Welcome to the Badoo Privacy Policy ("Policy")! This explains how we collect, store, protect and share your information, and with whom we share it. We suggest you read this in conjunction with our Terms and Conditions of Use (opens in new window).
Whilst you're enjoying the Badoo mobile application (including the desktop version) ("App"), our websites and microsites (such as Badoo.com) or using our digital products and services (such as our competitions or surveys) (together, referred to in this Privacy Policy as our "Sites"), we collect some information about you. In addition, you may choose to use the App or Sites to share information with other Badoo members including your friends and contacts ("members"). We may also need to share your information sometimes.
Badoo's App and Sites are global, and your information will be sent to and used in the United States and the EU regardless of the country you reside in. This Policy explains how we protect your personal information when we transfer it overseas, so please read very carefully!
Who we are
Badoo Trading Limited and Bumble Trading LLC are joint controllers in relation to personal information collected and processed through the Badoo App and Sites (referred to in this Policy as "we" and "us").
Bumble Trading Limited will help members with their questions and support them in exercising their rights under the GDPR.
Badoo has designated a Data Protection Officer that can be reached by emailing DPO@badoo.com or by post at the following address: 1 Blossom Yard, Fourth Floor, London E1 6RS
1. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
Registration information
When you download the App and create an account ("Account"), you provide certain information ("Registration Information") about yourself, to help us provide our service and enhance the App over time. This can include:
- Name;
- Username;
- Email address
- Mobile number
- Gender identity;
- Date and place of birth;
- Sexual preference;
- Photographs;
- Location (city, town), and
- Login information for social media accounts that you connect to your Badoo Account (this could include, for example, your Facebook and Instagram accounts). For more information about this, see "Linking other accounts to Badoo" in section 7 below.
You will also be required to create a password in connection with the registration of your Account. Once you register, you will be able to review and change some of this information at any time just by logging in to Badoo (other than your location, which, if you have given Badoo access to your location in your device settings, is automatically updated based on the location of your device) or contacting Badoo's Customer Support Team. It is your responsibility to ensure that your account details are kept up to date. If your phone number changes, please ensure that you update this in your account.
The information we collect helps to enhance the App and verify our members (robots are not welcome!). Registration Information such as your sexual preference, name and username may be visible to other members who view your profile page.
Profile Information
We recommend and encourage you (and all our members) to think carefully about the information you disclose about yourself. We also do not recommend that you put email addresses, URLs, instant messaging details, phone numbers, full names or addresses, credit card details, national identity numbers, drivers' license details and other sensitive information which is open to abuse and misuse on your profile.
When you post information about yourself or use the messaging function to communicate with other Users, the amount of personal information you share is at your own risk. Please see Section 4 below for more information on who can access what you post on Badoo.
Profile Verification Information (Including Biometric Information)
For safety and security and to ensure you have the best possible user experience, we will require you to verify your account. This means we may ask for your phone number and, in some instances, we will also ask that you carry out photo verification or ID verification (opens in new window). We want to make sure you are not a robot! And we also want to avoid fake Badoo accounts being created which can be used for malicious activities and cybercrime - they threaten the Badoo network and spoil things for everyone. You can also verify your photo on a voluntary basis (to add the blue "verified" badge to your profile).
If you choose to verify your profile photo, we will scan each photo that you submit. The scan can include the use of facial recognition technology and involves the collection of biometric data, so that we can compare the photo you submit to your profile photo, to help ensure that you are who you say you are. You also have the option to request a manual review if you do not want facial recognition technology to be used or your biometric information to be collected. We do not add the verification photos to your profile. We'll keep your photo to compare it with any future photos you add to your profile. For members in South Korea, ID verification will be conducted manually. Before submitting your government-issued document, please ensure that all information is redacted other than your name, photo, date of birth, sex, and document expiry date. For members in countries where the collection of identification numbers is not permitted, Badoo's verification process automatically redacts any individual identification code from government-issued ID documents immediately upon receipt. The original image is permanently deleted after redaction, ensuring that the code is neither stored nor viewed by a human as part of a manual verification process.
Purchases Information
If you decide to purchase any of our premium services, we will process your payment information and keep it for audit/tax purposes and to prevent fraud.
Badoo uses automated decisions to prevent fraudulent payment transactions being processed as part of its anti-fraud procedures. In order to do this, our systems check payment transactions for behaviour that indicates breaches of our Terms and Conditions of Use (opens in new window). We may automatically block any transaction we believe is fraudulent or violates our Terms and Conditions of Use. If a transaction is blocked, the relevant person will be notified that their transaction cannot be processed and affected members can contact Badoo to contest the decision.
Please note that if your account is blocked for any reason, any account(s) that you have on any other Badoo Group platforms/applications, such as Bumble, may also be blocked as part of our anti-spam and anti-fraud procedures.
Geolocation Information
If you have given Badoo access to your location in your device settings, when you use your mobile, we will collect information about WiFi access points as well as other location information about your longitude and latitude and may save your device's coordinates to offer certain features to you. This information helps us identify your physical location and we may use it to personalise the App and make it easier for you to interact with other Users, by enabling the general locality information to be displayed to members seeing your profile and showing you the profiles of other members who are near you.
You can always turn off geolocation if you ever change your mind about giving Badoo access to your location by using the settings on the app:
- iPhone app - settings, privacy, location services, Badoo
- Android - settings, location, Badoo, permissions, location
Device Information
We will collect information about your device when you use the App for the purposes described in this Policy. The information covers your device's unique identifier, model, and operating system, as well as log and usage data. You can also choose to give our App access to your device's address book, which will only be used when you want to add someone to your contacts.
