Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal data Around ("we", "us") collects and how we use it. Around is a coordination app that lets you share your availability with people you choose and meet up. A gathering is called a "Hang". Around is currently available in the Netherlands only, for people aged 16 and older.

To delete your account and the data attached to it, see Section 1.

1. Delete your account

You can delete your Around account and the personal data attached to it at any time, however you installed the app.

In the app. Open Around, go to Profile, tap Account, then tap Delete account and confirm. This takes effect immediately.

Without the app. If you have already uninstalled Around, or cannot sign in, email support@around.now and tell us the phone number you signed up with. You do not need to reinstall the app. We confirm every request and complete it within 30 days, and usually within a few days.

What is deleted. Your name, profile photo and phone number, your last known location, your friends and circles, the invite code that lets people find you, any availability you had not yet used, and your push notification token. You can no longer sign in, and your profile is emptied out and shown as "Deleted user".

What we keep, and why. The Hangs you took part in stay, with no name attached to you. That includes when they were, the place chosen for them, and the messages sent in their chats. We keep those because a Hang is a shared record of a gathering that other people also took part in, and deleting it would erase their history along with yours. We also keep reports and blocks that involve you, so that safety decisions other people made stay effective and old data is not silently merged if you sign up again with the same number. Where the law requires us to retain something, for example to handle a safety report or a legal claim, we keep only what is necessary and no longer than required. Any remaining copies in backups disappear within 30 days. Phone numbers from your contacts are never stored, so there is nothing to delete there.

Deleting the app from your phone is not the same as deleting your account.

2. Who is responsible

The controller of your personal data is Dusty van Steekelenburg. For any privacy question, or to exercise the rights in Section 8, email support@around.now. We respond within one month.

3. What we collect, why, and our legal basis

We do not sell your data, and we do not collect special categories of data (such as health or ethnicity).

4. Data about your contacts

When you choose to find friends, your device sends the phone numbers from your address book to our servers to check which of them already use Around. We do not store those numbers, and we never contact anyone on your behalf. Your contacts' names never leave your device. You can use Around without granting contacts access.

5. Who we share data with

With other people using Around. Around works by showing your plans to people you pick. When you open a Hang, the friends you invite can see your name and photo, when you are available, and the place you chose, if you chose one. People who join a Hang can also see each other's names and photos. If you do not choose a place, your device's location is used only on our servers, to work out whether you and your friends are close enough to match. It is not shown to anyone else.

With our service providers. Apart from the people you pick, we share data only with the service providers that help us run Around, and only as needed. These include our hosting and database provider, the SMS provider that sends your login code, the push-notification services that deliver notifications, our crash-reporting provider (hosted in the EU), our map providers, and the provider that hosts our public share and invite pages.

Some providers are outside the European Economic Area, mainly in the United States. Those transfers are covered by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

6. Public content

Profile photos, Hang share links, and invite links can be viewed by anyone who has the link, without signing in. A Hang share page can show the Hang's location and the participants' names and photos. Only share these links with people you trust.

7. How long we keep your data

We keep your personal data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, that data is removed or emptied out as described in Section 1, and what stays behind is the shared record of the Hangs you took part in, with no name attached to you. We do not delete that shared record automatically after a set period. Phone numbers used to find contacts are not stored.

8. Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to the use of your data, to receive a copy of it, and to withdraw consent at any time (for location, contacts, or notifications, use your device settings). To exercise any of these, email support@around.now. To delete your account and data, see Section 1.

You can also lodge a complaint with the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl).

9. Changes

We may update this policy. When we make a material change, we update the date above. Your continued use of Around means you accept the updated policy.

Contact: support@around.now