Privacy policy

The short version

• We ask about dietary needs and allergies only to find places your group can eat. We never sell them or use them for ads.
• The group sees diets as counts, never next to your name. The organiser sees your name with your needs only if you tick "Let the organiser know it's me".
• We delete each Plan, and everything in it, 90 days after the Plan's time.
• There are no accounts, and you don't have to give a name.

Who we are

VibeCheck is run by Escape Velocity Ventures Pty Ltd (ACN 701 425 809) trading as Get VibeCheck, ABN 13 701 425 809, and that's who "we" means on this page. Email hello@getvibecheck.au with any privacy question.

VibeCheck is in beta, covers the Melbourne CBD only and follows the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). This page describes how the app works today, and if that changes we update the page and the date at the top.

What we collect

There are no accounts, and you don't have to give a name. What we keep depends on what you do.

• Starting a Plan: the Plan's name (up to 60 characters), its time and answer deadline, the meal, whether it's eat in, pick up or order online, a budget band if you choose one, whether someone else is paying, and what prompted it (a regular lunch, a birthday, a visitor or something else). We also keep your age band and, if you tell us or came in on a tagged link, how you found VibeCheck.
• Joining a Plan: your age band, a food buddy, a first name if you give one, whether you ticked "Let the organiser know it's me", the time you agreed on the consent screen and which version of it you saw.
• Your answers: dietary needs, allergies, a short note if you pick "Something else" (up to 80 characters), whether you need a step-free entrance, a budget band, and the cuisines you love or would rather avoid.
• A VibeCheck card, only if you tap "Save my card" after answering: your first name from that Plan (which you can change), dietary needs, allergies, the "Something else" note, whether you need a step-free entrance, the cuisines you love or would rather avoid, up to 3 vibe tags you pick, and when you agreed and which version of the save screen you saw. Never your budget. Your entry in the Plan you saved it from notes which card that was, so saving again can replace it; that note goes when you delete the card or when the Plan is deleted. The card has two codes: one in the card link and one in the private edit link. We store only a scrambled version (a hash) of each.
• Your swipes (yes, maybe or no on each card) and any ideas you add (up to 40 characters each).
• After the places are revealed: your Favourite, any "Can't eat here" or "closed" flags, and the reason you type if you give one (up to 200 characters, and only if you're 18 or over).
• Nudges: that a person, or the whole group, was nudged, who sent it, and when. We don't send any message. The person nudged sees "Sam is waiting on you" (using the sender's first name if they gave one) the next time they open the Plan.
• Device codes: a random code for your device in each Plan, and another if you're an organiser. We store only a scrambled version (a hash) of each.
• Usage events: steps like a Plan being created, a link being opened, answers sent, swipes finished, places revealed or locked, a place flagged, a share card or booking note being copied, someone joining the waitlist, the Teams offer being seen, opened or signed up for, a VibeCheck card being saved or used to answer, or a device holding an edit code for a card that's been deleted. Each has a time and a random visitor code, and a few add basic details such as the meal type or how long answering took. They never hold names, dietary needs or anything you typed.
• The waitlist: your email address, your tick that you're 16 or over, where you'd like us to go next (as you typed it), and who you are in the group if you answer.
• Teams sign-ups: your work email address, your tick that you're 16 or over, your team size, who approves spend like this, and where you found the offer if we know.

We don't ask for your surname, phone number, home address or date of birth.

Why we collect it

We collect it to help a group choose where to eat: we match your dietary needs, allergies, budget and tastes to venues, rank the places from everyone's swipes, and show the lobby who has finished.

A VibeCheck card is used only to fill in your answers when you join another Plan, and to show the people you send the card link to what you can't eat.

Flags and their reasons go into a queue so we can re-check places. Usage events show whether people open links, answer and finish, which is how we tell if VibeCheck works. We use waitlist emails only to tell you when VibeCheck reaches your area, and Teams emails only to tell you about Teams.

We don't sell personal information or give it to advertisers, and we never use it to target ads. We use dietary information to find places to eat and for nothing else.

Dietary needs, allergies and religion

Dietary needs and allergies are health information. Halal and kosher can show your religion, and a step-free entrance can point to a disability. The Privacy Act calls these sensitive information, so we ask before we collect them.

The consent screen comes before the first dietary question. It says why we ask and who sees the answers, and carrying on means you agree, which is the consent we rely on.

Saving a VibeCheck card is a separate choice. Tapping "Save my card" is your agreement to keep those answers after the Plan is deleted. People aged 16 or 17 aren't offered a card.

What you type in the "Something else" box is kept with your answers. The group sees only that someone has another dietary need, never the text.

To take your answers back, ask the organiser to remove you or email hello@getvibecheck.au. The organiser can remove people only until the places are revealed. Removing someone deletes their answers and swipes and clears their name, and ideas they added stay in the Plan.

