Privacy Policy

Every time you use ome, we automatically collect:

• A device identifier stored in your browser (a cookie / local storage value). It lets us recognize you as a returning visitor. It is tied to your specific browser and device — clearing your browser data, using a different browser, or using incognito/private mode will make you look like a new visitor.
• Your IP address, recorded for every connection.
• A browser fingerprint — technical details like your browser's user agent, screen size, timezone, and similar characteristics, combined into a hash. This is used to help us recognize the same device even if your device identifier is missing (for example, after clearing cookies), by comparing it against fingerprints we've seen before.
• An approximate location (city/country level), estimated from your IP address. This happens automatically and does not require any permission prompt.

We ask every visitor, once per browser session, for permission to access your device's precise (GPS-level) location, using your browser's standard location permission prompt. You can allow or deny this — denying it means we simply keep using the coarse, IP-based location instead, and we will not ask again during that same session. A new session (reloading or reopening the site) may ask again.

If you allow it, we take a single, one-time snapshot of your location at that moment. We do not track your location continuously or in real time, and we do not request it again after we have one, except when triggered by an administrator for a specific reason.

Conversations are not private in a durable sense — we store the full, unmodified text of your conversations, including messages that were shown to you and the other person with certain words automatically starred out for display; what we store is the original, unstarred text. There is currently no automatic deletion schedule: stored conversations are retained until an administrator manually deletes them.

Site administrators can read stored conversations. We do this for safety and moderation purposes — for example, investigating a report, or identifying details a user has volunteered in conversation (such as a name, gender, or age) to associate with their account. We may also use automated tools or service providers (potentially including third-party AI services) to help with this review process; if we do, those providers only see what an administrator could already see.

Because there is no account system, we don't ask you to tell us your name, age, or gender when you arrive. However:

• If you use the optional match filter, you can voluntarily tell us your name, gender, and who you're interested in matching with. This is entirely optional and resets every session — we don't pre-fill it from a previous visit.
• Separately, an administrator may read your stored conversations and manually record what they believe your name, gender, or age to be, based on what you said in conversation. This can happen without your active participation.
• We keep a running history of every such claim (with its source and timestamp) rather than silently overwriting earlier ones — for example, if you gave different names on different occasions, all of them are retained. A single "primary" value, set manually by an administrator, is what's actually used to personalize matching.

If your device identifier is missing (cookies cleared, a new browser, etc.), we compare your IP address, browser fingerprint, and location against previous visitors. If there's a strong enough overlap, we flag your session as a possible match to a previous visitor for an administrator to review — we do not automatically merge these without a human decision.

If you or someone you're chatting with taps the report button, we create a record containing both people's identifiers and a link to that conversation. This is reviewed by administrators; reporting does not automatically take any action against the reported person.

ome is intended for people 18 and older. You're asked to confirm this before you start chatting, but we do not independently verify age. If, based on conversation content, an administrator determines a user is likely under 18, that account is blocked from matching. This is a manual, after-the-fact process, not real-time verification.

• To match you with another person to chat with.
• To recognize returning visitors and apply any preferences tied to your account.
• To investigate reports, enforce our Terms, and remove or restrict access for users who appear to be under 18.
• To maintain and improve the service.

We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for advertising.

There is currently no automatic expiration for stored conversations, identity records, or the data described above. Records are kept until an administrator manually deletes them (individually or in bulk).

Connections to ome are encrypted (HTTPS). Access to the administrative tools that can view this data requires a password and a separate two-factor code, and every administrative action is logged. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee against every possible breach.

We may update this policy as the service changes. We'll update the date at the top of this page when we do.

Questions about this policy, or requests regarding your data, can be sent to support@opentalk.buzz.