Privacy Policy

Samanvaya is a private matrimonial introduction service. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, who can see it, how long we keep it, and what choices and rights you have. It applies to our website and services. We handle your information under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and other laws that apply.

For this policy, Samanvaya is the “data fiduciary”: we decide why and how your information is used.

Information on a matrimonial profile can be very personal. We collect only what the service needs, we keep contact details away from other members, and we do not sell your information. Ever.

Information you give us:

• Account: your email address and a password (stored only as a one-way hash), or your Google account’s email and basic profile if you sign in with Google.
• Profile: who the profile is for, your name, date of birth, gender, height, marital status, children and plans for children, diet, smoking and alcohol habits, languages, where you live and where you are from, citizenship, residence status, religion, community, caste, gotra, time and place of birth and horoscope details (optional), marriage plans (when you would like to marry, living with parents, a working spouse), education and field of study, graduation year, employer and work location, employment, job title, industry, annual income range, interests, what you write about yourself, what you are looking for, up to three short “prompt” answers, and your partner preferences.
• Family details: your parents’ names and occupations, number of siblings and similar details. These are about other people, so please share only what your family is comfortable with.
• Photos you upload.
• Private contact details: email, phone numbers, WhatsApp number, contact notes and links to your social media profiles.
• Messages you send to members you have connected with, and the interests, shortlists, blocks and reports you make.
• Requests you send us through Contact us, for example to close your account or change a locked detail.
• Your agreements: a record of the terms and policies you accepted, when, and whether you agreed to marketing email.

Information we create or collect as you use the service: which profiles you looked at (so members can see their visitors; a Premium member who browses privately is shown to Free members only as “a Premium member”, but Premium members still see the name), when you were last active, review decisions and notes, and basic technical information such as your device type and network address in our security logs. We use a small number of cookies to keep you signed in (see “Cookies”).

Some of this is sensitive (religion, caste, marital history, income, family). We collect it because you give it to us to make a profile, and we use it only as this policy describes.

• to create your profile, review it, and show it to approved members according to your settings;
• to suggest and explain matches, using the preferences you set;
• to let members send interests, message, shortlist, block and report;
• to verify that you are a real adult, using your contact details and social links;
• to keep the service safe: catching fake profiles, scams, abuse and unsafe messages (messages are checked automatically against our message rules before they are sent), and investigating reports;
• to contact you about your account, safety and the service (marketing email only if you agree);
• to answer your requests, and to meet our legal duties.

We do not use your information for advertising, we do not show ads, and we do not build profiles of you for anyone else.

Our basis for this is mainly your consent, which you give when you create an account and fill in each part of your profile, and the other lawful uses the law allows (such as meeting a legal duty or responding to an emergency). You can withdraw consent at any time (see “Your rights”). If you withdraw consent for something we need to run your profile, we may have to close the profile.

This is the most important part. “Approved members” means people whose own profile has been reviewed and approved. Nothing on Samanvaya is public, and search engines cannot find profiles.

Hidden or blocked profiles do not appear to the people they are hidden from. If you hide your profile, you disappear from discovery, and conversations you already have stay available.

A small team reviews profiles, photos and reports. Staff see what they need for their job, such as the profile text and photos waiting for review, your contact details for verification, and reports. Staff actions, such as approving, rejecting or suspending a profile, are recorded. Approvals made by team members are confirmed by the owner before a profile goes live.

We do not read your private messages as a matter of routine. Authorised staff can see the messages in a conversation only when a report has been made that involves it. Messages are checked by automatic rules before they are sent (for members on the Free plan, for numbers, links, social media names and abusive language, and for members on Premium, who may include emoji, numbers, links and social media names, for abusive and sexual language), and those checks do not store or keep anything beyond the message itself. When you are on Premium, the system reads your plan to decide which rules apply to your messages. A short note you add to an interest is checked by the same rules and is visible to the person you send it to. Numbers, links and names you choose to send, such as a phone number or a social media name, are visible to the person you send them to, and Samanvaya does not control what they do with them.

Who can see your activity. Members on Premium can see which members saved their profile to a shortlist, and the full list of visitors. Neither list appears for a member who turns on private browsing in Settings. Premium members can also filter by whether someone was active in the last week or month. That filter shows only whether you were recently active, never the time itself. Your contact details are never shown to anyone.

ID check. A member can choose to verify their identity with a government ID and a selfie. This is done on the secure page of our verification partner (Didit, or Stripe Identity), not on our site. We never receive the document or the images, only the partner’s result (passed, failed or waiting) and the date. A passed check shows an “ID verified” badge on the member’s profile and cards. The partner handles the document under its own privacy terms.

Writing help and email. While you build your profile, each long text box can be written for you once from a few words you give us, and Premium members can have a text rewritten once every three days. Only the words you typed and a few plain facts from your profile (such as your job, city and interests, never your name or contact details) are sent to the AI services named in this policy. We check what comes back against our own rules, and you decide whether to use it. We may email you about an interest, an answer, or a decision on your profile when you have been away for a while; you can switch these off in Settings.

