App privacy

Information and purposes

We store your chosen name or nickname, questionnaire responses, scores, and friends' ratings about the same subject to provide private results and study personality. We also store optional bio text, favorites and city details. A real name or phone number is not required. A nickname does not make linked records anonymous. These tests are not medical diagnoses.

Optional Distinct Traits (100 items, 32 trait scores), Enneagram (60 items), Jung (48 items) and Big Five (50 items) self-tests save your responses, question/scoring version and latest scores to the same profile. SimilarMinds can compare scores across your completed tests for personality research, including when you keep results private. The private research dashboard uses pseudonymous participant codes and does not include names, raw answers, private links or device identifiers. These codes do not make linked scores anonymous.

Distinct Traits requires a first name or nickname. Unfinished Distinct Traits answers and your entered nickname are saved as a draft so you can resume; drafts sync when you use the same private profile. Before creating a profile, drafts are linked to this browser or app installation instead. Drafts expire after 90 days without a save and are removed by routine cleanup, when you finish, or when you permanently delete the associated profile. Start over clears the unfinished answers without replacing completed results. Completed Distinct Traits responses are also stored in the existing Distinct Traits research table. A separate random comparison code cannot open or manage your private profile.

In versions with Distinct Traits comparisons, matching is enabled by default when no preference has been saved. A saved choice to disable matching is preserved. People with your comparison link and an eligible completed test can see your chosen name, your 32 trait percentages, both people's trait comparisons, and the three overall scores. They do not gain access to your private profile link, raw questionnaire answers or research responses. Your saved Top 10 is private to your profile. Checking Disable match results stops new comparisons and hides your link and saved list without erasing that history; unchecking it re-enables comparisons in both directions and restores the list. Removing an entry with X removes it only from your own list, not the other person's records or separate research responses.

Starting a comparison stores the selected relationship category, both score snapshots, their scoring versions and a short-lived attempt token. Before results are shown, an optional research questionnaire asks how long you have known the person and up to four relationship ratings. You can skip it. Submitted research responses are stored separately, linked to the two profiles and score snapshots, to improve the compatibility formula. They are never shown to the other person, placed in comparison links, or sent as advertising or third-party analytics events. These comparison and research pages do not load advertising or third-party analytics. Temporary comparison attempts expire after one hour and are removed during subsequent comparison requests after one day. Saved comparisons and submitted research remain until the associated profile is deleted or a verified deletion request is handled. Permanently deleting either linked profile removes the corresponding live comparison and research records. Screenshots, exports and backups cannot be recalled automatically.

Successful retakes are counted separately for each test. Retake records contain a submission hash, an answer-payload hash for retry detection, and a save time, not a copy of the answers. Initial completions and repeated delivery of the same save are not additional retakes.

You can also choose to save a completed Distinct Traits, Jung, Enneagram or Big Five website test to a new or existing private profile. Original five-point results and their scoring version are preserved separately from seven-point profile tests. A signed, one-day handoff prevents results being altered during transfer; a minimal submission hash prevents duplicate imports, including after deletion, and expired hashes are cleaned up during later imports. Saving a conventional Distinct Traits result links its existing research record rather than inserting a duplicate. The original profile creation source (web, Android or iPhone), starting test, and each saved test's completion platform help us compare onboarding and research samples. Where optional activity collection is disabled, the source is recorded as unknown. Opening your profile on another platform does not change its original source.

A random installation key supports profile creation, retry safety and duplicate-rating prevention. Private profile links authorize access and management, so keep them confidential. Optional notifications use a push token. Suggestions store the message and an installation-derived identifier.

Google and Apple sign-in are optional alternatives to a private profile link. The selected provider authenticates you; SimilarMinds stores a keyed hash of its account identifier linked to your profile, not your provider password, name or email address. We use that identifier to sign you in and sync the same profile across devices. Authentication credentials may be held in encrypted, short-lived records to complete sign-in, and provider grants may be retained for revocation. Disconnecting a provider removes that sign-in connection; permanently deleting a profile also removes its linked sign-in identities.

In versions with People you've rated, completing a friend rating while using your saved profile also stores a private relationship between your profile and theirs. This list syncs wherever you open the same private profile. It does not show your answers to them, reveal who rated you, or read your phone contacts. Sending an invitation is a separate action that shares your chosen profile name and invitation with that person. Removing someone hides that entry on all devices; a minimal hidden relationship remains to prevent retries from restoring it. Deleting either profile clears the relationship. This list is not included in optional research donations.

Collection by platform

• City lookup: off by default in the updated iOS app. With your permission, our server sends your IP address to GeoJS once when creating a profile to estimate city, region and country. We do not request GPS permission. You may enter a city manually instead, correct it, or remove both the stored estimate and correction.
• Usage statistics: off by default in the updated iOS app. If enabled, SimilarMinds records screen visits, test progress, feature use, platform, arrival source and errors, linked to an installation-derived identifier and sometimes a profile. These events do not contain questionnaire answers or bio text. Turning the option off stops future usage events.
• Notifications: the private in-app inbox stores whether you have opened an invitation or a published combined-result update, and syncs that read state across devices using the same profile. It does not reveal individual ratings. Phone push alerts remain optional and subject to your phone's permission; Expo and Apple or Google's delivery service process the push token and notification payload. Opening the inbox does not enable push alerts.

