This policy explains what Ola collects when you use the app and this website, why we collect it, who else handles it, and the choices you have. Ola is a social app for finding friends, teachers, coaches, and collaborators through shared interests. It is not a dating service.
The short version
- You sign up with your mobile number. Other people never see it.
- Other people see an approximate distance, never your exact location.
- People aged 12 to 17 and adults are kept in separate groups.
- We don't sell your data, show ads, or use analytics or tracking tools.
- You can download your data and close your account from Settings.
- A few things outlast a closed account, such as messages you already sent. Section 8 lists them.
1Who we are
Ola is operated by [Operator name] ("we", "us"). If you have a question about this policy or your data, write to [privacy@your-domain].
2What we collect
Your account
- Your Iranian mobile number, which we confirm with a one-time code sent by SMS.
- Your sign-in sessions, including the IP address and the device and browser you signed in from.
- An email address, only if you choose to add one.
Your profile
- Display name, username, and optionally your first and last name.
- Birth date and gender. We use your birth date to work out your age and age group, and you can't change it later.
- 2 to 5 profile photos, a profile background, an "about me", why you're here, your intentions, and 1 to 5 interests with your level in each.
- Your country, province, and city, your app language, whether your profile is private, and who you'd like to see in your daily picks.
Your location
If you allow it, we save your device's location so we can show distances between you and other people. If you don't, we use the centre of the city you chose. When you send your location in a chat, the exact point is stored with that message.
What you create and share
- Messages, voice messages, photos, videos, files, and audio you send, plus replies, reactions, pins, and read receipts.
- Stories, who viewed them, and reactions to them.
- Workspace content: notes, checklists, polls, flashcards, assignments, receipts, and your quiz answers and results.
If you offer your skills
- The skills and services you list, and the requests you send or receive. This includes therapists and other health professionals.
- The certificate or licence files (photos or PDFs) you send for the blue tick. Our team reviews them.
Purchases
Your plan, its price and dates, the order status, and the store's order reference. Payment happens inside Cafe Bazaar or Myket. We never see your card details.
Your device
An installation ID, device model and type, operating system and version, app version, the store you installed from, and when the device was first and last used.
Notifications
Your push notification token, the notifications we've sent you, and your notification settings.
Safety
Reports you make, reports about your content, and any warning, suspension, or ban on your account.
Support tickets
When you contact support from the app: the topic and title you choose, what you write, any screenshots or screen recordings you attach, and our answers. Each ticket also carries the device details listed above (app version, store, operating system, and device model), so we can find the problem.
3Who can see what
| Information | Who can see it |
|---|---|
| Name, username, photos, about me, interests, intentions, city | Other people in your age group. If your profile is private, only people you're already connected with. |
| Age | Other people see your age, not your birth date. |
| Location | Other people see an approximate distance only. A location you send in a chat is visible to that person. |
| Messages and chat media | The people in that conversation. |
| Stories | The audience you choose when you post. |
| Certificates | Our review team. Other people only if you're verified and choose to show them. |
| Support tickets | You and our support team. |
| Phone number, birth date, IP address, device details | Never shown to other people. |
Our support and safety team can see account details, profiles, and content that has been reported. Only administrators can see a full phone number, and every time they do, it is recorded.
4How we use it
- To run your account and the app: sign-in, profiles, chat, stories, and workspaces.
- To pick people and teachers for you, by interests, intentions, city, distance, and age group.
- To keep people aged 12 to 17 separate from adults.
- To keep the app safe: reviewing reports, limiting abuse and spam, and stopping banned people from coming back.
- To process purchases and give you your plan's features.
- To send the notifications you've turned on.
- To answer you when you contact us, and to meet our legal obligations.
We don't use your data for advertising and we don't sell it.
5Who we share it with
We share only what each service needs to do its job:
- SMS provider [name]: your phone number and the sign-in code, to deliver it.
- Google Firebase Cloud Messaging: your push token and the notification's content, to deliver notifications on Android and in the browser. Message notifications include a short preview unless you turn previews off in Settings.
- Cafe Bazaar and Myket: the purchase details needed to process and confirm your payment.
- Authorities: when the law requires it.
Your photos, videos, and files are stored on servers we run ourselves, not with an outside storage company.
6Storage and security
The app talks to our servers over encrypted connections. Photos, videos, and files are only reachable through links that expire after a short time, so a copied link stops working. Access by our own team is limited by role and recorded. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your data and will tell you if a breach affects you.
7How long we keep it
| Data | How long |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, photos, interests | While your account is open, then deleted when it closes (see section 8). |
| Messages you send | While your account is open. After it closes, they stay in the other person's chat, labelled as from a deleted account. |
| Stories | Visible for 24 hours unless you pin them to your profile. |
| Certificates | Kept after review, whatever the result, and deleted when your account closes. |
| Support tickets, with their screenshots | While your account is open, then deleted with it (see section 8). |
| Sign-in and device history | While your account is open. |
| Server logs | 14 days. |
| Reports and moderation actions | Kept to protect the community, including after an account closes. |
8Closing your account
You can close your account in Settings. It is hidden from everyone straight away. If you change your mind, sign in again within 14 days to restore it.
After 14 days we delete your profile, photos, stories, certificates, interests, teaching listings, support tickets and their screenshots, device and sign-in history, notifications, push tokens, and plan history. This happens automatically, whether or not you come back.
When we wait longer
For everyone's safety, we don't delete a closed account while it is suspended or banned, or while a report about it is still being reviewed. Deleting it then would erase what our team needs to review, or let a banned person sign up again with the same number. We delete it as soon as that is settled: when the suspension ends or the review is finished. A banned account is kept for as long as the ban lasts. If you sign in while we're waiting, your account comes back.
What stays after you close your account
- Messages you sent. They remain in the other person's chat, shown as from a deleted account.
- An empty account entry with no profile attached, so old conversations keep working.
- A closed-account record. This holds a protected (hashed) form of your phone number, your previous account IDs, and how many times you were blocked or reported. It does not hold your number in readable form. We keep it permanently so that people who were banned or reported can't erase that by making a new account.
9Your choices
- Download your data: Settings gives you a copy of your account data. Messages aren't included.
- Edit your profile at any time. If your birth date is wrong, contact us.
- Make your profile private to hide it from discovery.
- Turn location off; you'll be placed at your city's centre.
- Control notifications, including whether they show message previews.
- Block or report anyone.
- Contact support from Settings → Help & support. If your account is suspended or banned, you can still send one ticket after entering your sign-in code.
- Close your account as described in section 8.
For anything else, such as a correction you can't make yourself, write to [privacy@your-domain].
10Young people
You must be at least 12 to use Ola. People aged 12 to 17 are in a separate group: they can't see or message adults, and adults can't see or message them. The one exception is that they can find teachers and coaches and send them requests. If you're under 18, please use Ola with a parent or guardian's knowledge. If you think someone under 12 is using the app, tell us and we'll close the account.
11Device permissions
The app asks for a permission only when you use the feature that needs it, and you can say no.
- Camera: to take photos and videos for your profile, stories, and chats.
- Microphone: to record voice messages and videos.
- Location: to show distances. Optional.
- Photos and media: to pick photos, videos, files, and audio to share.
- Notifications: to tell you about new messages and requests.
12Changes and contact
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your data in an important way, we'll tell you in the app first.
Questions or requests: [privacy@your-domain], [Operator name].