Met Outside

Privacy Policy

Effective October 12, 2026

Met Outside (“Met Outside,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and otherwise process personal information when you use our websites, mobile applications, and related services (collectively, the “Service”).

This Privacy Policy should be read together with our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, contact us at contact@metoutside.com.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information that you provide directly to us, information generated through your use of the Service, and certain technical information associated with your device or use of the Service.

Account Information

When you create or maintain a Met Outside account, we may collect information such as:

  • email address;
  • password, which is stored using security protections rather than in readable form;
  • phone number;
  • date of birth;
  • account verification status;
  • account settings; and
  • records relating to your acceptance or acknowledgement of our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and other applicable policies.

Your email address, phone number, password, and date of birth are not displayed as part of your public profile.

We use date of birth and other eligibility information to help enforce our requirement that users be at least 18 years old.

Profile Information

You may provide information for your Met Outside profile, such as:

  • first name;
  • last name;
  • city and state;
  • profile photo;
  • biography;
  • interests;
  • gender;
  • preferences relating to hosting or joining plans; and
  • other profile information you choose to provide.

Some profile information is visible to other users so that people can understand who they may be interacting with through Met Outside.

Other information, including your email address, phone number, date of birth, and certain account information, is not displayed on your public profile.

Some information you provide may also be used to determine eligibility for plans that have participation criteria.

Plans and Participation

When you create, join, request to join, or participate in a plan, we may collect and process information such as:

  • plan title and description;
  • category;
  • date and time;
  • city and state;
  • venue or place information;
  • approximate location or neighborhood information;
  • meeting location or address;
  • participation criteria;
  • capacity;
  • host information;
  • requests to join;
  • participation status;
  • attendance information; and
  • changes or cancellations.

Some plan information may be visible broadly through the Service, while more sensitive information, such as specific meeting details, may be restricted based on a user's relationship to the plan and applicable access controls.

Social Activity and Connections

Met Outside includes social features designed around people meeting through real-world plans.

We may collect and process information relating to:

  • people you have met through plans;
  • following relationships;
  • hosted or attended plans;
  • interactions with social activity;
  • likes or similar interactions;
  • photo tags; and
  • other activity generated through social features.

The visibility of this information may depend on your participation history, relationship to other users, blocking status, and other privacy or safety controls.

Messages

If you communicate with other users through Met Outside, we collect and store the content of those messages and information associated with the conversation.

Messages may be made available to participants who are authorized to access the relevant conversation.

We may access or preserve messages when reasonably necessary to operate the Service, investigate reports or safety concerns, prevent fraud or abuse, comply with legal obligations, or enforce our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines.

Photos and Other Content

If you upload photos or other content, we collect and store that content so that we can provide the applicable features of the Service.

We may process uploaded images for purposes such as formatting, security, privacy protection, storage optimization, and compatibility. This processing may include removing or reducing certain embedded image metadata.

Gathering photos may form part of a shared experience involving multiple users. As described below, gathering photos may remain associated with a plan even if the person who originally uploaded the photo later deletes their account.

You should avoid intentionally including sensitive personal information in photographs or other content unless you are comfortable sharing it with the people authorized to view that content.

Blocking and Reporting Information

If you block another user, we maintain information necessary to enforce that block and related privacy or interaction restrictions.

Blocks are not publicly displayed to other users.

If you submit a safety or conduct report, we may collect:

  • information identifying the reporting account;
  • information identifying or relating to the user, plan, message, photograph, or other content being reported;
  • the reason for the report;
  • information or comments you provide with the report;
  • information relevant to investigating the report; and
  • the status or outcome of our review.

Reports are not public.

We may retain information associated with reports where reasonably necessary for safety, security, fraud prevention, enforcement, dispute resolution, legal compliance, or protection of our users and the Service.

Communications

We may collect information relating to communications we send to you or receive from you.

These communications may include:

  • account verification;
  • password resets;
  • security notices;
  • changes to your account;
  • plan-related communications;
  • service announcements;
  • support requests;
  • optional choices about marketing email, including whether you subscribed or unsubscribed and when; and
  • other transactional or administrative messages.

