
• To investigate abuse, enforce our terms and meet legal obligations.

We use a small number of service providers to run Together Off Grid. Each receives only what it needs for its job.

• Supabase

  Database, sign in and file storage

  Receives: Your account, profile, photos, messages and activity on the service. Photos sit in a private storage area.

• Vercel

  Website hosting

  Receives: The requests your browser makes to the site, including your IP address and browser details, as part of serving pages.

• Stripe

  Payments and subscriptions

  Receives: Your email address, the plan you choose and your payment details. Stripe handles your card; we never see the full number.

• Twilio Verify

  Phone verification

  Receives: Your mobile number, to send and check the one time code.

• Sightengine

  Automated photo screening

  Receives: Each photo you upload, and nothing else: no name, handle, email or phone number. It reaches Sightengine through a short lived link that expires soon after.

• Vercel AI Gateway, and the provider that runs the Claude model it routes to

  Lantern, the help assistant

  Receives: The questions you type to Lantern and the earlier messages in that conversation, the site information Lantern looks up to answer, and, for signed in members, the account summary Lantern reads for you. Never your name, email, phone number or IP address.

• Resend

  Transactional email

  Receives: Your email address and the content of service emails, such as new match and new message notices.

We also send the ZIP code you enter, and nothing else, to a public ZIP code lookup service (Zippopotam.us) to find its approximate location. We may disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect someone’s safety.

Lantern answers questions about Together Off Grid on our pages and in the member area. It uses AI through Vercel AI Gateway and the model provider it routes to.

• What we keep: the text of each question, with email addresses, phone numbers, links and social handles removed before it is stored, a short topic label, whether it was answered, and your thumbs up or down if you give one. We do not store your name, account or IP address with it, and these records are deleted after 90 days.
• Your account: if you are signed in and ask about your own plan, likes, profile or matches, Lantern reads a summary of your own account to answer. It cannot see or discuss any other member.
• Limits: to stop abuse we count questions per hour using a scrambled code made from your connection, which changes every day and cannot be turned back into your IP address.
• Talking to a person: if you ask Lantern to pass something on, it creates a support request with your question and a short summary. Members see the reply on their Help page; visitors can leave an email address for the reply, which we keep with that request.

Please do not share passwords, card numbers or one time codes with Lantern.

When you upload a photo, Sightengine checks it automatically for nudity, violence, weapons, offensive symbols, contact details or QR codes in the image, signs that someone in it may be a minor, and signs that it was generated by AI. Anything borderline goes to a human moderator.

A declined photo is never shown to anyone. An approved photo stays hidden from other members until you and a match both agree to reveal faces, unless you have chosen to show it on your profile.

• Your account information, profile, photos and messages are kept while your account is open.
• When you delete your account, we cancel any open membership, then delete your profile, photos, matches and the messages you sent.
• The record of reveal and consent steps, and records of moderation decisions, are kept after deletion for safety and legal reasons, for [Retention period for consent and moderation records]. They are not visible to other members.
• Reports you made stay with our moderators after you leave, without your account attached.
• Payment records are kept by Stripe and by us for as long as tax and accounting law requires.
• Database backups are overwritten on a rolling schedule of [Backup retention period].

• Delete your account at any time from settings.
• Correct most of your details yourself from your profile. Contact us to change your date of birth.
• Get a copy of your data by emailing [Contact email] from the address on your account.
• Pause, block or unmatch whenever you like, and choose which photos are shown on your profile.

Depending on the state you live in, you may have further rights over your personal information. We will honour them, and we will not treat you differently for using them. [State specific privacy rights wording, to be confirmed by counsel]

Together Off Grid is for adults 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If we learn that a member is under 18, we close the account. If you believe a member is under 18, please report them.

Access rules are enforced inside the database for every table. Your email, phone number, date of birth and exact location are stored apart from your public profile. Photos are kept in private storage and are only ever served through short lived links. Sign in uses one time email links, so there is no password to steal. No system is perfectly secure; tell us at [Contact email] if you notice anything wrong.

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect. For any privacy question or request, contact [Contact email], [Company legal name], [Registered business address].