Privacy Policy
Last updated: 15 November 2026 · Version 4.1 (English)
1. Who we are
Shadchai is a dating service for serious relationships, in which an AI-based matchmaker accompanies each user and suggests matches. The service is operated by Guy Zarur, in Israel ("we", "us"). We are the controller of your personal data. For any privacy question or request, use "Contact the team" in the app (in the bottom menu or in Settings), or email guyzarur@gmail.com.
The service is for people aged 18 and over only. See also our Terms of Use.
2. What we collect
| Type of data | Examples | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Account details | Email address, and if you sign in with Google: your name and profile picture from Google | To identify you and keep your data across devices |
| Details you give us | Name, gender, who you are looking for, age, city, country, who you want to meet (people in your country, in Israel or anywhere), what matters to you in a relationship, religious observance, wanting children, free text | To build your profile and suggest matches |
| App language | Whether you use the app in English or Hebrew | To write your match explanations and notifications in your language |
| Conversations | Your conversations with your matchmaker, and chat messages with matches | So your matchmaker remembers you, so a conversation with a match can continue, and so we can review a report of abuse |
| Photos | Profile photo, if you upload one | To show you to matches, revealed gradually |
| Match history | Who was suggested to you, decisions, reports and blocks | So we don't suggest someone you didn't want again, and to keep people safe |
| Messages to the team | The content of your message and contact details, if you leave them | To handle your request |
| Anonymous usage statistics | A random device ID and steps in the app (for example "finished profile"), and which page or link first brought you to the app (for example our website or a social post), without your name and without content | To understand where the app works and where it needs improving |
Sensitive information: details such as religious observance, who you are looking for (which can reveal your sexual orientation), relationship preferences and the content of your conversations may be special-category or sensitive data under the law. We process them only to provide the service you asked for, and only with your explicit consent. Please don't share ID numbers, credit card details or medical information.
3. How we use your data
- To run your matchmaker, build your profile and suggest matches.
- To keep your data so you can continue from any device.
- To keep people safe: handle reports, block abusive behaviour and prevent misuse. When a user is reported, the team may read the messages in the reported conversation.
- To improve the service based on anonymous statistics.
- To comply with the law.
We do not sell personal information, we don't pass it to advertisers, and we don't use the content of your conversations for advertising.
4. Artificial intelligence
Your matchmaker runs on an AI model by Anthropic (Claude). To answer you, what you wrote and the relevant profile details are sent to Anthropic for processing. Under its commercial terms, Anthropic does not use this data to train its models. The AI's suggestions are recommendations only. No decision with legal or similarly significant effects is made about you automatically: you always decide whether to say yes, whom to talk to and whom to meet. If you think a suggestion or a decision about your account was wrong, you can ask a person on our team to review it.
5. Who we share data with
- Users you are suggested to, and who are suggested to you: first name, age, city, religious observance, a summary of what you told us about yourself and what matters to you, and a short explanation from the matchmaker of why it's a match. Never your email address, your last name or your conversations with the matchmaker. Your photo is revealed only after a mutual match and a conversation (30 of your messages, or a date being set). Chat messages between the two of you are stored on our servers and available to both of you. People you have a chat with can also see whether you are online now, or roughly when you were last active. If you chose to meet people in Israel or anywhere in the world, your profile may be suggested to users in other countries who also chose to meet people where you live.
- Choosing matches: to choose a match, the matchmaker (Anthropic) receives your profile and the profiles of suitable candidates, without names or contact details.
- Service providers who process data for us: Supabase (database and photo storage, on servers in Frankfurt, Germany), Vercel (website hosting), Anthropic (AI, USA), Google (only if you chose to sign in with Google).
- Authorities: only if the law requires it, or to protect life and safety.
6. Security
Data is encrypted in transit and on our servers. Each user can access only their own data (row-level permissions in the database), photos are kept in a private storage bucket, and access to the admin interface is limited to authorised administrators. No system is completely secure. If there is a severe security incident, we will report it to Israel's Privacy Protection Authority as required by the Protection of Privacy (Data Security) Regulations, and notify the people affected.
