Privacy Policy
Last updated: [date]
Who we are
Cimilar is made by [legal name of the developer or company], [address]. Contact: [email protected].
The short version
- Cimilar has no accounts and no servers. We don’t collect, receive or store your data.
- Your profile is saved only on your iPhone.
- When you turn Nearby on, your iPhone shares your public card (and your profile photo, if you’ve added one) over Bluetooth with nearby iPhones running Cimilar, and shows you theirs. Nearby pauses when you leave Cimilar or lock your iPhone, and stays off until you turn it on.
- Cards you open, with their photos, are kept in Viewed for 60 minutes, encrypted on your iPhone.
- If you block a profile, scrambled fingerprints of it are kept on your iPhone for up to 12 months.
- If you report a profile, you send us an email yourself.
- No analytics, advertising or tracking.
What’s on your iPhone
| Information | Where | Shared? |
|---|---|---|
| Your public card: name, headline, short bio, skills, LinkedIn and X handles | Saved on your iPhone, excluded from backups | Only over Bluetooth with nearby iPhones running Cimilar, while Nearby is on |
| Your extra links (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, website) and card colour, if you add them | Saved on your iPhone | Same as your public card. Older versions of Cimilar don’t read them |
| Your profile photo, if you add one | A 512 × 512 copy saved on your iPhone, redrawn so the original’s location and camera details are removed. You choose it with Apple’s photo picker; Cimilar can’t see your other photos | A smaller copy (128 × 128) is shared over Bluetooth with nearby iPhones while Nearby is on, after you agree on the Nearby screen. Remove it at any time in Card and photo |
| Photos of people you see nearby | In memory while Nearby is on. You can choose not to see them (You › Safety › “Show photos from people nearby”); Cimilar then shows initials | No |
| Other people’s cards in your Nearby list | In memory while Nearby is on | No; forgotten when Nearby is turned off |
| Cards you open (Viewed), with their photos | Encrypted on your iPhone only (a key that never leaves this iPhone), excluded from backups, for 60 minutes from when you first opened each card, including after Cimilar closes. Removed sooner if you remove them, restart your iPhone or change its clock | No |
| Profiles you block | Scrambled fingerprints of what the card showed, including its photo (never the card or photo itself), the first name and the date, encrypted with a separate key on your iPhone only, for up to 12 months or until you unblock. Deleted with your profile; not moved to a new iPhone | No |
| Profiles you hide | In memory until Nearby is turned off | No |
| Your agreement to the community guidelines | The guidelines version and date, on your iPhone | No |
How Nearby works
Nearby starts only after you agree to it, and works only while Cimilar is open. Your iPhone advertises that it’s running Cimilar (a fixed service identifier, with no name or personal details) and lets nearby iPhones running Cimilar read your public card, extra links and photo. It reads theirs in the same way. A temporary random code, which changes regularly, links the pieces of a card while it’s being read; it doesn’t identify you.
Anyone nearby with Bluetooth tools can read your public card and photo while Nearby is on, so only add what you’re happy for people around you to see. Anyone who receives your photo can see it and could take a screenshot or copy it in other ways; such copies can last longer than Cimilar keeps anything, and Cimilar can’t take them back. People who open your card can keep it, with your photo, in Viewed on their iPhone for up to 60 minutes. iOS may also tell connected devices your iPhone’s model and manufacturer; Cimilar can’t change this.
Cards are self-provided and not verified: Cimilar can’t confirm who anyone is.
Links
If you open someone’s LinkedIn, X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or website link, Cimilar asks first, then opens it in that app or Safari. Those services see the visit under their own privacy policies. Cimilar doesn’t see what you do there.
Safety: hiding, blocking, reporting and filtering
- Hide for now keeps a profile out of your Nearby list until you turn Nearby off.
- Block this profile hides that card, and cards that match enough of its details, for up to 12 months. Cimilar has no accounts and can’t identify people: someone who changes their card completely may appear again. Blocking can’t stop them seeing your public card while you’re nearby.
- Report this profile prepares an email in Apple Mail with the card’s public text and links, and their photo only if you choose to include it. You see everything before sending, and nothing is sent unless you send it. Cimilar keeps no copy. We receive the report only if your email arrives; you’ll get an automatic reply when it does.
- Attached photos are deleted as soon as the report is assessed, and never kept more than 90 days. Reports are deleted 90 days after the case is closed. Your email provider, ours, and anyone else you send the email to may keep their own copies, which we can’t delete. [Founder: who reads reports, and the target reply time once support is in place.]
- Filtering: Cimilar checks your card, and the cards you receive, against a list of offensive words and unsafe websites, entirely on your iPhone. Nothing is sent anywhere. Photos aren’t checked automatically; you can turn off “Show photos from people nearby” in You › Safety. [Founder: update if Apple’s Sensitive Content Analysis is added.]
What we don’t do
We don’t sell or share personal data, use it for advertising, track you across apps, or send it to our own or anyone else’s servers.
Your choices
- Don’t turn on Nearby, and nothing is shared.
- Don’t add a photo, or remove it, and only your initials are shown.
- Remove a Viewed card, or clear Viewed, at any time.
- Unblock one profile or all of them (You › Safety › Blocked profiles).
- Edit or delete your profile at any time. Deleting removes it, your photo, Viewed cards and your block list from your iPhone.
- Turn off Bluetooth access for Cimilar in Settings.
Children
[Founder: state the minimum age, and the age rating from Apple’s questionnaire (D8).]
Changes
We’ll update this policy in the app and on [website] if what Cimilar does changes.