Photo Information
We want to help you put your best foot forward, so we collect data about your profile photos that allows us to arrange them in a way that is favourable to you (higher number of 'yes' votes first). This includes data such as which photos people spend the most time looking at or which have the best lighting, etc. You cannot opt-out of this feature currently. Please see further details here (opens in new window).
Links
We will keep track of how you interact with links available on Badoo, including third party services by monitoring redirecting clicks or through other means. We may share aggregate click statistics such as how many times a particular link was clicked on.
Your Feedback
From time to time, we run surveys for research purposes and we may contact you to find out if you would like to take part. We may also contact you to find out if you would like to provide feedback, a testimonial or take part in marketing campaigns (for example, if you let us know that you have found a match on the App, we may contact you to ask if you would be happy to feature in advertising for Badoo). Such surveys and marketing campaigns are optional and more information will be provided at the point of contact. If you do not wish to be contacted to take part in a survey or marketing campaign, please contact our Customer Support Team via our Feedback Page.
When you contact Customer Support
If you contact our Customer Support team via Feedback page, we will collect your IP address and will receive your email address and, the information you send to us to help resolve your query. We keep records of our communications with you, including any complaints that we receive from you about other members (and from other members about you) for 6 years after your account is deleted.
Cookies and similar technologies
When you use our App or visit our Sites, we will collect personal information from you automatically by using cookies or similar technologies. A cookie is a small file that can be placed on your device or browser that allows us to recognise and remember you. Some cookies are necessary for the App and Sites to function and cannot be switched off, but you do have choices for others, for example, to see targeted ads. If you would like to find out more about cookies, including how we use them and what choices are available to you, , including how you can set and manage your preferences with regards to such technologies, please see our Cookie Policy.
2. USE OF YOUR INFORMATION
Our main goal is to ensure your experience on Badoo is an enjoyable one and in order to deliver it to you, we may use your Registration and other information to:
- offer you our services and features;
- contact you with information about the App (e.g. updates and new features);
- to personalise the App/Sites and the content we deliver to you;
- conduct research and analytics about how you use and interact with the App/Sites;
- test new technologies and processes designed to enhance and develop the App/Sites;
- resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and enforce our Terms and Conditions of Use (opens in new window);
- investigate fraud, protect our legal rights, and to enforce our Terms and Conditions of Use (opens in new window);
- to send you information about the promotions and offers we have available (e.g., specify the types of goods/services/offers to be provided via direct marketing) by direct marketing or other modes of communication - if you've signed up for our communications or otherwise told us it's ok. We will not send you direct marketing via email unless you give us your consent during the Account creating process or via Settings in the App (you can withdraw from marketing at any time via Settings in the App or by using the opt-out mechanisms and links provided in each message); and
- protect our members and third parties from harm.
Members receive a message to their emails to ensure the email used to register is accurate. Members may be required to provide a phone number so that we can ensure members do not have multiple accounts. We send an SMS or a one-time password to your phone to authenticate you. Members are also encouraged to verify their identities by photo verification and ID verification.
Our Use of Algorithms
Our mission is to create kind and equitable relationships. We have developed matching algorithms to predict your compatibility with other members so we can show you people we think are a good match for you. We use different indications based on users' profiles on our app (for example, how you swipe or whether you match with someone). We use these indications to recommend the most relevant profiles to everyone to maximise everyone's chances of finding meaningful connections on our apps. Our matching algorithms are based on a range of factors and use machine learning to rank profiles for you to maximise your chance of finding compatible matches. We use the following data about you and other members to predict your compatibility with others and generate profile recommendations:
- the information you share about yourself in your profile such as age, distance or gender so we can show you people who share a similar demographic as you
- information about your activity on the App to suggest people with similar interests and engagement
- whether you've verified your photo to confirm the photos on a profile match
- your device coordinates to understand your proximity to other members, unless you opted for a manual selection of your location
We also use algorithms to keep the platform safe for members. For example:
Private Detector uses A.I. to automatically blur a potential nude image shared within a chat on Badoo. It'll then notify you that you've been sent something that's been detected as inappropriate; it's up to you to decide whether to view or block the image. See more information about the Private Detector here.
Deception Detector™: our AI-powered tool works behind the scenes to flag and prevent scams before they happen, backed by a dedicated human moderation team. The tool detects when certain criteria are met that suggest that a transaction is likely to be fraudulent and will be automatically blocked. If this happens, the affected member will be notified and Badoo can be contacted to contest the decision.
All decisions made using an automated system or by a human at Badoo can be appealed or contested by reaching out to us using the contact details in section "How to contact us?". See a description of all tools Badoo uses and offers to members to keep the platform safe here.
Moderation Practices
We use a combination of internal automated systems and a team of moderators to monitor and review accounts (including photos and any other information uploaded onto member profiles) and messages for content that suggests a violation of our Terms and Conditions of Use. If an account or message meets certain criteria that demonstrate that the Terms and Conditions of Use (opens in new window) are likely to have been breached, the relevant account will be subject to a warning and the user's access restricted and/or blocked. Affected members can contact Badoo to contest the decision.
If you post anything that is inconsistent with our Terms and Conditions of Use, we reserve the right to terminate or restrict access to your Account.
