Spark Privacy Policy

Effective date: 15 October 2026

Version 1.10

Spark is an app for couples. Its heart is a daily photo moment you share with your partner, surrounded by things like a private gallery, location sharing, anniversaries, a bucket list, date planning, and small games you play together.

Because Spark is built for two people who trust each other, we take the data you put into it seriously. This policy explains, in plain language, what we collect, why, who else touches it, what your partner can see, how long we keep it, and the rights you have. If anything here is unclear, please email us — the contact is in the first section.

1. Who we are

Spark is operated by Nikodem Zelenak as the controller of your personal data — an individual based in Slovakia, in the European Union, who runs Spark independently. Throughout this policy, "we" and "us" mean the operator.

You can reach us about anything in this policy, or to exercise any of your rights, at:

privacy@mysparks.app

Because we are established in Slovakia, our lead supervisory authority is the Slovak data protection authority, the Úrad na ochranu osobných údajov Slovenskej republiky (Office for Personal Data Protection of the Slovak Republic). You always have the right to contact them, or your own local authority, if you have a concern (see Section 7).

This policy covers the Spark mobile app and this website (www.mysparks.app).

2. What we collect

We collect only what Spark needs to work, plus a little that helps us improve it (and that only with your permission). Here is everything, grouped by what it is:

Your account. Your email address and password, or — if you choose to sign in that way — your identity from Sign in with Google or Sign in with Apple. This is how you log in.

Your profile. Your username, your birthday, an avatar image if you add one, and, if you answer the question during sign-up, how you heard about Spark. Our server also reads both partners' birthdays to keep Pick For Me's 18+ shelf and the After Dark question game away from a couple when either of you is under 18. When you pair with a partner, we also handle an invite code that links the two of you.

Your relationship details. Things you tell Spark about your relationship — such as important dates, shared goals, habits you're building together, and what you want to focus on. We also store the fact that you are paired with your partner and your time zone. Because information about your relationship can reveal or suggest intimate details about you, we treat it with extra care (see Section 3).

Your daily photo moments. When you capture a daily Spark, we store the photos (typically a front-camera and a back-camera image), any caption you add, and, when you have allowed Spark to use your location, a place name (usually a city and region) the app adds from where you are.

Where a Spark was taken. If you have allowed Spark to use your location, the app takes one precise location reading when you capture a Spark. To turn it into the place name on the photo, your phone asks its own map service (Apple on iPhone, Google on most Android phones). Unless Ghost Mode is on when you post, the exact reading is kept with that Spark for as long as the Spark exists, and it shows the two of you where the photo was taken: a small photo pin on the Sparks view of the Together Map. Only you and your partner can see the pin. Your recaps use the same readings for their “Where you sparked” page. Your phone groups your Sparks by town (a city's numbered districts count as the city, places within about 3 km of each other count as one, and a place name that names only a region joins a nearby town in that region), averages the readings kept for each place and rounds the result to about 2 km, so a pin shows the area, never the street; a Spark posted in Ghost Mode adds no reading to where a pin sits and is only counted under its place name. A place name that has no reading behind it at all (Sparks from before Spark kept readings, from an older version of the app, or only ever posted in Ghost Mode) is pinned at its town instead: if you have allowed Spark to use your location, your phone asks its own map service where that place name is, sending the name (usually a city and region) and nothing else, and keeps each answer on the phone until you sign out or unpair, so the same name is not asked about again; a name it could not find is tried again after a month. The phone also works out the country from the pin and draws the pins, the town names and the counts itself. The map picture under them comes from our own server, which draws it from OpenStreetMap map data we keep there. To get it, your phone sends the stretch of map to show (its middle, how far it is zoomed in and the size of the page) together with your sign-in, never a place name or a count; because that stretch is framed around your places, it does show roughly where they are. The server stores neither the request nor the picture beyond the short-lived server logs described below. Your phone keeps the picture so the page opens again without asking. If you save or share a recap as a video, that page goes with it and shows the town and the country, never the exact spot. Apart from that place-name lookup and the hosting described in Section 4, we do not share the reading with anyone else and do not use it for anything else. Turn Ghost Mode on before you post and that Spark keeps no map location (the place name, usually just a city and region, still stays on the photo); take the location permission away and it keeps neither. A post that is waiting to be sent because you were offline keeps whatever was decided when you tapped post. A location kept with a Spark goes when the Spark itself goes: when the couple's shared memories are deleted (Section 5), or when you ask us to remove that photo. There is no switch yet that keeps a photo and drops just its location, so if you want that, email us (Section 7) and we will remove the map pin and the place name while the photo stays.

