Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 3, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Matchy.gg — the website matchy.gg and the Matchy iOS app (together, "Matchy", "we", "us") — collects, uses, shares and protects your personal data, how long we keep it, and how you can control it.

1. Who We Are

Matchy is operated by FORTY4TURES LLC, 8735 DUNWOODY PLACE STE N, ATLANTA, GA, 30350, who is the data controller for the personal data described here. You can reach us at support@matchy.gg or through the contact form on the website and in the app (Settings → Contact us).

2. Data We Collect and How

From Steam, when you sign in

You sign in on Steam's own page (Steam OpenID). We never see or store your Steam password and we receive no Steam login token — only your Steam ID. With it, we read the following public data from the Steam Web API. We only retrieve Steam data about you after you sign in yourself, and it is refreshed when you sign in or sync your profile:

• Steam ID, display name, profile URL and avatar (image link)
• Steam level, account creation date, last time online, profile visibility, and whether your game details and playtime are public
• Owned games (including free games you have played and Family Sharing games): titles, playtime, last played date; recently played games (past 2 weeks)
• VAC ban status

From you

• Profile: date of birth (to confirm you are 18+ and to show your age), gender, country, bio, languages, playstyle, favourite genres, favourite game, game ranks, what you are looking for, when you usually play, voice chat preference, and optionally your Discord username
• "Ready to play" status: the game, mode, start time and an optional short note
• Activity: likes and passes, matches, blocks, and the messages you send to your matches
• Reports you submit (reason and optional description)
• Contact form: your name, email address and message
• Acceptance of our Terms of Service (date and time)

Automatically

• When you were last active, your app/website language and your device's time zone (to match play times and show local time)
• If you allow notifications: a push token for your device or browser and your notification preferences
• Sign-in tokens that keep you signed in (we store only hashed copies)
• IP address: stored with contact form messages (to prevent spam) and in our hosting provider's standard server logs
• Age range (iOS, only where the law requires it): in some regions Apple shares whether you are 18 or older (not your date of birth) through its Declared Age Range feature; we use it only to confirm you may use Matchy

Your discovery filters are stored on your device (in the app, or in your browser's local storage), not on our servers.

3. How We Use Your Data and Our Legal Bases

• Providing the service (performance of our contract with you): creating your profile, calculating compatibility from your games and preferences, showing your profile in discovery, matching, delivering messages and notifications you turned on.
• Safety and moderation (our legitimate interest in a safe community, and legal obligations): age checks, filtering offensive language (profile text containing it cannot be saved and it is masked in messages and names), reviewing reports, banning accounts that break our Terms, and preventing spam and abuse.
• Optional features (your consent): Discord username, push notifications, and optional profile fields. You can withdraw consent at any time (see section 8).
• Security and operations (legitimate interest): keeping accounts secure, preventing misuse of the service and of the Steam Web API.

We do not use your data for advertising, we do not build advertising profiles, and we do not track you across other companies' apps or websites. We do not sell your personal data.

4. What Other Users See

In discovery and on your profile: display name, avatar, age (never your date of birth), gender, country, bio, Steam level and account age, the "Trusted" badge (based on account age, VAC status and profile visibility), VAC ban status, game count and total hours (unless hidden on Steam), top and recently played games, favourite game, ranks, genres, playstyle, languages, voice chat preference, what you are looking for, your play times and local time, your activity status ("Active now / today / this week"), and your "Ready to play" status and note.

Your Steam ID is used to identify your profile in the app. Because Steam IDs are public, anyone who has it can open the matching public Steam profile page.

Only after a mutual match: your Discord username, a direct link to your Steam profile, and the messages you exchange.

Share links: if you share your profile link, anyone with the link can see a limited profile card (no age, gender or activity).

5. Who Can Read Your Messages

Messages are visible to you and the person you matched with. Our moderators can read a conversation only when one of you reports the other: the report includes a copy of up to the last 500 messages. If a match is removed or someone is blocked, we keep a copy of that conversation for 30 days so it can still be reviewed if a report follows; it is not visible to anyone unless a report is filed, and it is then deleted automatically.

