Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 2026

This policy explains what Know Your Faculty ("KYF", "we", "us") collects when you use our mobile app and website, why we collect it, who can see it, and the choices you have. You can reach us at connect@knowyourfaculty.com.

Information we collect

Account and profile details you give us: your name, institutional email address, username, password, university, department, category, research topics, short bio, country, and optionally a profile photo, a phone number (used only for account recovery), and links to your ORCID, ResearchGate and Google Scholar profiles.
What you do in the app: profiles you like, pass on or message, matches, messages, posts, showcases, opportunities you publish, referral codes, reports and blocks you submit, and support requests.
Location (optional): only if you turn location sharing on. We store your location to show other members an approximate distance, never an exact address. You can turn it off at any time.
Photos (optional): only the photos you choose to upload. The app asks your permission before it can open your photo library.
Notifications: a device token so we can send push notifications, and whether a notification was opened, so we can tell which messages are useful. You can switch notifications off in your phone's settings.
Sign-in providers: if you sign in with Google or Microsoft (or Apple, where offered), we receive your name, email address and a unique account identifier from that provider.
Purchases: if you buy something, we receive confirmation of the purchase, the amount and the date from Google Play, Apple, Cashfree or PayPal. We do not receive or store your card or bank details.
How you use the app: which screens you open and which features you use (for example saving your profile, liking a profile or sending a message), together with a random account ID and your country and category. We use Google's Firebase Analytics for this. We do not send names, email addresses, bios or message text to it, and we have turned off advertising-ID collection.
Basic technical information: such as your IP address and device type, used to keep the service secure and prevent misuse.

How we use your information

To create and run your account and your profile.
To match you with relevant researchers and show you in other members' results.
To let members message each other and send you notifications you have allowed.
To verify accounts, keep the community safe, handle reports and blocks, and prevent fraud.
To process purchases, referral rewards and refunds.
To understand how KYF is used, for example how many members complete their profile, so we can improve the app.
To answer support requests and improve the app.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not use it to track you across other companies' apps or websites for advertising.

What other members can see

Your name, photo (or initials), university, department, research topics, bio and profile links are visible to other KYF members. Your password is never shown to anyone. Your phone number is used only for account recovery and is not shown on your profile. If you enable location, others see only an approximate distance.

Connections and chat

When a connection request is accepted, the two members become connected and can chat with each other. A chat is between you and that member. We do not read private chats as a matter of routine, but messages are stored on our servers so they can be delivered, and we may review them if a member reports a problem, to keep the community safe, or if the law requires.

Be careful what you share. Anything you tell a connection, including phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, documents or other private or personal information, is shared at your own risk. We do not track or control what members share with each other, and we are not responsible for how another member uses information you choose to give them. Please do not share financial details, passwords or sensitive personal information in chat.

You stay in control. You can block a member at any time, including after you have connected. Blocking ends the connection, deletes the chat between you, and stops you from appearing to each other in Discover. You can also report any member from their profile.

Community information

We may publish anonymised, aggregate information about our community, such as the countries or institutions our members are affiliated with, without naming any individual. We will not use your name, photo or any quote from you in promotion without your permission.

We share information only with service providers who help us operate KYF, and only as needed for that purpose:

Supabase for our database and file storage, and Render for hosting.
Expo for delivering push notifications.
Google Play and Apple for app distribution and in-app purchases; Cashfree and PayPal for payments made on our website.
Google and Microsoft (and Apple, where offered) for sign-in.
Google Firebase for analytics inside the app and for delivering push notifications.
Google Analytics on our website, only if you accept analytics cookies (see Cookies below).
Email delivery services to send account and support emails.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect the safety of our members.

Where your data is processed and how long we keep it

Our service providers may process data in countries other than your own. By using KYF you understand your information may be transferred and stored in those countries. We keep your account information while your account is active. When you delete your account, your profile, credentials, posts, matches, messages, location and notification token are deleted. Payment and transaction records are kept for the period required under Indian tax and financial record-keeping law, then deleted, and they are no longer linked to your profile after deletion.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself, instantly, in the app: go to Profile, scroll to the bottom and tap Delete my account. You can also ask us to delete it through Profile → Help & Support, or by emailing connect@knowyourfaculty.com from your registered email address. More detail is on our Delete Your Account page.

Your choices and rights

You can view and edit your profile at any time in the app. You can turn off location sharing, push notifications and photo access in the app or your phone's settings, and you can withdraw consent by doing so or by deleting your account. Depending on where you live, including under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, you may have the right to access, correct or erase your personal data and to make a complaint. To use these rights, contact us at connect@knowyourfaculty.com. For formal grievances, see our Contact & Grievance Officer page.

Safety

You can report or block any member from their profile. We review reports and may remove content or accounts that break our Terms & Conditions.

Age

KYF is for adults working in academia and research. It is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from children.

Changes to this policy

We will update the date at the top of this page when this policy changes. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the app or by email.

Cookies

This website uses two kinds of cookies:

Essential cookies — required for the site to function correctly. These are always active and cannot be turned off.
Analytics cookies (Google Analytics) — only activated if you click "Accept all" on the cookie banner. These help us understand which pages are useful, in aggregate; we do not use them for advertising or cross-site tracking, and no cookie here is ever used to identify you personally.

Where your choice is stored: your Accept/Decline decision is saved in two places — locally in your own browser, and as a record in our backend database (your choice, the page you were on, and your IP address at the time). The backend record exists solely so we can demonstrate compliance if a consent decision is ever questioned, as required under data protection law. It is stored securely, is never sold or shared with any third party, and is not linked to your Know Your Faculty account. You can change your mind at any time by clearing your browser's cookies/site data for this domain and revisiting — the banner will appear again.