PRIVACY
Privacy Policy
Last updated: 23 September 2026
SipMate is a social app for discovering nearby people who are open to drinks, coffee and spontaneous social hangouts. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data SipMate processes, why it is used and what choices users have.
1. Who is responsible for your data?
SipMate is operated in Germany. Current legal operator details and contact information are published in the Imprint and on the Contact page.
2. Data we process
Depending on how you use SipMate, we may process:
- Account data: email address, user ID and authentication information.
- Profile data: display name, age or date-of-birth-derived age, city, bio, “currently up for” selections and profile settings.
- Profile photos: images you choose to upload.
- Location data: device location used to calculate nearby discovery and distance. SipMate does not intentionally publish your precise device coordinates to other users.
- Cheers activity: Cheers you send or receive and mutual CHEERS status.
- Chat data: messages sent through SipMate after chat access is available.
- Safety data: reports, blocks, skipped-profile choices and related moderation records.
- Device notification data: push-notification tokens needed to deliver service notifications.
- App diagnostics and installation metrics: app version, platform, a randomly generated installation identifier, first-launch timestamps and limited technical error information used to understand reliability. SipMate does not use this installation identifier as an advertising identifier.
- Support and tester feedback: problem descriptions and optional screen/context information that you choose to submit through the in-app problem-reporting feature.
- Waitlist data: information you submit through the SipMate website, such as email address, name and city.
- Subscription data: Premium subscription status and payment-related identifiers needed to synchronize entitlements. SipMate does not store full payment-card details.
3. Why we process this data
We process personal data to provide account access, create and display profiles, calculate nearby results, enable Cheers and chat features, send service notifications and account emails, provide Premium entitlements, prevent abuse, operate safety and moderation tools, respond to support requests, diagnose technical problems and improve reliability.
4. Legal bases
Where the GDPR applies, processing is based on one or more of the following legal bases: performance of a contract or steps requested before entering a contract, legitimate interests in operating, securing and improving the service, consent where required, and compliance with legal obligations.
5. Service providers
SipMate uses third-party infrastructure providers to operate core services. These may include Supabase for authentication, database, storage and backend functionality; Expo and platform notification services for app delivery and push notifications; Resend for service emails; Stripe for website Premium payment processing and subscription management; and hosting/domain providers for the website. These providers may process data on SipMate's behalf only as needed to provide their services and are subject to their own terms and privacy practices.
6. Location and visibility
Location access is used for nearby discovery and distance calculations. Users can deny location permission at device level. SipMate also provides visibility controls so users can become inactive and stop appearing in Nearby results.
7. Diagnostics and feedback
To keep the app reliable during testing and operation, SipMate may record limited technical events such as app version, platform, first-launch installation metrics and error type. Users may also voluntarily send a problem report. These diagnostics are designed not to include chat-message content, passwords, authentication tokens or precise location coordinates.
8. Data retention
We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary to provide SipMate, maintain security, diagnose problems, resolve disputes and meet legal obligations. Some safety, support, diagnostic or transaction-related records may need to be retained for a limited period where required by law or necessary to protect users and the service.
9. Account and data deletion
Users can request deletion from inside the SipMate app. More information is available on the Delete Account page. Account deletion is intended to remove the user's authentication identity and account-linked data configured for deletion, except information that must be retained where legally required or where a legitimate retention obligation applies.
10. Security
We use technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal data, including encrypted network connections and access controls. No online service can guarantee absolute security.
11. Your rights
Where applicable under data-protection law, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or restrict processing of your personal data, object to certain processing, withdraw consent where processing is based on consent and receive certain data in a portable format. You may also lodge a complaint with a competent data-protection authority.
12. Children
SipMate is intended only for adults aged 18 or older and is not directed to children.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when SipMate features, providers or legal requirements change. The latest version will always be published on this page with the current update date.