Terms of use

Last updated: [[LAST_UPDATED]]. Applies from [[EFFECTIVE_DATE]].

1. Summary

SmartMatchHub is a South African dating app. You meet other people on short audio calls of up to four minutes, and you are anonymous to each other on the call. No photographs, images or video are collected, stored or shown at any stage. Calls are not recorded, transcribed or listened to. If both people choose Interested, you get a Match, which exchanges display names and contact handles, and you continue off the platform. The service is free and has no paid features. You must be 18 or older. We do not verify identity, we do not run background checks, and we do not screen for criminal records.

2. Who we are and how to contact us

These are the terms on which [[LEGAL_ENTITY]] provides the SmartMatchHub app and website. The details below are given in terms of section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002.

These terms are published on our website and in the app. You can read, download, store and print them from either place at any time. We will send you a copy by email if you ask us at [[SUPPORT_EMAIL]].

3. The agreement between you and us

These terms are a binding agreement between you and [[LEGAL_ENTITY]].

You accept these terms when you create an account or use the service. If you do not accept them, do not create an account and do not use the service.

The following documents form part of this agreement and are incorporated into it by reference:

• the Privacy Policy;
• the Cookie and Storage Policy;
• the Community Guidelines;
• the Dating Safely guidance; and
• the Your Data and Your Rights notice.

If these terms conflict with an incorporated document, these terms apply, except that the Privacy Policy applies to any conflict about personal information.

This agreement is in English. Any translation we provide is for convenience and the English version applies.

4. Who may use the service

You must be 18 years or older to use the service. Age is self-declared at sign-up and we do not verify age or identity.

You must have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract.

You may hold one account only.

You may not create a new account, or use another person’s account, after we have suspended or terminated your account.

Your account is personal to you. You may not transfer, sell, share or lend it.

You must not use the service if any law that applies to you prohibits you from doing so.

If we learn that a user is under 18, we close the account and delete the personal information we hold, subject to section 13.5.

5. Your account and its security

You must give accurate and current information when you sign up. We collect your first name, last name, phone number, email address and a password.

You must keep your password confidential and must not share it with anyone.

Email verification by a one-time code is available at sign-up and you may skip it. We do not verify phone numbers and we do not offer sign-in through a social media account.

You are responsible for everything done through your account.

You must tell us at [[SUPPORT_EMAIL]] as soon as you believe someone else has used or can use your account.

You must keep your contact details up to date so that we can reach you.

6. What the service does

6.1 Blind dates

A Blind date is an audio call of up to four minutes. There is no video.

You and the other person are anonymous to each other during the call. Your display name and contact details are not shown to them.

No photographs, images or video are collected, stored or shown at any stage of the service.

There is no text chat between users.

6.2 What happens after a call

After each call each person chooses one of three outcomes: Interested, Talk again, or Pass.

The more cautious of the two choices applies. If either person chooses Pass, the outcome is Pass. If one person chooses Interested and the other chooses Talk again, the outcome is Talk again.

You may have up to three calls with the same person within a two-week window.

If both people choose Interested, you get a Match.

6.3 Matches and Smart Match Cards

A Match exchanges Smart Match Cards. A Smart Match Card holds a display name and the contact handles you have supplied, which may include WhatsApp, Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat.

The Smart Match Card is the only information about you that the service reveals to another user.

After a Match you continue the conversation off the platform. We are not part of that contact, we do not see it, and we do not control it.

6.4 Feedback after a call

After each call you must write free-text feedback about the other person.

We use that feedback to operate the service and to assess safety reports.

6.5 Matching

Three match paths are described in the product design: Mixer, Perfect Match and Smart Match. Only Mixer is built and only Mixer is available to you.

Mixer pairs whoever is available at the time, on a first in first out basis. Mixer does not filter on gender, sexuality, who you are interested in, age, language, location or personality.

6.6 How calls are carried

Calls are audio only. Calls are not recorded, transcribed, listened to or analysed by us. We do not moderate the content of calls.

For each call we store who was on the call, when it happened, how long it lasted, the outcome each person chose, whether each person would speak again, the feedback each person wrote, and readings of connection quality.

Call audio travels directly between the two devices where the network allows it. Where a direct path cannot be established, the audio is relayed by a server we operate, which handles the audio and both IP addresses. A public STUN server is used by default to establish the connection, which discloses your device’s IP address to that provider. Our call server records the IP address that connects to it.

