The short version
Location only when you use it
Stargaze uses your location to help you find people nearby, only while you're using it. It never follows you in the background.
No ads, no trackers
No adverts, no analytics, nothing that follows you around the web. We never sell your data.
Your details stay yours
Nobody can search for you or browse profiles, and your contact details go only to people you choose.
Google only learns it's you
Sign in with Google and we receive an ID that says it's you. No email, name or picture.
Gone when you say
Delete your account in Settings and everything in it goes. When the beta ends, we delete it all anyway.
Kept in London
Your data lives on servers in London, and only the few companies that help run Stargaze handle it.
Who runs Stargaze
Stargaze is run by Ashley Rose in the United Kingdom. Under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), Ashley Rose is the controller: the one responsible for your data.
Questions or a copy of your data: email contact@stargaze.to.
What we keep, and why
Only what Stargaze needs to work, and nothing we don't use.
Your account
Your username and a scrambled copy of your password that we can't read, or the ID Google gives us if you sign in with Google. When you joined, which invitation you used, and a sign-in for each device with when it was last used.
Why: So you can sign in, and so only invited testers get in.
Your profile
Your first and last name, your photo (shrunk to 1,024 pixels), your birthday, your bio and the tags you pick.
Why: So the people you meet know who to look for. Your birthday also checks you're 18 or over.
Your contact details
The phone numbers, email addresses and social accounts you add.
Why: So you can swap details with someone you've met, when you both agree.
Your location
Location details from your device while you use Stargaze, and anything you write about where you are.
Why: To help you find and match with people nearby, and to spot locations that can't be real.
Your activity
What you do on Stargaze, such as who you match and connect with, contact requests, and who you've blocked.
Why: So Stargaze can show you the people you've met and keep your blocks in place.
Notifications
If you turn notifications on, your browser gives us an address to send them to.
Why: To tell you when something happens while Stargaze is closed.
Your email, if you add one
An email address you can add, change or remove in Settings. It's never on your profile.
Why: To ask about your feedback, and now and then to tell you Stargaze news, like a new beta. Nobody else sees it.
Feedback you send
What you write when you send us feedback. If you delete your account, it stays, but without your name or anything else that says it was you.
Why: To make Stargaze better.
Some tags are sensitive. Tags about your sexuality or religion are special under the law. They're optional: adding one means you agree to it being kept and shown to people who can see your profile, and removing it takes it away.
On your device
The app keeps a few things in your browser's storage so it works smoothly: your sign-in, a sign-up you haven't finished, your day or night theme, and which celebrations you've already seen. They stay on your device and none of them track you. Stargaze sets no cookies.
Your browser asks before it shares your location or shows notifications, and you can change your mind in its settings at any time.
Who sees what
Nobody can search for you or browse profiles. People only see you when you choose to be seen, and you decide how much each of them gets.
- People nearby on Stargaze
- Your profile (name, birthday, photo, bio and tags), only when you choose to be seen.
- People you connect with
- Your profile, for as long as you're connected. Where to find you and your contact details, only when you choose to share them.
- People you block
- Nothing. You disappear from each other.
- Ashley Rose
- Accounts and what's in them, to run the beta and to help when something goes wrong.
Who else handles it
A few companies help run Stargaze. They only handle your data to do that job for us.
- Fly.ioRuns the Stargaze server and keeps profile photos, in London.
- NeonHosts the database, on Amazon Web Services in London.
- GoogleSigns you in, only if you choose Continue with Google. Google's privacy policy covers what it does.
- Your browser's push serviceGoogle, Mozilla or Apple delivers notifications. Each one is encrypted, so only your browser can read it.
Fly.io and Neon are American companies. Your data is kept in London, but their staff may reach it from abroad to keep things running, under their data processing agreements and the safeguards UK law requires.
Map data comes from OpenStreetMap and is kept on our own server, so your location is never sent anywhere else to look things up. We never sell your data or share it with advertisers.
Our reasons in law
To give you what you signed up for
Your account, profile, location while you use Stargaze, and your activity. It can't work without them.
Because you agreed
Sensitive tags, notifications, your email and the contact details you choose to share. You can take any of these back in the app at any time.
To keep Stargaze safe
Limiting repeated sign-in and invitation attempts, and blocks.
How long we keep it
We keep your data while your account exists. Stargaze is a beta, so accounts may be deleted during it, and when the beta ends we delete everything.
When your account is deleted, everything in it leaves the live database at once: your profile, photo, contact details, locations and activity. Backups roll over within about a week. A few records keep no trace of who you were: feedback you sent stays without your name, and an invitation still counts the place you used.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- Send you a copy of your data
- Correct it (you can change most of it in the app)
- Delete it (or do it yourself: Settings → Delete account)
- Give it to you in a format you can take elsewhere
- Stop or limit how we use it
- Withdraw a consent you gave
Email contact@stargaze.to and we'll reply within a month. If you're unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
18 and over
Stargaze is for people aged 18 and over. Sign-up checks your birthday, and we don't knowingly keep data about anyone younger. If you think someone under 18 is using Stargaze, tell us and we'll delete their account.
If this page changes
If what we keep or why changes, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If it's a big change, the app will tell you before it takes effect.