Bloomingship ("we," "our," or "us") values your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your information when you use the Bloomingship platform, including our website, mobile applications, courses and educational content, community forums, member matching, direct messaging, and bookable 1-on-1 sessions with independent relationship Guides (collectively, the "Services"). By using our Services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

1. Who We Are

Bloomingship is a relationship-building platform operated by Bloomingship LLC, a company registered in the United States. We serve people at every relationship stage, from single, dating, in a relationship, or married, through educational content, community connection, member matching, messaging, and Guide Sessions, and we provide our Services globally.

2. Information We Collect

Account Information: name, email address, phone number, date of birth, gender, and login credentials.
Profile Information: photos, videos, bios, interests, relationship status (single, dating, in a relationship, married), preferences, and other information you choose to share.
Location Information: approximate or precise location, depending on your device settings.
Usage Information: interactions within the Services, including features used and time spent.
Device and Technical Information: IP address, device identifiers, operating system, browser type, and network data.
Messages and Interactions: communications with other members, with Guides, and with us (for example support requests).
Booking and Payment Data: session bookings, scheduling details, billing details, payment processor tokens, and transaction history, processed through secure third-party payment processors. We do not directly store full credit card numbers.
Verification Data: if you choose to complete optional identity or photo verification, we (or our verification vendor) may process a selfie image, government ID, or facial geometry data derived from them ("Biometric Data") as described in Section 11.
Cookies and Similar Technologies: used to enhance performance, security, and personalization as described in Section 9.
Information from Others: if you use a referral feature or a third party reports a concern about your account, we may receive information about you from other members or third parties.

3. How We Use Your Information

To create and manage your account and profile.
To personalize your experience and recommend content, courses, or Matching Features connections.
To enable connections, messaging, and communication between members.
To process bookings and payments for Guide Sessions and any other Paid Features.
To maintain safety, investigate reports of abuse, fraud, or harassment, and enforce our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.
To send administrative communications, updates, and (with your consent, where required) marketing communications.
To analyze usage, ensure platform security, and develop new features.
To comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

4. HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices and Confidentiality of Guide Sessions

4.1 Two Categories of Guide Sessions. Some Guides are licensed therapists, counselors, or other licensed clinical professionals ("Licensed Guides"); others are coaches or content creators without a clinical license ("Coaching Guides"). Whether HIPAA (the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) applies to a given Guide Session depends on the Guide's license, how the session is billed, and other factors.

4.2 HIPAA Superseding Notice. To the extent any information you provide is protected health information ("PHI") under HIPAA, the Notice of Privacy Practices ("NPP") applicable to your Licensed Guide will apply and will supersede any conflicting practices described in this Privacy Policy. In most cases, your Licensed Guide, not Bloomingship, is the HIPAA Covered Entity, and Bloomingship acts only as a Business Associate providing the technology platform under a Business Associate Agreement with that Guide. If Bloomingship directly employs any Licensed Guides rather than contracting with them independently, Bloomingship acts as the Covered Entity for those sessions instead, and a separate NPP issued directly by Bloomingship applies.

4.3 Coaching Guides. Sessions with Coaching Guides are not subject to HIPAA. This Privacy Policy governs that data in full, alongside the confidentiality provisions below.

4.4 No Platform-Level Privilege. Regardless of which category applies, Bloomingship itself does not treat Guide Session content as covered by attorney-client, doctor-patient, or therapist-client privilege at the platform-operator level. Any privilege that exists is a function of your independent relationship with a Licensed Guide, not of Bloomingship's role as the technology venue. Do not share information during a Guide Session that you would only share under a legally privileged clinical relationship, unless you have independently confirmed such a relationship exists with that Guide off-platform.

5. Message Review and Safety Monitoring

We may review messages and community content, using a combination of automated tools and limited human review, to detect fraud, harassment, romance-scam patterns, and other violations of our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. Where feasible, we take steps to limit human reviewers' access to personally identifying information. We do not share the content of your private messages, or information derived from them, with third-party advertisers, and we do not use Guide Session content for these safety-monitoring purposes except where a report specifically concerns that session.

6. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information for money. We may share information as follows:

With other members: profile information and content you choose to make visible (for example profile details, forum posts, and messages to the recipient) as part of the Services' core functionality.
With Guides: if you book a Guide Session, the Guide receives the information necessary to provide that session (for example your name, booking details, and any message you send them).
With service providers: hosting, analytics, customer support, email delivery, video/session infrastructure, identity-verification vendors, and payment processing vendors who process data on our behalf under contractual confidentiality and security obligations.
For legal reasons: to comply with law, respond to legal process, protect the rights and safety of Bloomingship, our members, or the public, or investigate violations of our Terms.
Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, subject to standard confidentiality protections.
Affiliates and partners: as part of business operations, subject to the same protections described in this Policy.
With your consent: for any other purpose disclosed to you at the time of collection.

7. Advertising and Our No-Sale Commitments for Sensitive Data

7.1 What We Never Share for Advertising. Regardless of any consent you may give elsewhere, we do not share the following with advertisers or ad-technology partners: Guide Session content or notes, questionnaire or intake responses, relationship-status or sexual-orientation data, journal or diary entries, direct messages, or any other Sensitive Information as defined in Section 14. We do not use this information for retargeting.

