Privacy Policy
The LSE Dating App · Last updated: October 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how The LSE Dating App ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data when you use our website and matchmaking service (the "Service"). We are committed to handling your data responsibly, especially given the personal and sensitive nature of what you share with us.
This policy is written to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
TL;DR (the short version)
You need a valid @lse.ac.uk email and to be 18+ to use The LSE Dating App
We collect your questionnaire answers (values, dealbreakers, hobbies, and some sensitive stuff like religion and political views, which is entirely your choice to share) so we can match you with someone each week
There's no algorithm. A real person on our small team reads through opted-in users' answers and matches you by hand
Your data isn't sold, used for ads, or shared with anyone outside the team running The LSE Dating App
You can access, correct, or delete your data any time by emailing us
If you'd rather pause than delete, you can just stop opting in, we'll keep your account and match history so you're not re-matched with someone you've already met
Full legal detail is below, but that's the gist
Please note: this document is a starting template based on how the Service currently works. It is not a substitute for legal advice, and we'd strongly recommend having a solicitor review it before publishing it live, especially the sections covering special category data and data retention, since getting these wrong can carry real regulatory risk.
1. Who We Are
The LSE Dating App is a matchmaking platform built exclusively for students with a valid LSE email address (@lse.ac.uk). We are the "data controller" responsible for your personal data.
Contact: thelsedatingapp@gmail.com
2. What Information We Collect
2.1 Account & Verification Information
Your LSE email address (@lse.ac.uk)
Your name and preferred name
Your pronouns
Your date of birth / age (must be 18+)
A profile photo, which is manually reviewed by our team before your profile goes live
Your mobile phone number (used solely for SMS identity verification and account security)
A live camera verification selfie and assigned gesture pose taken during onboarding (used solely to verify the authenticity of your uploaded profile photo)
2.2 Questionnaire Information
When you sign up, you'll complete a compatibility questionnaire. This includes information such as:
Your gender and who you're interested in dating
Your course and year of study
Your relationship intentions and values
Your political views (optional)
Your religion, and which religions you are open to being matched with
Your views on monogamy and relationship structures
Your intimacy preferences
Your dealbreakers (e.g. smoking, drinking, drug use)
Your hobbies, lifestyle, and communication preferences
Any open-text answers you choose to provide
Some of this information is "special category data" under UK GDPR (specifically, data about your religion and beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, and political opinions). We only collect this information with your explicit, informed consent, given when you complete the questionnaire and knowingly submit answers to these specific questions. You can decline to answer any question marked as optional.
2.3 Usage Information
Which weeks you opt in to be matched
Your responses to the account deletion questionnaire, if you choose to share feedback
Basic technical information (e.g. login timestamps) needed to operate the Service
3. How We Use Your Information
We use your information to:
Verify that you are a genuine LSE student, aged 18 or over
Manually review and approve profile photos
Manually match you with another user each week, based on the answers you've provided
Send you emails about your weekly opt-in status and your match
Improve the Service based on feedback you give us
Maintain the safety and integrity of the platform (e.g. preventing impersonation, abuse, or repeat unwanted matches)
Important: The LSE Dating App does not use an automated algorithm to match users. Matching is performed manually by a small admin team, who review an exported spreadsheet of that week's opted-in users and their questionnaire answers in order to make matches. Because of this, your data is, for a limited period each week, visible to the individual(s) performing this matchmaking.
We do not sell your personal data to third parties, and we do not use your data for advertising purposes.
4. Legal Basis for Processing
Under UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:
Consent — for special category data (religion, political opinions, sexual orientation, sex life/intimacy preferences), and for optional questionnaire fields
Contract — to provide the matchmaking service you've signed up for
Legitimate interests — for basic account security, fraud prevention, and service improvement
You may withdraw your consent to special category data processing at any time by editing your answers or deleting your account, as described below.
5. Who Can See Your Information
Other users: only see information you choose to share once matched (this should be defined precisely, e.g. name, photo, and whichever profile fields you display)
The The LSE Dating App admin team: can see your full questionnaire answers, for the purpose of manual matchmaking
Service providers: we use third-party infrastructure (e.g. Lovable, Supabase, and Twilio as our SMS delivery provider) to build and host the Service; these providers process data on our behalf under data processing agreements, and do not use your data for their own purposes
We do not share your data with advertisers, data brokers, or any party for marketing purposes
6. Data Retention
We retain your account and questionnaire data for as long as your account remains active
If you choose to stop opting in rather than delete your account, we retain your data so that we can avoid matching you with someone you've already been matched with in the future
If you delete your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days of your request, except where we are required to retain limited information for legal or safety purposes (e.g. records of Terms of Service violations)
Anonymous feedback (e.g. from the "bad experience" deletion flow) may be retained in a form that cannot be linked back to you, in order to help us improve the Service
7. Your Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:
Access the personal data we hold about you
Rectify inaccurate data
Erase your data ("right to be forgotten")
Restrict or object to certain processing
Data portability (receive your data in a portable format)
Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at thelsedatingapp@gmail.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
8. Data Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including restricting access to questionnaire exports to the admin team performing matchmaking, and using secure, reputable infrastructure providers. However, no system can be 100% secure, and we encourage you to protect your own account (e.g. not sharing your login details).
9. Age Requirement
The LSE Dating App is only available to users aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If we become aware that a user is under 18, we will delete their account and associated data.
10. Photo & Identity Verification
To prevent impersonation and fake profiles, users submit a live camera selfie holding a randomly requested pose during onboarding. This verification selfie is stored securely, reviewed solely by our admin team alongside your profile photo to verify your identity, and is never displayed on your profile or shared with any match or third party.
Profile photos are manually reviewed by our team to confirm they are a genuine, current photo of a real person, rather than verified using automated facial recognition technology. If you update your profile photo, it will also be manually reviewed before it replaces your existing photo.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you (e.g. via email) before the changes take effect.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please contact us at thelsedatingapp@gmail.com.
Not affiliated with LSE.