Notifications and extra interests. If you turn on notifications, your browser gives us an address for that device, and we store it with two keys the browser provides so we can send alerts. An alert names who it is about and never shows the text of a message. You can turn off the device, or any kind of alert, in Settings, and a device that stops accepting alerts is removed. Payments for extra interests and Premium are handled by Stripe on its own page, and we keep only the amount, the date, the pack or length bought and a receipt link. If you set quiet hours, we keep the two hours you choose and your time zone so alerts can wait overnight. If an interest has waited five days for your answer, we send you one reminder about it.

Family opinions, hidden profiles and birth details. A parent who opens a family link can leave a vote and a short comment on each person shared. The comment is checked by the same rules as a message, is stored with the link, and is shown only to the member who made it. When a member marks someone “Not for me”, that person is only hidden from that member’s own Matches and is never told. A member’s time and place of birth are used to work out their nakshatra and rashi, and are shown to others only as the horoscope choice on their profile allows. Our team can keep private notes and tags on a member, such as “verified by call”, that the member does not see. The team can post a notice at the top of the app for all members.

Together page, success stories and rewards. Two members who are connected can open a private page that compares what each has already filled in on their profile, with ten light questions answered by tapping fixed choices, and a checklist before meeting. Answers are shown to the other person only once both have answered. A member who writes a success story sends it to our team first, and it is shown on the public Stories page only if approved, with first names only. Completing a profile fully earns seven days of Premium once. When a member says they have found someone, their profile is hidden and their chats are closed, and the people affected are told only a kind, ready-made line, never who or why.

Reference check. A member can ask a relative or friend to confirm the basics about them. The person gets a private link, needs no account, and sees only the member’s name, age, education, work and city. We keep their name as the member typed it and their answers. Other members see only that a reference was confirmed, never the answers. The member can remove a request at any time.

Premium extras that share information. A Premium member can upload a horoscope chart. A person on our team checks each file, and only the members they are connected with can open it. A Premium member can also create a private family link. It lets a parent look, without an account, at the people the member chose from their shortlist. Each person appears as the member sees them when they open that profile: the same photos and sections, and family details only if the two are connected. It never shows contact details, needs a PIN, expires, and can be switched off at any time. A member can opt out of appearing in family links in Settings. A printable biodata is made from the member’s own profile, and they choose what it includes.

AI helpers you ask for. Three features use the same AI services, and only when you press their button. “Help me polish this” sends the “about” text you have typed. “Ideas” in a new chat sends the interests, city, work and a short excerpt of the public text on your profile and the other member’s, with no names beyond a first name. Our team’s “suggest a reply” sends one member request. Nothing is changed for you: you choose whether to use a suggestion, and a person on our team decides everything about your account.

AI-assisted safety checks. After a message is sent, or when profile text is saved, a computer model may read that text and flag it for a person to review if it looks like a scam, harassment or sharing contact details. The text is sent to a service that runs the model (currently Groq, Ollama Cloud, OpenRouter, Google Gemini and NVIDIA, tried in that order, and we may change them). Some free services may log what they receive or use it to improve their products, so we send only the text itself, with no name, email, phone number or account details. If photo checks are ever switched on, the picture alone is sent too. The model cannot hide, remove or block anything: a flag only asks a person on our team to look, and people make every decision.

Distance and location. When you save your city, we send only the city name to a free place-search service (Open-Meteo) to find the middle of that city, and we keep that point on your profile. It is never shown to anyone and is not your address. If you choose “Use my current location” on Matches, your browser asks your permission and sends your position to us. We round it to about 5 km before keeping it, use it for two days, and you can stop at any time to go back to your city. Other members never see a point or a map. They see only a rounded distance, such as “about 30 km away”, and can filter by distance.

Values quiz and invites. The values quiz stores your twelve answers privately. Other members cannot read them: they see only a fit percentage and the topics, in words, where you may differ, and only if both of you took the quiz. If you invite a friend with your link, we record who invited whom so both of you can receive the free Premium days, which are added 3 days after the friend’s profile is approved. To stop one person collecting rewards with several accounts, when you create a profile or open your invite page we keep a scrambled fingerprint of your network and browser (we cannot turn it back into an address). It is used only for this check and is removed after 90 days.

Private notes. You can add a label and a short note to any profile you can see, to help you compare people. Only you can read them. The person they are about, other members and our team cannot, and they are deleted when you or that person leaves.

Staff access log. Whenever a member of our team opens your private details (contact details, a verification selfie or a horoscope chart), we record who and when, and the owner of the service can review that record.

Security and error tools. To stop automated sign-ups and password guessing we use Cloudflare Turnstile on some forms (it may ask your browser to prove it is not a bot), and we count failed sign-in attempts for a short time. To find and fix faults we use Sentry, which receives technical error reports with your member ID only, and with cookies, headers and form contents removed.

