Privacy policy

1. Who we are

Discoverly (“Discoverly”, “we”, “us”) runs the Discoverly mobile app for iPhone and Android, the partner console for venues and the website at discoverly.world (together, the “Service”). We decide how your personal data is used for the Service. You can reach us at discoverly.connect@gmail.com.

2. What we collect

Information you give us

• Phone number. Used to sign you in with a one-time code. It is stored encrypted and is never shown to other members or to venues.
• Profile. Your first and last name, photo, headline, organisation, a short “about” text, your LinkedIn profile link, your roles (for example founder, investor or mentor), sectors, what you are looking for, and role details such as company stage or ticket size.
• What you post. Asks, offers to help, connection requests, reports, and support requests you send us.
• Messages and photos you send to other members. These are end-to-end encrypted (see section 4).

Information collected when you use the app

• Check-ins. Which venue you checked in at, when, how (QR code, nearby or automatic), when you left, and who you chose to be visible to.
• Location. Your phone uses your location to list venues near you. When you check in, and while you stay checked in, your coordinates are sent to our server to confirm you are at the venue and to end your stay when you leave. We do not keep a history of your coordinates, and other members never see your location, only the venue you are at. The app uses location in the background only if you turn on automatic check-in, and you can switch that off at any time.
• Device information. A random device identifier, the platform (iOS or Android), the phone model name, a push notification token and when the app was last used. We use these to keep you signed in, show you which phones are signed in to your account, deliver notifications and protect against abuse.
• Security information. A one-way hash of the network address used to request a sign-in code, to limit repeated attempts.

Venue partners

If you use the partner console, we also store your name, email address and a hashed password, the venues you manage, and the venue details, menus, photos and posts you publish.

We do not collect your contacts, photos you have not chosen to send, microphone audio, advertising identifiers or payment details. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking tools.

3. How we use it

• To sign you in and keep your account secure.
• To show your profile and presence to other members, as your settings allow.
• To deliver connection requests, messages, asks and notifications.
• To give venues statistics about their space, such as how many members checked in and when. These are counts only and never include who was there when they had chosen to be hidden.
• To answer support requests and to investigate reports of misuse.
• To fix problems and improve the Service, and to meet our legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for advertising.

4. Messages and end-to-end encryption

Messages and photos between members are encrypted on the sender’s phone with keys that exist only on the members’ phones. Our server stores and forwards the encrypted content but cannot read it. To deliver messages we do keep the information needed for that: who the message is between, when it was sent, and whether it was delivered or read.

Sample accounts during the beta. While Discoverly is in beta, the app includes a small number of sample member accounts that are run by artificial intelligence to show how conversations work. Messages you send to these sample accounts are not end-to-end encrypted to us: they are read by our server and sent to Google’s Gemini service to generate a reply, and in those chats the app does not show the “end-to-end encrypted” label. Please do not send personal or sensitive information to them. A sample account will tell you it is AI if you ask. These accounts will be removed when the beta ends.

5. What other people can see

• Other members see your profile and, while you are checked in, the venue you are at, according to your settings: everyone, only your connections, or nobody. You can browse anonymously, which hides your name and photo from people you are not connected to, turn off being discoverable, or use ghost mode.
• Venues see counts and statistics for their own space, and the asks posted there. They do not see your phone number or location.
• Nobody on Discoverly can see your phone number or your exact location.

6. Who we share it with

We share personal data only with service providers that help us run the Service:

• Hosting and databases (Render and Neon), which store and process our data on servers that may be located outside India, including in Singapore.
• WhatsApp (Meta Platforms), which delivers your sign-in code to your phone number.
• Apple, Google and Expo, which deliver push notifications to your phone. Notification text never contains the content of your messages.
• Google Maps Platform, which we use to look up public information about cafés and venues.
• Google Gemini, only for messages you send to the sample accounts described in section 4.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to respond to a valid request from a public authority, or to protect the safety of our members and the public. If Discoverly is ever merged or sold, your data would move to the new owner under this policy.

7. How long we keep it

We keep your account information for as long as you have an account. Sign-in codes expire after 5 minutes. When you delete your account, your profile, photo, phone number, devices and sessions are erased straight away, the messages you sent are deleted, and your connections are ended. Past check-ins then remain only as anonymous counts in venue statistics. Copies may stay in our encrypted backups for a short period until they are overwritten.

8. Your choices and rights

Under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and other applicable laws, you can:

• see and correct your profile at any time in the app;
• control who sees you, and turn location-based features on or off;
• delete your account in the app under Profile → Privacy & visibility → Delete account, or by following the steps on our account deletion page;
• ask us for a summary of the personal data we hold about you;
• withdraw consent, by changing your settings or deleting your account;
• nominate someone to exercise these rights on your behalf; and
• raise a complaint with us, and then with the Data Protection Board of India.

9. Security

Data is encrypted in transit. Phone numbers are encrypted at rest, passwords and sign-in codes are stored only as hashes, and messages are end-to-end encrypted. No system is perfectly secure, so if we ever learn of a breach that affects you we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

10. Age

Discoverly is for professionals aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you believe someone under 18 has an account, please tell us and we will remove it.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the date above, and for significant changes we will let you know in the app before they take effect.

12. Contact and grievances

For any question, request or complaint about your personal data, contact our Grievance Officer at discoverly.connect@gmail.com or +91 91779 99368. We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days.