7. The personality assessment and the personality report

7.1 The assessment

The assessment uses two public-domain questionnaires from the International Personality Item Pool: a 50-item Big Five set and a 300-item set.

For each answer we store the value you chose on a scale of 1 to 5, when you answered, an identifier for the sitting, and how long you took to answer.

Answers that our checks judge to be careless, because they were given too quickly or because the same value was given down a whole trait, are removed from scoring, kept in an archive, and the question is asked again.

Trait scores are calculated daily from your answers.

Some questionnaire items ask about political opinion, religious belief and mood or mental health. Together with the sexuality, ethnicity, religion and culture fields in your profile, this is special personal information under section 26 of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013, and special category data under Article 9 of the UK GDPR. We process it on your consent, which you may withdraw at any time by emailing [[PRIVACY_EMAIL]]. The Privacy Policy explains this in full.

7.2 The personality report

The personality report is optional. It is produced only when you ask for it.

To produce the report we send band words only to an artificial intelligence provider, for example “Extraversion: Low”. We do not send your name, your phone number, any raw score, any identifier, or any individual answer. Our own systems add your identity to the report after the provider has returned the text.

7.3 What the assessment and report are not

The assessment and the report are not clinical, medical, psychological or diagnostic advice, and they are not a diagnosis or a treatment recommendation.

Do not use them to make decisions about your health, your medication or your care. Consult a suitably qualified professional for that.

The results may be inaccurate or incomplete.

No trait score is used to screen any user for dangerousness, criminality, or risk to other people. We do not assess whether a user is safe to speak or meet.

8. Consent to use call records to improve matching

For each call we keep one record holding the outcome of the call and the trait scores of both people. We use those records to improve how the service matches people in future.

By accepting these terms you consent to that use.

You may withdraw that consent at any time by emailing [[PRIVACY_EMAIL]]. There is no charge, and withdrawal does not affect your account or your ability to use the service.

A call record is used to improve matching only while both people on that call currently consent. If either person withdraws, the record stops being used.

When you withdraw, we remove your whole history from the training set immediately.

Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before you withdrew.

Call audio is never used for this purpose, because calls are not recorded.

9. Acceptable use

You must not do any of the following, and you must not help or encourage anyone else to do any of them.

1. Misrepresent your identity, age, gender, relationship status, location or intentions.
2. Harass, bully, threaten, intimidate, stalk or abuse another person.
3. Use hate speech, or demean or discriminate against a person on the grounds of race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language or birth.
4. Introduce sexual content into a call without the other person’s agreement.
5. Direct any sexual content at a child, or produce, seek or share any content that sexually exploits or abuses a child.
6. Ask another user for money, gifts, banking details, cryptocurrency, investment or financial help.
7. Use the service for commercial purposes, advertising, promotion, recruitment, market research or fundraising.
8. Commit fraud, run a scam, phish for credentials, or impersonate another person or organisation.
9. Record, transcribe, screen-capture or otherwise capture a call or the other person’s voice.
10. Use a synthetic, cloned or altered voice, or any other voice manipulation, to deceive another person.
11. Pressure another person for contact details, social media handles or a phone number before a Match.
12. Share another user’s Smart Match Card, contact details or feedback with anyone else.
13. Interfere with the service, including hacking, introducing malware, overloading the service, reverse engineering it, circumventing limits or security measures, or using bots or automated tools to access it.
14. Scrape, harvest, copy or extract data from the service.
15. Create more than one account, or evade a suspension or termination.
16. Do anything unlawful, or anything that promotes or facilitates unlawful conduct.

These rules also apply to how you behave towards a person you met through the service after you have exchanged contact details, even though that contact happens off the platform.

The Community Guidelines explain these rules further and form part of this agreement.

10. Safety, illegal content and reporting

10.1 How we protect users from illegal content

Illegal content and illegal conduct are prohibited under section 9 and under the Community Guidelines.

We act on reports made to [[SAFETY_EMAIL]]. Because calls are not recorded, we cannot listen to what was said, so we assess reports on the information the reporter gives us, on the free-text feedback written after calls, and on patterns across a user’s history.

Where a report is upheld we may remove content we hold, restrict an account, suspend an account, terminate an account, and report the matter to the police or another competent authority.

