Privacy Policy

Last updated: 15 August 2026

We've written this in plain words, because that's how we do everything at OnlyKith. It explains what information we hold about you, why, and what your rights are.

Who we are

OnlyKith ("we", "us") runs the website onlykith.uk and the members' area at app.onlykith.uk — a companionship and friendship service for people over 60. For anything to do with your personal information, write to us at [email protected]. We are the "data controller" for the information described below.

What we collect, and why

There are two moments when you give us personal information: when you pre-register on our website, and — if you decide to join — when you open your member account. Here is each in turn.

1. When you pre-register

  • Your email address — so we can write to you when we open, and with occasional news about OnlyKith. Nothing else.
  • Your first name, your town or area and your telephone number (all optional) — so we can greet you properly, know where to open first and, if you gave us a number, call to welcome you.
  • Your age group, what you'd love company for, and how you heard about us (optional) — so we can confirm OnlyKith is right for you, suggest good company from day one, and learn which ways of telling people about us actually work.
  • Your language preference and the date you signed up — so we write to you in the right language.
  • Your IP address — kept briefly for security, to protect the sign-up form from abuse.

Our legal basis for this is your consent — you gave us these details yourself, and you can withdraw them at any time (see "Your rights" below).

2. If you become a member (app.onlykith.uk)

When you open your account we hold what's needed to run your membership and to keep the community safe:

  • Your account details — first name and surname, email address, telephone number (optional), your town or area, your language, and your password (which is stored scrambled — nobody at OnlyKith can read it). If you pre-registered as a founding member, also your founder number.
  • Your profile — the interests you tick, the short "about me" you choose to write and, if you wish, a photo of yourself. We resize the photo and strip any hidden data (such as location) before saving it; it is only ever shown to signed-in members. Other members see your first name, the initial of your surname, your area, your interests, your "about me", your photo and your founder badge. They never see your email address or telephone number.
  • Identity check — every member confirms they are a real person. Either our team confirms it with you by telephone (we simply record that you were verified and when — we keep no copies of documents), or, where available, through Stripe Identity: you photograph your identity document and take a selfie inside Stripe's secure page, Stripe compares them and tells us only whether you passed. We never receive or store your document images or your selfie — Stripe handles them under its own privacy policy.
  • Your matches, messages and meetups — who you said you'd like to meet (kept private: the other person only learns of it if they say the same, which creates a match), your matches, the private messages you exchange with them, the meetups you create or join, the group chat of each meetup, and whether you attended. Messages are private between the people in the conversation. Our team does not read them as a matter of course; we only look at a conversation if a member reports a safety concern or the law requires it.
  • Blocks and reports — if you block someone we record it so you stay hidden from each other; if you report someone we keep your report (what happened and what you told us) so our team can act, and we keep it while it's being handled and for a reasonable time afterwards in case of repeat behaviour.
  • Your membership plan — whether your plan is active and until when (talking with your matches inside the site is part of the plan; founding members get their first 3 months free). When we add payments, the payment provider will process your card details — we will never see or store them, and we'll update this policy first.
  • Invitations you send — if you're a founding member and invite a friend, we keep their name and email address so we can send the invitation in your name and know who invited whom. If they don't join within 6 months, we delete those details.
  • Notes from our team — our concierge team may keep short internal notes about your account (for instance "prefers a phone call in the afternoon", or the date you were verified) so we can look after you properly. You can ask to see them at any time.
  • Emails we send you — we email you when something needs your attention: a new message, a friend request, an invitation, or a password link. You can switch the first three off in "My profile"; security emails (like password links) are always sent. We never send advertising.
  • Technical records — the date you joined and last signed in, and your IP address for a short time, for security.

Our legal basis here is our agreement with you (running the membership you asked for) and, for identity checks and safety, our legitimate interest in keeping OnlyKith a safe place — which is also what our members expect of us.

Cookies and tracking

In the members' area (app.onlykith.uk) we use one strictly necessary cookie to keep you signed in — it lasts 30 days, so you don't have to type your password every visit. There is no analytics and no tracking in the members' area.

On the website, and only with your permission, we use Google Analytics (Google Ireland Ltd.) to understand how the site is used — which pages are visited and where visitors come from. That's why we ask you first, with a simple question when you arrive. If you say no, nothing is loaded and no analytics cookies are set. Beyond that, the only things stored in your browser are your language choice and your cookie answer, which stay on your device. We never use advertising cookies or social media pixels.

Who we share it with

We never sell, rent or share your details with advertisers or "partners". Your information lives on our server in the European Union (hosted with Microsoft Azure in the Netherlands), and connections to it are always encrypted. Our backup copies are encrypted before they leave that server and stored with Cloudflare, so nobody there can read them. The emails we send you (such as your pre-registration confirmation) are delivered through Resend, an email service, using servers in the European Union. Where identity checks are done through Stripe Identity, Stripe Payments Europe Ltd. (Ireland) processes your document and selfie for that purpose only. These technical providers host our infrastructure, deliver our messages and run the identity check — they are not allowed to use your data for anything of their own.

How long we keep it

We keep your pre-registration details until OnlyKith opens and you decide whether to become a member, or until you ask us to remove them — whichever comes first. If you ask to be removed, we delete your details within 30 days.

If you are a member, we keep your account, profile, friendships and messages for as long as you're with us. If you close your account, we delete all of it within 30 days — the only thing we may keep is a brief record that an account with your email existed and was closed, so we can honour your request not to be contacted. Unused password links expire after 1 hour and unused invitations after 6 months.

Your rights

Under UK and EU data protection law (UK GDPR and GDPR), you have the right to:

To use any of these rights, simply email [email protected] — a short message is enough, and a real person will reply.

If this policy changes

If we ever change how we handle your information, we'll update this page and — if the change matters to you — we'll email you about it first.

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