Location Data Disclosure
Exactly when your location is collected, who can see it, how precise it is, and how to turn each part off.
Last updated: August 10, 2026
Why this has its own page
Location is not a side feature of ValidMeet, it is the product. You deserve a straight answer about who can see where you are, and it should not be buried in a privacy policy. This page is that answer.
Everything here describes what the app actually does today. If we change it, we change this page in the same release and tell you in the app.
When we collect it
- Only while the app is open. Your device reports your position while the map is on screen. When you close or background the app, collection stops.
- Never in the background. We do not use background location, geofencing, or Bluetooth beacons, and the app has no permission to wake up and check where you are.
- More often while travelling. Once you are en route to a meetup, the app sends your position every few seconds so we can tell when you have arrived, and so anyone holding your safety share link sees you moving. This stops when the meetup ends.
What other people see
There are exactly four situations where your location reaches another person. There is no fifth.
| Situation | What they see | Precision |
|---|---|---|
| You place a beacon and someone is nearby | The actual location of the beacon, so they can come to it | Exact |
| You place a beacon and someone is far away | A shifted pin in the general area, marked as not joinable | Approximate, offset by roughly 100 to 300 metres |
| You match with someone | The public venue you are both heading to, plus whether you have arrived | Venue only. They never see your position |
| You send a safety share link | Your live position on a map, updating as you move | Exact, by design |
Outside those four cases, other members see nothing about where you are. Being "online" is visible; being anywhere in particular is not. Members cannot see your position on the map, and there is no way for anyone to look up your location.
Beacons in detail
A beacon is a public invitation to a place, so it has to show a real place. Members near enough to actually join see where it is. Members browsing from far away see a deliberately shifted pin and cannot join, which lets you see that a city has activity without exposing precise spots to people who are not going.
A beacon exists only until it expires, and its location is deleted at that point. You can delete a beacon yourself at any time.
Group event previews use the same approximate offset until the event is close to starting.
Safety shares in detail
The Share My Meetup feature exists to make you safer, and it works by being precise. When you start a share, we create a link and you choose who receives it. Anyone who opens that link sees your live location and your destination.
- The link is unlisted, but anyone who has it can open it. Only send it to people you trust.
- It ends when you end it, when the meetup finishes, or after 48 hours, whichever comes first.
- Once it ends, the link stops working and the stored location is deleted.
- You can revoke a share at any moment from the shield icon.
Who else receives it
To put a map on your screen and find real venues, coordinates are sent to Mapbox and to Google Maps Platform. They process it to answer the request. We do not send them your name or profile.
For product analytics we record roughly where searches happen, rounded to about a kilometre. That is coarse enough that it describes a neighbourhood, not a person.
We do not sell location data, we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers, and there are no advertising trackers in the app.
How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Search location while matching | Minutes. Deleted as soon as the search ends |
| Beacon location | Until the beacon expires or you delete it |
| Safety share location | Until the share ends, at most 48 hours |
| Last known position | Overwritten continuously, cleared after 30 days of inactivity |
| Coarse analytics location | Up to 12 months, rounded to roughly one kilometre |
Your controls
- Turn it off entirely. Revoke location permission in your device settings. The app still opens, but nearly nothing will work.
- Approximate only. On iOS you can grant approximate location. Beacons and matching will be much less useful, but messaging and groups still work.
- Stop sharing a meetup. End any active share from the shield icon. It takes effect immediately.
- Delete a beacon. Remove it from the map and its location goes with it.
- Delete everything. Deleting your account removes all stored location data.
Questions about any of this: privacy@validmeet.com.