Privacy Policy
Last updated September 29, 2026. Replaces the notice dated November 14, 2022.
This notice explains what Socialight, LLC ("Socialight", "we", "us") collects when you use the Socialight mobile app, the socialight.app website, and the text messages we send on behalf of our users (together, the "Service"), why we collect it, and the choices you have. Questions: privacy@socialight.app.
1. Who we are
Socialight, LLC is a Connecticut limited liability company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, United States. We are the controller of the personal information described here.
2. What we collect
- Your phone number. It is your account. We verify it with a one-time code sent by SMS. On our servers it is stored encrypted, and lookups use a keyed hash rather than the number itself.
- An optional display name. Only if you set one; it is shown only on your contact card when you choose to attach it.
- Your contacts, to find friends. With your permission the app reads your address book on your phone to show names and to let you choose recipients. To tell you which contacts already use Socialight, the app sends their phone numbers to our servers in a rate-limited batch; we keep only a hashed record of which numbers you looked up, never a copy of your address book, and we never contact anyone from it unless you invite them.
- What you send. The text of an invitation, any photo, video or voice note you attach, a place you pick, who you sent it to, and replies. If you turn on live location for an invitation, your position is sent every few seconds only to the people who received that invitation, only while the invitation is active, and only until you stop it.
- Device and push data. A push-notification token for your device, the app version, and the platform, so we can deliver notifications.
- Coarse location for nearby features (optional). If you allow location access, a position rounded to about one kilometre is stored when you open the app and refreshed while you use it. It serves two things only: your own "nearby" radius in settings, and a sender's choice to limit a signal to people nearby. It is never shown to anyone, and people whose location we do not know still receive what was sent to them.
- Technical logs. Standard server logs (timestamps, request identifiers, error information). Phone numbers and message contents are redacted from logs.
- Feedback you send us. If you use "Send feedback" in the app, we keep what you wrote together with the app version and build, platform and OS version, device model, language and time zone, so we can reproduce what you describe. Never your phone number, contacts or messages.
3. How we use it
To run the Service: sign you in, deliver invitations and replies to the people you chose, show who's in, send the notifications and text messages described below, apply your preferences (snooze, blocked numbers, nearby radius), prevent abuse (rate limits, spam and fraud detection), and fix problems. We do not sell personal information, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not build profiles for marketing.
4. Text messages (SMS)
Socialight sends two kinds of text message:
- Sign-in codes to your own number when you sign in, sent through our provider's verification service.
- Invitations to people who don't have the app. When a Socialight user invites someone who isn't on Socialight, we send that person one text from +1 (855) 259-4391 containing the invitation, the inviter's phone number, a private link to view and reply on socialight.app, and the words "Reply STOP to opt out". Nobody is texted unless a specific user who already has their number invited them; there is no marketing and no recurring program. Frequency depends entirely on how often people invite you, and is capped: the same sender can reach you at most three times in seven days, and you can receive at most ten Socialight texts per day.
Opting out. Reply STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT) to any message and we will never text that number again unless you reply START. Reply HELP for help. The link in every invitation also offers "Stop texts from this sender" to mute one person. Message and data rates may apply.
No sharing of SMS consent. Phone numbers collected for text messaging, and any consent or opt-in information relating to text messaging, are not sold, rented, or shared with third parties or affiliates for their marketing purposes, and are used solely to send the messages described here.
5. Who sees what
- People you invite see your phone number (so they know who invited them), your message, attachments, place, and live location if you turned it on. If you let them pass the invitation on, people further down the chain see your message but not your number unless they already have it in their own contacts or you attach your contact card.
- The person who invited you sees that you replied. Other recipients can see how many people are in and the names of people they already know; you can hide yourself from them.
- Service providers that process data for us under contract: Twilio (SMS delivery and sign-in codes), Google Firebase (push notifications), Sentry (crash diagnostics: device model, OS and app version with the technical trace of a crash — never phone numbers, contacts or message content), and our cloud hosting, database and file-storage providers. They may not use your information for anything else.
- Legal. We disclose information when the law requires it, to respond to valid legal process, or to protect the safety of our users. We may place a legal hold that pauses deletion of specific records when a valid preservation request or report requires it.
6. How long we keep it
Each kind of data has a fixed retention period. Nothing is kept "just in case".
| What | Kept for | Then |
|---|---|---|
| An invitation and everything attached to it: recipients, replies, attachments, live-location history, private links, and our provider's copy of the text messages | 30 days after the invitation ends (expiry or cancellation) | Permanently deleted from our database, our file storage and our text-message provider |
| Your account: phone number, name, preferences, blocked numbers | Until you delete your account (Settings → Delete my account) | Deleted immediately, together with everything keyed to it, including texts you received |
| The list of your contacts we keep to name people to you | Replaced on every sync; forgotten 90 days after your last sync | Removed |
| Counters of how many numbers you looked up for friend-finding | About two months | Expire on their own |
| Your "stop texting me" choices | Until you text START or ask us | Kept so we honour them |
| Server logs (no phone numbers, message text or private links) | 30 days | Rolled off by our hosting provider |
| Crash diagnostics (device model, OS, app version, technical trace — no phone numbers, contacts or message content) | 90 days | Expire at our crash-reporting provider |
| Feedback you sent us (your words plus app version, platform, device model, language, time zone) | 1 year | Deleted by us; sooner if you delete your account |
| Database backups | Our provider's point-in-time window (a few days) | Roll off automatically |
| Records under a legal hold | For the duration of the hold | Then the normal periods apply |
7. Your rights and choices
You can review and change your information in the app, delete your account at any time (Settings → Account), revoke contacts or location permissions in your phone's settings, stop text messages as described above, and block any sender. Depending on where you live (for example the EU/UK under the GDPR, or California under the CCPA/CPRA) you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or port your personal information, to restrict or object to processing, and to complain to a supervisory authority. To exercise any right, email privacy@socialight.app; we will verify the request using your phone number and respond within the time the law allows. We do not discriminate against you for exercising your rights, and we do not sell or "share" personal information as those terms are defined in California law.
8. Children
Socialight is for people 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18; if you believe we have, contact us and we will delete it.
9. Security
Data is encrypted in transit; phone numbers are encrypted at rest and looked up only by keyed hash; private links are unguessable and expire with the invitation; access to production systems is limited and logged. No method is perfect, so please keep your phone and sign-in codes to yourself.
10. International transfers
We operate from the United States and our providers may process data there. Where required, transfers are covered by appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.
11. Changes
We will post updates here with a new "last updated" date and, for material changes, notify you in the app.
12. Contact
Socialight, LLC, Norwalk, Connecticut, USA · privacy@socialight.app · +1 (855) 259-4391