Privacy Policy

Hopout is an independent app made in Ontario, Canada, run by Michael Schiavone (“Hopout”, “we”, “us”). We are responsible for the personal information described here. Questions or requests about your information go to michael.schiavone20@gmail.com.

• If you sign in with Google: your name, email address and profile photo, which Google shares with us when you choose to sign in. Your email is never shown to other people in the app.
• Without an account: a random private ID saved on your device. It connects the plans you make, the votes you cast and the circles you join, so the app remembers them. It contains nothing about who you are.
• What you create in the app: your profile (display name, handle, bio, home area and photos), posts, photos and ratings of places, reports, circles and their chat messages and reactions, plans and votes, saved plans, calendar entries, and events you host or reply to.
• Waitlist: if you join the waitlist, your email, age range, the area you usually go out in, and anything you add in the optional question.
• Location, only if you allow it: your device’s location is used to start routes and suggestions from where you are. It is saved on your device, not in our database. If you turn on live location in a circle, your position is shared with that circle’s members for the time you choose, then it expires.
• Settings on your device: things like your theme, area, name and the kinds of places you tend to pick (used to lean suggestions your way) are kept in your browser’s storage on your device. You can reset suggestions in Settings.
• Basic technical information: like any website, our hosting providers receive your IP address and standard request details (browser type, pages requested) to deliver the app and keep it secure.

We do not collect payment details, contacts, or your browsing history from other apps or websites, and we never try to.

• To run the app: build plans, show your circles, plans, posts and calendar, and keep you signed in on any device.
• To share what you choose to share with the people you choose (see below).
• To keep Hopout safe: handle reports, remove content that breaks our Terms, and apply age rules.
• To send a welcome email if you join the waitlist, and important messages about the service. No marketing emails without your OK.
• To understand what’s working and fix problems.

We never sell or rent your personal information, and we don’t use it for advertising.

• Public: your profile (display name, handle, photo, bio), your posts and photos of places, events you post publicly, and any plan you choose to make public on your profile.
• Your circles: chat messages, reactions, plans shared to a circle, and live location (only while it’s on) are visible to that circle’s members.
• Anyone with the link: when you share a plan link, anyone who has the link can open it, see the plans and vote. The same goes for your private calendar-sync link, so treat it like a password. You can stop syncing at any time in Calendar, and the link stops working.
• Private: your email address, your saved-plans list, and your calendar entries stay private to you.
• Event addresses: the address of an event someone hosts can be kept hidden until the host approves a guest.

We use a few trusted companies to run Hopout. They only get what they need to do their job:

• Supabase: our database, sign-in and photo storage. Our database is hosted in Canada (Montreal region).
• Vercel: hosts the website and app.
• Google: “Sign in with Google”, and place details (like reviews and photos) when you tap to see them. Those place requests go through our server, so Google doesn’t learn who you are from them.
• MapTiler and OpenStreetMap: draw the maps (your browser loads map images from MapTiler) and work out street routes between the stops of a plan (the stops’ coordinates are sent to an OpenStreetMap routing service).
• Resend: sends the waitlist welcome email.

Some of these providers may store or process information outside Canada, including in the United States, where it may be subject to local laws. When you tap a link to a venue’s website, a booking site, Google Maps, Uber or another app, you leave Hopout and that service’s own privacy policy applies.

• We keep your account information and the things you create for as long as you use Hopout.
• You can delete your own posts and chat messages in the app at any time.
• Live location is kept only for the time you chose, then it expires.
• Google reviews and photos are shown live and not stored by us.
• If you ask us to delete your account, we delete your profile, posts, photos and other personal information within 30 days, unless we must keep something to meet a legal obligation or resolve a safety report.

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, correct it, or delete your account and data. Email michael.schiavone20@gmail.com from the address you signed in with (so we know it’s you), and we’ll reply within 30 days. You can also:

• Use the app without an account, or without sharing your location.
• Turn off location for Hopout in your browser or phone settings at any time.
• Reset your suggestions in Settings, or clear your browser’s data to remove what’s stored on your device.
• Remove Hopout’s access to your Google account from your Google Account settings.

If you’re not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Hopout is for people 17 and older. Anyone under 19 never sees alcohol plans, bars or clubs (Ontario’s drinking age). We don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 17; if you think someone younger has an account, tell us at michael.schiavone20@gmail.com and we’ll remove it.

We protect your information with encrypted connections (HTTPS), access rules on every database table, and by keeping secret keys on our servers only. No system is perfectly secure, so please keep your devices and links (like plan and calendar links) safe. If we ever have a breach that could harm you, we’ll tell you and the Privacy Commissioner as the law requires.

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. If the change is important, we’ll let you know in the app before it takes effect.

Questions, requests or concerns: michael.schiavone20@gmail.com.