Reactions. You can react to your partner's daily Spark with an emoji, and you can add a selfie and a short note to that reaction. The selfie and the note are stored with the Spark you reacted to, in the same private place as the photos, and only the two of you can see them. A reaction can be changed for a short while after you send it; after that it stays with that memory.

Your location - including in the background - once you allow it. If you allow Spark to use your location (this is what turns the Together Map on), we collect your precise location so your partner can see where you are. When sharing is on, this can include location updates while the app is in the background. We keep only your latest point: each update overwrites the one before it, so your live position leaves no trail. The place a Spark was taken is different: it is kept on purpose with that Spark, see above. Turning on Ghost Mode pauses sharing.

Anniversaries and milestones. The dates and milestones you add.

"Thinking of you" nudges and located hearts. When you tap "thinking of you," we record the nudge — who sent it, when, and the short note if you chose to write one (up to 120 characters; shown to your partner only when they collect the heart, never in the notification itself) — so your partner still sees it even if the push notification never arrives. Unless you're in Ghost Mode, the nudge also carries the precise location you sent it from, so a heart lands on your partner's Together Map at that spot for them to collect — this is location-attached content. (In Ghost Mode we don't attach your live position; the heart is pinned at your last shared location — the frozen spot your partner's map already shows — or arrives without a place if you've never shared one.) Unlike your live location, collected hearts leave a lasting "thought trail" and add up over time into a shared keepsake, so we keep them (see Section 6); collecting them earns the two of you a little XP.

Your bucket list. The items you add, along with any notes, photos, and addresses attached to them - and, if you schedule one, the date you plan to do it. If you tap "add to calendar," Spark writes that one event into your device calendar right on your phone. To do that it only looks up which of your calendars it can write to - it never reads your events, and nothing about your calendar is sent to us. Your Scrapbook, where you keep a memory on purpose with a title, the day it happened, photos, an optional category, and each partner's own short note, is stored the same way and shared with your partner.

Together days. When location sharing is on for both of you and the app notices you are in the same place, it records that the two of you were together on that day: just the date and your couple id, never where you were. This powers the "together" streak and counter. It follows the same deletion rules as your other couple data (see Section 6).

Meet-in-the-middle lookups. When you tap "Meet in middle" and you two are close, the app sends the calculated midpoint between you (never either partner's actual position) to our mapping provider Geoapify to find the nearest street to meet on. Nothing about this lookup is stored.

Date-planner inputs. When you use the date planner, we use your location and the preferences you enter to find date ideas nearby (this involves the processors named in Section 4). Venue photos are loaded by your phone straight from where they are hosted (Tripadvisor, Wikimedia or the venue's own website), so those servers see your phone's IP address.

Games, including Would You Rather answers. When you play the built-in minigames (Trivia, Draw Battle, Love Golf, Would You Rather, Battleship, Pick For Me and the question games), we store your answers, moves, and scores. This includes your Would You Rather answers, which can be personal.

Pick For Me. On a shelf of items, each of you picks the three you think your partner would take and the three you would take yourself. Your picks stay hidden from your partner until you have both locked in, then you both see both. You can also add your own items to the game's shelves, and make your own themes, each a name and a list of things you choose: what you write is seen only by the two of you, and it is kept until either of you removes it (deleting a theme removes its things too) or deletes your account, or you unpair. A shelf already dealt keeps its own copy of its items until that shelf is deleted (Section 6).

Question games. In the question games (Chaos, Hot Takes, Plot Twist, Romance, First Times, Future Us, Red Flags, Truth Time and After Dark), each of you answers the same ten cards on your own: which of you is more likely to do something, a pick between two options, a number from 1 to 10, your own answer plus a guess at your partner's, and one card where you write a few words of your own. Your answers stay hidden from your partner until you have both finished, then you both see both.

