Privacy Policy

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to kinshipcircles.com and Kinship's private SMS and MMS circle service, including onboarding, circle messaging, report review, and support (together, the "Service"). It does not apply to services operated independently by third parties.

2. Information we collect

Information you provide

• Contact and account information, including your mobile phone number, circle-facing username, consent and opt-out records, and account status.
• Onboarding and matching information, including your answers about your season of life, preferred style of support, and anything else you choose to share for matching and circle support.
• Circle content, including text, emoji, and an optional image you send, as well as the username associated with that content.
• Reports, feedback, and support information, including the fixed circle-message context captured when you send REPORT, operator actions and notes, and communications with Kinship.

Information collected when the Service operates

• Messaging and delivery information, such as message identifiers, sender and recipient routing information, timestamps, delivery status, commands, error records, and carrier or messaging-provider metadata.
• Circle and activity information, such as circle membership, join, leave, pause, and matching status; message counts; response timing; and whether a circle or post may need operator attention.
• Reports and operations information, such as reports, the circle and newest-delivery anchor associated with a report, operator decisions and notes, membership actions, and audit records.
• Website technical information. The Kinship landing page does not use forms, analytics, advertising trackers, or cookies. Our hosting provider may process standard request information needed to deliver and secure the site, such as IP address, browser type, requested page, and date and time.

Your messages or onboarding answers may reveal sensitive information if you choose to include it. Kinship does not require you to provide medical details or other highly sensitive information, and you should not send anything you do not want processed as described in this Policy.

3. Where information comes from

We collect information from you, automatically through your use of the Service, from mobile carriers and service providers involved in delivering messages, and from other members when they interact with your content or submit a report. Kinship operators may also create notes and decisions needed to form and support circles, address safety, and operate the Service.

4. How we use information

We use personal information to:

• confirm consent, create and administer your membership, and honor your choices;
• review onboarding information and form small, compatible circles;
• relay messages and images while keeping phone numbers hidden from members;
• send onboarding, circle, delivery, command, participation, and support communications;
• review reports, enforce circle norms, prevent abuse, and protect members;
• maintain, troubleshoot, secure, and improve the Service;
• understand Service reliability and circle health using operational measures such as delivery rates, response timing, and aggregated participation patterns; and
• comply with law, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Kinship does not use member messages, images, onboarding answers, or mobile numbers for targeted advertising.

During the pilot, ordinary circle messages are relayed without automated pre-delivery content screening. If an active or paused member sends REPORT, we capture up to that member's latest 15 successful deliveries in the current circle for confidential human review. A report does not automatically penalize a member or notify the circle.

5. How we disclose information

We may disclose personal information to the following recipients:

• Your circle. Members receive the username, text, emoji, and image you choose to share, along with limited circle information such as member usernames and membership changes. We do not show your phone number to other members.
• Service providers. Providers that help us deliver SMS and MMS, host and secure our systems, store images, and support our operations process information only for those business purposes.
• Kinship personnel. Authorized operators may review onboarding answers, circle content, reports, delivery records, and related notes when needed to match members, operate circles, provide support, and address safety.
• Legal and safety recipients. We may disclose information when we reasonably believe it is necessary to comply with law or legal process; protect the rights, safety, and security of members, Kinship, or others; investigate fraud or abuse; or enforce our agreements.
• A successor organization. Information may be transferred as part of a merger, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of all or part of Kinship, subject to applicable law and appropriate confidentiality protections.
• At your direction. We may disclose information when you ask us to or give us consent.

6. Data retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, including to provide the Service, maintain circle continuity, review reports and moderation matters, honor opt-outs, keep required audit and consent records, resolve disputes, and meet legal obligations. Retention depends on the type of information, why it was collected, its sensitivity, and legal or operational needs. When information is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it, subject to limited additional time in protected backups.

If you ask us to delete your information, some records may be retained when reasonably necessary to honor your opt-out, protect safety and integrity, comply with law, or establish or defend legal claims. Deletion from Kinship's systems does not remove messages already delivered to another member's device or copies retained by mobile carriers or other independent providers.

7. Data security

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information. These include limiting access to authorized personnel, keeping phone numbers out of routine circle communications, restricting report context to authorized operators, and using protected storage and transmission controls. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Your choices and controls

• SMS opt-out: Reply STOP at any time. Message and data rates may apply, and message frequency varies.
• Circle controls: Reply PAUSE to pause circle messages, RESUME to resume, or LEAVE and select the leave option to leave your circle. Reply REPORT to report a recent message, or HELP for help.
• Access, correction, and deletion: Email [email protected] to ask to access, correct, or delete personal information associated with your mobile number.

We may need to verify your request, such as by confirming control of the relevant phone number. Depending on where you live and subject to applicable law, you may also have rights to know or receive a copy of personal information, correct inaccurate information, delete information, restrict or object to certain processing, or appeal a decision about a request. You may use an authorized agent where applicable. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.

9. Cookies and online tracking

The Kinship landing page does not currently set cookies or use analytics, advertising technology, or third-party tools that track visitors across websites. Because we do not engage in that tracking, browser "Do Not Track" signals and opt-out preference signals do not change how the site operates. We do not knowingly allow third parties to collect personally identifiable information about your online activities over time and across different websites through the Kinship landing page.

10. Children

The Service is for adults age 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a person under 18 has provided us personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

11. United States processing

Kinship's initial Service is offered to people in the United States. Information may be processed and stored in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in other locations.

12. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy as the Service changes. We will post the revised version here and update the effective date. If a change materially affects current members, we will provide additional notice, such as by text message, before it takes effect when required by law. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.