This Privacy Policy explains how heated collects, uses, stores, and shares information when you use the heated mobile app, website, APIs, and related services.
1. Who we are
heated is a social nightlife and places app that helps people discover venues, save places, create or join plans, chat with friends, submit venue reports, and receive notifications. If you have questions about this policy or your data, contact us at hello@heatedapp.com.
2. Information we collect
Account information
When you create or use an account, we collect information such as your email address, username, display name, profile photo, bio, authentication provider, Apple Sign In identifier when used, email verification status, and account settings.
Authentication and security information
We process access tokens, refresh tokens, hashed refresh-token records, device identifiers used for sessions, password hashes, login timestamps, and security signals needed to protect accounts, prevent abuse, and keep you signed in. Passwords are stored as hashes, not plain text.
Location information
heated uses location to show nearby venues, map your area, calculate whether you are close enough to file a venue report, and help friends understand plan or venue context. Depending on your device settings, location may include approximate or precise latitude and longitude. You can disable location permission in your device settings, but core map and report features may not work.
Places, plans, and social activity
We collect and process venues you view, save, favorite, submit, add to plans, remove from plans, like, vote on, comment on, or report. We also process plan participants, plan invites, share links, plan visibility, plan expiration, and Who's out? requests.
Messages and group chats
We collect messages you send, conversation metadata, group chat names, participants, sent images, read receipts, message reports, and related timestamps. Messages are used to deliver chat features, plan invites, safety tools, and notifications.
Photos, camera, and media
If you use camera, photo, or microphone features, we process images and audio you choose to upload or capture, such as profile photos, report photos, chat images, and short venue voice updates. We store media so it can be shown in the app, moderated if reported, and delivered to intended recipients.
Venue submissions and reports
If you suggest venues or file venue reports, we collect submitted venue details, Google Place identifiers, notes to admins, report descriptions, optional photos or voice notes, location used for report eligibility, and review status.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, we collect push tokens and notification preferences. We use these to send plan invites, messages, friend requests, Who's out? requests, moderation-related messages, and other app notifications you choose to receive.
Device, usage, diagnostics, and logs
We may collect device type, operating system, app version, IP address, request logs, crash reports, performance data, error traces, and similar diagnostics. This helps us keep heated reliable, secure, and compatible with devices.
3. Information from third parties
We may receive information from Apple Sign In, Google Places, Mapbox, push notification services, email delivery providers, analytics or crash monitoring providers, hosting providers, and payment or platform providers if added later. For example, Google Places may provide venue names, categories, ratings, opening hours, addresses, and photos; Apple may provide your Apple identity token, Apple user identifier, and email/name on first login.
4. How we use information
- To create, secure, and maintain your account.
- To authenticate you with email/password, Apple Sign In, access tokens, and refresh tokens.
- To show nearby venues, venue details, favorites, friend heat, maps, search results, and recommendations.
- To let you create, join, share, leave, and manage plans.
- To deliver direct messages, group chats, images, read receipts, and chat info screens.
- To send push notifications and maintain an in-app notification center.
- To process venue reports, venue submissions, safety reports, user reports, and moderation decisions.
- To prevent spam, fraud, scraping, abuse, unauthorized access, and violations of our Terms.
- To debug, monitor, improve, and operate heated.
- To comply with legal obligations and enforce rights.
5. Legal bases where applicable
Where privacy laws such as the GDPR apply, we rely on one or more legal bases: performance of a contract to provide heated, legitimate interests in operating and securing the service, consent for permissions such as notifications or device access where required, and compliance with legal obligations.
6. How information is shared
We do not sell your personal information. We share information as needed to provide the app:
- With other users: your username, display name, profile photo, bio, reports, plan participation, plan comments, likes, votes, saved/friend activity, read receipts, and messages may be visible depending on the feature and privacy settings.
- With plan participants or invitees: plan owners, venues, comments, participants, invites, and shared-link previews may be visible to people with access to the plan or link.
- With service providers: hosting, database, storage, maps, places, email, push notification, crash monitoring, and security providers process data on our behalf.
- For safety and legal reasons: we may disclose information if necessary to investigate abuse, enforce terms, protect users, comply with law, or respond to valid legal requests.
- Business changes: if heated is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction subject to appropriate safeguards.
7. Public and semi-public areas
Some features are designed to be social. Profile information, venue reports, friend activity, plan activity, and shared plan previews may be visible to friends, plan participants, people with a shared link, admins, or other users depending on the feature. Do not post information you do not want others to see.
8. Cookies and website data
The public website may use basic technical data needed to serve pages, such as request logs and IP addresses. The current public legal and plan-share pages are not designed for behavioral advertising.
9. Data retention
We keep information for as long as needed to provide heated, maintain security, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Account data is generally kept while your account exists. Plan data may expire according to plan rules. Logs and security records may be kept for limited periods. Moderation records may be kept longer when needed for safety, abuse prevention, or legal reasons.
10. Account deletion
You can request or initiate account deletion in the app where available. Deletion removes or anonymizes account information where reasonably possible. Some information may remain if needed for legal, safety, fraud-prevention, backup, dispute-resolution, or abuse-prevention reasons. Messages, reports, or content visible to other users may be deleted, anonymized, or retained depending on context and technical requirements.
11. Your choices and rights
- You can edit profile information in the app.
- You can control location, camera, photo, and notification permissions in your device settings.
- You can manage notification categories and quiet hours in the app.
- You can leave plans, remove venues from your plans, and adjust plan visibility where available.
- You can block or report users/messages where available.
- Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, export, restrict, or object to processing of your personal information.
To make a privacy request, contact hello@heatedapp.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
12. International processing
heated and its service providers may process information in countries other than where you live. When required, we use appropriate safeguards for international transfers.
13. Security
We use technical and organizational safeguards such as encrypted transport, hashed passwords, token-based sessions, access controls, rate limits, monitoring, and provider security controls. No service is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
14. Children
heated is not intended for children. Because the app is focused on nightlife and social plans, you must be at least 18 years old or the age of legal majority in your location, whichever is higher, to use heated. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
15. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy as heated changes or as legal requirements evolve. We will update the date above and, when changes are material, provide additional notice where appropriate.
16. Contact
Questions or requests: hello@heatedapp.com.