7.2 What May Be Shared, With Consent. With your opt-in consent, we may share limited, non-sensitive usage or device data (such as hashed identifiers) with advertising or analytics partners to measure and improve marketing performance.

7.3 Your Choices. Where required by law, you may opt out of having your information used for targeted advertising, or treated as a "sale" or "sharing" under applicable state privacy law, through your account privacy settings or by contacting us at support@bloomingship.com.

8. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or object to processing of your personal data, to export it, to opt out of certain processing (including targeted advertising or "sale/share" as defined under some state laws), and to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. This may include rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), other U.S. state privacy laws (for example Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah), and, for users in the UK/EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

You may exercise these rights by contacting us at support@bloomingship.com. We will respond within the time period required by applicable law. You may also manage most profile and communication information directly in your account settings.

California Shine the Light: California residents may request information about disclosures of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes by contacting us at the email above.

9. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to operate the Services, remember your preferences, measure usage, ensure security, and (where applicable) support personalization and advertising. You can control cookies through your browser settings; disabling cookies may limit certain features. Consistent with Section 16, we do not deploy location-based advertising technology (such as geofencing) around healthcare facilities.

10. Data Retention

We retain personal information according to the following general schedule, except where a longer period is required by law or necessary to resolve a dispute, enforce our agreements, or investigate a safety report:

Active account data: retained while your account remains active.
Deleted account, profile and matching data: deleted or anonymized within 28 days of account deletion.
Deleted account, safety/moderation records: retained for 2 years after account closure or ban to prevent re-registration by bad actors and to support safety investigations.
Guide Session records and notes: retained for 5 years consistent with applicable clinical record-keeping requirements for Licensed Guides, and Bloomingship's own retention schedule for Coaching Guide sessions.
Transaction and billing records: retained for 10 years to comply with tax and accounting obligations.
Technical/traffic logs: retained for approximately 1 year.

Upon a verified deletion request, we aim to delete or anonymize most data categories within 48 hours, except for the categories above that we are required or permitted to retain longer.

11. Identity Verification and Biometric Data

If you choose to complete optional profile verification, we or our means of verification, wherein we will process a photo or video selfie, and may derive facial geometry data ("Biometric Data") solely to confirm that your profile photo matches you. Participation is optional and requires your affirmative consent. Where offered, you may instead request manual human review as an alternative to automated facial matching. Verification images and derived Biometric Data are retained for no longer than 7 days and are not used for any purpose other than verification and safety enforcement, and are not shared with advertisers.

12. Security

We implement administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect your information, including encryption in transit and access controls. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security of information transmitted to or stored on the Services.

13. Children's Privacy

The Services are not directed to, and are not intended for use by, anyone under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a person under 18, we will delete it promptly and terminate the associated account. If you believe a minor has provided us information, contact us at support@bloomingship.com.

14. Sensitive Information

Because Bloomingship relates to relationships and dating, some information you choose to share (such as relationship status, sexual orientation, or content shared in courses/forums/Guide Sessions about personal circumstances) may be considered sensitive under certain laws. We limit use of such information to operating and improving the Services and do not use it for purposes incompatible with why you provided it, except as required by law. As described in Section 7, we do not share Sensitive Information with advertisers.

15. Automated Matching and Profiling Disclosure

Bloomingship's Matching Features use automated processing, including algorithms that consider information such as your stated preferences, relationship status, profile content, and platform activity, to suggest potential connections or content ("Automated Matching").

Automated Matching affects who and what you see on the platform (for example suggested profiles, recommended courses or forum content), but it does not make any legal, financial, medical, or similarly significant decision about you, and it does not determine your eligibility to use the Services.

Where required by applicable law (for example, under Colorado's Privacy Act or the EU/UK GDPR), you may have the right to obtain information about the logic involved in Automated Matching, to express your point of view, and to request human review of, or object to, decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects. Automated safety and moderation decisions (for example account restrictions flagged by our safety systems) may also be appealed by contacting us. To exercise these rights, contact us at support@bloomingship.com.

You can influence Automated Matching results at any time by updating your profile, preferences, and activity settings.

16. Consumer Health Data Notice (Washington, Nevada, Connecticut, and Similar Laws)

Certain information you provide, including information shared in Guide Sessions, wellness-related course activity, or profile details that could reasonably indicate an effort to seek mental health or wellness support, may be considered consumer health data under laws such as Washington's My Health My Data Act, Nevada's Health Data Privacy Act, and Connecticut's data privacy law, regardless of whether HIPAA applies.

For residents of these states, we will not collect consumer health data without valid consent (or, for necessary processing, without meeting the applicable exception), will not sell consumer health data without separate, valid authorization, and will not use geofencing technology within a defined radius of any healthcare facility to identify, track, collect data from, or send messages to consumers regarding their consumer health data.

17. International Data Transfers

Your data may be processed outside your country, including in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country. Where required (for example, for UK/EU users), we implement appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses for such transfers.

18. Third-Party Links and Integrations

The Services may contain links to third-party websites, professionals, or services (for example, recommended therapists, external resources). This Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party practices, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies separately.

19. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy occasionally. Changes will be posted on this page with a new effective date. Material changes will be communicated via the Services or by email prior to taking effect.

20. Contact Us

For any questions, contact us at:

support@bloomingship.com
Bloomingship LLC
Tunjio Lab, 518 East 13th Street, Houston, Texas 77008, United States