Monarch (“Monarch”, “we”, “us”) is an app that introduces you to new friends nearby. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It applies to the Monarch app and to heymonarch.co.
If you have questions, email siddharth@heymonarch.co.
Information we collect
Information you give us
- Account information. Your email address and password if you create an account with email. Passwords are stored hashed; we can’t see them. If you use Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google, we receive the name and email address they share with us. With Apple, that may be a private relay address if you choose “Hide My Email”.
- Your profile. Your first name, up to nine photos (the first is your profile photo), the city shown on your profile, an optional bio, why you’re on Monarch, your interests, the things you’re looking to do, your favorites (such as movies, shows, books, music and food), your personality quiz answers, and your prompt answers. You can edit these at any time, and choose which optional parts are shown on your profile.
- Who you want to meet. Your preferred age range and maximum distance. These are private: they’re only used to choose your intros and are never shown to other members.
- Your birthday. We use it to confirm you’re 18 or older and, unless you hide it, to show your age. Other members never see your birthday.
- Approximate location. If you allow location access, we save your position rounded to about 1 km (0.6 miles), and the city name, to find people nearby. We only ask while you’re using the app, never in the background. If you don’t allow it, you can type your city instead.
- Intros and groups. The introductions we make for you and how you respond to them, and the groups you create or join.
- Messages. The messages you exchange with other members once you’ve both said hi.
- Conversations with Ember. What you tell Ember, our AI, and the facts about you that Ember saves from those conversations, along with whether you’ve allowed each fact to be mentioned in your intros.
- Safety reports and blocks. Who you block, and any reports you file, including the reason and any details you write.
- Messages to us. Anything you send when you contact support.
- Waitlist. If you sign up for the waitlist on our website, your name, phone number and email address. We only use them to tell you about Monarch, such as when it launches near you.
Information collected automatically
- Technical and security data. When you sign in or use the app, our service providers record basic technical information such as your IP address, device and app version, and timestamps. We use it to keep accounts secure, prevent abuse and fix problems.
We do not store your precise GPS location, and we don’t collect your contacts, your photo library (beyond the photos you choose to add), or advertising identifiers. Monarch has no ads and does not use third-party analytics or tracking.
How we use your information
- To create and run your account and sign you in.
- To find people near you and introduce you to them. This includes what you’ve told Ember, which helps us choose better intros.
- To write the note in each intro about why you might click. An intro only mentions something you told Ember if you’ve said it can.
- To let Ember reply to you and remember what you’ve shared.
- To deliver your messages and run groups.
- To confirm you’re old enough to use Monarch.
- To keep members safe: reviewing reports, enforcing our Terms of Use, and preventing fraud, spam and abuse.
- To respond when you contact us and to send you important notices about your account or these policies.
- To maintain, secure and improve Monarch.
We do not sell your personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Who can see your information
- Other members. People we introduce you to see your profile: your first name, photos and city, plus the optional parts you’ve chosen to show. It is never shown to anyone you have blocked or who has blocked you. Your email address, birthday, exact location, matching preferences and conversations with Ember are never shown to other members. A fact you told Ember can appear in an intro note only if you’ve allowed it.
- People you chat with. Your messages are visible to you and the member you’re chatting with.
- Groups. Groups you create, and the groups you join, can be seen by other members who can see those groups.
- Service providers. We use Supabase to host our database and handle sign-in. Ember is powered by Claude, an AI model from Anthropic: when you chat with Ember, your messages and the parts of your profile Ember needs to reply are sent to Anthropic to generate its response. Our providers process your data on our behalf and are not allowed to use it for their own purposes. If you use Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google, they handle that sign-in under Apple’s privacy policy or Google’s privacy policy.
- Legal reasons. We may disclose information if required by law, or if we believe in good faith it’s needed to protect someone’s safety, investigate fraud or abuse, or enforce our terms.
- Business changes. If Monarch is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that deal. We’ll tell you before that happens and before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
How long we keep it
We keep your information for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, we permanently delete your account, profile, photos, birthday, location, preferences, intros, the messages you sent, your conversations with Ember and the facts it saved, the groups you created, and your blocks. Safety reports you filed, or that were filed about you, are kept with your account removed from them, so we can keep the community safe and spot repeat abuse. Backups held by our providers are overwritten on a rolling basis. We keep waitlist signups until Monarch launches or you ask us to remove you, whichever comes first.
Your choices and rights
- Edit your profile, or choose what’s shown: Profile → Edit profile.
- Review what Ember knows: Chat → Ember → What Ember knows. You can change whether each fact can be mentioned in intros, or delete it.
- Location: turn location access off any time in your phone’s Settings → Monarch.
- Delete your account: Profile → Settings → Delete account. This is permanent.
- Leave the waitlist: email siddharth@heymonarch.co and we’ll remove you.
- Other requests: to get a copy of your data, correct something, or ask any privacy question, email siddharth@heymonarch.co. We’ll respond within 30 days.
Depending on where you live, for example in California, the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or port your personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to complain to your local data protection authority. We won’t treat you differently for exercising these rights. Where the law requires a legal basis for processing, we rely on performing our contract with you (running the service you signed up for), our legitimate interests (keeping Monarch safe and working), and your consent where we ask for it.
Security
Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and access is restricted by row-level security so each member can only read what they’re allowed to. Photos are stored privately and shared only through short-lived links with people you’ve been introduced to. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password you don’t use anywhere else.
Where your data is stored
Monarch’s data is stored in the United States. If you use Monarch from outside the US, your information will be transferred to and processed in the US.
Adults only
Monarch is only for people 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 18, we delete it. If you believe a minor is using Monarch, email us.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as Monarch changes. If we make important changes, we’ll tell you in the app before they take effect. The effective date at the top shows when it last changed.
Contact
Monarch
siddharth@heymonarch.co