Lawful Basis
Under EU and UK data protection laws, we are required to tell you our lawful basis for using your data and we have set this out in the table below. Where the legal basis is consent, you can withdraw consent at any time. Where the legal basis is legitimate interests, you have a right to object to our use of your data. We explain in the relevant sections in this Policy how you can withdraw consent or opt-out of certain data uses (where applicable).
| Why we use your information | What information we use | Where we get the information | Legal basis under the GDPR and retention period |
|---|---|---|---|
| To provide you with the Badoo social networking service and App by onboarding you as a member. |
- Name (mandatory)
- Email address
- Date of birth (mandatory)
- GPS-location (CCPA Categories A and B), if selected by member
- Phone number
- App activity (mobile device ID, browser identification)
- OTP (verification code)
| You provide your name, email address and date of birth to us. We obtain location and app activity data from the device that you use to access the service |
Contractual necessity
Geocoordinates, email, external IDs, phone number, gender, city, birthday, and name are retained for six years from account deletion/erasure
| |
To facilitate networking opportunities on the Badoo site by enabling you to create your profile.
To personalise the service by enabling optional filtering feature 'Discover' based on similar interests, dating goals, and communities in common.
| Optional information that you choose to provide in your profile, including through profile verification, (CCPA Categories B, C, H, I, J) which may include information about your:
- Dating intention
- Gender preference
- Your gender (including non-binary gender)
- Religion
- Ethnic background (in US and Canada only)
- Photos
- Height
- Prompts
- Interests
- Other similar details you choose to share (e.g. work, education, hometown, lifestyle & habits, causes, languages, values)
| You provide this information to us | Contractual necessity and our legitimate interests - it is in our legitimate interests to facilitate networking opportunities in the Badoo app. Your consent for special category data: (racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and genetic data, biometric data if used for the purpose of identification, health data or sex life or sexual orientation). Almost all profile data is deleted 28 days after account deletion/erasure | | To verify your identity and prevent fraud and to ensure the safety and security of members |
- name
- IP address
- Phone number
- If requested or permitted, photo provided for profile verification
- If requested or permitted, photo of Government issued ID and selfie for ID verification
- For members users based in countries where age verification is legally required: photo of Government issued ID, geolocation and device information at the time of uploading ID (CCPA Category B and H)
| You provide us with your phone number, government ID and photos. We get geolocation and device information (including IP address) from the device you use to access the Badoo social networking service. | Our legal obligation in making sure accounts are not set up fraudulently or by people underage and to protect the safety and security of people using our App or Sites. We retain your ID for 90 days from completion of the ID verification process | | To take payment for premium services (not applicable for members making payments via the Apple App Store | Payment card details (CCPA Categories B and D) | You provide this information to us | Contractual necessity | |
To promote Badoo by organising events, recruiting for and conducting video and photoshoots for members and use the content for marketing purposes
To send Badoo merchandise to members for gifting and community engagement
|
- Name
- Email address
- Postal address
- Photos or videos where relevant
- Mobile phone number
- Birthday, interests, location, postal address, device coordinates for sending merchandise
| You provide this information to us |
Our legitimate interests in promoting our business and products
The data is kept for 2 years from the end of the relevant event/campaign
Details of merchandise fulfillment are kept for 6 years from the date of fulfilment
| | To share targeted third-party advertisements on the App and Sites (this includes rewarded video ads) |
- Advertising identifier associated with your device (Device ID)
- Age
- Gender
- IP address
- Coarse location (CCPA Categories A, C and G)
| You provide us with your gender and age. You choose to provide us with optional profile information. We get IP address and coarse location data from the device you use to access the Badoo social networking service. | When you have given us consent to do so through Settings preferences under Security and Privacy or your browser or device privacy preferences. | | To share Badoo advertisements on third party networks and measure the effectiveness of such ads, and receive data on interactions you had with our ads. |
- Gender
- Age
- Data about your visit to our App or Sites and the actions you take, for example, if you: downloaded our App, created a Badoo account
- IP address
- Estimated location based on IP address
- Device ID (CCPA Categories A, C, G, F and K)
| We obtain age and gender from you and we get the other information from the device or browser that you use to access the Badoo service | When you have given us your consent to do so through your Settings preferences under Security and Privacy Settings preferences or your browser or device privacy preferences (where required by your device manufacturer (for example Apple devices using iOS 14.5) | | To serve promo cards and advertisements on the App | Location, gender, age, and information that you have optionally provided us with via your profile (CCPA Categories A, C and G) | We obtain age, gender and profile information from you, and location data from the device that you use to access the service | Legitimate interests - it is in our legitimate interests to target advertisements so that members see relevant advertisements and to allow us to generate income from advertising revenue | | To send you marketing information about our events, offers and services | Name, email address, postal address, mobile phone number (CCPA Categories A and B) | You provide this information to us | Consent or legitimate interests and in accordance with the laws applying to our marketing activities. We have a legitimate interest in promoting our business and products | | To contact you in order to run research surveys, get feedback (Appstore ratings and reviews and customer satisfaction surveys), and to find out if you want to take part in marketing campaigns |
- Name
- Email address
- Mobile phone number
- Appstore feedback
- Gender
- Age
- Location
- Text of the review from a member (CCPA Category B)
| You provide this information to us |
Legitimate interests - it is in our legitimate interests to carry out research so that we can further develop the app and improve the service
We retain survey and research results for year, after which they are aggregated.
| | To enable members to create and enhance their Badoo profile and log into the app via third party accounts | Data from Facebook and other third party accounts (see section 7 of this policy for more details) (CCPA Categories A, B, C, and H) | We obtain this information from Facebook or the providers of any other accounts you use to log in or connect with your Badoo account | Legitimate interests - it is in our legitimate interests to facilitate access to our services | | To carry out research and analysis to help us improve the App and to test new technologies and processes designed to enhance and improve the App/Sites |
- Name, phone number, email address, photos User ID
- Survey responses
- Recording of interviews, focus groups
- Registration details
- Paypal account details to process incentives
- Profile information (CCPA Categories A, F and H)
| We obtain the log and usage information from the device that you use to access the service. You provide us with the other information. |
Legitimate interests - it is in our legitimate interests to analyse the way in which members access and use our services and to test new technologies so that we can further develop the App, implement security measures and improve the service
We retain the information for one year from the end of the survey or research.
| | To respond to correspondence and queries that you submit to us, including social media queries or chatbots |
- Email address
- IP address
- Social media name
- phone number
- Any information you send to us to help us resolve your queries (CCPA Categories B and F)
| You provide your email address, social media name and phone number to us when you contact us. We obtain your IP address from the device that you use to contact us |
Legitimate interests - it is in our legitimate interests to respond to your queries to ensure that we provide a good service to members and troubleshoot problems
Our obligation under the contract with you to provide our services. Our legal obligation in responding to requests and queries, in relation to your personal information.