6. Service Providers and Third Parties

• Valve Corporation (Steam): sign-in and public game data. Images such as avatars and game covers are loaded directly from Steam's servers, which therefore receive your IP address. Steam's Privacy Policy applies to Steam.
• Apple: Apple Push Notification service delivers iOS notifications (the sender's name and a short message preview); on iOS, Apple's Declared Age Range feature may tell us whether you are 18+ where the law requires it.
• Browser push services (for example Apple, Google or Mozilla) deliver web notifications.
• SPACESHIP hosts our servers and database in the United States.

These providers process data only to provide their service to us or to you. We share personal data only with providers whose terms and contracts require them to protect it with the same or equal level of protection as described in this policy and required by applicable law. We do not share your data with anyone for marketing.

Matchy.gg is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by Valve Corporation or Steam. Steam and the Steam logo are trademarks of Valve Corporation.

7. International Transfers

Our servers are located in the United States, and some of the providers above may process data in other countries. Where the law of your country (for example the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK) or the EU/UK GDPR) restricts transfers abroad, we rely on the safeguards that law allows — such as standard contractual clauses with our providers — and, where required, on your explicit consent, which you can withdraw by deleting your account.

8. Your Choices and How to Withdraw Consent

• Notifications: turn them off in Settings → Notifications, or in your device or browser settings.
• Discord username and optional profile fields: remove them in Edit Profile at any time.
• Steam data: we only read what Steam makes public; you can change your Steam privacy settings, and deleting your Matchy account removes all Steam data we stored.
• Everything: delete your account (section 10). Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that already happened.

9. How Long We Keep Data

• Your account and profile: while your account exists.
• Messages: deleted for both people when either of you removes the match, blocks the other or deletes the account (a moderation copy is kept for 30 days as described in section 5).
• Copies of conversations attached to reports: 12 months. Reports (who reported whom, reason, description) and ban history: up to 24 months, also after an account is deleted, to enforce bans and prevent repeated abuse.
• Contact form messages: 12 months (deleted with your account).
• Notification delivery logs: 30 days. Push tokens: until you log out, turn notifications off, delete your account, or Apple/your browser reports them invalid.
• Sign-in tokens: until you log out or they expire (web: 90 days).
• Server logs kept by our hosting provider: according to the provider's standard retention (usually a few weeks).
• Backups: deleted data may remain in our hosting provider's backups until they are overwritten on a rolling basis.

10. Deleting Your Account

You can delete your account at any time in the app (Profile → Settings → Delete account) or on the website (Settings → Delete account). This permanently deletes your profile, Steam data, likes, matches, messages (for both people), devices, contact messages and sign-in tokens; only the moderation records described in section 9 are kept for the stated periods. If you cannot use these options (for example because your account is suspended), email us at support@matchy.gg and we will delete your data within 30 days.

11. Your Rights

Depending on where you live (including under KVKK Article 11 and the GDPR), you have the right to: know whether we process your data and get access to it; correct it; have it deleted; restrict or object to certain processing; receive your data in a portable format; withdraw consent; learn to whom it was transferred; and object to decisions made solely by automated means that affect you. Compatibility scores and discovery order are automated but have no legal or similarly significant effect. To exercise a right, email support@matchy.gg; we answer within 30 days. You may also complain to your data protection authority — in Türkiye, the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK, kvkk.gov.tr); in the EU/EEA or UK, your local supervisory authority.

12. Cookies and Local Storage

• Session cookie (PHPSESSID): keeps you signed in during a browser session.
• Remember-me token (remember_token): keeps you signed in for up to 90 days; stored hashed on our side and invalidated when you log out.
• Language (matchy_lang): remembers the language you chose.
• Local storage in your browser: discovery filters and small interface preferences.

The iOS app keeps you signed in with a token stored in your device's Keychain; logging out deletes it from your device and our servers. We use no analytics, advertising or tracking cookies.

13. Security

We protect your data with encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed tokens, session protections and restricted access to administrative systems. No system is completely secure, but we work to protect your data and will notify you and the authorities of a breach where the law requires.

14. Children

Matchy is only for people aged 18 and over. We check age during sign-up (and, on iOS where the law requires it, with Apple's age range). Accounts that fail the age check are locked. If we learn that a minor has an account, we delete it.

15. Changes

We may update this policy. The date at the top shows the latest version; for material changes we will notify you in the app or on the website before they take effect.

16. Contact

FORTY4TURES LLC, 8735 DUNWOODY PLACE STE N, ATLANTA, GA, 30350 · support@matchy.gg · contact form: Settings → Contact us.