Privacy Policy

Last updated October 23, 2026

The short version

We collect what the product needs to work. In the US, we also measure our own ads with Meta (details below). We don't sell your data, we don't show ads, and we never will — the business model doesn't allow it.

Who we are

SwearBy is made by Snowy River Consulting LLC, 2727 29th St NW, Apt 706, Washington, DC 20008, United States. We're the data controller for everything described here. Reach us any time at hello@getswearby.com.

What we collect

• Account info: email address, display name, handle, and any profile details you add (bio, photo, profession, social links).
• Your content: recommendations, tags, notes, photos, and lists you create. Recommendations are public by design; lists can be public or private.
• Location: used on-device to show nearby places and sort results. Your location is never stored on our servers and never shared with other users.
• Usage analytics: first-party event data (screens viewed, features used) stored in our own database. The one exception is the ad measurement described below.
• Push token: if you enable notifications, a device token for delivering them.
• Notifications log: a private list of what the app has told you (a new follower, a list someone sent you, someone going out on your vouch), so you can find it again. Only you can see it, and each entry is deleted after 30 days.
• Product news (optional): if you opt in — at signup or in Settings — we'll occasionally email launch announcements and product news. It's off by default, every email includes an unsubscribe link, and flipping it off in Settings stops them immediately. We never email marketing without this consent, and account emails (like password resets) are unaffected.

Why we're allowed to use it

If you're in the UK or the European Economic Area, the law wants us to name a legal basis for each thing we do with your data. Ours are simple:

• To run your account and show your content — because you asked us to. This is the contract between us; without it there's no app.
• Product news email, push notifications, and location — because you said yes. Each is off until you turn it on, and you can turn any of them off whenever you like.
• First-party analytics, moderation, and keeping the place honest — our legitimate interest in making SwearBy work and keeping it safe. We use our own event data for this.

Where it lives

Data is stored in Google Firebase (Firestore, Authentication, Storage) in the United States. Venue information comes from Google Maps Platform. Push notifications are delivered via Expo and Apple.

That means data about UK and European users is transferred to the United States. Google is certified under the EU–U.S. and UK Data Privacy Frameworks, and our agreement with them includes the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses — the two mechanisms European law provides for exactly this.

Ad measurement (US only)

We run ads for SwearBy on Facebook and Instagram. To know whether they work, the iPhone app uses Meta's SDK, only if you're in the US. It tells Meta when the app is installed, when it's opened and for how long, and when an account is created. Meta also sees your IP address, as with any connection, and its SDK sends basic device and app information (like your iPhone model, the app version, your language and time zone) and reports crashes that involve its code. We don't collect your advertising ID, we don't ask to track you, and nothing about what you vouch for, save or search, or your phone's location, goes to Meta. Outside the US, the app doesn't start Meta's SDK or send Meta anything. Deleting your account doesn't recall what Meta already received; Meta handles it under its own Privacy Policy.

What other users see

Your profile, recommendations, and public lists are visible to all users. If you switch on a private profile in Settings, your recommendations and lists are shown only to followers you approve — new follows reach you as requests — and your name, handle, and bio remain visible so people can find and request you. Private lists are visible only to you — enforced at the database level. Your email and location are never visible to anyone.

Public profiles, recommendations and public lists also appear on SwearBy's website, where anyone can see them without the app, and search engines like Google can show them in results. A private profile keeps your recommendations and lists off the website and out of search; only your name and handle show there. Link-only lists open for anyone with the link but are kept out of search. When you delete something, or your account, it comes off the website right away; search engines usually drop it within a few weeks.

Deletion

Delete your account in Profile → Edit Profile → Delete account. This permanently removes your profile, recommendations, lists, photos, follows, and authentication record. Aggregate venue statistics (tag counts) are adjusted immediately.

Can't get into the app? Email hello@getswearby.com from the address on your account and we'll delete it for you — same result, same completeness.

Retention

We keep your data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, everything tied to it — profile, content, photos, follows, push token, notifications log, and analytics events — is erased immediately. The one exception is ad measurement data Meta already received (see Ad measurement). Entries in other people's notification logs that name you are erased with it. Encrypted database backups can retain deleted data for up to eight weeks before aging out automatically; backups are never used to restore individual accounts.

Your rights

Anyone can delete their account from inside the app, and that's the fastest route to erasing everything. Beyond that, if you're in the UK or the European Economic Area you can ask us to hand over a copy of your data, correct anything wrong, delete it, limit what we do with it, or object to our use of it. You can withdraw consent — to product news, notifications, or location — at any time, and withdrawing it doesn't undo anything that was lawful beforehand.

Email hello@getswearby.com and we'll answer within 30 days. It's a small team, so it's usually the same week. If you think we've got it wrong, you're entitled to complain to your national data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).

Our representative in Europe

Because we're based in the United States, we've appointed a representative for people in Europe and the UK to contact. It's DataRep — Data Protection Representative Limited, 77 Camden Street Lower, Dublin D02 XE80, Ireland — acting as our representative under Article 27 of the EU GDPR, and through their UK office as our UK representative. You're welcome to contact them about anything in this policy, or to write to us directly at hello@getswearby.com — that reaches us fastest.

Children

SwearBy is for people 17 and older. We don't knowingly collect data from children.

Changes & contact

Material changes will be noted in the app. Questions: hello@getswearby.com