Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

GradeDate (“we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your personal data when you use the GradeDate service (“the Service”). By using the Service, you consent to the practices described in this policy.

2. Data We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data exclusively for the following purposes:

• Matching: Your grade, gender, age, and looking-for preferences are used to connect you with compatible users at your grade level.
• Grading: Your profile photo is analyzed by AI to generate your facial appearance grade.
• Service delivery: Your email is used for account-related communications (password resets, subscription updates). Your display name, age, and bio are shown on your profile to other users.
• Authentication: Session cookies maintain your login state as you navigate the Service.

4. Biometric Data & Facial Analysis

When you upload a photo, GradeDate extracts biometric facial measurements — including facial geometry, symmetry ratios, and feature proportions — to generate your appearance grade. This biometric data is:

• Used solely to calculate your grade and match you with compatible users
• Not shared with other users (they see your photo, not your biometric data)
• Not sold, licensed, or used for any purpose beyond the Service
• Deleted when your account is deleted

By uploading a photo, you provide explicit consent for this biometric processing. You may withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account, which removes all biometric data from our systems. Certain jurisdictions (including Illinois under BIPA and the EU under GDPR) require specific consent for biometric data collection — this section serves as that consent.

5. Third-Party Data Processing

We use the following third-party services to operate GradeDate:

• OpenAI (GPT-4 Vision): When you upload a selfie, your photo is transmitted to OpenAI’s API for facial analysis and grading. OpenAI processes the image solely to return a grade to us and does not use your photo to train their models. OpenAI does not use data submitted via the API for training or improving their models, as stated in OpenAI’s API data usage policy. See OpenAI’s Privacy Policy for more information.
• Neon (Postgres Database): Your account data, profile data, grades, messages, and subscription status are stored in a Neon-managed Postgres database. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
• Vercel: The GradeDate application is hosted on Vercel. Vercel may process server logs and technical data for operational purposes.
• Stripe: Payment processing is handled by Stripe. Stripe collects and processes your payment card information directly; GradeDate never receives or stores your full card details. See Stripe’s Privacy Policy.
• Resend: We use Resend to send transactional emails, including password reset links and waitlist confirmation emails. Your email address is transmitted to Resend for delivery purposes only. See Resend’s Privacy Policy.
• ip-api.com: When you visit our landing page, we may use ip-api.com to determine your approximate city from your IP address. This helps us show you whether our service is available in your area. This data is processed by ip-api.com and is not stored on our servers.
• Vercel Analytics: We use Vercel Analytics to collect anonymous page view data. This helps us understand how visitors use our site. Vercel Analytics does not use cookies or track individual users across sites. See Vercel Analytics.

6. Data Retention and Account Deletion

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account at any time using the Delete Account control on your Profile page (Danger Zone), or by contacting us at contact us. Upon account deletion:

• All personal data (email, display name, age, gender, bio, photos, grade, messages, and match records) is permanently deleted from our database.
• Your photos are deleted from our storage.
• Deletion is completed within 30 days of your request.

7. Data Sharing and Selling

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not share your data with advertisers, data brokers, or any other commercial entities. The only third parties that process your data are the service providers listed in Section 4, and they process data solely on our behalf to deliver the Service.

8. Cookies

GradeDate uses session cookies only for authentication purposes. These cookies are essential to keep you logged in as you navigate the Service and are set when you log in. They are not used for tracking, advertising, or analytics. No third-party cookies are set by GradeDate. You can configure your browser to reject cookies, but this will prevent you from staying logged in.

9. Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data, including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), hashed password storage (bcrypt), and database encryption at rest. However, no method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Children’s Privacy

GradeDate is not intended for anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors. If we learn that we have collected data from someone under 18, we will delete it promptly.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email or through a notice on the Service. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

12. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, contact us at contact us.