Datant / Hale / Privacy Policy

Hale Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 7, 2026

Hale ("we", "us") is operated by Datant LLC, Summerville, South Carolina, USA. Contact: [email protected]. Your use of Hale is also governed by our Terms of Use.

Who Hale is for

Hale is only for adults aged 18 and over. Every member's age is verified with a government ID before they can use Discover: the date of birth on your ID becomes the age shown on your profile. We don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If verification shows a member is under 18, the account is banned. If you believe a minor is using Hale, report the profile in the app (reason "Involves a minor") or contact us at [email protected] and we'll act on the account. Our child safety standards are at https://data-nt.com/apps/hale/support.html#child-safety.

What we collect

• Account details: your email address (to sign in with a one-time code, and to tell you about decisions on your account: your verification result, a suspension or a ban), your name, and the date of birth you enter at sign-up (replaced by the date on your ID once you're verified).
• Identity verification: a selfie and photos of your government ID, plus the results of checking them (see "Identity verification" below).
• Profile: your photos, bio, job, interests, what you're looking for, and your preferred language.
• Personality data: your quiz answers, your follow-up chat with Hale AI, and the trait scores and compatibility explanations we derive from them.
• Photos: the pictures you add to your profile. We remove hidden metadata (such as the location a photo was taken) when you add them. They're stored privately and shown to other members through short-lived links. Every new photo is checked automatically by Microsoft Azure AI Content Safety before it's added, and photos with sexual content are rejected; the check happens in memory and nothing about it is kept except the result.
• Location (optional, approximate): if you turn it on, we store a rounded location to show how far away people are and to power the "Nearby only" filter. We never store or show your exact location. Discover works worldwide without it.
• Likes and matches: who you liked or passed, and your matches.
• Messages: your chats with matches. They're saved so you and your match can read them.
• Video calls: video and audio travel between the two members through our video provider. Your phone asks for camera and microphone access for calls, and for camera access to take your verification selfie and ID photos. Calls are not recorded unless a violation is detected (see below). We keep call records: who called whom, when, how long, and the charge.
• Translations: when you tap Translate, the message text is sent for translation and the result is saved with that message so it isn't translated (or charged) twice.
• Payments: subscriptions are sold and charged by Google Play or the Apple App Store, depending on where you installed Hale. We receive a record of the subscription (plan, status, renewal and expiry dates, and the store's order or transaction id), never your card details. We keep that record, and the history of plans you have held.
• Push notification token (optional): if you allow notifications, your phone gives us a push token (an identifier for the Hale app on your device) so we can tell you about calls, matches and messages while the app is closed.
• Safety records: reports, blocks, AI flags, strikes, warnings, suspensions and moderation decisions, plus the evidence described below.
• Technical data: service logs (for example, request times and errors) to keep Hale running, and crash and diagnostic reports from the app, the backend and our staff tools (the error, where in the code it happened, device and app version, and your member ID). We don't log or report message text, translations, photos, ID images, video or your email address. On Android, the app also sends usage analytics to Google Analytics for Firebase: which screens you open and when the app is opened, with the device model, OS and app version and a random app-instance identifier. No name, email address, member ID, profile data, message content or advertising ID is included; we use it only to understand how Hale is used and whether our ads reach people who install it.

AI safety monitoring

To keep Hale safe, AI checks messages and video calls as they happen.