Private notes. Notes you write for yourself in the app (for example, Trivia notes) that are visible only to you.

Drawings. When you draw, we store the finished image and the stroke-by-stroke replay data (the sequence of strokes that lets a drawing play back).

In-app activity and rewards. As you use Spark you earn experience points (XP); we log the in-app actions that award them.

Push tokens. To send you notifications, we store the push token for your device (including the token used for live activities), together with a random ID the app creates once on that phone, so that reinstalling Spark replaces the old token instead of sending you every notification twice. The ID is used for nothing else. To create the token, the app sends Expo (Section 4) an installation ID along with the notification address your phone's system issues; on Android that address comes from Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging, which keeps its own installation ID for the app. The token never leaves our servers: when your partner sends you something, our server does the sending, so their phone never sees the address of yours.

App updates. When Spark opens, on an iPhone or an Android phone, it asks our update provider, Expo (Section 4), whether a newer version of the app's own code is ready, and downloads it if there is one. This lets us fix a problem without waiting for an App Store or Google Play release. The request carries the app version, whether the phone is an iPhone or an Android phone, the update channel, which update the app is running, which one it shipped with and which recently failed to start, the technical error message of the app's last start if that start crashed or could not load the app's code, and a random ID the app creates once and keeps on the phone. Like any connection, it also shows Expo your phone's IP address and, on an iPhone, the standard details the system adds to every request, such as the iOS version and the phone's language. It never carries your account, your photos or anything you wrote.

Notification settings. Your quiet hours and any pause you set for partner notifications are stored with your profile so we know when not to disturb you. Your partner can see that you have paused notifications and until when, so they know a message will wait for you in the app; they cannot change your settings. A notification held for your quiet hours or a pause stops waiting to be delivered after at most a day. We also keep, with your profile, your last answer to the notification permission (allowed, denied, or skipped for now), so we know whether the daily Spark and your partner's reminders can reach you at all; it changes nothing about what we send, only whether a notification is the way to tell you. Separately, we keep the notifications we send you, their text and what they link to, for seven days, so the app can show them to you in “While you were away”; after seven days they are deleted. Only you can read your own; your partner cannot.

Reminders we send you. Some notifications come from our servers rather than from your partner: your daily Spark, anniversaries and birthdays, a recap when it is ready, and, if you signed up but have not paired yet, a reminder to send your invite (at most two, in your first days). We keep a record of which of these reminders we have sent you, so the same one is never sent twice. You can turn notifications off at any time in your phone's settings.

On your device. Some data lives on your phone rather than on our servers: your login session (kept in secure storage), a copy of your partner's details and last location so features work, and app data kept in shared on-device storage that Spark's own app extensions (such as the notification service and the daily Spark Live Activity) can access.

Device info and usage analytics — only with your consent. If, and only if, you opt in, we collect first-party analytics about how the app is used: which features you use and how often, session counts and length, which screens you visit, which notifications you tap, and where people drop off in sign-up and pairing — plus technical context like app version, operating system, device model, coarse country, and a random, app-generated identifier. Analytics answers "how many, how often, which feature, how long" — never the content of your photos, drawings, messages, notes, captions, answers, precise location, or your or your partner's identity. If you don't opt in, none of this is collected. Separately, and whether or not you opt in, we count what the service already records - how many people signed up, how many pairs are active, how often Sparks are posted - so we can tell whether Spark is working. That counting uses the data described elsewhere in this section and adds nothing new about you.

Crash and error diagnostics. If the app hits an error or crashes, it automatically sends a diagnostic report to our own servers (not a third party) so we can find and fix the problem. The report contains the error message and a technical stack trace, the screen where it happened and the few screens you visited just before it, your app version (and which app update it is running), operating system and device type, and, if you are signed in, your account id, so we can tell how widely a bug is affecting people. It is technical troubleshooting data only: never the content of your photos, drawings, notes, messages, answers, or your precise location, and we never use it for advertising or profiling. Unlike analytics above, this runs automatically (not consent-gated) because we rely on our legitimate interest in keeping Spark working and secure (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)); we keep crash reports only as long as needed to fix the issue.

