Privacy Policy

Wittly ("we," "us," or "our") operates the Wittly mobile application and website (collectively, the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our Service.

By accessing or using Wittly, you agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this policy, please do not use our Service.

2.1 Information You Provide

• Account Information: When you register, we collect your name, email address, username, password, and profile picture.
• Profile Information: Bio, links, and other details you add to your public profile.
• Content: Photos, images, memes, infographics, captions, comments, and other content you post or share on Wittly.
• Messages: Content of direct messages you send and receive through our chat feature.
• Wittly Match profile (optional): If you opt in to Wittly Match, we collect information you provide for that feature only. This is separate from your public meme profile and includes date of birth (used to verify you are 18 or older; other users see age, not your full date of birth), gender and who you want to see, relationship intent (for example friends or dating), bio, photos you upload for Match, approximate location (see Location Data below), city/country labels you provide, and your maximum distance preference. You can pause or leave Match without deleting your main Wittly account.
• Communications: Information you provide when contacting support or responding to surveys.
• App waitlist: If you join the launch waitlist on our website, we collect the email address you submit and a short browser user-agent string (so we can tell whether you browsed from iOS, Android, or another platform). We do not store your IP address for waitlist signups. We use this only to email you when the mobile app launches and to understand platform mix.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Usage Data: Pages viewed, features used, interactions with content (likes, comments, shares, reposts), search queries, and time spent on the Service. For Wittly Match, this also includes swipe actions (Like / Nope), matches, blocks, reports, and optional Vibe Check quiz answers used to refine your humor preferences.
• Humor fingerprint (Match): When Match is enabled for you, we derive a humor preference profile from memes you post and engage with on Wittly (and optional quiz answers). We use this to suggest people with overlapping humor styles and to show shared humor signals (for example match percentage and shared style chips). This fingerprint is used for Match ranking and explanations; it is not sold as a standalone product.
• Device Information: Device type, operating system, unique device identifiers, browser type, IP address, and mobile network information. We may also receive your device or app language preferences via the standard Accept-Language (or equivalent) HTTP header on each request.
• Feed language signals: To prefer memes you can read, we use your device language / Accept-Language at request time to soft-rank discovery feeds. We do not store a preferred-language profile on your account for this purpose. We may store a content language code on each post (derived from caption and related text you provide when posting). This is not used to infer or store your home location or country for the feed; Mood Map and Match location (when you opt in) are separate features described below.
• Location Data: Approximate location based on IP address. We do not collect precise GPS location without your explicit consent. Feed ranking does not use GPS or a stored home city/country.
  • Mood Map: When you opt in, we collect GPS location to display your mood on the map. Your exact location is never stored. We apply a random offset of approximately 500 meters before saving. Location data tied to mood entries is automatically deleted after 24 hours.
  • Wittly Match: When you opt in and share location for Match, we store only a fuzzed (approximate) coordinate used to calculate distance and filter your deck. Other Match users see approximate distance and any city/country you choose to show — not your exact pin or raw GPS coordinates. You control a maximum distance filter in the app.
• Mood Data: Mood Map allows you to share your current emotional state with other users. Mood entries include your selected mood type, an optional photo, and your approximate location. All mood entries are visible to other Wittly users on the Mood Map and are automatically deleted after 24 hours. You can delete your mood entry at any time.
• Cookies and Similar Technologies: We use cookies, pixels, and local storage to maintain sessions, remember preferences, and analyze usage patterns.
• Log Data: Server logs including access times, pages viewed, app crashes, and other system activity.

2.3 Information From Third Parties

• Social Login: If you sign in using a third-party service (e.g., Google, Apple), we receive your name, email, and profile picture from that service.
• Advertising Partners: We may receive anonymized or aggregated information from advertising partners about ad performance.

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve the Service
• Create and manage your account
• Display your content in the feed and on post pages
• Personalize your feed and discovery experience using engagement-based algorithms
• Operate Wittly Match when you opt in: build and update your humor fingerprint, show candidate profiles in your deck, calculate match signals and shared humor explanations, apply distance filters, create mutual matches, and open chat when both people Like each other
• Show advertisements in the Service, including sponsored slots that may appear in Match decks
• Send push notifications about activity on your account (likes, comments, follows, messages, and Match activity such as new matches when enabled)
• Provide creator analytics (views, engagement rates)
• Detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, and security issues, including reviewing Match blocks and reports
• Enforce our Terms of Service and community guidelines
• Communicate with you about updates, features, and promotions (with opt-out options)
• Comply with legal obligations

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information in the following circumstances:

4.1 Public Information

Your profile information, posted content, likes, and comments are publicly visible to other users by default. Your username and profile picture appear alongside your content.

4.2 Wittly Match Visibility

If you create a Match profile and keep it active, other eligible Match users may see your Match photos, display name or first name as shown in Match, age, approximate distance, city/country (if provided), bio, humor-related chips or match explanations, and similar profile fields in their deck or after a mutual match. Match data is not automatically published to the main social feed. People who have not opted into Match do not browse Match profiles as a public directory. We do not show your full date of birth or exact GPS coordinates to other users.

