Privacy Policy for PingMate
Effective date: September 16, 2026 Last updated: September 16, 2026 Platform: iOS Developer: Jodie Holmes Carroll Contact: SociaVas379@outlook.com
Jodie Holmes Carroll ("we", "us", "our") is the developer of the PingMate iOS application (the "App"). This policy explains what data the App collects, how it is collected, every purpose it is used for, who else can access it, how long it is kept, and how you can withdraw your consent or have your data deleted.
PingMate is a social app. You create an account, publish moments, share stories that stop being shown after 24 hours, comment and react, and send private messages. Delivering that content to other people requires storing your account and what you publish on hosted infrastructure. Everything below describes what that means in practice.
1. What Data the App Collects
Category Specific data How it is collected Linked to your account
Contact information Email address (required for sign-in), plus a lowercased copy used for lookups. Phone number (optional), plus a digits-only copy and a short trailing-digit matching key. You enter it when registering or editing your profile. Yes
Identifiers An account identifier generated for you by the service. Created by the service when you register. Yes
Profile details Username, bio, region, profile photo. You enter or choose them. Yes
User content Post images and captions, story images, private message text and images, comments, likes, follows, and the resulting activity notifications. You create and publish it in the App. Yes
Optional place name A coarse City, Country label, for example Chengdu, China. Only when you tap the location button: the device supplies one coarse position, which the operating system's own geocoder turns into a place name. Yes, if you save it
Contacts (transient) Names, phone numbers and email addresses in your address book. Read from the device only after you open "From your contacts" and grant access. No — see section 5
Service records Sign-up time, last-seen time, online/offline flag. Generated by the service as you use it. Yes
Local device settings Light/dark appearance preference, and a first-launch marker. Stored on your device only. No
Data the App does not collect
No usage analytics, behavioural profiling, or engagement tracking.
No crash or performance telemetry.
No advertising identifier (IDFA), no advertising networks, no install attribution.
No push notification tokens — the App does not send push notifications.
No browsing history, financial information, health data, microphone audio, calendar, call logs or messages from other apps.
No background or continuous location.
We do not track you across apps or websites owned by other companies. Because there is no such tracking, the App does not ask for permission to track, and we hold no advertising identifier.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising.
2. How the Data Is Collected
There are only three routes:
Directly from you — what you type or choose: registration details, profile fields, and the posts, stories, comments and messages you publish.
From your device, with your permission, at the moment you ask for a feature — camera, photo library, contacts, and coarse location. Nothing is read before you trigger the feature, and every prompt appears at the point of use.
Generated by the service — your account identifier, timestamps, and the online/offline flag.
We do not buy data, and we do not compile information about you from public databases or any other outside source.
3. iOS Permissions, and What Happens If You Decline
Permission When it is requested What it is used for Does data leave the device? If you decline
Camera When you choose Camera for a profile photo, a post, or a message Taking the picture you are about to use Only the image you then publish or send Pick an existing picture instead, or skip the photo
Photo Library When you pick an existing picture for a profile photo, a post, or a message Selecting and cropping that picture Only the image you then publish or send Use the camera instead, or post text only
Contacts Only when you open "From your contacts" and start a check Listing contacts on the device, and comparing email addresses and phone matching keys against existing accounts The addresses and matching keys used for the comparison; your address book is not uploaded or stored Find people with the search screen instead
Location (While Using the App) Only when you tap the location button on your profile or a post Turning one coarse position into a City, Country name Only the place name, and only if you save it Type your region by hand
Each permission is optional, is requested only when the related feature is used, and none of them gate access to the App: every feature above has a working alternative. We never ask for a permission in order to unlock something unrelated to it.
4. How We Use the Data
Create and operate your account, authenticate you, and keep you signed in.
Store and deliver your posts, stories, comments and private messages to the people you intend them for.
Show which of your contacts already have an account, when you ask for that check.
Show basic presence information, such as whether you are currently active, and order content by time.
Keep the service working and safe: preventing and investigating abuse, responding to reports, and removing content or accounts that break the rules.
Answer you when you write to support, including rights requests and account deletion.
Comply with legal obligations, and respond to valid legal process where we are required to.
That is the complete list. Your content and your contacts are never used to build advertising profiles, are never repurposed for a different goal without asking you first, and are never used to train third-party AI services.
Where the GDPR or a comparable law applies, we rely on: performance of our agreement with you (running your account and delivering your content), your consent (each iOS permission, withdrawable at any time), our legitimate interests (security, abuse prevention, service reliability), and legal obligation where one applies.
5. Contacts and Invitations
This is the most sensitive permission in the App, so it is set out in full:
Nothing is read from your address book until you open "From your contacts" and allow access.
The App reads names, phone numbers and email addresses so it can list your contacts and show which of them already have a PingMate account.
Matching works by comparing contact email addresses and short trailing-digit phone keys against the account directory. That comparison is a lookup only: your address book is not uploaded as a copy, not stored in our systems, and not shared with anyone. The data is discarded when you leave the screen.
We do not build a contact database. Address-book data is never retained for our own use, resale, distribution, marketing, or advertising.