We retain correspondence and responses to requests for six years after account deletion.
| | To investigate and block members for reported infringements of our Terms and Conditions of Use |
- Name
- Registration information
- Profile information
- Activities on the app: Message content
- Photographs
- Usage and device data, including (IP address, IP session information)
- Activities off the app reported to us (CCPA Categories A, B, C, F and H)
| You provide your registration details, profile information, messages and photographs to us. We obtain the other information from the device that you use to access the service or from others who may submit queries or reports involving you. |
Our contractual obligation to enforce the terms with members to prevent unauthorised behaviour against our Community Guidelines (e.g. commercial activity on the App) and a legal obligation to maintain the safety and integrity of our App and Sites (e.g. harmful behaviour).
We may keep details of certain blocked members for up to 15 years, depending on the seriousness of harm, to prevent them from rejoining as a member.
| | To detect fraudulent behaviour and to block payment transactions as part of our anti-fraud procedures |
- Name
- IP address
- Email address
- Mobile number
- Cardholder name
- Payments received
- Type of payment
- Member ID
- Member country
- Activities on the App or Sites
- Device ID (CCPA Categories, A, B, and D)
| You provide your name, email address, phone number and card details to us. We obtain your IP address from the device that you use to contact us. We obtain your payment information from your interactions with our service App and Sites. |
Our legal obligation to prevent fraudulent transactions and maintain the security of our App and Sites.
We retain the information on blocking decisions for six years from the date of blocking the account.
We may keep the information on serious cases for fifteen years from the date of blocking the account.
| | To enable video and audio call functions and the sending of images and videos |
- Video and audio call usage data
- Images and video (CCPA Categories F and H)
| We obtain this information from the device you use to access the Badoo App and Site | Our contractual obligation in providing these functionalities as part of the App and Sites. | | To facilitate easy connections by offering AI-powered messaging options via an icebreaker feature (generating up to three conversation starters between matched members). |
- Public profile data (e.g. life badges and interest badges, and excluding any special category data)
- Age
- Gender
- Profile name (for salutation only)
- Work, education
- Location (city, town level)
| We get this information from your profile |
Our legitimate interest in enhancing member experience
We retain prompts and inputs for six years after account deletion.
| | To build a more accurate profile of you, which helps us with matches and to personalise the service | The apps installed on your device (Android only) (CCPA Categories F and K) | We obtain this information from the device that you use to access our service | Consent | | To improve your experience on the App by providing feedback on your profile, your photo quality and reordering photos to place the one that might get a higher number of 'yes' votes first. |
Profile information like your prompt and bio,
Profile photo data, such as whether the:
- first profile photo is scrolled on or not
- vote is a yes or a no
| We get this information directly from you, and from how people interact with the App and profile photos of other members. |
Our contractual obligation.
We retain details of feedback for six years one year after account deletion.
| | To allow people using the App to create and enhance their Badoo profile, and log into the App via third-party accounts. | Linked Social Media Information from Facebook and other third-party accounts (e.g. Spotify) | We get this information from Facebook or the providers of any other accounts you use to log in to Badoo or connect with your Badoo account. |
Our contractual obligation.
We retain the information for 42 days after the account deletion.
| | To respond to and evaluate legal claims. | This could include any information that is relevant to the issue
- Case details, correspondence
- Evidence
- Witness statements
- Profile and account data
| We get this information from the information available to Badoo via the app use, or if you provide the information to us. |
Our legitimate interests to obtain legal advice, to exercise or defend legal claims.
The data is retained for seven years from the closure of the case/investigation/claim.
| | To ensure the security of the App and Sites by monitoring, detecting and responding to security incidents and alerts |
- Device ID
- IP addresses
- Usernames
- Access logs
- Geolocation metadata
- Alert data from security tools
| We get this information from the device you use to access the Badoo App and Sites. |
Our legitimate interests for information security and incident management.
The data is retained for 12 months from the last record on our systems.
| | Show 'nearby' locations to other members | Geocoordinates from the device of the member only shown as 'nearby' to other members or manually selected location | We get location information from the device you use to access Badoo |
Contractual necessity to connect you
The information is retained for 6 years after account deletion
|
3. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
In order to help you make connections and provide an enjoyable Badoo experience, it is necessary to share some personal information with other members. We may also share your personal information with third parties that assist us in providing our services, or where we are under an obligation to report to. But rest assured: we will only ever share your personal information in the limited circumstances described in this Policy below:
| Circumstances where data may be disclosed | Disclosed data |
|---|---|
| Other members - To connect you with other members on our app. Members may share information about you (e.g. to recommend to a friend, or to report a violation of the Terms and Conditions of Use). Where required by law, we may let members who may have reported a violation of our Terms and Conditions of Use involving you, know what actions we took, if any, as a result of their report | All information that you voluntarily make available on your profile or share with other members via the app. Depending on the service or function, this can include any personal information discussed in this Policy that we have related to you |
| Service Providers - We engage certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to us. We may share your personal information with these third parties, but only for the purposes of performing these functions and providing such services. More information about this is available directly below | This could include all data, including all CCPA Categories listed above |
| For example, in order to provide our services, we typically use Service Providers like: |
-
Billing services to allow customers to purchase paid features of our App (for example, Google Play)
-
Authentication services to allow customers to authenticate their account
Veriff provides identity verification services using document and biometric checks (e.g. ID scans and selfies). Veriff will delete any data collected during the verification process, such as a selfie, the photograph of your ID, and any biometric data it may have collected, within 72 hours and never retain it for longer than 30 days after the verification is complete.
