Privacy Policy

Last updated: 29 July 2026

This page is maintained by the Are You About team to explain, in plain English, what personal data we handle when you use Are You About, why we handle it, and the choices you have. It covers the website and app at areyouabout.com.

Are You About is operated by 012 Agency Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 15318856). 012 Agency Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described here. If you organise events or run a venue on Are You About, you may also be a controller for data you collect about your own attendees — see “Organisers and venues” below.

The short version

  • We collect what we need to run plans, groups, tickets and notifications.
  • We never sell your personal data, and we don't run third-party ad targeting.
  • We never see or store your card details — payments are handled by Stripe.
  • You control who sees your activity, and you can delete your account and data at any time from Settings → Account.

What we collect

Account and profile

Email address, and — depending on how you sign in — a Google or Apple account identifier. Your chosen username, display name, avatar, bio, profile prompts, vibes/interests and any industry or networking tags you add. Profile details are optional beyond a name and username.

Phone number

If you verify a mobile number, we store it along with the verification status and one-time codes (short-lived). We use it to send you plan notifications by WhatsApp or SMS, to secure ticket purchases, and to help friends find you if you allow it. You can remove your number or turn message channels off in settings.

Plans, groups and social activity

Plans you create or join, invitations, availability and preferences, votes and picks, RSVPs, photos you upload to a plan, expenses you log, recap content, group membership and roles, shortlists, rituals, connections and close-friend tags, nudges, “I'm about” pings, and saved items. We also record who invited whom so invitations and guest links work.

Location

The city you select, and coarse location derived from your IP address to suggest a city. If you turn on precise location for maps, live trail navigation or “who's around tonight”, your device shares GPS location while that feature is in use. We do not track your location in the background, and presence is only ever shown to people you're connected with, according to your settings.

Tickets, payments and passes

Orders, ticket types, quantities, prices, order status, ticket QR identifiers, check-in status, refunds and disputes. Card payments are processed by Stripe — we receive a payment reference and the last four digits/brand for support purposes, never your full card number. If you add a ticket or loyalty card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, we store a pass registration so we can push updates to it.

Offers and loyalty

Offers you save or claim, loyalty cards, stamps and redemptions, and the venue and time associated with each.

Messages we send you

We keep a log of transactional emails, WhatsApp messages and SMS we send you — template used, timestamp, channel, delivery status and cost — so we can debug failures, prevent duplicates and manage spend. We don't read your personal WhatsApp conversations; we can only see the messages we ourselves send.

Recommendations and About+

To personalise what we show you we derive interest signals from your activity (things you view, save, vote for and attend) and store these as a taste profile. If you use About+, we process the text you type or the voice note you record in order to generate a plan; audio is transcribed and then discarded, and the resulting text prompt and generated plan are retained so you can revisit them.

Guests (people without an account)

If someone RSVPs to a plan via a share link without signing up, we store the name they enter, their response and a random guest token in their browser. If they later create an account with a matching contact detail, we link that guest activity to their new account.

Technical data

Device and browser type, IP address, pages viewed, referrer, and error/diagnostic logs. This is needed to keep the service secure and working, and to fix bugs.

Why we use it, and our legal bases

  • To perform our contract with you — creating and running plans, delivering invitations and RSVPs, issuing tickets and passes, processing payments, providing organiser and venue dashboards, and handling support and refunds.
  • Legitimate interests — keeping the service secure, preventing fraud, abuse and spam, understanding aggregate product usage, improving recommendations, and sending you service messages about plans you're part of. We balance these against your rights and give you controls to opt out where relevant.
  • Consent — precise location, non-essential cookies and analytics, marketing emails, and optional WhatsApp/SMS channels. You can withdraw consent at any time.
  • Legal obligation — keeping transaction and tax records for ticket sales and subscriptions.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it with third parties for their own advertising.

What other people can see

  • Your public profile — username, display name, avatar, bio, prompts and tags can be seen by other signed-in users who find you in search.
  • Plans — everyone invited to a plan can see the plan contents, who else is invited, and RSVPs. Open plans are visible to other users in your city.
  • Groups — members can see each other, group activity, shortlists and interest taps. Discoverable groups show limited public details so people can request to join.
  • Presence and “I'm about” — only shown to people you're connected with, and only if you've enabled it. Close-friend tags are private to you.
  • Organisers — if you buy a ticket, the organiser receives your name, email and order details so they can run the event and handle entry.

You can adjust visibility in Settings → Privacy and block or report anyone who's bothering you.

Who we share data with

We use a small set of service providers who process data on our behalf under contract:

  • Hosting, database and authentication — to run the app and store your data.
  • Stripe — card payments, ticket checkout, organiser payouts and subscriptions.
  • Twilio — WhatsApp and SMS delivery, including one-time verification codes.
  • Email delivery provider — transactional and account emails from team@areyouabout.com.
  • Google — sign-in, Maps and Places data, and Google Wallet passes.
  • Apple — sign-in and Apple Wallet passes.
  • Mapbox — maps and route/trail rendering.
  • AI providers — Google and OpenAI models, used via a gateway for About+ plan generation, transcription and recommendation ranking. Your inputs are not used to train their models.
  • Event and content partners — where you click through to a partner such as GetYourGuide or open a ride in Uber, that visit is subject to their own privacy policy. Some partner links are affiliate links.

We may also disclose data where legally required, to enforce our terms, or in connection with a business sale or restructuring.

Organisers and venues

If you use Are You About to sell tickets or manage a venue, you are responsible for how you use attendee data you receive from us. Use it to run your event, honour refunds and meet legal obligations — not for unrelated marketing without a lawful basis. To receive payouts you must complete Stripe's identity checks; Stripe collects that identity and bank information directly and acts as a separate controller for it.

International transfers

Some of our providers process data outside the UK and EEA. Where they do, transfers are covered by the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or an adequacy decision.

How long we keep it

  • Account and profile data — while your account is open.
  • Plans, groups and recaps — while your account is open, so your history stays intact for the people you shared them with.
  • Ticket orders, refunds and subscription records — up to 7 years, to meet tax and accounting rules.
  • Message delivery logs — up to 12 months.
  • Verification codes — minutes; expired codes are discarded.
  • Guest RSVP records — up to 12 months if never linked to an account.
  • Security and diagnostic logs — typically up to 90 days.

When you delete your account we remove or anonymise your personal data, except records we're legally required to keep. Content you contributed to shared plans may remain visible to those groups in anonymised form.

Your rights

Under UK and EU data protection law you can request access to your data, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, and object to processing based on legitimate interests. You can also withdraw consent at any time.

Many of these are self-serve: edit your profile, adjust privacy and notification settings, manage cookies on the cookie settings page, or delete your account from Settings → Account. For anything else, email team@areyouabout.com and we'll respond within one month.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Marketing and message preferences

Service messages about plans you're part of are part of using the app, but you can choose which channels they arrive on. Reply STOP to any SMS or WhatsApp message to stop that channel, use the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, or change everything in your notification settings.

Security

Access to your data is enforced at the database level with row-level security, so people can only read what they're entitled to. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, payment card data never touches our servers, and access to production systems is limited to those who need it. No service can promise perfect security, so please use a strong, unique password.

Children

Are You About is not intended for under-16s, and many listings are for over-18s only. We don't knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has an account, email us and we'll remove it.

Changes

We'll update this page as the product changes and revise the date at the top. For significant changes we'll tell you in the app or by email.

Contact

Are You About is operated by 012 Agency Ltd (company number 15318856). Privacy questions, data requests or complaints: team@areyouabout.com.