If we offer marketing communications, we will provide choices regarding those communications as required by applicable law.

Payment Information

If Met Outside offers paid features, memberships, subscriptions, or other purchases, payment transactions may be processed by third-party payment processors or app marketplaces.

Depending on how a purchase is processed, Met Outside may receive information such as:

  • transaction identifiers;
  • purchase history;
  • subscription status;
  • payment status;
  • billing country or region;
  • limited payment-method information; and
  • information necessary to provide, manage, or support the purchased service.

We may not receive or store complete payment-card information when payments are handled directly by a third-party payment processor.

The payment provider's own privacy policy may also apply to information it processes.

Technical and Usage Information

When you use the Service, we may automatically collect certain technical and usage information, such as:

  • IP address;
  • device or browser type;
  • operating system;
  • app or browser version;
  • timestamps;
  • session and authentication information;
  • pages, screens, or features accessed;
  • interactions with the Service;
  • error or diagnostic information;
  • security and fraud-prevention information; and
  • referral or similar technical information.

We may use cookies, local storage, software development kits, or similar technologies where appropriate to operate, secure, understand, and improve the Service.

2. How We Use Information

We may use personal information to:

  • create and maintain user accounts;
  • provide and operate the Service;
  • display profiles and plan information according to applicable visibility rules;
  • allow users to create, discover, request to join, join, and participate in plans;
  • provide social features based on eligible interactions and participation;
  • provide messaging, photo, tagging, following, and related features;
  • enforce age and participation requirements;
  • authenticate users and maintain account security;
  • process account verification and password-reset requests;
  • communicate with users about their accounts or the Service;
  • process and manage purchases or subscriptions if paid offerings are available;
  • personalize or improve the user experience;
  • understand how the Service is used;
  • troubleshoot technical problems;
  • detect, prevent, and investigate fraud, abuse, security incidents, or prohibited conduct;
  • investigate reports and enforce our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines;
  • prevent users from evading safety, security, or enforcement measures;
  • protect the rights, safety, and security of Met Outside, our users, and others;
  • comply with applicable laws, legal obligations, and lawful requests; and
  • establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

We may also use information for other purposes that we disclose to you when the information is collected or with your consent where required.

3. How Information Is Shared

We do not sell your personal information for money.

We may disclose personal information in the circumstances described below.

With Other Users

Because Met Outside is a social platform, certain information is shared with other users as part of the Service.

Depending on the feature and applicable access controls, this may include:

  • public or social profile information;
  • plans you host;
  • participation in plans;
  • social connections;
  • photos and tags;
  • messages within eligible plan conversations; and
  • other activity intended to be shared through the Service.

The audience for particular information may depend on factors such as plan participation, attendance, social relationships, blocking, and applicable privacy or safety controls.

Private account information such as your password, phone number, email address, and date of birth is not displayed to other users as part of your public profile.

With Service Providers

We may share information with companies and individuals that help us operate the Service, such as providers of:

  • hosting and cloud infrastructure;
  • databases and data storage;
  • email and communications;
  • security and fraud prevention;
  • analytics and performance monitoring;
  • customer support;
  • payment processing;
  • software and technical infrastructure; and
  • other services necessary to operate Met Outside.

These providers may process personal information on our behalf or as otherwise described in their own applicable privacy terms.

We seek to provide service providers only the information reasonably necessary for the services they perform.

For Safety, Security, and Legal Reasons

We may disclose information where we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to:

  • comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request;
  • protect the rights, property, or safety of Met Outside, our users, or others;
  • investigate fraud, abuse, security incidents, or potentially unlawful activity;
  • investigate or respond to reports concerning user safety or conduct;
  • prevent evasion of safety or enforcement measures;
  • enforce our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines; or
  • establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Business Transactions

If Met Outside is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of assets, bankruptcy, or similar business transaction, information may be disclosed or transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.