4.3 Service Providers

We share information with third-party vendors who assist us in operating the Service, including:

• Cloud hosting and infrastructure (data storage and processing)
• Analytics services
• Push notification delivery (Firebase Cloud Messaging)
• Analytics services (to understand usage patterns)
• Content delivery networks (to serve images and media efficiently)

4.4 Advertising Partners

We share limited, non-identifying information with advertising partners to serve relevant ads alongside creator content. This may include general interest categories and content engagement data. We do not share your name, email, or direct messages with advertisers.

4.5 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or governmental regulation, or when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

4.6 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email and/or a prominent notice on our Service before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

4.7 Aggregated Mood Data

Aggregated mood data (e.g., "most common mood in this area today") may be displayed publicly on the Mood Map. This data does not identify individual users.

4.8 With Your Consent

We may share your information for any other purpose with your explicit consent.

We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Service. Specifically:

• Account data: Retained until you delete your account.
• Posted content:Retained until you delete the content or your account. Reposted content may persist under the reposter's account.
• Messages: Retained until either party deletes the conversation or their account.
• Usage logs: Retained for up to 24 months, then aggregated or deleted.
• Mood Map entries: Automatically deleted 24 hours after creation. Location data associated with expired mood entries is permanently removed.
• Wittly Match data: Match profile fields, photos, location fuzz values, swipe history, matches, blocks, and reports are retained while your Match profile or account is active, as needed to run the feature and for safety. Pausing Match removes you from decks but may keep your profile data until you delete Match data or your account. Deleting your Wittly account removes Match data subject to the same legal retention limits as other account data.

After account deletion, we may retain certain information in anonymized or aggregated form for analytics purposes, or as required by law.

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest
• Hashed and salted passwords
• Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
• Access controls limiting employee access to personal data
• Rate limiting and abuse prevention systems

No method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

7.1 Account Settings

You can update your profile information, notification preferences, and privacy settings at any time through the app. For Wittly Match, you can edit or pause your Match profile, change distance preferences, and leave Match without deleting your main account (where the app provides those controls).

7.2 Data Access and Portability

You can request a copy of your personal data in a structured, machine-readable format by contacting us at contact@wittly.app.

7.3 Data Deletion

You can delete your account at any time through the app settings. Upon deletion, we will remove your profile, posts, and associated data, subject to our retention obligations described in Section 5.

7.4 Marketing Communications

You can opt out of marketing emails by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing message or adjusting your notification settings. You will continue to receive essential service communications (e.g., account updates, security alerts).

7.5 Push Notifications

You can disable push notifications through your device settings or within the Wittly app notification preferences.

7.6 Cookie Preferences

You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our Service.

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Right of Access: Request a copy of your personal data.
• Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate data.
• Right to Erasure:Request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
• Right to Restrict Processing: Request that we limit how we use your data.
• Right to Data Portability: Receive your data in a portable format.
• Right to Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests, including profiling.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

Our legal bases for processing your data include: performance of our contract with you (providing the Service), your consent (marketing communications), legitimate interests (fraud prevention, analytics, service improvement), and compliance with legal obligations.

To exercise these rights, contact us at contact@wittly.app. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) provide you with additional rights:

• Right to Know: Request details about the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
• Right to Delete: Request deletion of your personal information.
• Right to Correct: Request correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing: We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

To exercise these rights, contact us at contact@wittly.app or use the in-app privacy settings. We will verify your identity before processing your request.

Wittly is not intended for children under the age of 13 (or the applicable minimum age in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected information from a child under 13, we will promptly delete that information. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at contact@wittly.app.

Wittly Match is a separate, optional feature for users who are 18 or older. We do not knowingly allow anyone under 18 to create a Match profile. Date of birth is collected for Match only to enforce this age rule. If we learn a Match profile belongs to someone under 18, we will disable Match access and delete that Match profile data.

Wittly Match is optional. You can use Wittly only to make and share memes without ever opening Match.

• Opt-in only: Match requires a separate profile setup. Your main meme profile does not automatically become a Match profile.
• 18+: You must be at least 18 to use Match. We check age from the date of birth you provide for Match.
• What others see: People in Match may see your Match photos, age, approximate distance, bio, and humor-related signals — not your exact location or full date of birth.
• How matching works: We use your meme activity (and optional quiz) to suggest people with similar humor. Mutual Likes can open a chat.
• Your controls: You can pause Match, change distance settings, block or report others, and leave Match without deleting your Wittly account.
• Ads: Sponsored slots may appear in Match decks, similar to other parts of the Service.

Details above in Sections 2–5 and 10 also apply to Match data.

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. These countries may have data protection laws that differ from your jurisdiction. When we transfer data internationally, we use appropriate safeguards including Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission and other legally recognized transfer mechanisms to ensure your data receives adequate protection.

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites, services, or content. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third-party services you access through Wittly.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated policy on this page with a revised "Last updated" date and, for significant changes, by sending a notification through the app or via email. Your continued use of Wittly after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, contact us at:

• Email: contact@wittly.app
• Address: Wittly, Inc.

For GDPR-related inquiries, you may also contact our Data Protection Officer at contact@wittly.app.