We do not sell or rent your information. We share it only with:

• Service providers who run parts of Samanvaya for us under contract: our database, sign-in and file storage provider (Supabase), our website hosting provider, the AI services that run our safety checks, searches and helpers (currently Groq, Ollama Cloud, OpenRouter, Google Gemini and NVIDIA), and Google if you choose “Continue with Google”. We may add an email delivery provider to send you account and notification emails. They may only use your information to provide their service to us.
• Authorities, where the law requires it or where we believe it is needed to prevent serious harm, and only the information needed.
• A successor, if Samanvaya is ever sold or merged, who must honour this policy and tell you first.

Other members see your profile only as described in “Who can see what”. Once a member has seen something you shared with them, we cannot make them forget it, so share carefully.

Our providers may store and process information in data centres outside India. We choose providers that protect information to a high standard and that are bound by contract to keep it secure. We transfer information outside India only as the law allows.

We keep your information while your account is open. When you ask us to close your account, we delete your profile, photos, contact details, interests, shortlists, visits and messages. We aim to finish within 30 days. A few limited records may stay for longer where the law requires it or where it is needed to keep others safe, for example a record that an account was removed for abuse, so that the same person cannot come straight back. Backups are overwritten on a regular cycle.

If you are found to be under 18, we delete the registration straight away. Profiles that are never completed or submitted may be deleted after a long period of inactivity, and we will tell you before we do.

Time limits we apply automatically. An account that has not been signed in to for 23 months is sent an email warning, and is deleted 30 days later if it is still not used. We do not delete an account unless that warning was sent. A reference link nobody answered is removed 30 days after it expires, and an answered one after 12 months (the “Reference confirmed” label then ends and you can ask again). A family link is removed 30 days after it expires or you switch it off. Records of who viewed which profile are kept for 12 months, the automatic safety-check logs for 90 days, and sign-in attempt counters for one day, and the invite check fingerprints for 90 days. Photos you upload are re-saved without the hidden data phones add (such as location and device model), and the original is not kept.

• Connections to Samanvaya are encrypted, and passwords are stored only as one-way hashes. Passwords must be at least 12 characters, mixed, not common, and not found in known data breaches (we check this without sending your password anywhere: only a short, anonymous fragment of its fingerprint).
• If you turn on two-step sign-in you can make a recovery card of ten one-time codes. We store only scrambled versions of them (not the codes themselves), show the codes once, and delete the card when you turn two-step off or use a code.
• You can add two-step sign-in with an authenticator app, and passkeys that let you sign in with your fingerprint, face or screen lock. Staff accounts must use two-step sign-in, and the database refuses staff powers to anyone who has not completed it.
• Repeated wrong sign-in attempts, sign-ups, password resets, messages and interests are rate limited, to stop guessing and flooding.
• Access to every piece of data is limited by rules in the database itself, so that members can read only what they are allowed to, whatever the website does.
• Photos are kept in private storage and shown through short-lived links, not public addresses.
• Contact details and social links are readable only by you and our verification team.
• Staff accounts are limited to what each person needs, and their actions are recorded.

No service can be perfectly secure. Please use a strong, unique password, do not share it, and tell us if you think your account has been misused. If we learn of a breach that affects you, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

You have the right to:

• see the information we hold about you, and download a copy yourself at any time from Settings (“Download your data”), or ask us for the rest;
• correct it. Most details you can edit yourself. Your name, date of birth, gender, who the profile is for, religion and caste are locked to keep profiles trustworthy, so ask us through Contact us and we will correct them (we may ask for proof);
• delete it, by asking us to close your account. Accounts are closed only by our team after you ask, so that nobody can delete yours by mistake or by taking over your session;
• withdraw your consent, for example to marketing email (Settings, Email), or to the whole service by closing your account;
• nominate another person to exercise these rights for you if you cannot, as the law allows; and
• complain about how we handle your information.

Members can write to us through Settings, then Contact us, where a person on our team reads every request. We aim to answer within 30 days, and sooner for urgent safety matters.

If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India, or to the data protection authority where you live. We would like the chance to put it right first.

Samanvaya is only for adults aged 18 and over, and we do not knowingly collect information about anyone younger. If you believe a child has joined, please report the profile and we will remove it.

We use only the cookies and browser storage that Samanvaya needs to work: they keep you signed in and keep your session secure, and remember small things like which chat windows you have open and that you have seen the cookie notice. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies, and we do not use third-party analytics that follow you around. If we ever add analytics, we will say so here first and ask where the law requires it.

We send account and safety messages, such as email verification, password reset and important notices. Optional news and offers are sent only if you agree, and you can change that at any time in Settings. Notifications you see inside Samanvaya (bell icon, messages) are part of the service. Emails are sent through an email delivery provider (Resend), which receives the address and the text of the message.

We will update this policy when what we do changes. We will change the date above and, when the change matters to you, tell you in the service or by email before it takes effect.

Members can write to us through Settings, then Contact us, where a person on our team reads every request.

Complaints about how your information is handled are read by a named person in our team who will reply to you. The name and contact details of our grievance contact will be shown here before launch.