A few records stay until the Plan is deleted: that the person joined, their age band and food buddy, when they agreed on the consent screen, the scrambled device code that stops them rejoining from the same device, and the usage events recorded for their device. Favourites and flags only exist after the reveal, when removal is no longer possible, so removing someone never touches them.

Who sees what

• Anyone with a Plan link sees the Plan's name, time, deadline and meal, whether it's eat in, pick up or order online, how many people have joined and finished, and the organiser's first name if they gave one. Chat apps show most of this in link previews, so keep private details out of the Plan's name.
• People in the Plan see each other's first names (if given), food buddies, and whether each person is answering, swiping or done. Once the places are revealed they also see the places, how each one fits, and the first names of people who swiped yes on cards that point to a place.
• Dietary needs and allergies show only as counts, like "2 gluten-free", and never next to a name. Counts appear when the places are revealed, not before, and only once at least 3 people besides you have answered. Until then you see only your own needs, and everyone else's are folded into one line.
• Budget shows only as a count, like "over budget for 2 people". Ideas you add show to the group without your name.
• The organiser sees all of that. They see your name next to your needs and allergies only if you ticked "Let the organiser know it's me", and nobody else ever does. The organiser can also remove people and hide ideas.
• Someone who never joined sees the places and how they fit once they're revealed, with no dietary details.
• Anyone with your card link sees the name on the card, your dietary needs and allergies, the "Something else" note and when the card was last updated. They don't see your tastes or vibe tags, and the card link can't change anything. Card pages ask search engines not to list them, and their link previews only say "A VibeCheck card". Anyone with your edit link can change or delete the card.
• Once a place is locked, anyone with the link sees it, along with a share card showing the group size and, once at least 4 people have answered, how many kinds of dietary need there are. The card never shows names. Anyone with the link can also download a calendar file, which holds only the Plan's name, the place, its address and the time.
• The organiser can copy a booking note to send to the venue (an order note for pick up and order online Plans). It has the group size, the time and counts of needs and allergies, never names. Unless at least 3 people besides the organiser have answered, it lists only the organiser's own needs.
• We can read everything in the database, including individual answers, and we're the only people who read flag reasons.

How long we keep it

• We delete Plans, and everything attached to them, 90 days after the Plan's time, not 90 days after it was made. That covers people, answers, swipes, ideas, Favourites, flags, nudges, the places shown to the group and the usage events for that Plan. A daily job does it.
• We clear flag reasons 30 days after they're written, even if the Plan is still there.
• We delete an organiser record when its last Plan goes.
• We keep a VibeCheck card until you delete it with "Delete my data" on its edit page. Deleting it doesn't change answers you gave in past Plans, which go when each Plan is deleted.
• We delete a waitlist entry 12 months after you sign up. If we email you when VibeCheck reaches your area, that email will have an unsubscribe link that deletes your entry straight away. That is the only email we plan to send. You can also email hello@getvibecheck.au at any time and we'll remove yours.
• Teams sign-ups stay until you ask us to remove them. Email hello@getvibecheck.au and we'll remove yours.
• We delete usage events that aren't tied to a Plan, like the one saved when someone joins the waitlist, 90 days after they're recorded. They hold a time and a random visitor code, not your email address.
• Request logs kept by our host follow the host's schedule, not ours.
• Sentry and PostHog keep what they receive for as long as their own settings say, and deleting a Plan doesn't remove it from either. What they hold has no names or answers, and the visitor code in it is different in every Plan.
• Deleted data can stay in backups until they age out. Supabase keeps daily backups for up to 7 days on the plan we use.

Where your data is stored, and who handles it

Four service providers handle the app's data. Supabase hosts our database in Sydney and Vercel runs the app on servers in Sydney, while Sentry and PostHog work from the United States. We don't use ad networks, social media pixels or third-party tracking scripts. The one script that runs in your browser is Vercel Web Analytics (see Page traffic).

Venue photos load straight from Supabase Storage, so Supabase sees your IP address when your browser loads a venue photo.

Sentry collects error reports. When something breaks, it gets the error message, the part of the code that failed, the page address with a placeholder where the Plan's link code was, a short trail of the pages and requests just before the error (addresses and result codes only), and your browser and device type. Before a report leaves the app, we remove answers, names, cookies, request contents and anything after the ? in an address. Errors in your browser are sent straight to Sentry, so Sentry sees your IP address when the report arrives, and the report tells Sentry not to store it. Errors on our servers are sent by our host and carry no browser details. This applies at any age, since it can happen before the age question.

PostHog counts how people use VibeCheck. Our servers, not your browser, send it the usage events described above: the event name, counts and fixed values like the meal type, and a scrambled code for your device that is different in every Plan. It never gets names, dietary needs or anything you typed.