Android: usage events are on by default. Starting with Android 1.1.0 build 18, Privacy includes a Share app usage statistics switch. Turning it off stops future usage events and pending promo reports; it does not affect your tests or saved results. Earlier Android builds do not expose this switch. When a profile is first saved after the city disclosure, our server sends its IP address to GeoJS to estimate city, region and country. You can correct saved city details from your results. No GPS permission is requested.

Android promo attribution, build 18 and later: for eligible new Google Play installations reached through a SimilarMinds website promo, the app reads Google's Install Referrer and sends the signed promo reference, installation time, first-open time and app build to SimilarMinds over HTTPS. We match this to the recorded promo click to compare the two promo designs. These promo records contain no names, profile/account IDs, answers, scores, advertising IDs or hardware identifiers. They are stored separately from profiles for promotion analysis. Ordinary updates are excluded; reinstalls may qualify. The app keeps a local completion marker and retries unsuccessful reports for up to 30 days from installation. Usage opt-out cancels pending reports; it does not recall reports already sent. Because promo records are not linked to a profile, deleting a profile does not identify or remove its promo record. iOS does not send these first-open reports.

Our server sends autocomplete search terms to Wikimedia's Wikidata and Wiktionary services to return suggestions. Profile credentials and questionnaire answers are not included in those search requests. The native app does not embed advertising SDKs. External website pages opened from the app may display ads and have separate web analytics.

Sharing

The Distinct Traits comparison browser pages load Google advertising and Google Analytics through the website's shared includes. These third-party scripts run on the page and can access its content. We configure analytics with generic page URLs and do not include names, answers, scores, relationship selections or private/comparison link codes in analytics event fields. Google also receives ordinary network information such as the visitor's IP address. Native comparison screens do not load these advertising or Google Analytics scripts.

Invited friends see the name you choose and the rating questionnaire. Profile owners see combined friend scores, not individual friend responses. City is not displayed to people rating you. Public sharing is optional: enabling it makes your name, bio, favorites, self-results and published peer results accessible to anyone with the public link.

Distinct Traits, Enneagram, Jung and Big Five are self-only tests, not friend questionnaires. Each additional test result stays private unless you select its public-profile checkbox and enable your public profile. Raw answers are never included on the public profile. Retaking makes that test's replacement result private again.

Deletion and optional research donation

In the updated Android and iOS apps, permanent deletion removes the live profile, its bio and city, self-answers, ratings about that profile, private/public links and notification registrations. It also removes the current installation's identifiable ratings of other profiles, suggestions and activity records. Other people's own profiles are not deleted. Minimal hashes of revoked credentials are retained solely to reject retired keys and prevent old links from being reassigned; they contain no answers or location.

Deleting a profile also removes its additional self-test responses and scores from the live database and research dashboard, its associated unfinished drafts and comparison code, and its linked Distinct Traits research records. The existing optional research donation does not copy Distinct Traits, Enneagram, Jung or Big Five responses. Previously downloaded research exports and infrastructure backups are separate copies; contact support about deletion from those copies.

To delete in the updated app, open your results, then Manage profile and Delete profile. You can also request app profile and data deletion on the website without reinstalling the app. Website contact requests are handled manually after verification.

You can also request deletion of selected data while keeping your profile: bio or profile prompt fields, saved favorites, and saved city (including its original estimate). Support verifies control and clears only the requested live fields. Your profile, test results, friend ratings, links, notification settings, and unselected fields remain. This does not remove separate research donations, support messages, operational logs, backups, or copies already shared externally.

The research donation checkbox is unchecked by default. Leaving it unchecked creates no research copy. Selecting it explicitly permits a separate copy of individual self-answers, individual friend ratings about you, their within-subject pairing, and saved city, region and country for personality research. Your name, bio, profile IDs, links, device/rater identifiers and response dates are not copied. The dataset retains the question/scoring definition and a version of the consent wording.

Responses and location may still identify someone when combined, even after names and profile identifiers are removed. Research copies are not published as profiles and remain in the research store until withdrawn. A private withdrawal key is saved on your device under Privacy; you can copy it or use it on another installation to remove the donated rows. Keep that key: we do not retain a mapping from the former profile to the research group.

Removing the saved profile link from your phone is not deletion. Uninstalling the app does not submit a deletion request. Deletion cannot recall screenshots or copies already shared externally. Older browser or installation identifiers may not be linkable to a current profile; tell support if your request covers additional profiles or installations. Do not include private links or withdrawal keys in the initial contact form.

Retention and service records

Profile records are retained while the profile is stored, unless permanently deleted. Expiration of an invitation or hiding a profile does not itself erase its research data. Activity records are retained for service analysis; deletion removes records associated with the deleted profile and the requesting installation.

Hosting infrastructure may keep operational access logs containing request metadata such as IP address, URL, time and response status. These are separate from the questionnaire database; the application does not put questionnaire answers in its diagnostic messages. Hosting log rotation and any infrastructure backups depend on the server configuration. Contact us for current operational retention details.

Use the contact form for privacy questions, access or correction requests, or help with a deletion or research withdrawal. The form uses Web3Forms to deliver your contact details and message to support. Do not include answers, private profile links or withdrawal keys in the form, or post them publicly.