Last Modified: 29 April 2025

Ruck Social LTD (“Ruck”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Respect for your dignity and autonomy is one of the founding principles of our app, and this privacy policy reflects that commitment.

Our Approach to Privacy

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, store, use, and share data that identifies or is associated with you (“personal information”) when you use our app, website, or related services (“Services”).

Ruck will never sell your personal information. We minimize data collection and only use your information to provide and improve the Services in ways that serve your interests, not exploit them.

About Us

Ruck Social LTD (company no. 16103311) is the controller of your personal information.

Registered Address: 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ

Contact Email: contact@ruck.social

Personal Information We Collect and Why

We collect limited categories of personal information necessary to provide you with the Services.

You provide information when you:

• Download and sign up for the app.

• Create or update your profile.

• Communicate with other users or with us.

• Participate in surveys or events (optional).

This may include:

• Basic contact details (email address).

• Profile details (username, date of birth, gender, orientation, photos).

• Communications with other members.

• Limited technical data (such as device type and operating system).

Special category data (such as information about your sexual orientation or gender identity) is only collected if you voluntarily choose to provide it. It is protected with heightened safeguards and never used for profiling, targeted advertising, or sold.

Some data, such as your email address and basic profile information, may be linked to your account to provide core functionality of the Services. This data is not shared with third parties for marketing purposes.

How We Use Your Information

We only use your information:

• To provide and maintain the Services.

• To allow discovery and communication between users.

• To ensure security, verification, and prevent fraudulent accounts.

• To improve the user experience (e.g. bug fixing, app development).

• To contact you about changes to services, privacy notices, or important updates.

We do not use your data for targeted advertising based on personal traits. Any advertising in the app will be contextual, non-invasive, and optional for premium subscribers.

Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal information only where we have a legal basis to do so, including to perform our contract with you (i.e., providing the Services), with your consent, or where it is necessary for our legitimate interests in maintaining and improving the Services.

Two-Step SMS Authentication

For security, we may require two-step authentication using your phone number.

Third-party providers (such as Google LLC.) may process your number for delivery of authentication codes only. We limit retention to 365 days and only use secure providers.

Content Moderation and Messaging

To help maintain a respectful and safe environment, Ruck uses limited automated moderation and trusted third-party providers.

Profile images:

We use automated image moderation technology provided by Google Cloud Vision to help detect and prevent the upload of adult or inappropriate content in public profile images. When you upload a public profile photo, the image is temporarily analyzed by Google’s system to detect restricted content. If the image is identified as containing adult or explicit material, it is automatically deleted and not made available to other users. We do not use this analysis for any other purpose, and images are not stored by Google beyond what is necessary to perform the moderation check.

Media shared in private albums and direct messages is not routinely analyzed or moderated using automated tools. However, we may review and remove content if it is reported, suspected to breach our Terms of Service, or required by law.

Messaging:

We use Stream Chat, provided by Stream.io, Inc., to deliver in-app messaging and related communication features. Stream processes message content and associated metadata (such as timestamps and sender information) solely to operate and maintain the chat service, enable reporting and moderation tools, and ensure reliability.

Message data is encrypted in transit and stored securely on servers managed by Stream, which operates within Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres certified under ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II. Stream is compliant with GDPR, CCPA and other major privacy frameworks.

Both Ruck and Stream implement strict technical and organizational measures to protect message confidentiality and integrity. We do not share message content with any third parties for marketing or analytics purposes.

Age Verification (where required)

In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom under the Online Safety Act 2023, we are required to carry out age verification to ensure that users meet the minimum age requirement to access our Services.

This process may involve capturing and processing an image of your face and, when required, an image and information from an identity document used for verification. Image capture is performed using your device’s camera.

The verification process is carried out by UAB Ondato, a trusted identity verification partner, on behalf of Ruck Social Ltd. In this processing, Ruck Social Ltd acts as the Data Controller (registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration number ZC004873), and UAB Ondato acts as the Data Processor, processing data on our behalf.

According to our agreement, UAB Ondato receives, processes, and securely deletes your personal data immediately after the verification process is completed. As a result, UAB Ondato provides only the verification status (for example: completed, in progress, or failed). During the verification process, Ruck Social Ltd does not receive or store any of your personal data used for verification, only the verification result.

If you have questions about this process, please contact us at contact@ruck.social.

Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary:

• Your account data is deleted within 1 day (24 hours) of account termination unless retention is legally required.

• Anonymous, non-personal records (such as transaction logs) may be retained for longer to protect service integrity.

• If there are legal or safety concerns, we may retain relevant data longer but with strict access controls.

Account Deletion

You can request deletion of your account directly through the app or by contacting us at contact@ruck.social. Once requested, your account data will be deleted within 24 hours unless legal retention obligations apply.

Who We Share Information With

We only share personal information where necessary, such as:

• Trusted service providers (e.g. cloud storage, authentication services) under strict confidentiality agreements.

• Regulators or legal authorities, if required by law.

• In exceptional cases to protect user safety or prevent harm.

We do not sell your information or share it with advertisers, brokers, or data monetization companies.

We use trusted third-party service providers to support the operation of our Services, including but not limited to cloud hosting (e.g., Google Cloud), authentication and two-factor authentication (e.g., Firebase/Google LLC,), and analytics providers (e.g., Google Analytics with anonymized IP settings). These providers are under strict contractual obligations to handle your personal information securely and only as instructed by Ruck.

International Data Transfers

If your personal information is transferred outside of the UK/EEA, we ensure it is protected with approved safeguards (such as Standard Contractual Clauses).

Our servers are hosted in secure facilities located in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United States.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.

• Request portability of your data.

• Correct inaccurate or incomplete data.

• Request deletion of your data (“right to be forgotten”).

• Restrict or object to certain uses of your data.

• Withdraw your consent at any time (where consent applies).

You can exercise your rights by contacting us at contact@ruck.social

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local Data Protection Authority (e.g. ICO in the UK).

Marketing

We will only send you marketing communications if you consent. You can withdraw consent or opt-out at any time via an unsubscribe link in emails. We will never sell or share your information for marketing by third parties.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

On our website, we use minimal cookies (Google Analytics with anonymized IP) to understand how visitors use the site.

In the app, we collect anonymized usage data (device type, OS version, app usage patterns) using Google Analytics for Firebase to improve performance and user experience.

Children

Ruck is only for users aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from individuals under 18. If you believe we have data about a minor, contact us immediately at contact@ruck.social

Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy occasionally. Any material changes will be posted clearly on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by email or through the app.

Latest revision: 29 April 2025

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this policy or your personal information, please contact:

• Ruck Social LTD

• Email: contact@ruck.social

• Registered Address: 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