We never message your contacts. If you tap Invite on a single contact, your own Messages or Mail app opens with this text, which you can edit or cancel before sending, and it is sent by you from your own phone number or email address:
Hi! I'm on PingMate. Join me and we can chat and share moments.
Invitations are one contact at a time. There is no "select all", and no bulk sending.
iOS limited access is respected: if you share only selected contacts, only those are read.
6. Who Else Can Access the Data
Other people using the App. Your username, bio, region, profile photo, and anything you post or send are visible to the people you share them with. Posts and stories should be treated as public. Other people can find you by searching, or through contact matching if they already have your email address or phone number saved.
Service providers. Your account record, published content and messages are held on hosted cloud infrastructure operated by established providers on our behalf, covering hosting, authentication and file storage. They act only on our instructions, under contract, and are not permitted to use the data for their own purposes. Any third party that has access to user data through the App is required to provide the same or equal protection of user data as set out in this policy. We do not share user data with analytics tools, advertising networks, data brokers, or third-party AI services.
Legal disclosure. We may disclose data if we are legally required to, or where it is necessary to investigate a credible safety issue or to protect our legal rights. We disclose only the minimum needed for that purpose.
International transfers. Our providers may process data on servers outside your country of residence. Where required, those transfers rely on an appropriate legal mechanism such as standard contractual clauses.
7. Retention and Deletion
Data How long it is kept
Account record and profile For as long as your account exists
Posts, comments, messages and their images Until you delete them, or until your account is deleted
Stories No longer shown 24 hours after posting; the stored image is removed when the story or the account is deleted
Activity notifications Until you delete them, or until your account is deleted
Contacts used for matching Not retained — discarded as soon as the lookup finishes
Saved place name Until you edit or delete the profile field or post that holds it
Local settings on your device Removed when you delete the App
What you can delete yourself, at any time, in the App: your posts and the images attached to them, your stories, and your activity notifications. You can also clear or change your profile fields, including the optional phone number and place name.
Deleting the App does not delete your account. It removes only the local settings above; your account and published content remain.
Deleting your account. Email us at SociaVas379@outlook.com from the address on the account, asking for deletion. We will confirm the request, then delete the account record, your posts, stories, comments, activity notifications, the messages we hold and the stored images, within 30 days. Residual copies in encrypted backups are overwritten in the normal backup cycle. Content that other people already saved or captured on their own devices is outside our control.
8. Withdrawing Consent
Any iOS permission: open iOS Settings → Privacy & Security (Camera, Photos, Contacts, Location Services), or iOS Settings → PingMate, and switch the permission off. It takes effect immediately. The related feature then falls back to the alternative in section 3; the rest of the App keeps working.
Optional profile data: clear the phone number, region, bio or photo on your profile at any time. Clearing the phone number stops other people finding you by number.
Published content: delete the individual post, story or notification.
Everything at once: ask us to delete your account, as described in section 7.
You never have to accept a permission or provide optional data to keep using the App, and nothing is paid for or unlocked by granting access.
9. Security
Traffic between the App and our infrastructure uses HTTPS / TLS.
Your password is handled by our authentication infrastructure and is never stored in readable form by the App or by us. We will never ask you for it by email.
Data on your device sits inside the iOS app sandbox; the sign-in session is held in the iOS Keychain.
Access to stored data is restricted to what each feature needs, and permissions are requested at the moment of use rather than up front.
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Keep your device passcode enabled and use a password you do not reuse elsewhere. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal data, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by applicable law.
10. Your Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, export or restrict the processing of personal information about you, to object to certain processing, to withdraw consent, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Residents of the EU, EEA and UK have rights under the GDPR; California residents under the CCPA/CPRA; residents of India under the DPDPA. We do not sell personal information, so there is no sale to opt out of.
Much of this is directly under your control: edit your profile, delete your own content, and revoke any permission as described in section 8. For anything else, including a copy of your data or account deletion, write to SociaVas379@outlook.com. We aim to respond within 30 days, may need to verify that the request comes from you, and will not treat you differently for exercising a right.
11. Children's Privacy
PingMate is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. Where local law sets a higher minimum age for consenting to online services, that age applies. The App is not part of the Kids Category and contains no third-party advertising or third-party analytics. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, write to us and we will delete the account and its content.
12. Content, Reporting and Enforcement
Posts, stories, comments and profile details you publish can be seen by other people using the App, so avoid posting information you would not want others to keep a copy of.
If you see content or behaviour that breaks the rules, or content about you that you want removed, email SociaVas379@outlook.com with enough detail to identify it. We review reports, remove content that violates our rules or the law, and may suspend or delete the accounts responsible. You can delete your own content at any time, as described in section 7.
13. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy as the App changes or as the law requires. The revised version is published at this URL with a new effective date, and the link to it inside the App always points here. Material changes will be highlighted in the App or in a release note. Continuing to use PingMate after an update means you accept the revised policy.
14. Contact Us
Questions, rights requests, reports, or account deletion:
Developer Jodie Holmes Carroll
Support email SociaVas379@outlook.com
App PingMate for iOS
We aim to respond within 30 days.