Twilio provides communication and authentication services used for account verification via SMS or voice. The platform processes limited user data, such as phone numbers and verification codes, to confirm user identity securely.
Prove provides authentication services used for account verification. The platform processes device information, such as IP address, to confirm user identity securely. These authentication services may share this data with other third parties, such as wireless carriers and mobile network operators
-
Social media providers to allow customers to create and connect their Badoo account with their social media accounts (for example, Facebook or Spotify)
-
Customer support services to help us respond to your enquiries
Zendesk provides customer support software for managing member inquiries and service tickets. It processes user contact details and message content to facilitate effective issue resolution.
Sierra delivers customer support services, helping to manage member communications and automate common support tasks. It processes customer interactions to ensure timely and accurate responses.
-
Moderation services
Cinder is a content moderation and community management platform that helps identify, review, and act on harmful or policy-violating content. It processes user-generated data, such as reports, messages, and media, to support safe community interactions and ensure compliance with moderation standards.
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Product improvement and market research by working with third-party platforms and agencies to carry out customer surveys and research to improve our products and services.
Typeform provides survey and form tools to collect user feedback and research data. It processes member responses and identifiers to support product improvement and customer insights.
Kantar delivers market research and analytics services, helping to understand user behaviour and preferences. It processes aggregated and anonymised data to provide market insights and benchmarking analysis.
-
IT services by working with third-party software providers used in operating our business for technical support.
Google Cloud supplies cloud hosting and computing infrastructure for storing and processing member data.
AI tool providers to assist with message prompts - product features - OpenAI (it only retains inputs and prompts for 30 days).
|
| Circumstances where data may be disclosed | Disclosed data |
|---|---|
| Moderators - to monitor activity on the app or compliance with the Terms and Conditions of Use. |
- Name
- Member registration details
- Profile information
- Message content
- Photographs
(CCPA Categories A, B, C and H) | |
Advertising Partners
To publish third-party ads on our Apps
We share limited personal information with advertising partners, if you provide your consent via a cookie consent banner, to show you relevant third party ads on our App.
|
- Gender
- Age
- IP address
- Coarse locations
CCPA Categories A, C and G) | | Law and Harm - As we mentioned in the Terms and Conditions of Use (opens in new window), we think it is very important that all Badoo members behave whilst using the App. We will cooperate with all third parties to enforce their intellectual property or other rights. We will cooperate with lawfully made law enforcement requests for information from within or outside your country of residence where we are required to by law. This may include where there is an investigation into alleged criminal behaviour or to protect the vital interests of a person. We may preserve or disclose any of your information, including your Registration Information, if we believe in good faith that it is necessary to comply with a law or regulation, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary:
- to comply with a binding direction, court order, or lawful request;
- to protect the safety of any person;
- to address fraud, security or technical issues e.g. through anti-spam providers to protect the service from criminal activity; or
- to protect our rights or property or those of third parties.
In such cases we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us. In any of these cases, it is our decision alone whether or not to act on any right available to us, such as rejecting a request for information where necessary. | This could include any personal information that Badoo holds about you, depending on the nature of the request or the issue that we are dealing with, including all CCPA Categories listed above | |
Marketing Services Providers*
To partner with Service Providers focused on marketing services to:
- market and advertise our App and services on third-party websites and applications
- measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns
For example, this can involve:
- excluding people who already have a Badoo account from advertising campaigns aimed at finding new members
- showing Badoo ads to people who have visited our App or Sites but haven't created an account yet
- creating an advertisement audience of other potential members with characteristics suitable for our App (including behavioural factors - they upload photos, make purchases, photo verify, respond to profile prompts, have not been penalised for bad online behaviour, swipe speed) based on a Marketing Service Provider's information (also known as a "lookalike audience")
- sending you specific Badoo advertising content by including you on a list of people we think are most likely to be interested in a particular advertisement (also known as a "custom audience")
*The full list of marketing service providers can be accessed in the App Settings in the Privacy section |
- Advertising identifier associated with your device (Device ID)
- Estimated location (based on your IP address)
- Age
- Gender
- Data about your visit to our Sites or App and the actions you take, for example, if you:
- downloaded our App
- created a Badoo account
- made purchases in the App or on the Sites
- Encrypted (hashed) email address (only to create "custom audiences")*
*When shared with a Marketing Service Provider, hashed emails are deleted after the ads are served. (CCPA Categories B, C, G, F and K) | |
Where we share data with Facebook as our Marketing Service Provider (including via the Facebook "Like" function), we are Joint Data Controllers with Facebook Ireland for this processing. This arrangement means that Badoo has to provide you this notice, but you should contact Facebook if you wish to exercise your data protection rights. Further information, including how Facebook enables you to exercise your data protection rights, and subsequently processes your information as an independent data controller can be found in Facebook Ireland's Data Policy (opens in new window).
This data referred to above can include actions that you take on our website such as your interactions with our website or other information collected from cookies or similar technologies including the Facebook pixel. This allows us to measure the effectiveness of our advertising, improve our marketing practices, and helps us deliver more relevant advertising to you and people like you (including on social media such as Facebook).