With Your Direction or Consent

We may share information when you direct us to do so or provide consent for a particular disclosure.

4. Public and Restricted Information

Met Outside uses different visibility levels depending on the type of information and a user's relationship to a plan or another user.

Some information is intended to help users discover people and plans and may therefore be visible to other users.

Other information, including certain meeting details, communications, photos, or participation information, may be limited to users who meet applicable access requirements.

Privacy and safety controls, including blocking, may further restrict visibility and interactions.

Although we design the Service to apply these controls, users should consider the information they choose to share online and in person. A recipient may be able to save, copy, photograph, or otherwise share information after receiving legitimate access to it.

5. Location Information

Met Outside may collect location information that you choose to provide, such as city, state, neighborhood, venue, or meeting-address information associated with a profile or plan.

We may use this information to help users discover relevant plans, display approximate plan locations, provide meeting information to eligible participants, and operate location-based aspects of the Service.

Unless separately disclosed and authorized, Met Outside does not require continuous precise GPS tracking to use the Service.

You should not include a home address or other highly sensitive location information in publicly visible fields.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and for legitimate operational, safety, security, legal, and business purposes.

Different categories of information may be retained for different periods depending on the nature of the information and the reason for retaining it.

For example, we may retain information where reasonably necessary to:

  • provide and maintain the Service;
  • maintain account and transaction records;
  • preserve shared records involving other users;
  • investigate safety reports, incidents, fraud, abuse, or security concerns;
  • prevent users from evading safety or enforcement measures;
  • respond to disputes or complaints;
  • comply with applicable laws, legal obligations, or valid legal process;
  • establish, exercise, or defend legal claims; and
  • protect the rights, safety, and security of Met Outside, our users, and others.

Information Retained After Account Deletion

Deleting an account removes the active profile and login. It does not erase every record from the Service.

When an account is deleted, Met Outside stores a restricted former-account record containing:

  • the former account identifier;
  • email address;
  • phone number;
  • date of birth;
  • the confirmation that the person was 18 or older;
  • account creation and deletion times; and
  • the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy versions that were accepted, and when they were accepted.

That restricted record is not an active user profile. It is not shown to other users. It is available only for authorized internal safety, security, and legal review. The ordinary admin list of deleted accounts shows the email address and legal versions and does not display the phone number or date of birth.

The following shared records also stay:

  • completed and cancelled plans, with the former host shown as “Deleted User” rather than as an active profile;
  • messages previously sent in those plans, with the sender shown as “Deleted User”;
  • gathering photos previously uploaded to those plans, including the image files, with the uploader shown as “Deleted User”; and
  • safety reports, so a complaint can still be reviewed after the reporter or reported person deletes an account.

The active profile photo file is deleted. Upcoming plans the person hosted are cancelled before the account is removed, so other participants are notified.

Information retained following account deletion is not maintained as an active user profile and is not made available to other users through the ordinary features of the Service.

The Service does not currently apply an automatic deletion date to the restricted former-account record, retained plans, messages, gathering photos, or safety reports. A specific retention period for those categories has not been approved in the product. This policy does not state that keeping those records without a fixed end date is legally sufficient.

When Met Outside hides a gathering, photograph, or message, or deactivates an account for safety or policy-enforcement purposes, we may retain the underlying content, associated safety reports, and records of moderation actions. Hiding content restricts its visibility to members but does not permanently erase the underlying information. These retained records are accessible only to authorized personnel for legitimate purposes, including safety investigations, policy enforcement, dispute resolution, and applicable legal obligations. Met Outside has not established an automatic deletion date for these moderation and safety records. The absence of a fixed deletion date does not establish that indefinite retention is legally permissible, and our retention practices remain subject to applicable law.

We may retain safety reports, enforcement records, and information relating to significant safety or security incidents for longer periods where reasonably necessary to protect users, investigate incidents, prevent abuse, comply with legal obligations, or establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Information subject to a legal hold, active investigation, dispute, preservation request, or other legitimate legal or safety requirement may be retained for longer than an ordinary retention period where permitted or required by law.