• Messages are delivered immediately and then checked by an AI model from Anthropic (Claude). If a message is clean, nothing about the check is kept; the chat itself stays saved for you and your match.
• Video calls are watched by our AI Guardian: it samples still frames from the video (about one every few seconds) and sends them to Microsoft Azure AI Content Safety to detect nudity, sexual content, violence and similar harms. Frames are held in memory for about 30 seconds and then discarded. Guardian does not analyse audio.
• Nothing is recorded unless a violation is detected. When the AI flags a message or a moment in a call, we save only what's needed for review:
  • for a message: the flagged message and a short excerpt of the conversation around it (up to 20 messages before and 5 after);
  • for a call: the flagged frames and the frames from the preceding ~30 seconds, and, for medium-severity flags, a video clip of about 60 seconds.
• Depending on severity, the flagged message may be hidden, the other person may stop seeing your video, a call may be ended, and the offending member may receive a warning or strike.
• Humans review flags. Trained Hale safety staff review saved evidence and decide on any lasting action, such as suspending an account or refunding the other member. Every time staff view evidence, it's logged. Frames are blurred until a reviewer chooses to reveal them.
• Evidence retention: evidence is kept for 30 days and then deleted automatically.

Identity verification

To keep Hale for real adults, every member verifies their identity before using Discover.

• What you provide: a selfie in which you copy a pose we show you (so we know it's a live photo), and photos of the front (and, where it has one, the back) of a government ID: passport, driving licence or national ID card. You also tell us the document type and issuing country.
• How it's checked: trained Hale safety staff compare your selfie with your profile photos and your ID, and read the date of birth from the ID. When needed (for example if a document is hard to check), staff may send the request to our identity verification provider, Veriff OÜ, which checks the selfie and ID and sends back the result and date of birth. Veriff processes the images only to perform the check for us, under its data processing agreement with us.
• What it's used for: confirming you're a real person who matches your photos, that you're 18 or over, and that you haven't been banned from Hale before. The date of birth on your ID becomes your age on Hale, and verified profiles are marked as verified.
• What we keep:
  • the selfie and ID images are deleted within 30 days of the decision (approved or rejected);
  • after that we keep your date of birth, the result (approved or rejected, with the reason, and whether staff or the provider decided), the document type and issuing country, and the date;
  • if staff record the document number, we keep only a one-way keyed hash of it (we can't turn it back into the number). It lets us recognise a document that was used by a banned member, so they can't rejoin with a new account.
• If your verification is rejected because the photos don't match, the ID is unreadable or expired, you can try again. Rejections for being under 18 or for trying to get around a ban end in a ban.
• Only authorised safety staff can view verification images, through short-lived links, and each decision is logged.

Bans

If a member seriously or repeatedly breaks our rules, or fails verification for being under 18 or for evading a ban, the account is banned. To stop banned members from simply signing up again, we keep a one-way keyed hash of the banned account's email address and, if one was recorded, of its ID document number. These hashes are kept even after the account is deleted. They can't be turned back into the email address or number; we only use them to check whether a new sign-up or verification matches a banned account. If a ban is lifted, the hashes no longer block anyone from signing up.

Push notifications

If you allow notifications, the app registers your device's push token with us. We store the token with your account and use it only to send Hale notifications, through Google Firebase Cloud Messaging on Android and the Apple Push Notification service on iPhone:

• What a notification contains: only a generic alert, such as "You have a new message", "It's a match" or "Incoming video call", plus internal IDs the app needs to open the right screen. Notifications never include message text, names or photos, so Google and Apple don't receive the content of your chats and nothing private appears on your lock screen.
• We only send a notification when you're not already using the app.
• Turning them off: deny the permission when asked, or turn notifications off for Hale in your phone's settings at any time. The app works the same without them; you just won't hear about calls and messages while it's closed.
• Deletion: the token is deleted when you sign out, when you delete your account, when Google or Apple tells us it no longer works, or after 60 days without the app refreshing it.

Translation

Tap-to-translate uses Microsoft Azure AI Translator. Only messages you choose to translate are sent to it. Microsoft processes the text only to return the translation.

What costs money

Most of Hale is free. You never need a plan to be seen in Discover, to be matched, to read messages, to reply to anyone who writes to you first, or to receive and answer video calls.

A plan is needed only to *start* a new conversation or to *place* a video call:

• Hale Connect — $4.99 per month on Google Play, $6.99 on the App Store: start conversations, and translate messages.
• Hale Plus — $7.99 per month on Google Play, $10.99 on the App Store: everything in Connect, plus placing video calls.

