Privacy policy
1. Who is responsible
peech szn ("we", "us") is a South African service and the responsible party under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Our Information Officer is the founder, Orsheran Singh. Anything about your data: hello@peechszn.com, or Tell us what you think in the app menu.
2. What we collect
- Your account — email address, WhatsApp number, nickname, date of birth and a password (stored only as a one-way hash by our authentication provider). The email and number identify one person: one account per person.
- Your profile — what you choose to add: job, neighbourhood, height, weight, body type, position, relationship status, what you're looking for, interests, a bio, your online status, and, if you list as a peech pro, your service and category.
- Photos and videos — public profile media (reviewed by us before it goes live), private albums (shared only with chats you choose), matchmaking photos (peech elite only) and photos you send in chats.
- Chats — your messages, photos and album shares with other members, and the chief peech officer messages we send you.
- Activity — peeches you send and receive, members you trash, reports you file, streek days you bank, and when you last opened the app.
- Peech elite (opt-in) — the questionnaire (name, education, income bracket, religion, relationship style, family, intimacy preferences, age range, star signs) and two matchmaking photos. You give explicit consent in the form before any of it is stored.
- Membership — whether you have a paid membership and until when. Payment happens through the App Store or Google Play; we never see your card details.
- Your phone — a push-notification token so we can send pushes, and your light/dark skin preference.
- Feedback — what you send through Tell us what you think.
peech szn is a community for gay, bi and queer men, so simply having an account tells us something about your sexual orientation. POPIA treats this, like religion and sex life, as special personal information. By creating an account and accepting the terms you consent to us processing it for the purposes below, and nothing else.
3. Location
The app does not read your phone's GPS. The only location we hold is the neighbourhood you type into your profile, and other members see it only if you leave Show my neighbourhood on. We never show anyone your exact location.
4. What we use it for
- Running the app: showing your public profile to other members, delivering chats, counting streeks, sending the pushes you'd expect (a new peech, a new message, the 20:00 streek reminder) and the occasional chief peech officer message.
- Keeping the community safe: reviewing every public photo within 24 hours, handling reports, and banning accounts that break the terms — a banned email stays banned.
- Peech elite: our human matchmakers read your answers and photos to look for an 80%+ mutual fit. If we find one we share only a first name and contact number with each of you.
- Membership: knowing who has paid, so paid features unlock.
- Replying to you, improving the app, and meeting our legal obligations.
We do not sell personal information, we run no advertising, and we do no automated profiling or decision-making that affects you.
5. Who sees what
- Other members see your nickname, age (if shown), neighbourhood (if shown), status, profile details, approved public photos and videos, and your peech count. Private albums are seen only by the chats you share them with; screenshots are blocked there.
- Matchmakers (our own, under confidentiality) see your peech elite answers and photos — nobody else does, and they never appear on the grid.
- Our team sees public photos during review, reports, feedback and account records, through an access-controlled control room.
- Service providers that process data for us, under contract and only on our instructions:
- Supabase — database, login and photo storage, hosted in the European Union (Ireland).
- Apple (and Google Play, once the Android app ships) — subscription billing and push-notification delivery.
- RevenueCat — subscription management; receives your member ID and purchase status.
- Expo — relays push notifications to your phone; receives your device's push token.
- Authorities — if the law requires it, or to protect a member or the public, including content involving minors, which we report.
6. Where your data lives
Our systems run in the European Union, which has data-protection law that offers protection substantially similar to POPIA (section 72). Your data stays encrypted in transit and at rest.
7. How long we keep it
- Your account, profile, media and chats — for as long as your account exists. Delete my account (menu) removes them straight away; copies in backups age out within 30 days.
- Peech elite answers and photos — deleted within 30 days of your membership lapsing, opting out, or deleting your account.
- Reports and feedback — kept, but no longer linked to you once your account is deleted.
- Banned emails — kept for as long as the ban stands, for the safety of the community.
- Purchase records — for as long as tax and consumer law require.
8. Your rights
Under POPIA you can ask what personal information we hold about you, have it corrected, object to processing, withdraw consent, or have it deleted. Most of this you can do yourself: My profile and My albums edit what you share, Opt out in peech elite removes your matchmaking data, and Delete my account removes everything. For anything else, email hello@peechszn.com and we respond within 30 days. If you're unhappy with how we handle your information you can complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa (inforegulator.org.za).
Deleting your account does not cancel a paid membership — cancel that in your phone's Settings → your name → Subscriptions, or it keeps renewing.
9. Security
Your login lives in your phone's secure keychain. Every table is protected by row-level security, so a member can only ever reach his own data and what others have made public to him. Photo links expire after an hour. Private albums block screenshots. No system is perfect — if you think something has gone wrong, tell us at hello@peechszn.com and we will investigate and notify you and the Regulator where POPIA requires it.
10. Under 18s
peech szn is strictly for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18; accounts we believe belong to minors are removed, and content involving minors is reported to the authorities.
11. Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect. The date at the top is always the current version.
12. Contact
peech szn, South Africa · hello@peechszn.com. Our terms and conditions are at peechszn.com/terms.