Google's reCAPTCHA service
To protect the input and comment areas of our App against spam and abuse, we use the reCAPTCHA verification tool. This service is provided by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA and is subject to Google's privacy policy (opens in new window) and terms of service (opens in new window).
reCAPTCHA makes it possible to differentiate between inputs of human origin and those that are carried out improperly by a bot. Certain device and application data will be transmitted to Google's servers in order to determine whether actions on our App really come from humans. Google may also use this data to improve the reCAPTCHA service. This data may include: URLs; user IP address; Google account information if the user is logged in to their Google account at the same time; browser information, including browser type, browser size, browser resolution, browser plug-ins, language settings and date; mouse and touch events within the page; and information collected from cookies. This processing is based on our predominant legitimate interests in protecting our App from abusive bots.
| | Payment processing and telecommunications companies - To facilitate payments for our premium services |
- Cardholder name
- Cardholder address
- Card number
- Payment amount
- Transaction date/time
(CCPA Categories A, B, and D) | | Business Transfers - In the event that a Badoo Group entity or any of its affiliates undergoes a business transition or change of ownership, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, re-organisation, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, or in the event of insolvency or administration, we may be required to disclose your personal information to a purchaser of all or part of the business or to an insolvency practitioner | This could include all personal information discussed in this policy that Badoo holds about you, including all CCPA Categories listed above | | Anti-Spam and Anti-Fraud Procedures - Your data may be shared with other Badoo Group companies, for example, to block accounts and suspected fraudulent payment transactions as part of our anti-spam and anti-fraud procedures. |
- Email address
- Phone number
- IP address
- IP session information
- Social network ID
- Username
- User agent string
- Transaction and payment data
(CCPA Categories B, F and D) | | Aggregated Information - We may share aggregated information with third parties that includes your personal information (but which doesn't identify you directly) together with other information including log data for industry analysis and demographic profiling. | Personal information that does not directly identify you, together with other information, including log data |
We carry out due diligence on all Service Providers we engage to ensure they have adequate data protection and information security measures in place and only provide them with the personal information necessary to the service they are providing. Our suppliers are also subject to extensive obligations under our contractual arrangements, including strict data retention limits.
4. WHAT OTHERS MAY SEE ABOUT YOU
We think our members are awesome, and we want you to share how awesome you are with the world, so we have built certain features to enable this. Our App is designed to make it easier for you to connect with other members and to interact with them.
When using the Badoo App, you should assume that anything you post or submit on the App may be publicly-viewable and accessible, both by members of the App and non-members of the App. We want our members to be careful about posting information that may eventually be made public.
Please be careful about posting sensitive details about yourself on your profile such as your religious denomination and health details. While you may voluntarily provide this information to us when you create your profile, including your sexual preferences, there is no requirement to do so. Please remember that photographs that you post on Badoo may reveal information about yourself as well. Where you do upload and choose to tell us sensitive information about yourself, you are explicitly consenting to our processing of this information and making it public to other members. If your photos contain images of others, please ensure you have their consent before posting on Badoo
Your Badoo profile and other information you make available via the App, including certain information added to your profile through third party accounts (such as Spotify or Instagram - see section 7 of this Privacy Policy for more information about this) may be viewed and shared by members with individuals who may or may not be users of the App. For example, a member may recommend you as a match to his or her Facebook friend(s) by taking a screenshot of your profile picture and sharing it, regardless of whether such friend(s) is also a member of the App.
Please also note that in certain countries (currently, South Korea only) Users are provided with functionality enabling them to download a copy of their conversation history (as this is required by local laws) and that Badoo has no control over how Users may then publish or use that information.
If you log in to or access the App through your Facebook account or another third-party account on a device which you share with others, remember to log out of the App and the relevant third-party account when you leave the device in order to prevent other users from accessing your Badoo account.
5. OUR POLICY TOWARDS AGE.
Although we want as many people as possible to enjoy our creation, you have to be at least 18 years old to use Badoo.
Badoo does not knowingly collect any information about or market to children, minors or anyone under the age of majority. If we become aware that a child, minor or anyone under the age of 18 has registered with us and provided us with personal information, we will take steps to terminate that person's registration and delete their Profile information from Badoo. If we do delete a Profile because you violated our no children rules, we may retain your email and IP address to ensure that you do not try to get around our rules by creating a new Profile.
6. SECURITY.
Badoo takes all appropriate and reasonable security measures to help protect your information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access or sharing; to protect the confidentiality of your personal information such as by using secured servers with firewalls. Our technical experts at Badoo work hard to ensure your secure use of our site.
Unfortunately, no website or Internet transmission is ever 100% secure and even we cannot guarantee that unauthorised access, hacking, data loss or other breaches will never happen. We can't guarantee the security of your personal information while it is being transmitted to us, so any transmission is at your own risk.
That being said, her are some handy tips to help keep your data secure:
- Always make sure you log out of your Account after use as you never know who may stumble onto your Account!
- Never share the password you use to access your Badoo Account with anyone else!
- Regularly change your password.
If you ever think someone has had access to your password or Account, please follow the steps set out here (opens in new window).
7. LINKING OTHER ACCOUNTS TO BADOO.
Using your social media details to sign in to Badoo
When you sign in to our App using your Facebook account, you give permission to Facebook to share with us your name and profile picture. Unless you opt-out of sharing these details, you also give permission to Facebook to share with us your email address (if there is one associated with your Facebook account), date of birth, other profile photos, gender, page you like and current town/city.
If you register or sign in with your Apple ID, you give Apple permission to share your Apple login, a name (that can be edited by you) and an email address that will be linked to your Badoo account and will be used to retrieve it. You can choose to hide your email and Apple will create a random email address so your personal email can stay private.
