Privacy Policy

What we collect

• Account details - your email address, a securely hashed password, username and display name.
• Profile information - anything you choose to add: bio, location, date of birth, gender, avatar and banner images, profile theme, and a featured YouTube video.
• Your content - wall posts, comments, beans, Circle of Friends, whiteboard doodles and gallery photos you create or upload.
• Technical & usage data - your IP address (used to rate-limit logins and for anonymous, cookieless analytics), the time you were last active, and aggregate profile-view counts.
• Age verification (only if enabled) - to confirm you are 18 or over we may ask you to either complete a quick facial age estimate that runs entirely in your browser, or upload a photo ID.
  • The face check processes your camera image on your device only. The image is never uploaded to us or stored anywhere - only an estimated age (a number) and the result of the check are saved to your account. It is used solely to estimate your age, not to recognise or identify you.
  • If you verify with a photo ID, you also take a quick webcam selfie so a reviewer can check the ID is yours. Both the ID and the selfie are stored privately, are only ever viewable by an administrator for that review, and are deleted once the review is complete.

How we use it, and our legal basis

We use your data to provide the service (create your account, show your profile, deliver posts and messages) - this is necessary to perform our agreement with you. We use limited technical data to keep the service secure and working, which is our legitimate interest. Non-essential analytics and advertising cookies are used only with your consent. Where we run an age check, we do so to keep Mello an adults-only space and to meet our online-safety responsibilities, which is our legitimate interest.

Cookies

We use one essential cookieto keep you signed in - this is required for the site to work and can't be switched off. Our built-in usage analytics are cookieless. If and when we add analytics or advertising cookies, we'll ask for your consent first via a cookie banner, and you can change your choices at any time from the “Cookie settings” link in the footer. If you use the in-browser age check, the age-estimation model may be cached in your browser's local storage so it loads faster next time - this stays on your device and isn't a tracking cookie.

Who we share it with

We don't sell your data. We use these trusted providers to run Mello:

• Supabase - our database and image storage, hosted in the EU (Ireland).
• Vercel - application hosting and cookieless analytics.
• Resend - sending invitation and notification emails.
• GIPHY - powering the GIF picker on comments; when you search for a GIF, your search term is sent to GIPHY and the GIF is loaded from them.

Each processes data on our behalf under their own terms and data protection agreements.

Where it's stored & how long we keep it

Your data is stored in Supabase's EU (Ireland) region. We keep it for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we delete your personal data, except where we must keep something to meet a legal obligation. Any age-verification document or selfie is kept only as long as needed to complete the review, then deleted; the estimated age from a face check is a single number kept with your account while it is active (the camera image itself is never stored).

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete your data, and to object to or restrict certain processing. To exercise any of these, email us at hello@mello.social. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Children

Mello is for people aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.

Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. We'll update the date at the top when we do.

Contact

Questions about your privacy? Email hello@mello.social.