Legal
Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 7, 2026
This policy explains how your personal data is processed when you use the Hemdem website, web app and mobile apps (together, the "Service"). Users in Türkiye should also read the KVKK Disclosure Notice.
1. Who runs the Service?
Hemdem is not a company; it is developed and operated by Bayram Enes Yılmaz, an individual software developer, who is the data controller for your personal data. For any privacy question or request, contact bayramenesyilmaz@hotmail.com or use the form on the Contact page.
2. Data we collect
• Account data: email address and password (the password is stored hashed by our authentication provider); anonymous accounts provide no email. • Profile data: name or nickname, date of birth, gender, the gender you'd like to meet, country, native language, bio, profile photos or the character avatar you pick, social links; and, if you choose to fill them in, your Kismet details (relationship goal, interests, smoking/drinking, wanting children). • Verification data: the photo you take with your camera and submit for profile verification. • Content: your test answers, tests you create, posts, comments, likes, 24-hour statuses and trails (text/photo), your messages and photos sent in chat (including view-once photos). • Location: if you allow it, your approximate location and the location of a trail when you leave one (see section 3). • Usage data: last seen time, Discover decisions (like/pass), profile views, your favorites, trivia quiz results, coin and point activity, notification preferences. • Reports and requests: the reports/requests you send and, when you report a message, a quote of that message and its photo. • Device data: your device's push notification token, basic technical logs (IP address, browser/device info) and an advertising identifier for showing ads (section 7).
3. Location data
• Location permission is optional and only used while the app is open; no location is collected in the background. • For the distance filter in Discover, your approximate location (coordinates rounded to about 1 km) is stored on your profile. Other users never see your location or address, only an approximate distance (km). • When you leave a trail in Trails, the coordinates of the spot where you left it are saved with the trail, and the trail is visible to other users at that spot on the map for 24 hours. We therefore recommend not leaving trails at places that could identify you, like your home or workplace; you can delete a trail anytime. • You can turn off location permission in your device settings at any time; the distance filter and leaving trails then won't work, but the rest of the app keeps working. • Your location is never sold or sent to ad networks (ad providers may estimate a general region from your IP address).
4. Why we process data
To create and manage your account; calculate similarity percentages on test results; provide Discover, matching, Kismet Abla suggestions and messaging; send notifications; run the distance filter and the Trails map; process coins and Premium; show ads; keep the Service safe, prevent fake accounts and abuse, review reports; and meet legal obligations.
5. Legal bases
Performance of a contract (providing the Service), legitimate interests (security, abuse prevention, improving the Service), legal obligations, and consent (optional processing such as location, push notifications and personalized ads). You can withdraw consent at any time in your device/browser settings or in the app.
6. What others can see
Your profile (name/nickname, age, gender, country, bio, photos, badges), posts, statuses, trails (including the spot where they were left) and the tests you create are visible to other users. Your profile location only appears as an approximate distance. Your posts and statuses are also visible, read-only, to visitors browsing the site without an account (they are not indexed by search engines); in Discover, visitors without an account see only your first name, age, country and a blurred photo. Messages are visible only to the people in the chat; when a message or photo is reported, the developer may view it to assess the report. A view-once photo can be opened only once by the recipient, but we can't prevent screenshots on every device.
7. Advertising
Ads are shown so the Service can stay free: Google AdSense on the web and Google AdMob in the mobile app. Google and its partners may use cookies, your device's advertising ID (Android advertising ID / iOS IDFA), IP address and device information to show, personalize, frequency-cap and measure ads. Where required by law (e.g. the European Economic Area, the UK), consent is requested before personalized ads. You can turn off personalized ads in your device's ad settings and at adssettings.google.com. How Google uses data: policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. Watching ads to earn coins in the mobile app is entirely optional; ads on the website are never tied to any reward. Premium members are not shown ads.
8. Service providers and international transfers
We never sell your data. The Service runs on these providers: Supabase (database, file storage and authentication — servers in Singapore), Vercel (web hosting), Expo, Google Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification Service (push notifications), Google AdSense/AdMob (ads), OpenStreetMap and Esri (map imagery; your IP address reaches them when you open the map), Google Play and the Apple App Store (in-app purchases — your card details never reach us, only the purchase/subscription status). Some providers are located outside your country, so your data is transferred internationally in line with applicable law. Data may be shared with authorities when legally required.
9. Content review
The Service is run by a single developer, so content isn't reviewed one by one in advance. Inappropriate words are filtered automatically in tests and posts. Reported accounts and content are reviewed; an automated nudity-detection tool that runs in the developer's browser may be used on public images, and images are not sent to any third party for this. Private chats are not reviewed unless reported.
10. Retention
We keep your data while your account is open. Chat messages and chat photos are deleted automatically after 10 days; a quote and photo of a reported message may be kept until the report is resolved. Statuses and trails are taken down after 24 hours (you keep seeing your own trails in My Trails and can delete them). When you delete your account, your profile and related data are permanently deleted. Logging out of an anonymous account deletes the account and its data. Report records and limited records of accounts closed for rule violations may be kept as long as needed to prevent repeated abuse and for possible legal claims.
11. Security
Database access happens only server-side over authorized connections; no database key is ever sent to the browser or the app. Connections are encrypted with HTTPS. No system is 100% secure, but reasonable technical measures are taken to protect your data.
12. Age limit
The Service is only for people aged 18 and over and is not directed at children. Accounts found to belong to anyone under 18 are deleted with their data. See the Child Safety Standards page for details.
13. Your rights
You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your data and to request a copy of it (KVKK Art. 11 and, where applicable, the GDPR). You can edit your profile in the app, download a copy of your data with "Download my data" in Settings, delete your account in the app, or contact us at bayramenesyilmaz@hotmail.com or via the Contact page form. We try to respond as soon as possible; requests under the KVKK are resolved within the period set by law. You may also lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
14. Changes
This policy may be updated. Significant changes are announced in the app; the date at the top of this page shows the latest update.