Your privacy
Updated November 8, 2026
What the app stores
Firebase handles login and password authentication. Hot or Not stores your email, chosen name, username, photos, ratings, likes, blocks, messages, reports, notifications, date of birth, and the version and time of your agreement to the community terms. If you build a dating profile, it also stores the bio, city or general area, gender, dating intent, interests, and conversation starter you choose to provide. Do not add an address, financial details, or other private information to your bio or photos.
Rating without an account
Guest rating uses a necessary, signed, HttpOnly browser cookie lasting up to one year. We store a secret-derived browser identifier, your guest votes, and the version and time of your adult/terms confirmation. The cookie value, browser identifier and consent records are not shown publicly; only aggregate scores are public. We do not create a member account or collect a guest name, email or birthday for rating. Guest cookies are separate from login. Cookie deletion does not remove votes already stored; use Remove my guest ratings on the rating page before clearing cookies to remove votes linked to the current cookie. Expired guest votes stop counting after one year and their records are removed during later activity. Other browsers and cookies cannot remove your current browser’s votes through that control. Bot and network limits still apply.
Camera and photo choices
Camera access is optional and controlled by your browser and device permissions. You can choose an existing image instead. A camera preview alone is not a published photo. You choose a still image, review it, and submit it for review and saving. The submitted image is sent to our photo-review provider and, if approved and saved successfully, stored and displayed according to your photo and profile settings. Camera access is not proof of identity or age. You can revoke camera permission in your browser or device settings.
Optional profile account checks
If you choose Refresh checks, we confirm your email status and available linked-account status with Firebase. We store only confirmation flags and the last-check time in Hot or Not. Other members may see badges such as Email confirmed, Facebook linked, or LinkedIn linked; your email address, provider identifiers, social profile details, and account tokens are not shown in a badge. Social linking is available only when enabled and involves a separate provider sign-in and consent step. Disconnecting a social account removes its public badge. Public badges expire after 30 days without another check. These are account-control signals, not proof of identity or age. Government ID verification is not currently offered; do not send us ID documents through photo uploads or messages.
Bot and abuse prevention
Vercel BotID checks browser and network signals when you create a profile, upload, rate, like, send messages, or refresh account checks. If the check cannot finish, that action may be unavailable until you retry. We also store short-lived request counters keyed by a secret-derived digest of an account identifier or network address; these counters do not contain the raw identifier or IP address. They expire 24 hours after the last attempt and are removed during later activity. Bot checks reduce automated abuse; they do not confirm identity or age and cannot guarantee that every account is authentic.
What others can see
Your rating profile, approved photos, chosen display name, username, vote counts and average scores are public. If you enter a Public rating location in Edit profile, that general location is also public beside your rating photos and on your rating profile. This field is optional and you can clear it. We do not automatically publish the city from your dating profile, infer a location from your network, or request GPS for this field. Skip your address or exact location. Your full favorites and block lists, email, and exact date of birth are not returned to other users. When dating visibility is on, eligible signed-in adult members can see your age, bio, city, gender, dating intent, interests, and conversation starter. Turn visibility off in Edit profile to hide those dating fields from other members. Existing matches, conversations, rating profiles, and previously shared photo links are separate from this visibility control.
Messages, reports, and safety records
Conversations are available to their participants through the app. Do not assume that a recipient will keep information private; another member can save copies of what they can see. A person can see that you liked them, but your complete likes list is private. Reports are available to authorized reviewers. Authorized safety review, abuse response, lawful requests, or legal preservation and reporting obligations may require access to relevant account, content, or communication records. Do not include unnecessary sensitive information in a report or redistribute illegal content.
Service providers
Firebase handles authentication. Neon stores application records. Vercel hosts the app and stores new approved photos. Photo content is sent to an AI model through Vercel AI Gateway for review before publication. Older imported photo links may still use their original storage. The current free service does not collect payments or require card details. Providers may process information in locations outside your country as part of delivering these services.
Your controls and deletion
Edit your dating profile and visibility, select or remove photos, remove likes, block accounts, or delete your account in Settings. Account deletion removes your current app profile, photo records, ratings, likes, and conversations. Safety reports and records needed to enforce deletion, respond to abuse, or meet legal obligations may remain for as long as needed for those purposes or required by law. Backups, caches, older storage copies, and copies saved by other people may persist after removal.
Sessions and device information
Browser storage remembers your login and caches the offline screen. Hosting and authentication providers may process technical request logs, IP addresses, and device information to deliver the service and prevent abuse. Signing out ends the local session. Hot or Not does not request your device’s precise location for discovery; city search uses the text members choose to share.
Adults only and reporting concerns
The community is for adults 18 and older. Underage accounts and photos depicting anyone under 18 are prohibited. Use Report on the relevant profile if you suspect an underage user, exploitation, or a privacy violation. For immediate danger or suspected child exploitation, see the Safety guide for external reporting resources. Nothing in this policy limits rights or obligations that applicable law does not allow us to limit.
Policy updates
Policies and features may change. We will keep the current policy and its update date here and provide further notice where required by law. Read our Terms & community rules for your responsibilities and the limits that apply to the service.