10.2 Terrorism content

Terrorism content is prohibited. This includes content that encourages, praises, assists or provides instruction for an act of terrorism, and content produced by or on behalf of a proscribed organisation.

When we become aware of terrorism content, we remove any such content we hold, we terminate the account, and we report the matter to the police or the appropriate authority. We may preserve the relevant records for that purpose.

10.3 Child sexual exploitation and abuse content

Content that sexually exploits or abuses a child, and any attempt to contact, groom or sexually communicate with a child, are prohibited absolutely.

The service is for adults aged 18 and older only. If we learn that a user is under 18 we close the account.

When we become aware of child sexual exploitation or abuse content or conduct, we terminate the account immediately and permanently, we preserve the relevant records, and we report the matter to the police and, where applicable, to the relevant reporting body.

10.4 Other priority illegal content

The following are also prohibited and are treated as priority illegal content: threats to kill, harassment, stalking and controlling or coercive behaviour; hate offences; offences relating to drugs and psychoactive substances; firearms and weapons offences; fraud and financial services offences; assisting or encouraging suicide; sexual exploitation, human trafficking and modern slavery; extreme pornography; unlawful immigration and facilitation offences; and proceeds of crime offences.

When we receive a report of this content or conduct, we assess it and take the steps in section 10.1.

10.5 Intimate image content

The service has no capability to send or receive photographs, images or video, so intimate images cannot be shared through it.

Sharing or threatening to share an intimate image of a person without that person’s consent is prohibited, including where it is done off the platform with a person you met through the service.

If you report intimate image content that is held on or controlled by our service, we remove it within 48 hours of receiving the report. We also act on the account under section 13.

Where the content sits on another service, we act on the account of the user concerned, and the Dating Safely guidance sets out where you can get further help.

10.6 How content is taken down

Reports sent to [[SAFETY_EMAIL]] are reviewed by a person.

We are able to remove or hide a display name, a profile field, a Smart Match Card, free-text feedback, and any other content a user has supplied, and we are able to stop a user from being matched.

We acknowledge reports within [[COMPLAINTS_TURNAROUND]]. Reports of intimate image content are dealt with within 48 hours. Reports that indicate a risk to a person’s safety are dealt with first.

10.7 Proactive detection technology

We use no proactive technology to detect illegal content. We do not scan, filter or automatically classify content, we do not use hash matching, keyword detection or age estimation, and we do not monitor calls. Calls are not recorded, so there is no call content for any technology to examine.

10.8 How to report

Anyone may report content, conduct or an account by emailing [[SAFETY_EMAIL]]. You do not need to be a user of the service to make a report, and you do not need an account.

Please include what happened, when it happened, the display name or handle of the person concerned if you have it, and how we can contact you. We may ask for more information.

10.9 Complaints about our safety decisions, and appeals

You may complain to us at [[SAFETY_EMAIL]] if we remove your content, suspend or terminate your account, or if we take no action on a report you made.

You must complain within [[APPEAL_WINDOW]] of being told of the decision.

A complaint is reviewed by a person who did not take the original decision. We respond within [[COMPLAINTS_TURNAROUND]]. If the decision was wrong, we reverse it and restore the content or the account.

10.10 Freedom of expression and privacy

When we decide whether to remove content or restrict an account, we have regard to your right to freedom of expression and your right to privacy. We take the least restrictive action that addresses the risk.

11. Your content, our content

You keep ownership of the content you supply, which includes your display name, your profile answers, your Smart Match Card handles, your questionnaire answers and the feedback you write after calls.

You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce and display that content only as far as is necessary to operate, secure, support and improve the service, and to comply with the law. The licence is limited to those purposes.

We do not sell your content, license it to advertisers, or publish it outside the service.

The licence ends when the content is deleted, except for the records that survive deletion under section 13.5 and for backups until they age out.

You must have the right to supply the content you give us, and it must not infringe anyone else’s rights.

We own the app, the website, the software, the designs, the brand and the SmartMatchHub name, or we license them from others. We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the app for your own personal and non-commercial use, on a device you own or control, for as long as you comply with these terms.

12. Payments

The service is free. There are no paid features, no subscriptions, no paid tiers, no virtual items and no in-app purchases.

The service carries no advertising and we do not sell or share personal information for advertising.

If we introduce a paid feature, we will tell you before it starts, we will show the price and what it covers before you commit, and it will not apply to you unless you choose it. The following will then apply.

