Privacy Policy

1. Overview

This Privacy Policy explains how Be There, LLC ("Be There," "we," "us,") collects, uses, shares, and protects information about you when you use our website, apps, and services (collectively, the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to the practices described here. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meaning given in our Terms of Service.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account & contact info. First name, last name, email address, and phone number you provide at signup.
• Profile responses. Answers you provide in our onboarding questions about preferences, social style, and interests, used to match you to events and to generate your "Currents" profile (see Section 3a).
• Profile photos. Photos you choose to upload to your profile. Photos are stored in private storage, are served only to signed-in members according to your visibility settings, and can be replaced or deleted by you at any time. Deleting a photo removes it from our storage.
• Sensitive information you choose to share. Some optional questions may ask about characteristics such as gender or sexual orientation. Answering is always optional, these answers are used only to compose event groups thoughtfully, and they are never displayed to other members or shared for any other purpose. By answering, you consent to this use.
• Messages within the Service. Messages, replies, and reactions you post in event and group rooms, and reports you submit. Room messages are visible to the members of that room; rooms are event-scoped and are archived after the event.
• Music streaming data (optional). If you choose to connect Spotify, we receive your top artists and genres and recent listening via Spotify's API to improve matching. You can disconnect at any time, which removes the derived data from our systems.
• Payment information. Card details and payment metadata are collected and processed by our payment processor, Stripe. We store only non-sensitive references (such as a Stripe customer ID and a payment intent ID); we do not store full card numbers. For some events we also accept payment through Venmo; Venmo processes those transactions under its own privacy policy, and we record only that your payment was received.
• Event & usage data. Records of which events you join, your registration status, pod assignments, and basic interaction logs (page views, clicks within the Service).
• Device & technical data. Browser type, operating system, IP address, and similar metadata, used to operate and secure the Service.
• Communications. Records of emails and text messages we send you and your responses to them.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To match you into pods for in-person events.
• To process payments, deposits, and refunds.
• To send transactional and informational communications (email and SMS) about your matches, events, charges, and account.
• To operate, maintain, and secure the Service and prevent fraud.
• To improve the Service and the matching experience.
• To comply with legal obligations.

3a. AI-Generated Profile Content

Your Currents profile — the descriptive identity summary shown to you in the app — is generated with the help of large language models (AI) from the answers you provide. Your raw answers are sent to our AI providers (OpenAI and Anthropic) solely to generate this content and are not used by those providers to train their models. Generated content is a starting point, not a judgment: you can ask us to regenerate or correct it, and matching runs on your answers and preferences — never on an AI-written label alone.

3b. What Other Members See

We show other members only a limited slice of your profile, and less the further from you they are: your own profile view is the richest; members of your small group see your first name, photo (if you added one and allow it), a short generated summary, and shared interests; other attendees of an event see at most your first name and photo according to your visibility settings. Your raw questionnaire answers, private reflections, feedback about other members, and any sensitive-category answers are never shown to other members. You can adjust what your group sees in your profile settings.

4. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only as needed to operate the Service, including with the following categories of recipients:

• Payment processor. Stripe, Inc. (stripe.com/privacy), to process Deposits and Event Price charges. Where we accept Venmo for an event, PayPal, Inc. (Venmo) processes that payment under its own privacy policy.
• Email provider. Twilio SendGrid, our transactional email vendor, used to deliver event reminders, receipts, and account messages.
• SMS provider. Twilio, used to deliver text messages and verification codes to your phone number after you opt in.
• Push notifications. Apple (APNs) and Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging) deliver push notifications to the mobile app; they receive your device token and the content of each notification.
• Sign-in. If you sign in with Google, Google shares your name and email address with us to create or link your account.
• Event registration partners. For events booked on a third-party platform (such as Partiful), the RSVP details you provide there are imported into Be There to build the guest list.
• Event venues & partners. Limited information (such as your first name and any dietary requirements you provide) may be shared with a venue or partner to facilitate the event you registered for.
• Waiver forms (past events). For two earlier party-bus events we collected liability waivers through Jotform, including your name, signature, and date of birth. Those forms are no longer in use and were never copied into Be There; the submissions remain stored with Jotform (jotform.com/privacy) until deleted, and you may ask us to delete yours (see Section 8).
• Service providers. Hosting (Vercel), database (Neon), file storage for uploaded photos and attachments (Vercel Blob, private access), AI providers used to generate profile content (OpenAI and Anthropic — see Section 3a), and analytics providers (see Section 6), each bound by appropriate confidentiality and data-processing terms. Sign-in and authentication run on our own infrastructure.
• Legal & safety. When required by law, subpoena, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Be There, our users, or others.
• Business transfers. In connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, subject to standard confidentiality protections.

5. SMS Messaging

When you provide a phone number and check the SMS consent box at signup, you opt in to receive text messages from Be There related to the Service. Messages may include pod match notifications, event reminders, payment-related alerts, and occasional informational updates. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. You can opt out of non-transactional messages at any time by replying STOP, and you can request help by replying HELP. Opting out of SMS will not affect emails required for transactions you have initiated.

Your phone number and the content of messages we send you may be shared with our SMS provider solely to deliver the message. Mobile carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

We do not sell, rent, or share your mobile phone number or SMS opt-in consent with third parties or affiliates for their own marketing or promotional purposes. Text-messaging originator opt-in data and consent are not shared with any third parties for any purpose other than the SMS providers that deliver the messages you requested.

6. Cookies & Analytics

We use cookies and similar technologies for essential functions (keeping you signed in, remembering your respondent session) and usage analytics. Our analytics providers are Google Analytics, PostHog, and Vercel Analytics; they receive usage data such as pages viewed, actions taken, device and browser information, and error reports so we can fix bugs and improve the Service. PostHog may also record how you interact with pages (session replay) for the same purpose. You can control cookies through your browser settings; disabling cookies may limit some features of the Service.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal information while your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Payment records are retained as required by tax and financial regulations. Waiver forms from past events (see Section 4) stay with Jotform until deleted on request. You may request deletion of your account and associated data at any time (see Section 8).

8. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, and to opt out of certain processing. To exercise these rights, email us at hello@joinbethere.com. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law. We do not knowingly discriminate against users who exercise their privacy rights.

9. Children

The Service is intended for users 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe we have collected information from someone under 18, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Security

We use industry-standard safeguards including TLS encryption in transit, access controls, and reliance on Stripe for payment security. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. International Users

The Service is currently operated for users in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

12. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or through the Service. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision.

13. Contact

For privacy questions or requests, contact us at: