ViaUni · For students, by students

Privacy notice

Effective 16 September 2026

ViaUni is an independent, non-commercial project operated by Ien Meier in Switzerland, who is responsible for processing your personal data. For privacy questions or requests, contact contact@viauni.ch. This notice covers the ViaUni app and viauni.ch.

1. Information we process

• Account information: login email, account identifier, private birth date, consent records and authentication records. If you choose university email verification, we also process that email, verification attempts and status.
• Your profile: name, photos, university and study information, height, gender, sexual orientation, dating and discovery preferences, languages, cities, interests, icebreakers, mood, selected songs, social handles and other details you choose to add.
• Connections and communication: likes, passes, matches, messages, chat images, voice messages, reactions, read receipts, blocks, reports and support correspondence. Another user may provide information about you in a message or report.
• Technical and safety records: push tokens, IP addresses and request metadata, error and delivery records, abuse-prevention counters and moderation outcomes.

ViaUni does not request access to your device contacts or GPS location. Cities and university information come from what you enter. Access to photos and the microphone is used for features you choose.

2. Why we use this information

We use it to create and protect accounts, show profiles, recommend relevant people, enable connections and messages, send notifications, investigate reports, respond to support requests and comply with legal obligations. Recommendations use your preferences, profile information, completeness and interaction signals. Optional university verification contributes to profile completeness.

Sexual orientation and related dating preferences are sensitive information. The app asks for explicit consent to process them. Where the GDPR applies, necessary service processing is based on providing the service, safety and reliability processing on legitimate interests, legally required processing on legal obligations, and consent where required, including for sensitive information. You may contact us to withdraw consent; features that depend on that processing may no longer be available.

ViaUni does not sell personal data or use it for cross-company advertising tracking. The current app does not display advertising.

3. Who can see your information

Your profile information is shown to other eligible members according to the app’s settings. Your login email, university-verification email and full birth date are not public profile fields. Your age is shown. Other users may copy or share what you make visible, so avoid including information you want to keep private.

Chats are intended for their participants. They are not end-to-end encrypted. The operator and service providers may have restricted access when necessary to operate the service, investigate reports, troubleshoot or comply with law. Reports are not displayed to the reported user, though we cannot guarantee that someone will not infer who reported an incident.

4. Photo safety checks

After the upload consent prompt, new profile-image content is sent to OpenAI’s moderation service to check for inappropriate content. A result may prevent a photo from appearing or lead to manual review by the operator. These checks do not verify your identity or age. You can decline the upload, replace the image, or request human review at contact@viauni.ch. Three profile photos are required to complete signup.

Provider security and abuse-prevention rules can apply to submitted images, including retention and review of flagged material. See OpenAI’s API data controls. We do not promise zero retention or that every decision will be correct.

5. Providers and international processing

We use the following providers for the specified purposes. They receive the information needed for those services:

• Supabase: account authentication, database, files, real-time features and server functions. The primary ViaUni database is in Zurich, Switzerland. Supabase is based in Singapore and uses international infrastructure and support providers, including in the United States. Server-function execution and supporting services are not confined to the database region. See its data-processing terms and subprocessor list.
• Infomaniak: the support mailbox and university verification email delivery, hosted in Switzerland. Your email provider also processes mail sent to you. See Infomaniak’s privacy information.
• OpenAI: profile photo moderation and website hosting through Sites. Processing can occur outside Switzerland, including in the United States, with infrastructure and operational support in countries listed in its subprocessor list. Flagged content may be handled by moderation providers, including in the Philippines. See its data-processing terms and privacy policy.
• Expo and Apple: push-notification delivery. Tokens and notification payloads may include a sender’s name and message text. These providers operate internationally, including in the United States. You can change notification permissions and previews in iPhone Settings. See Expo’s privacy policy and Apple’s privacy policy.
• Apple’s song search: when you search for a song, the search term and network information go directly to Apple. A song you select is saved to your profile. Apple’s privacy policy applies to its handling of that request.
• RAW Moments: if you use the optional import, your selected photos and associated provenance are transferred into ViaUni. It does not give ViaUni access to your entire photo library or your RAW Moments password.
• Cloudflare: website delivery, network protection and related request metadata. Its global network may process requests near visitors, outside Switzerland. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy and network locations.

International processing can involve different legal protections and access by foreign authorities. The providers’ applicable data-processing terms describe transfer protections, including standard contractual clauses and Swiss adaptations where applicable. You can contact us for information about the safeguards relevant to your data. The linked provider lists describe their wider processing locations; they do not mean every provider or country receives every user’s data.

We may also disclose limited information where legally required, to respond to a valid legal request, or as necessary to protect people and enforce rights.

6. Retention and deletion

Account, profile and interaction data are generally kept while your account is active to provide the service. Verification codes have a limited validity period; expiry does not itself erase the associated verification or abuse-prevention records.

Requesting deletion in Profile → Settings → Account immediately hides your profile and restricts normal access. You have seven days to sign back in and restore it. After that deadline, an automated process removes your account and associated stored files and account-linked records. Failed steps are retried, so completion can take longer than seven days.

Deletion does not instantly erase every backup, operational log or separate support record. Provider backups and technical logs follow the provider’s retention and deletion processes. Support correspondence and moderation or security records may be retained while needed to resolve an issue, investigate abuse, handle an appeal, establish or defend legal claims, or meet a legal obligation. The relevant criteria are the purpose, whether the issue remains open, applicable legal periods and whether identifying information is still necessary. You can ask us about retention of a particular record.

Information another person has independently saved, such as a screenshot or a copy outside ViaUni, is outside our account-deletion process.

7. Your choices and rights

You can edit profile information and preferences, control notification permissions, block users, deactivate your profile or request deletion. For access, a copy of your information, correction, deletion, withdrawal of consent, or an objection to processing, email contact@viauni.ch. We may need to verify your identity and account ownership. Additional rights, including restriction or portability, may apply under the law that covers you.

You can request human review of an automated safety result. You can also raise a concern with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner or your applicable data-protection authority.

8. Website storage and external links

The ViaUni website does not include advertising or analytics scripts added by ViaUni. The hosting and security providers process request metadata and may set security cookies, such as Cloudflare bot-protection cookies. The app stores session credentials and preferences on your device so it can work as expected. External links, including social profiles, open services with their own privacy practices.

9. Adults only and updates

ViaUni is for people aged 18 or older. Report a suspected underage account through the app or support. We will update this notice when our practices change and communicate material changes as appropriate. The effective date above identifies this version.