New accounts get 14 days with every feature unlocked, free, and no payment details are needed to start it.

Plans renew monthly until cancelled. You can cancel any time — on Android in Google Play → Subscriptions, on iPhone in Settings → Apple Account → Subscriptions — and keep access until the period you have already paid for ends. On iPhone, a plan renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Prices are shown in your own currency before you buy, and Google or Apple — not Hale — handles the payment and any refund.

How we use your data

• To create your profile, produce your personality read, rank Discover by compatibility and explain matches.
• To run messaging, translation and video calls, and to charge for them.
• To keep people safe: AI monitoring, reports, human review, and enforcing our rules.
• To answer support requests and meet legal obligations.

We don't sell your personal data, and we don't use it for third-party advertising.

Who we share it with

Service providers that process data for us under contract:

• Microsoft Azure — hosting, databases, file storage (photos, evidence and verification images), email delivery, Azure AI Content Safety (video frames and new profile photos) and Azure AI Translator (messages you translate). Data is hosted in the United States (Azure East US).
• Anthropic — AI message checks, the personality read and match explanations.
• LiveKit, Inc. (LiveKit Cloud) — carries video call media and produces evidence clips when a violation is flagged.
• Google Play — payments on Android.
• Apple (App Store) — payments on iPhone.
• Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) and Apple (Push Notification service) — deliver push notifications to your Android or iPhone device, using your push token. Notifications contain generic text and IDs only, never message content.
• Veriff OÜ — identity verification checks, only for the requests our staff send to it (selfie, ID images and the result).
• Google (Google Analytics for Firebase) — usage analytics on Android (screens opened, app opens, device and app version, a random app-instance ID), stored by Google in the United States. Never message content, photos, names, email addresses or member IDs.
• Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry) — crash and diagnostic reports from the app, backend and staff tools, stored in the United States. Reports contain technical details and member IDs, not message content, photos, ID images or email addresses.

Other members see your profile, photos, approximate distance (if you shared location) and the messages you send them. We may disclose data when the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety.

Your choices and rights

• Location, camera, microphone and notifications are permissions you can turn off in your phone's settings. Without notifications you won't be alerted to calls, matches and messages while Hale is closed. Without location, Discover still works worldwide; without camera and microphone, you can't make video calls; without the camera, you can't complete identity verification (which Discover requires).
• Receive video calls is off until you turn it on, and you can block calls from any match.
• Delete your account at any time in the app (You → Delete account), or without the app by following the steps on the account deletion page, or by emailing [email protected]. We delete your profile, photos, likes, matches, messages, translations and subscription records within 30 days.
  • Exception — safety evidence: open safety cases and their evidence are kept unlinked from your account (your member ID is removed) until their 30-day retention ends, so a violation can still be reviewed. They're then deleted.
  • Exception — bans: if your account was banned, the one-way hashes of its email address and ID document number are kept after deletion (see "Bans").
  • Exception — open safety action: if you delete your account while it's suspended, has strikes or is part of an open safety case, we keep one-way keyed hashes of its email address and (if recorded) ID document number for 180 days. If you sign up again during that time, the new account starts with the same restriction (for example, it stays suspended until the original suspension would have ended) or is reviewed by our safety team. This stops members deleting their account to escape a safety decision. After 180 days the hashes are deleted.
  • Verification images are deleted within 30 days of the decision, whether or not you delete your account; the rest of your verification record is deleted with your account.
  • We keep purchase records only as long as tax and accounting law requires.
• Access, correct or export your data by contacting [email protected].
• Block or report anyone in the app.

Security and retention

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Photos, evidence and verification images are stored privately and opened only through short-lived links. Only authorised safety staff, signed in with their work accounts, can open evidence and verification images, and each view or decision is logged.

Changes

We'll update this page and the date above when practices change, and tell you in the app about significant changes.