Neither Sentry nor PostHog sets cookies or stores anything on your device. Both keep what they receive in the United States, so sending it is a disclosure overseas under Australian Privacy Principle 8. That's why we keep what they get to a minimum.

Vercel also keeps request logs for the app. A log entry can include your IP address, your browser and device details, the time and the address you asked for. That address includes the Plan's link on Plan pages and on the requests the app makes for them. On card pages it includes the card's link, and opening a private edit link puts both of its codes in the address. Vercel keeps them for a short period that Vercel sets, and deleting a Plan or a card doesn't remove them.

Some handling may happen overseas. Vercel's network spans many countries, and its privacy policy says it may process information in the United States and other countries. Supabase's privacy policy says it may store information in the United States and elsewhere, although our database is set to Sydney. We can't list every country.

If the organiser pastes a booking or order note into a venue's booking form or an ordering platform, that venue's or platform's own privacy policy applies to it.

Page traffic

We use Vercel Web Analytics to see which pages get visited. It sets no cookies; Vercel says it tells visitors apart with a hash made from the request and discards that session after 24 hours.

A page view can record the time, the page address, the page you came from, your country, state and city, and your device type, operating system and browser. Before a page view is sent, we remove the link code from Plan, card and unsubscribe pages, and the Plan code from the create page. Vercel says it uses the data for aggregated statistics only.

Cookies and local storage

VibeCheck uses cookies and your browser's local storage to recognise your device. It doesn't use them for ads.

• vc_visitor: a random code that counts visitors. It's set when you start using a Plan or join the waitlist, and lasts one year.
• __Host-vc_organiser, and __Host-vc_p_ followed by letters and numbers: the codes that show you're the organiser of a Plan, or a person in one. There's one cookie per Plan you join. Each lasts one year.
• __Host-vc_card: the code that shows this device owns a VibeCheck card, set when you save a card or open its edit link. It lasts one year.
• Local storage: a copy of those codes, because some chat apps' built-in browsers drop cookies. It also holds your VibeCheck card's two codes if this device owns one, when you last tapped "Not now" on the offer to save one (so we don't ask again for 30 days), your age answer, the kind of link that brought you here (a post or a Plan invite, for example) and whether you've dismissed the swipe tip. Once you get past the reveal intro for a Plan, it keeps a note that you've seen it, in a key called vc-reveal-seen- followed by that Plan's link code, so the intro doesn't play again. It also keeps the My plans list: the name, time, link and stage of each Plan you made or joined in this browser, and never your answers. And it remembers which nudge banners you've closed, so they don't come back.

Sentry and PostHog don't set cookies or use local storage.

If you clear cookies and site data, you lose your place in your Plans and show up as a new person.

Age

VibeCheck is for people 16 and over. The consent screen asks your age once on each device: 18 or over, or under 18, then 16 or 17, or under 16, and we don't ask for proof. If you say you're under 16, it stops there. We keep nothing in our database and set no cookie, but our host's request logs still record the visit. Your phone or browser remembers the answer, so asking again on the same device gives the same result.

We keep age as a band, either 18 or over or 16 or 17, and never a birth date. We delete it with your Plan or organiser record.

If you're 16 or 17 you get a reduced version: no drink cards, no Drinks + bites Plans, no typed reason when you flag a place, no VibeCheck card, and bars and pubs are left out of a group's places whenever anyone in it is under 18.

The waitlist asks you to confirm you're 16 or over.

Access, correction and deletion

You can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email hello@getvibecheck.au. We'll reply within 30 days.

Because there are no accounts, we find your information through the Plan, so tell us which Plan it is. Before we share, change or delete anything, we'll check it's you. We may ask for details only you would know, and we'll tell you if we can't verify you. For the waitlist, email us from the address you signed up with, or use the unsubscribe link in our email if we send you one.

To delete a VibeCheck card without its edit link, email hello@getvibecheck.au with the card link and we'll delete it.

You can also clear your browser's site data to remove the codes from your device. That doesn't delete anything on our servers.

Venue information and photos

Venue details, menus and photos come from public sources like Google Maps and venues' own websites. We screen each photo and hide any where a face is the main subject, but screening isn't perfect, and a photo can still show a passer-by or another diner. If you're in a photo, or you took one or run a venue and want something taken down, email hello@getvibecheck.au and we'll remove it within 24 hours.

When a place has photos, your browser loads them straight from Supabase Storage, so Supabase sees your IP address and which photo you asked for. It doesn't get the Plan's link.

Security

We store device codes only as hashes. Only our server can reach the database, so nobody can query it directly from a browser or another app.

Complaints

If you think we've handled your information badly, email hello@getvibecheck.au first and tell us what happened. We'll look into it and reply. If you're not happy with the answer, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.