Privacy Policy
Policy version: 6 October 2026
Sociera Limited (company number 15247646), of Leonard House, 5-7 Newman Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 1RJ, is the controller of personal data processed through the Sociera app. Our ICO registration number is ZB827355.
Sociera is for people aged 18 and over. This Policy applies to Sociera’s UK launch.
Sociera is a location-based social app. This Policy explains what personal data we use, why, the people with whom it may be shared, how long we keep it and your rights. It does not apply to third-party services that have their own privacy notices.
Information we collect
We collect:
(a) account information - name, email address (unless Apple provides a relay address), mobile number, date of birth, gender and authentication provider used;
(b) profile information - photo, headline, bio, experience, education, skills and social profiles (a username or link) you choose to provide;
(c) connections and activity - connection requests, blocks, likes, comments, saves, reposts, mentions, searches, feed and feature use;
(d) User Content and communications - posts, Bites, Blips, Shouts, comments, Society messages, direct messages and related metadata;
(e) precise or approximate location and location history, home-zone coordinates, location-derived visits and proximity events;
(f) device and technical information - device identifiers, IP address, operating system, app version, diagnostics and crash logs;
(g) permissions and preferences;
(h) safety information - reports, blocks, moderation decisions and appeals; and
(i) support correspondence.
We receive account information from Apple, Google or Twilio where you use their sign-in or verification services, and place data from our mapping and place-data providers. We do not use passwords at launch.
You must provide the information needed to create and authenticate an account, including your name, date of birth and a mobile number or supported sign-in method. Other information, including profile information, location, contacts, camera, microphone, photo-library access and notifications, is optional. If you do not provide or permit it, the relevant feature may not be available.
Please do not share special category personal data unless you are comfortable doing so. Where you choose to include it in content or communications, we may process it to host, display, transmit, moderate or respond to reports about that content, in accordance with applicable law.
Contacts
If you allow Sociera to access contacts on your device, we process phone numbers through our backend to match them against existing Sociera accounts and relevant friendship or membership status. We do not retain your contact list after completing that matching process, and we do not use it for advertising or sell it.
Contact access is optional. You can withdraw permission through your device settings, but contact-based suggestions will then be unavailable.
Location information
Location access is optional and is requested through your device. Sociera accesses location only while you use the app (or where you select Allow Once), never in the background. We retain recorded positions as location history for up to one year.
Location powers the Map, nearby and passerby lists, Society eligibility, directions, place visits and location-tagged content. Your visibility depends on distance: within approximately 200 metres, your name and photo may be visible to other users; from approximately 200 metres to 10 kilometres, everyone, including your connections, sees only a blurred photo without your name; beyond approximately 10 kilometres you are not shown. A person whose recorded location recently crossed yours may receive a passerby notification.
You can use Ghost Mode, Ghost Mode Near Home and an approximate-location setting. Ghost Mode makes you invisible to others; Ghost Mode Near Home makes you invisible in the home zone you set; blocking removes both users from each other’s map and lists. You may change these controls in the app or change permission in device settings.
We rely on your consent to use precise location information for location-based features. You can withdraw that consent at any time through Sociera or your device settings. Withdrawal will not affect processing carried out before you withdraw consent, but location-based features will no longer be available or may be limited.
Camera, microphone and photo library
If you permit it, we use the camera and microphone to create photo and video content and the photo library to upload content where that feature is available. Blips must be captured in the app and location-tagged. We process the content you create, its metadata and its selected audience setting to provide Sociera. Content visible to Everyone may be seen by other users and can be shared, saved, reposted or captured by them.
How and why we use your information
We use personal data to create and manage accounts; authenticate sign-in; provide the Map, feeds, profiles, connections, chat, Societies, content sharing and notifications; honour settings and permissions; provide support; keep Sociera safe and secure; investigate reports and enforce our Community Guidelines; maintain and improve the app; analyse technical performance and crashes; meet legal obligations; and establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Our main lawful bases are: contract, where processing is necessary to provide Sociera; consent, where you enable device permissions or where consent is otherwise required; legitimate interests, including operating, securing, improving and moderating Sociera and protecting users; and legal obligation. Our legitimate interests do not override your rights and freedoms.
We do not use special-category data as a standard account field, but it may be included in content or communications you choose to share.