When information is no longer reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it is retained, we may delete or de-identify it, subject to applicable law and legitimate operational requirements.

Information may also remain for a limited period in backups or other systems after deletion from active systems.

7. Account Deletion

You may request or initiate deletion of your account through available account settings.

Deleting your account removes your ability to access the account and removes your active profile from the Service. Other users will no longer be able to access your former profile through the ordinary features of Met Outside.

Account deletion does not necessarily delete every record associated with your prior use of Met Outside.

Certain information may be retained as described in the Data Retention section above where reasonably necessary for safety, security, fraud prevention, investigations, dispute resolution, legal compliance, protection of legal rights, or other legitimate purposes.

Shared Content and Historical Activity

Some content and records are part of shared experiences involving other users and may remain after your account is deleted.

For example:

  • completed or cancelled plans may remain as part of other participants' plan history;
  • messages you previously sent in shared conversations may remain;
  • gathering photos you uploaded may remain as part of the shared history of a plan;
  • valid tags identifying other participants may remain on retained gathering photos; and
  • safety reports or related records may remain where reasonably necessary.

Where appropriate, historical content associated with a deleted account may identify the former account as “Deleted User” or otherwise remove the connection to an active profile.

Deleting an account does not make previously restricted content public. Gathering photos, messages, meeting information, and other retained content remain subject to applicable access, privacy, and safety controls.

A deleted user's former profile will not remain accessible merely because historical shared content is retained.

Photos and Tags

Your active profile photo is removed from the user-facing Service when your account is deleted.

Gathering photos are treated differently because they may form part of a shared experience involving other participants.

A gathering photo you uploaded may remain after you delete your account, including the stored image file, so that deleting one account does not automatically remove shared plan content from other eligible participants' experiences.

If a gathering photo remains:

  • it remains subject to the same applicable access and privacy controls;
  • it does not provide access to your deleted profile;
  • uploader attribution may be changed to “Deleted User” or otherwise de-identified;
  • tags identifying other eligible participants may remain; and
  • tags or links that would expose your deleted profile may be removed or de-identified.

Account deletion does not make retained gathering photos publicly accessible.

Requests concerning a particular photograph may be reviewed separately where appropriate for privacy, safety, legal, or other legitimate reasons.

Messages

Messages you previously sent in shared conversations may remain where reasonably necessary to preserve the conversation for other authorized participants.

Where appropriate, your former account may be identified as “Deleted User” or otherwise de-identified rather than remaining linked to an active profile.

Retained messages remain subject to applicable access and privacy controls.

Historical Plans

Completed or cancelled plans may remain after account deletion where reasonably necessary to preserve shared history and records involving other participants.

If a deleted user previously hosted or participated in a historical plan, the plan may remain while the former user's active profile and identifying profile link are removed or replaced with a neutral attribution such as “Deleted User.”

Upcoming plans and participation may be cancelled, removed, or otherwise updated as appropriate when an account is deleted.

Social Relationships

Active social relationships involving a deleted account, such as follows or similar connections, may be removed or disconnected when the account is deleted.

Historical shared content does not necessarily disappear merely because an active social relationship is removed.

Safety and Legal Records

Account deletion does not automatically erase safety reports, enforcement history, or information reasonably necessary to investigate an incident or respond to a legal matter.

Where appropriate, we may preserve limited identifying information associated with a deleted account so that account deletion does not prevent us from investigating serious safety concerns, responding to lawful requests, preventing fraud or abuse, preventing enforcement evasion, resolving disputes, or protecting Met Outside and its users.

Such information is retained for legitimate purposes and is subject to applicable retention and security practices.

8. Your Privacy Choices

Depending on the features available to you, you may be able to:

  • review or update certain profile information;
  • change account information;
  • control certain profile or social information;
  • leave eligible plans or withdraw eligible requests;
  • block other users;
  • manage social connections;
  • delete your account; and
  • manage certain communications.

You may contact us at contact@metoutside.com with questions about your personal information or privacy choices.

