Privacy

Information we use

• Account and profile: registration requires your email, first and last name, birth date, gender, nationality, city, and ITN ranking. Your city coordinates support distance searches, not GPS tracking. A photo and OTV profile link are optional.
• Activity: messages and chat requests, timestamps and read status, favorites, blocks, archived chats, and account preferences.
• Security and support: login-verification records, support correspondence, and technical information such as IP addresses and browser details processed when you access the service.

Why we use it

Providing your account, player matching, and messaging relies on performance of our service agreement (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR). Account protection, abuse prevention, and support rely on our legitimate interest in operating a safe, reliable service (Article 6(1)(f)), balanced against your rights.

Login emails provide account access. Optional message and chat-request notifications can be disabled in settings; they are not marketing emails.

Who can see your data

Other signed-in players can see your first name, surname initial, age and birth year, gender, nationality, city, ITN ranking, and optional photo and profile link. Your full surname, exact birth date, and email are not displayed to them.

Messages and request introductions are visible to their participants. They are not end-to-end encrypted; authorized administrators may access them for support or moderation. Notification emails identify the other player but do not include message text. Blocking prevents contact and hides players from each other; it does not erase existing records.

Service providers and cookies

• Hetzner: hosts the app and its database in Germany.
• Resend and Gmail: Resend processes recipient addresses and email contents to deliver login and notification emails. Gmail handles support correspondence.
• Google reCAPTCHA: helps prevent registration abuse and may process IP addresses, device information, and interactions. See Google's privacy policy.
• OpenStreetMap Nominatim: receives city-search text from our server to return locations. See the OpenStreetMap Foundation privacy policy.
• jsDelivr, unpkg, and Tailwind CDN: supply scripts and styles directly to your browser and receive technical information such as your IP address.

Some providers may process data outside the European Economic Area; see their linked privacy notices for details about their data handling. Linked OTV profiles and PayPal donations are handled by those services under their own privacy notices.

NetzMate uses session and CSRF cookies for sign-in and security. reCAPTCHA may use additional cookies; this notice does not replace consent where legally required.

Retention and deletion

Account data is kept until you delete your account in settings. Deletion removes the account and associated chats, messages, and requests from the application's database, including those conversations for the other participant. It does not recall delivered emails or copies already received.

Backups currently have no expiry and may retain deleted data indefinitely. Technical-log retention periods have not yet been established. Support correspondence is not automatically erased when an account is deleted.

Your rights

Under the GDPR, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, and portability, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it without affecting earlier lawful processing.

Use the contact below to exercise your rights. We may need to verify your identity and normally respond within one month, explaining any lawful extension.

Controller and contact

The controller is Alberto Ursino, Villach, Austria. For privacy requests, contact netzmate.support@gmail.com.