• Under section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, you may cancel an electronic transaction without reason or penalty within seven days of concluding it, subject to the exceptions in that section.
• If you are in the United Kingdom, you have 14 days to cancel a distance contract under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, subject to the exceptions in those Regulations.
• Section 14 of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 governs fixed-term agreements, including the maximum term and your right to cancel on 20 business days’ notice.
• Any refund is dealt with under the applicable law and under the terms of the paid feature.

13. Suspension, termination and deletion

13.1 Ending it yourself

You may stop using the service at any time.

To close your account and delete your information, email [[PRIVACY_EMAIL]] from the address on your account. There is no charge.

13.2 When we may act

We may restrict, suspend or terminate your account if you breach these terms or the Community Guidelines, if your conduct is unlawful, if your conduct puts another person at risk, if you are under 18, if you hold more than one account or evade an earlier suspension, if you supply false information, or if a law, court order or regulator requires it.

13.3 Notice

We give you notice of the action and the reason for it.

We may act first and give notice afterwards where a delay would put a person at risk, where the conduct involves child sexual exploitation or abuse or terrorism, or where the law requires immediate action.

13.4 Appeal

You may appeal under section 10.9.

13.5 What happens to your information

When your account is deleted, we remove your account, your profile, your Smart Match Card, all your personality assessment answers including the archive of answers judged careless, your trait scores and your rewards. We allow a grace period of [[GRACE_PERIOD]] during which you may cancel the request, after which the deletion runs.

The following survive deletion: one record for each call you took part in, holding the outcome and both people’s trait scores, from which your identifier is removed while the score vector is kept because the record covers two people; safety reports; connection diagnostics; and backups until they age out on their normal cycle.

The Privacy Policy and the Your Data and Your Rights notice set out the retention periods that apply.

13.6 After termination

Sections 8, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20 and 22 continue to apply after this agreement ends.

If we terminate your account for breach, you may not register again.

14. Availability, changes to the service, and beta status

The service is new and is still being developed. Features may be added, changed, restricted or withdrawn. At present only the Mixer match path is available, and it may not work as intended.

We do not guarantee that the service will be available without interruption or free of faults. Availability depends on maintenance, faults, your device, your network, the permissions you grant, and services operated by third parties.

Nothing in this section limits your statutory rights. Under sections 54 to 56 of the Consumer Protection Act you are entitled to services performed with reasonable care, skill and diligence, and to goods that are of good quality, in good working order and free of defects. If you are in the United Kingdom, sections 34 to 36 and section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 give you rights in respect of digital content and services, and section 47 of that Act makes any term that excludes or restricts those rights non-binding on you.

15. Risk notice: meeting people you do not know

This section is a notice under section 49 of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008. It sets out the fact, nature and potential effect of the risks of using this service. Read it before you accept these terms and before you use the service.

The fact. We do not verify identity. We do not verify age. We do not run background checks. We do not screen for criminal records or for previous convictions. We do not check that a person is who they say they are, and we do not vet anyone before they speak to you.

The nature of the risk. A person you speak to may lie about their name, age, gender, sexuality, relationship status, location, occupation or intentions. A voice call does not confirm who someone is. A voice can be synthesised, cloned or altered. The other person may record the call without telling you, and we cannot prevent that. Once you exchange contact details on a Match, that information is with the other person and you cannot take it back. A phone number, once given, cannot be un-given. After a Match, contact happens off the platform, where we cannot see it, moderate it or stop it. Because calls are not recorded, we have no record of what was said on any call.

The potential effect. These risks can result in unwanted contact, harassment and stalking; fraud and financial loss; identity theft; blackmail, sextortion and the sharing of intimate content; reputational harm; emotional and psychological harm; sexual assault; serious physical injury; and death.

Your acknowledgement. By accepting these terms you confirm that you have read and understood this notice, that you understand these risks, and that you accept them. You decide whether to speak to a person, whether to exchange contact details, and whether to meet anyone in person.

The Dating Safely guidance sets out practical steps you can take to reduce these risks, and where to get help.

16. Our liability to you

16.1 What we never exclude

Nothing in this agreement excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for gross negligence, or for anything else that the law does not allow us to exclude or limit.

Your statutory rights under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, and if you are in the United Kingdom under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, are not affected by this agreement.