Depending on where you live, applicable law may provide additional rights regarding your personal information. These may include rights to request access, correction, deletion, or a copy of certain information, or to object to or restrict certain processing.

These rights may be subject to exceptions permitted by applicable law, including circumstances where information must or may be retained for safety, security, fraud prevention, legal compliance, dispute resolution, or other permitted purposes.

We may need to verify your identity before completing certain privacy requests.

We will not unlawfully discriminate against you for exercising applicable privacy rights.

9. Children's Privacy

Met Outside is intended only for people who are at least 18 years old.

We do not knowingly permit people under 18 to create or use Met Outside accounts.

Met Outside is intended exclusively for individuals who are at least 18 years old. If we become aware that an account belongs to someone under 18, or receive a report involving potential child sexual abuse, exploitation, or other child-safety concerns, we may deactivate the account, restrict access, and hide related gatherings, photographs, messages, or other content from members. These actions do not, by themselves, permanently delete the account, underlying content, safety reports, or related moderation records.

We may preserve relevant information for investigation, safety enforcement, and compliance with applicable legal obligations, subject to our Privacy Policy and applicable law. Where reporting to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), law enforcement, or another competent authority is legally required, the report must be made through the appropriate process by authorized personnel. Met Outside does not currently submit these reports automatically through the Service.

Child-safety concerns may be reported to contact@metoutside.com.

If you believe a person under 18 is using Met Outside, or if you see child sexual abuse material or exploitation, report it in the app with the child-safety reason or contact us at contact@metoutside.com. That address is the child-safety contact. Met Outside does not offer the Service to minors.

10. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect personal information.

These measures may include access controls, authentication protections, password hashing, authorization rules, security monitoring, and other safeguards appropriate to the Service.

Personal information retained after account deletion for legitimate internal purposes is not intended to remain available through ordinary user-facing account or profile features.

No method of transmitting or storing information is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and should contact us if you believe your account or information has been compromised.

11. Third-Party Services

The Service may contain links to or integrations with third-party websites, applications, venues, payment providers, or other services.

This Privacy Policy does not govern the privacy practices of third parties that process information independently from Met Outside.

We encourage you to review the privacy policies of third-party services before providing information to them.

12. Analytics and Similar Technologies

We may use analytics, diagnostic, performance, or similar technologies to understand how users interact with the Service, identify errors, improve features, protect the Service, and understand overall usage.

These technologies may collect information such as device information, browser information, IP address, interactions with pages or features, and technical events.

Where applicable law requires consent or provides choices regarding particular technologies, we will provide those choices as required.

13. Marketing Communications

We may send promotional, marketing, or informational emails about Met Outside news, launches, events, and other updates.

Creating an account on the website includes an optional choice, separate from the Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy, to receive those emails. That choice is not required to create an account, and it is unchecked unless you select it.

If you joined the beta waitlist or applied as a Founding Host, that signup asks us to contact you about the beta and related Met Outside updates. We keep the time of that signup as the record of the request.

For marketing email we store the email address, first name, last name, and, when we have them, state and whether the person is interested in joining, hosting, or both. We also store which of those sources apply, whether marketing email is currently on or off, when that status changed, and which campaign was addressed to that email address. We do not sell this list.

Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link that works without logging in. After you have a profile, website account settings also include this choice. Unsubscribing stops later marketing emails. It does not stop transactional or administrative messages about your account, security, password, plans, or use of the Service.

14. United States Service

Met Outside currently operates as a United States-focused service.

Your information may be processed and stored in the United States and in other locations where our service providers operate.

If our international operations materially change, we may update this Privacy Policy and provide any disclosures or protections required by applicable law.

15. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to the Service, our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors.

If we make material changes, we may provide notice through the Service, by email, or through another reasonable method as required by applicable law.

Where applicable law requires consent or renewed acknowledgement for a change, we will request it.

The effective date at the top of this Privacy Policy identifies when the current Privacy Policy became effective.

16. Contact Us

If you have questions, requests, or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, contact:

Met Outside

Email: contact@metoutside.com