We do not carry out solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you at launch. Moderation decisions are made by staff after review; a reporting threshold may prioritise content for review but does not automatically remove it.
Analytics and similar technologies
We use Amplitude to understand app use and Firebase Crashlytics to identify crashes and technical problems. Amplitude receives your gender and an age band (18 to 24, 25 to 34, or 35 and over) so we can see how different groups use Sociera. It never receives your exact location, your phone number or the text of your content and messages. We also use identifiers and local-storage or similar technologies needed for authentication, security and the app to function. Where UK privacy law requires consent for a non-essential technology, we will ask for it before using that technology and provide a way to withdraw it. We do not serve advertising or use advertising-tracking technologies at launch.
Who we share information with
We share information with other users according to your profile, content, connection and location settings; and with service providers that help operate Sociera, including Apple and Google (sign-in and push infrastructure), Twilio (SMS verification), Mapbox (maps, directions and address search), Foursquare open-data sources (place index), Mux (video), Cloudflare (image delivery), IMG.LY (on-device editing), Epidemic Sound (music; to suggest tracks, it receives frames, images and captions from content you create), AppsFlyer (links and install attribution, without the advertising identifier), KLIPY (GIFs and stickers in chat), ZeptoMail (email), Amplitude (analytics), Firebase Crashlytics (crash reporting), OneSignal (push notifications), and hosting and database providers. We share only what is necessary for the relevant service.
We may also share information with professional advisers, regulators, law enforcement, courts, counterparties to a corporate transaction and others where necessary to comply with law, protect people or our rights, or investigate misuse. We do not sell personal data or disclose it to advertising networks at launch.
International transfers
Sociera’s backend and databases are hosted in the EU (Germany). Some providers may process personal data outside the UK. Where a restricted transfer occurs, we use a lawful transfer mechanism and, where required, additional safeguards. Contact dpo@sociera.com for information about those safeguards.
Retention
We keep account and profile information while your account is active. When you ask us to delete your account, the deletion completes 30 days later, and signing in before then cancels it. We then anonymise the identity record and delete your information across our services, subject to the retention periods below and any legal or safety need to keep information. Your published posts, Bites and Series, your comments and the messages you have sent stay on Sociera without your name, shown as from a “Deleted account”, unless you delete them first. Backups are put beyond use within 90 days. If you do not sign in for 12 months, we delete your account in the same way and, if you have a verified email address, tell you beforehand.
Recorded location history is kept for up to one year. Posts and Bites remain until deleted. Blips expire after 24 hours and are kept in the creator’s private archive. A Blip the creator adds to a Highlight stays on their profile, for the same audience, until they remove it or delete their account. Shouts leave the Map after four hours and stay among the three most recent Shouts on the creator’s profile until they are archived; they are then kept in the creator’s private archive. Messages are kept while anyone in the conversation still has an account. Removed content is retained for 90 days. Reported Blips and Shouts remain reviewable for 30 days after they expire or are archived. Reports are retained for 12 months. Moderation actions are retained in an append-only audit trail for at least two years. We may keep limited information longer where needed for a legal obligation, claim, investigation, security or safety purpose, and may keep irreversibly anonymised information indefinitely.
Security
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data. No service can be completely secure. Keep access to your device and sign-in method secure, and tell us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised. Sociera messages are not end-to-end encrypted.
Your rights
Subject to legal conditions and exemptions, you may ask us to access, correct, erase, restrict, port or object to our use of personal data, and withdraw consent where we rely on it. You can update some account information, download a copy of your data and delete your account in Sociera. To download your data, go to Settings, then Account, then Download your data; we email it to your verified email address within one month. To exercise another right, or to ask for a copy by email, email support@sociera.com or dpo@sociera.com.
We may need information to verify identity. We respond to valid rights requests within one month, subject to any lawful extension. We make reasonable and proportionate searches when responding to access requests.
Data protection complaints
If you wish to make a data protection complaint, email dpo@sociera.com with the subject line Data Protection Complaint. We will acknowledge the complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay. You may complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk.
Changes
We may update this Policy from time to time. If changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you before they take effect.
Contact Details
For general support, contact support@sociera.com. For data protection matters, contact the Data Protection Officer at dpo@sociera.com or FAO Data Protection Officer, Sociera Limited, Leonard House, 5-7 Newman Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 1RJ.