16.2 What we are not responsible for

Subject to section 16.1, we are not liable for the conduct of another user, whether on the service or after you have exchanged contact details; for what is said on a call, which we do not record, hear or moderate; for any decision you make on the basis of a personality report; for any meeting you arrange with another person; for any service operated by a third party; or for loss caused by your own breach of these terms.

16.3 Cap on liability

Subject to section 16.1, our total liability to you for all claims arising out of or in connection with this agreement is limited in aggregate to [[LIABILITY_CAP_AMOUNT]].

16.4 Consumers in the United Kingdom

If you are in the United Kingdom, we are liable for loss that is a foreseeable result of our breach of this agreement or our failure to use reasonable care and skill. We are not liable for business losses, and this section does not limit any liability described in section 16.1.

17. Your liability to us

You indemnify us against loss, damage, cost and expense that we suffer as a direct result of your breach of this agreement, your unlawful conduct, or content you supply that infringes another person’s rights.

This indemnity does not cover anything caused by our own act, omission or breach.

We will tell you promptly of any claim covered by this section, we will not settle it without your agreement, and you may take over its conduct if you accept responsibility for it.

18. Third-party services and app stores

You obtain the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Their terms apply to that download and to any transaction with them. They are not parties to this agreement, they are not responsible for the service, and any claim about the service is made against us. Apple and its subsidiaries may enforce this section against you.

To run the service we use third parties for hosting, transactional email, push notifications, which reach Google and Apple in order to be delivered, error tracking in the released app, and the artificial intelligence provider used for personality reports. Where a direct connection between devices fails, calls are relayed by a server we operate, and a public STUN server is used to establish connections. Each of those providers operates under its own terms and, where relevant, under a written agreement with us.

The contact handles exchanged on a Match belong to other platforms, such as WhatsApp, Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat. We do not control those platforms and their terms and privacy practices apply once you use them.

You are responsible for your device, your network connection and any data charges.

19. Complaints and disputes

Contact us first. Send service complaints to [[SUPPORT_EMAIL]] and safety complaints to [[SAFETY_EMAIL]]. We acknowledge and respond within [[COMPLAINTS_TURNAROUND]].

If we cannot resolve your complaint, section 69 of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 lets you choose how to take it further. You may refer the matter to an ombud with jurisdiction over us, to an alternative dispute resolution agent for conciliation, mediation or arbitration if we both agree to that, to a consumer court in your province, to the National Consumer Commission, to the National Consumer Tribunal where the Act allows it, or to a court.

If you are in the United Kingdom, you may bring proceedings in the courts of the part of the United Kingdom where you live.

Complaints about how we handle personal information are dealt with in the Privacy Policy, which sets out how to complain to us, to the Information Regulator of South Africa, and to the Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom.

20. Governing law and courts

This agreement is governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and the courts of South Africa have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from it.

If you live in the United Kingdom or in the European Union, this does not deprive you of the protection of any consumer law of the country where you live that cannot be departed from by agreement, and you may bring proceedings in the courts of that country. Where you live in the United Kingdom or the European Union, we will bring any proceedings against you in the courts of the country where you live.

21. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms to reflect a change in the service, in the law, in regulatory guidance, or in the way we protect users.

We will tell you by email and in the app before a change takes effect, and we will show the date the new version applies from. A change required by law or needed to address a safety or security risk may take effect immediately.

If you do not accept a change, stop using the service and ask us to delete your account under section 13.1.

If you continue to use the service after the change takes effect, the changed terms apply to you.

You may ask for an earlier version of these terms at [[SUPPORT_EMAIL]].

22. General

Severability. If a court finds a provision of this agreement unenforceable, that provision is severed and the rest continues to apply.

No waiver. If we do not enforce a right immediately, we do not lose it.

Assignment. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under this agreement. We may transfer ours to another company on notice to you, provided your rights are not reduced.

Entire agreement. This agreement and the documents incorporated in section 3 are the whole agreement between you and us about the service. This does not limit liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Notices. We send notices to the email address on your account, and to the extent the service allows it, in the app. You send notices to [[SUPPORT_EMAIL]] or by post to [[POSTAL_ADDRESS]]. A notice by email is treated as received on the day it is sent, unless it bounces.

No partnership. This agreement does not create a partnership, joint venture, agency or employment relationship between you and us.

Headings. Headings are for convenience and do not affect how this agreement is read.