We will then use this personal information we receive from Facebook or Apple to form your Badoo account. If you remove the Badoo app from your Facebook settings, or from your Apple ID, we will no longer have access to this information. However, we will still have the personal information that we received when you first set up your Badoo account using your Facebook or Apple ID (you must delete your Badoo account entirely for us to no longer have access to this data).
Linking social media accounts to your Badoo account
You may link your Badoo account with your Facebook or Spotify accounts. This allows you to share some information from those accounts directly to your Badoo account (for example Facebook photos or top Spotify artists).
We only receive the limited information that Facebook/Spotify permits to be transferred (as detailed by Facebook/Spotify and agreed by you when you first link these accounts to your Badoo account).
If you want to disconnect any linked social media accounts from Badoo, please visit the settings in your Facebook or Spotify account and follow the instructions to remove the Badoo app access permissions. Please note that if you unlink a social media account, this does not automatically delete the information that was already added to your Badoo account. If you'd like this information removed, you must also delete it within your Badoo account as well.
8. YOUR US STATE PRIVACY RIGHTS
Some US states have their own privacy laws, regulations, and rights. If you see your state listed here, we have some extra information to share with you. Please read this information along with the rest of this Privacy Policy.
- Right to Know: You have the right to request to know what personal information we have collected about you, including the categories of personal information, the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information, the categories of third parties to whom we disclose personal information, and the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you. You may also receive additional information regarding certain disclosures we make to third parties.
- Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete personal information that we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions. Note we may not be able to (or be required to) fully address your request to delete, such as if we need to complete a transaction for you, to detect and protect against fraudulent and illegal activity, to exercise our rights, for our internal purposes, or to comply with a legal obligation.
- Right to Data Portability: You have the right to request to access your information in a portable format.
- Right to Correct: You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information that we may maintain about you, subject to appropriate verification.
- Right to Opt Out of the Sale or Sharing of Personal Information: You have the right to opt-out of the "sale" or "sharing" of your personal information to third parties, as such terms are defined in applicable privacy law.
- Right to Opt Out of Targeted Advertising: You have the right to opt-out of "targeted" advertising, as such term is defined in applicable privacy law.
- Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information: You may have the right to request that we only use your sensitive personal information for limited purposes.
To exercise your privacy rights available to you, please visit the How Can You Reach Us section below for additional information on how to contact us. We may request certain information to verify your identity before we can respond to your requests. We will confirm receipt of your request and will respond to your request within the legally required timeframe (if any), after verification, unless we need additional time, in which case we will let you know.
Right to appeal. You may have the right to appeal our decision to decline a request made in connection with your personal information. If we decline your request, we will provide you with instructions regarding how to appeal such decision when we notify you that we have declined your request.
Authorized Agent. You may authorize someone to make a privacy rights request on your behalf (an authorized agent). Authorized agents will need to demonstrate that you've authorized them to act on your behalf or must demonstrate they have the right to make such request. Badoo retains the right to request confirmation directly from you that the agent is authorized to make such a request, or to request additional information to confirm the agent's identity.
Shine the Light Law. If you are a resident of California, California's "Shine the Light" law permits you to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To request more information concerning the categories of personal information we share with third parties for their direct marketing purposes, please contact us using the information at the bottom of this policy.
Do not track signals. To exercise your right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information or to opt out of targeted advertising, you may also choose to enable online, where available, a universal tool that automatically communicates your opt-out preferences, such as the Global Privacy Control ("GPC"). We will process the GPC signal as a request to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information.
| Types of Information we have Sold or Shared in the Previous 12 Months | Purpose | Categories of Third Parties |
|---|---|---|
- Advertising identifier associated with your device (Device ID)
- Estimated location (based on your IP address)
- Age
- Gender
- Data about your visit to our Sites or App and the actions you take, for example, if you:
- downloaded our App
- created a Badoo account
- made purchases in the App or on the Sites
- Encrypted (hashed) email address (only to create "custom audiences")*
*When shared with a Marketing Service Provider, hashed emails are deleted after the ads are served.
|
Marketing Service Providers
To partner with Service Providers focused on marketing services to:
- market and advertise our App and services on third-party websites and applications
- measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns
For example, this can involve:
- excluding people who already have a Badoo account from advertising campaigns aimed at finding new members
- showing Badoo ads to people who have visited our App or Sites but haven't created an account yet
- creating an advertisement audience of other potential members with characteristics suitable for our App (including behavioural factors - they upload photos, make purchases, photo verify, respond to profile prompts, have not been penalised for bad online behaviour, swipe speed) based on a Marketing Service Provider's information (also known as a "lookalike audience")
- sending you specific Badoo advertising content by including you on a list of people we think are most likely to be interested in a particular advertisement (also known as a "custom audience")
| Marketing Service Providers | |
- Gender
- Age
- IP address
- Coarse Location
- Actions you take on our Sites and how you interact with them
- Information collected from cookies or similar technologies, including the Facebook pixel
|
To partner with Facebook as a Marketing Service Provider to:
- measure the effectiveness of our advertising
- improve our marketing practices
- deliver more relevant advertising to you and people like you, including on social media
When we share personal information with Facebook in this specific context, such as through the Facebook "Like" function, we are considered "Joint Data Controllers" with Facebook Ireland for this data processing. What does this mean?
We tell you about this processing of your personal information here in this Policy, but you should contact Facebook if you want to exercise your data protection rights for this processing.
