Privacy

Privacy & data rights

This page explains what pen-pals.net uses data for, what members can control, and where account export or deletion lives.

Last updated: September 9, 2026

pen-pals.net uses personal data to run accounts, profiles, introductions, messages, Snail Mail, settings, support, moderation, safety checks, and basic service security. It does not sell member profiles or private conversations.

Data the app uses

Account data

Email, account creation time, login state, confirmation state, and authentication activity available to the app.

Profile data

Display name, username, age-related birth-date data, location choices, languages, interests, bio, photos, badges, and profile settings.

Communication data

Introductions, conversations, messages, Snail Mail letters, delivery/read state, notifications, and contact preferences.

Privacy and safety data

Blocks, reports, moderation records, support tickets, attachment metadata, availability choices, and private verification status.

What other members can see

Public profile views use privacy-aware server checks. Members can control profile visibility, city display, activity status, response-rate display, communication modes, blocked users, and who can send new introductions. Verification shows only whether a profile is verified, not the private method used.

Community statistics

pen-pals.net may publish privacy-safe aggregate community statistics, such as how many Pen-Pals.net members are in a country or speak a language. These numbers describe this site's members only. They are not claims about the general population, and small cohorts are suppressed.

Download, correct, or delete data

Signed-in members can download a machine-readable account export from Settings. The export includes account, profile, settings, language and interest selections, communication history, notifications, blocks, photo-access records, and user-submitted reports where the app can safely provide them. Passwords, tokens, service credentials, other members' private profile fields, reporter identities, and protected moderator evidence are not included.

Members can correct profile information in profile setup and Settings. Permanent deletion removes the account, profile, owned data, notifications, photo permissions, blocks, and avatar references. Shared conversations may remain available to the other participant with the deleted sender shown as Deleted user. Some authentication, safety, or legal records may be retained only where the current provider or configured retention rules require it.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, privacy laws may give you rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, export, or object to certain processing of your personal data. pen-pals.net is built around those practical controls where possible: export, correction, deletion, privacy settings, blocking, and support requests.

Contact

For privacy or data-rights questions, use the contact form. If you can sign in, you can also open Help & support from the app.