7. How long we keep data
For as long as your account is active. When you delete your account from the menu in the app, your profile, conversations, photos and matches are deleted from our servers. Minimal records that the law requires us to keep, or that are needed to handle a report of abuse, may be kept only for as long as necessary. Anonymous statistics are not linked to you.
8. Your rights
- To see the data we hold about you and get a copy of it.
- To correct inaccurate data. You can update most details directly in your profile.
- To delete your account and all your data at any time, from the menu in the app (see deleting your account).
- To withdraw your consent. If you do, we won't be able to keep providing the service.
For any request: "Contact the team" in the app, or guyzarur@gmail.com. We will reply within 30 days. If you think we did not handle your request properly, you can complain to Israel's Privacy Protection Authority (Ministry of Justice).
9. If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom
If you use the service from the EU, the EEA or the UK, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the UK GDPR also applies, and this section adds to the rest of this policy.
- Controller: Guy Zarur, Israel. Contact: guyzarur@gmail.com.
- Legal bases:
- Running your account, your matchmaker and your matches: performance of our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)).
- Special-category data (such as religious beliefs, and information that may reveal your sexual orientation): your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a)), which you give when you create your profile and can withdraw at any time by deleting your account.
- Safety, handling reports, preventing misuse and anonymous statistics: our legitimate interests in keeping users safe and the service working (Article 6(1)(f)).
- Email updates: your consent (Article 6(1)(a)).
- Legal obligations: Article 6(1)(c).
- Your additional rights: in addition to the rights in section 8, you can ask us to restrict processing, to give you your data in a portable format, and you can object to processing based on our legitimate interests.
- International transfers: we are based in Israel, which the European Commission and the UK recognise as providing adequate protection for personal data. Our database is in Germany. Where data is processed in the USA (Anthropic, Vercel, Google), the transfer is made only to run the service, under Israel's Protection of Privacy (Transfer of Data to Databases Abroad) Regulations, and relies on the providers' safeguards, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK extension, where applicable.
- Representative in the EU / UK: because we are not established in the EU or the UK, the law requires us to appoint a representative there. We are in the process of appointing one, and will list their details here. Until then, please contact us directly.
- Complaints: you have the right to complain to the data protection authority in the country where you live or work (in the UK: the Information Commissioner's Office, ico.org.uk). We'd appreciate the chance to resolve your concern first.
10. If you are in the United States
We do not sell or "share" personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, as those terms are used in US state privacy laws. You can ask to see, correct or delete your data as described in section 8, and we won't treat you differently for using these rights.
11. Email updates (form on shadchai.co.il)
On shadchai.co.il you can leave your details to be told when matches open in your area. This is separate from your account in the app.
- What we keep: email address, first name (optional), gender, who you're looking for, age range and area. We also keep the wording and time of your consent, the page you came from and a random device ID (to prevent misuse).
- Why: to let you know when matches open in your area and to send updates about Shadchai. Age and area help us decide where to open first.
- Only with consent: we send emails only to people who explicitly agreed to receive them. Marketing emails are marked as advertising, include the sender's details and an unsubscribe link.
- Unsubscribing: at any time, using the link in any email or by replying to it. After you unsubscribe we won't email you again, and we keep only a record of the unsubscribe so we can respect it.
- Access: the details are kept in Supabase (Frankfurt) in a table that can't be read from the website. Only we can see them. They are not sold or passed to advertisers.
12. Storage on your device
The app stores the state of your use in your browser (for example your latest conversation and your language), so you can continue where you left off, along with a sign-in identifier. These are strictly necessary for the app to work. We don't use advertising cookies or third-party tracking.
13. Minors
The service is for people aged 18 and over only. If we find that an account belongs to a minor, we will delete it.
14. Changes
If we change this policy, we will update the date here. For a material change, we will let you know in the app before it takes effect.
This policy was written under Israel's Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981 and its regulations, and the GDPR and UK GDPR for users in the EU and the UK. If there is a difference between this English version and the Hebrew version, the version that gives you more protection applies. If you have a question about it, contact us through "Contact the team".