Server logs. Like any online service, our hosting provider keeps short-lived technical logs of requests to our servers, which include the IP address the request came from and the approximate place (country and city) that address points to. We use them to keep Spark running and secure, and, for a few days after someone signs up, to see roughly where new people are joining from. We do not copy this into your profile or keep it: the logs are deleted by the provider within days. This rests on our legitimate interest in operating and securing the service (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)).

Install count. The first time you sign in to Spark on a phone, the app tells our server that an install happened, and stores only the platform (iPhone or Android) and the app version: no identifier, no account, nothing about you. It exists so we can count installs without relying on the app stores.

Our website. The website uses no ads, no third-party analytics and no tracking. When someone opens its download page or taps one of its App Store or Google Play buttons, our server notes it, so we can count how many people the page sends to each store: whether it was a visit or a store tap (and which store), whether the browser looks like an iPhone, an Android phone or something else, whether it looks like an automated link preview, and the description the browser sends of itself (its "user agent", such as the browser and system version). None of it is linked to a Spark account, and we do not store the IP address with it (our website host sees it, as every host does: Section 4).If you came through one of our shared links (mysparks.app followed by a short name, for example in a post or a bio), we also note which link it was, and the site keeps that short name in a first-party cookie called spark_ref for 30 days, so a store tap on a later visit still counts for that link. The cookie holds nothing else and is only ever read by our own website; you can delete it in your browser at any time. The only other cookie the site sets is a sign-in cookie for our own team's admin page.

Music on recaps and Sparks. You can pick a song from Apple's music catalog as the song of your monthly recap, shown on its cover, and attach a song to your daily Spark. Your partner sees the song with your Spark and in your memories, and either of you can tap to play its 30-second preview, in the app only; a song never plays by itself under your photos. When you open a recap or search for a song, the app asks Apple's public catalog for the country's most played songs, for the songs you search for, and for their 30-second previews: your search words and your phone's IP address reach Apple for that request, nothing else. We store only the song you chose (its title, artist and catalog id) with that recap or Spark, and your partner sees it as part of what you shared. Videos you export keep Spark's own soundtrack; the catalog song never leaves the app.

Bug reports and feedback you send us. If you use "Report a Bug" or "Share Feedback" in Settings, we store the message you write and, for feedback, the category you pick (such as feature idea or praise), together with your app version (and which app update it is running), platform, operating system version, and device model, so we can reproduce problems and act on suggestions. You can also choose to attach up to three photos or screen recordings from your library; these are uploaded only when you add them and press Send, and they are stored in a private bucket that only our team can open. Photos are re-encoded before upload, which removes the technical details a camera stores inside the file; videos are sent as they are saved on your device, so details stored inside a video file, such as the place it was recorded, come with it. Everything you send this way is linked to your account and is only readable by our team (never by other users, not even your partner). The message stays until you delete your account; attached photos and recordings are removed 30 days after we mark the report as handled, or when you delete your account, whichever comes first.

3. Why we use your data (legal bases)

Under the GDPR we must have a lawful basis for using your data. Here is ours, by purpose:

• To provide Spark's core features — performance of our contract with you. Creating and running your account, pairing you with your partner, capturing and sharing daily moments, anniversaries, the bucket list, kisses, games, drawings, and notifications all rely on this basis. Without this data, the app cannot work.
• For things you switch on — your consent. Location sharing (Together Map) and usage analytics happen only if you choose them. You can withdraw any of these at any time (see Section 7); withdrawing does not affect processing that already happened.
• To keep Spark safe — our legitimate interests. We use limited data to secure the service, prevent abuse, and fix problems, balanced against your rights.
• To see which links bring people to Spark: our legitimate interests. We count visits to the website's download page and taps on its store buttons, and which of our shared links they came through (Section 2). None of it identifies you.
• To remind you to finish setting Spark up - our legitimate interests. Spark only works with two people, so if you signed up and never paired we send you at most two reminders in your first days, and we keep a note that we did. You can turn notifications off at any time in your phone's settings.
• To let your partner keep the memories you made together — our legitimate interests and the protection of their rights. If you delete your account, the shared photo memories the two of you made stay with your partner, because they are their memories too and deleting your account shouldn't erase theirs. We rely here on legitimate interests, including the protection of the rights of another person (GDPR Article 6(1)(f) and Recital 73). Your name and details are removed from those photos, and you can object — or ask us to remove specific photos or all of them from your partner's side — at any time (see Section 7).