To learn more about how Facebook processes your personal information as an independent data controller and allows you to exercise your rights, check out Facebook Ireland's Data Policy. If you want more information about our relationship with Facebook, just email DPO@badoo.com.
| Social Media Companies |
Students
We collect information about members who might be in college or university in order to improve services for students. This only applies to people who use the App and identified themselves when registering as being from the United States or Canada (except Quebec) and 18 - 24 years old.
We collect recent location data of where you opened the App to see if your device's coordinates match a general university or college area. It's a simple "are they at campus? yes/no" result based on what we find. We get this information from the device you use to access the Bumble social networking service.
We combine these results with other relevant information we have so that we can:
- send the right offers, events, and features to the right members
- understand which Badoo events are popular with students or not working so well
- improve the App design to meet the needs of students
What we don't do:
- track your live, real-time movements as part of this activity
- identify or store information about where you are studying
To be clear: to protect your privacy, we do not keep any of the location data used for this activity. It is permanently deleted once we have the "at campus? yes/no" result.
9. YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE GDPR.
Privacy laws applicable in your country may give you the following rights:
- Right to be informed: what personal information an organisation is processing and why (this notice).
- Right of access: you can request a copy of your data.
- Right of rectification: if the data held is inaccurate, you have the right to have it corrected.
- Right to erasure: you have the right to have your data deleted in certain circumstances.
- Right to restrict processing: in limited circumstances, you have the right to request that processing is stopped but the data retained.
- Right to data portability: you can request a copy of your data in a machine-readable form that can be transferred to another provider.
- Right to object: in certain circumstances (including where data is processed on the basis of legitimate interests or for the purposes of marketing) you may object to that processing.
- Rights related to automated decision-making including profiling: there are several rights in this area where processing carried out on a solely automated basis results in a decision which has legal or significant effects for the individual. In these circumstances your rights include the right to ensure that there is human intervention in the decision-making process.
The particular rights which are applicable to you (which might include other rights not listed above) may vary depending on your country. You should make yourself aware of the rights you have under applicable privacy laws in your country.
If you want to exercise any of your rights listed above please visit our Feedback Page or email our Data Protection Officer at DPO@badoo.com. You can also contact us by post at the following address: 1 Blossom Yard, Fourth Floor, London E1 6RS. For your protection and the protection of all of our Users, we may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity before we can answer the above requests.
If you have a concern about how we have processed your request or your personal information, you should contact us in the first instance via the contact details listed above.
If you feel we have not resolved your concern, you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (opens in new window) (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. If you live in a country or territory located in the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA), you may also get in touch with your local Data Protection Regulator (opens in new window). If you live in a country outside the EU, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with your local privacy or data protection regulator.
EU Representative
Pursuant to Article 27 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Badoo has appointed Borlux Ltd as its GDPR representative in the EU. If you usually reside in an EU Member State you can contact Borlux Ltd regarding matters pertaining to the GDPR by:
Email: GDPRrequest@privacyquery.ie
Postal address: 1st Floor, 6 Lapps Quay, Cork, Ireland
10. DATA LOCATIONS.
We want you to be able to access Badoo wherever you happen to be in the world. To enable us to provide that service, we operate a global network of servers including in the US and EU. Your personal information will be sent to and used in the US and UK, no matter what country you live in. The personal information collected by our trusted Service Providers and advertising partners might also be held outside the US and EU. In any case, we ensure that your personal information is adequately protected - especially when transferred overseas. We make sure that valid, legal mechanisms are in place such as: EU approved model clauses (opens in new window), and the UK addendum to such clauses, and enforce strong contractual standards. If you want more information about the protections we have in place, please email DPO@badoo.com.
11. DATA RETENTION AND DELETION.
We keep your personal information only as long as we need it for the legal basis relied upon (as set out in Section 2 above) and as permitted by applicable law. Please see "Profile Verification Information (Including Biometric Information)" in Section 1, above, to learn about our retention policy with respect to biometric information.
When your Account is deleted, we make sure it is no longer viewable on the App. For up to 28 days it is still possible to restore your Account if it was accidentally deleted. After 28 days, we begin the process of deleting your personal information from our systems, unless:
- we must keep it to comply with applicable law (for instance, if you make purchases within the App, some personal information may need to be kept for tax and accounting purposes for 10 years after which it will be anonymised);
- we must keep it to evidence our compliance with applicable law (for example, if an account is blocked, we keep some account information and a record of the behaviour that led to the block - this information is retained for evidential purposes in case of queries or legal claims concerning the block for 6 years (or for 15 years in severe cases);
- there is an outstanding issue, claim or dispute requiring us to keep the relevant information until it is resolved (for example, if there is a payment dispute for a paid feature, we might need to keep personal information for 6 years to resolve it); or
- the information must be kept for our legitimate business interests, such as fraud prevention and enhancing Users' safety and security (for example, if a member was banned for unsafe behaviour or security incidents, we might need to keep information for 6 years to prevent them from opening a new account (or for 15 years in severe cases)
Warning: Even after you remove information from your profile or delete your Account, copies of that information may still be viewable and/or accessed to the extent such information has been previously shared with others, or copied or stored by others. We cannot control this, nor do we accept any liability for this. If you have given third party applications or websites access to your personal information, they may retain such information to the extent permitted under their terms of service or privacy policies.
12. BETA PROGRAMS.
If you choose to participate in beta testing through Apple's TestFlight Program, please see here (opens in new window) for additional information about how your data will be processed.
Thanks for reading, we hope we didn't drone on for too long!
13. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY.
As Badoo evolves, we may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of the policy will govern our use of your information and will always be at https://badoo.com/privacy/. If we make a change to this policy that, in our sole discretion, is material, we will notify you, for example, via an email to the email associated with your Account or by posting a notice within Badoo.
Effective date. This Privacy Policy was last updated on: 13th March 2026.