Heightened care for relationship data. Information about your relationship, your Would You Rather answers, your Pick For Me picks and the items and themes you add, your question-game answers, and the simple fact that you are paired with a partner can suggest intimate aspects of your life. We treat this information with particular care, keep it scoped to you and your partner, and do not use it for advertising or profiling.

4. Who else processes your data

We keep Spark lean, but a few trusted service providers ("processors") help us run it. They act on our instructions, and we share with them only what each one needs.

When you tap an external link in Spark (for example, to a social media profile such as Instagram), that takes you to a third-party site governed by its own privacy policy; those sites are not processors for us.

We do not sell your data. We do not show ads. We use no advertising or tracking SDKs.

5. What your partner sees

Spark is a shared app, so honesty here matters. Once you are paired, your partner can see:

• Your profile and relationship details you add.
• Your daily photo moments and the gallery you build together. Before your partner has posted their own moment for the day, they cannot see your photo at all - only a tiny blurred impression of it (colours and shapes, nothing readable), which disappears once you have both posted or the day ends.
• Your reactions to their Sparks, including the selfie and note you attach to one.
• Your location, once you have allowed Spark to use it, unless Ghost Mode is on.
• Where each of your Sparks was taken, as a photo pin on the Sparks view of the Together Map, whenever a location was kept with that Spark and they have posted their own moment for that day, and by town on the “Where you sparked” page of your recaps.
• Your game activity: the games you play together, your answers, and scores (in Pick For Me, your picks only once you have both locked in, and whether you have opened the game yet; in the question games, your answers only once you have both finished, and whether you have opened the results yet).
• Notes and items you mark as shared with them.

Some profile details, such as your birthday, are visible to your partner through the app.

Unpairing. If you unpair, sharing between you stops right away. Everything that existed just because you were together - your shared photo memories, games, bucket list, and Scrapbook - is kept, locked away, for 7 days: pair with each other again in that window and it is all restored. If you don't, it is automatically and permanently deleted.

Why unpairing works this way. This all-or-nothing design is deliberate, and it is a safety choice. Unpairing is also the way out of a relationship that has ended badly, and we believe neither person should be left holding a browsable archive of the other's photos, captions, and locations once the relationship is over. Your shared memories exist only while both of you are in the couple: keeping them requires staying paired, or both of you choosing each other again within the grace window. We would rather you lose photos than have them kept over you without your ongoing consent.

When one of you deletes their account. When you delete your Spark account, we remove your profile, your logins, and your side of Spark. One thing we keep, on purpose: the photo memories you made together stay with your partner, because they're theirs too, and deleting your account shouldn't erase their memories. Your name and avatar come off them; the photos themselves stay as they were taken, including any selfie you attached to a reaction and, where one was kept, the place the Spark was taken. Everything else tied just to the two of you - your games, XP, bucket list and Scrapbook, anniversaries, and drawings - is deleted. Within 30 days you can undo (until then, access is locked). Want specific photos, or all of them, gone from your partner's side as well? Just email privacy@mysparks.app and we'll take care of it; we honor these requests, especially for sensitive photos. And if you have no partner, or you're the last one to leave, everything, including the shared photos, is deleted.

6. How long we keep it

We keep data only as long as we need it. Here is the plain version:

7. Your rights

You are in control of your data. You can exercise all of these rights, and we will not charge you or treat you differently for doing so.

• Delete your account. You can delete your account in the app under Settings → Delete Account (step-by-step guide). This removes your account, profile, and logins, and deletes the couple content tied just to the two of you — with one exception: the shared photo memories you made together stay with your partner (as their memories, with your name removed), because deleting your account shouldn't erase theirs. If you have no partner, or you're the last one to leave, everything — including the photos — is deleted. You have 30 days to undo before the deletion becomes permanent. Want specific photos, or all of them, removed from your partner's side too? Email privacy@mysparks.app — we honor these objections, especially for sensitive content.
• Access, export, and correction. You can ask us for a copy of your data, ask us to export it, or ask us to correct it, by emailing privacy@mysparks.app. We will respond within one month. These are your rights under Articles 15, 16, and 20 of the GDPR (access, rectification, and portability).
• Withdraw consent. For anything based on consent (location sharing and analytics) you can withdraw it at any time: Ghost Mode or your phone's location permission for location (Ghost Mode also stops new Sparks from keeping a map location, and taking the permission away stops the place name too; a location already kept with a Spark stays until the Spark itself goes, or ask us to remove it), and the analytics toggle in Settings for analytics. This stops future processing without affecting what already happened.
• Complain to a regulator. You can lodge a complaint with the Slovak data protection authority (Úrad na ochranu osobných údajov Slovenskej republiky) or with the supervisory authority in your own country.

Everyone gets these rights, worldwide. We honor these same rights for all Spark users regardless of where you live, including users in California and elsewhere in the United States.

8. International transfers

Our servers are in the United Kingdom: the data described in Section 2 that lives on our backend is hosted by Supabase in London. Moving your data from the EU to the UK is fine because the European Commission has decided that the United Kingdom provides an adequate level of data protection — its adequacy decision for the United Kingdom — so your data is protected there to essentially the same standard as it is in the EU.

Some of the other providers in Section 4 are US companies (Apple, Google, Expo, Resend, Tripadvisor, and Vercel, which hosts our website) and may process some of your data in the United States. Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards recognized under the GDPR: the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and/or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). Geoapify processes your data in Germany, within the EU.

You can contact us at privacy@mysparks.app for more information about any of these safeguards.

9. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your data. Connections between the app and our servers are encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS), and access to your data is scoped so that, in the normal operation of the app, it is limited to you and your paired partner through per-couple access controls.

No app or online service can promise perfect security, and we do not. We are continuing to strengthen how your content is stored and protected, and we will update this policy as we do. If we ever become aware of a data breach that affects you, we will act on our legal obligations to notify the relevant authority and, where required, you.

10. Children

Spark is for people aged 16 and over. It is not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect data from them. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 16, we will delete that account and its data.

11. Changes to this policy

This policy is version 1.10, effective 15 October 2026. Version 1.10 adds the question games: your answers, who sees them and when, how long a round is kept, and the birthday check behind After Dark (Sections 2, 3, 5 and 6). Version 1.9 adds the Pick For Me game: your picks, the items and themes you add to its shelves, how long its shelves and your items are kept, and the birthday check behind its 18+ shelf (Sections 2, 3, 5 and 6), and names what an abandoned sign-up can still hold when it is deleted (Section 6). Version 1.8 adds your answer to the notification permission to what your profile keeps (Section 2). Version 1.7 extends app updates delivered by Expo to the Android app, lists what an update check sends, and says that crash reports and bug reports name the app update that was running (Sections 2 and 4), and describes what our website counts, its one visitor cookie and Vercel, the company that hosts it (Sections 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8). Version 1.6 adds app updates delivered by Expo on iPhone (Sections 2 and 4). Version 1.5 drops the optional phone number from Section 2 (the app never asks for one), names the random device ID stored beside a push token and the installation IDs behind the push token (Section 2), says that venue photos load from their own hosts (Section 2), adds notification delivery and its own data collection to the Google row (Section 4), and adds the recap map: the “Where you sparked” page shows each town with its country, worked out and drawn on your phone over a map picture our own server draws from OpenStreetMap data, and a place name with no reading behind it is found by its name through your phone's own map service (Sections 2, 4 and 5). Version 1.4 adds where a Spark was taken (Sections 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7). Version 1.3 adds music on recaps and daily Sparks (Apple's catalog joins Section 4). Version 1.2 adds the server-logs and install-count paragraphs in Section 2. Version 1.1 adds reactions, the reminders our servers send, and how you heard about Spark, and brings the published copy up to date with crash and error diagnostics, bug reports and feedback, the Scrapbook, notification settings and While you were away, together days, meet-in-the-middle lookups, our email provider Resend, and the 7-day unpairing window.

We publish the current version of this policy at https://www.mysparks.app/privacy and update the effective date above whenever it changes; please check back there from time to time. Your continued use of Spark after a change means you accept the updated policy.