Sesh — Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 27, 2026

At a glance: Your address book stays on your device. Location sharing is optional, limited to your sesh, and never kept as history.

Sesh is a social coordination app for spontaneous, same-day hangouts among trusted friends. This policy explains what we collect, why, and how it's shared. Sesh is currently in beta (TestFlight).

Questions? Email hello@getsesh.app.

What we collect

• Phone number — to sign you in (SMS verification) and as your identity so friends can invite you.
• Name — the display name friends see in a Sesh.
• Profile photo (optional) — if you add one, stored so friends see your avatar.
• Contacts (optional) — accessed on your device only to find and invite friends by name and, if you turn on Only my contacts can see my pin in Profile, to decide who may see your live location (matched on your phone). We do not upload your address book; only the number(s) of people you actually invite are sent, to add them to a Sesh's guest list, plus the resulting list of who may see your location pin.
• Location (optional) — Your pin is only shared while you choose to, only with people in that session, and it stops at the session's 6 AM expiry (or 3 hours after the meetup, whichever is first).
  • Who sees your pin? With iOS location permission, sharing runs in the background for sessions you've committed to. Only committed members can see your pin; never blocked people, the public, or web invite visitors.
  • Contacts-only mode In Profile, turn on Only my contacts can see my pin to limit your pin to saved contacts. You also see only pins of people who saved you; matching stays on-device, without uploading either address book.
  • Distance to the spot Every committed member can see your distance, rounded to the nearest 0.1 mile, and an “at the spot” flag derived on our servers, never a stored track. Unjoined or declined people see neither.
  • When it stops
    • Declining or leaving removes your pin immediately; rejoining briefly locks sharing with an anti-peek cooldown.
    • Sharing ends 3 hours after the meetup or at the session's 6 AM expiry, whichever comes first.
    • Revoking location permission in iOS Settings stops all sharing.
    • Pins are deleted when sharing stops or the session ends; location is never retained as history.
• Notification token & preferences — a push token for your device and your notification settings, to send notifications you asked for.

How we use it

Only to provide the app's coordination features. We do not sell your data, use it for advertising, or share it with third-party advertising networks or third-party AI services.

What's shared, and with whom

People in a Sesh with you can see your name, photo, and status (In / Can't make it). If you opt into location, committed participants of that Sesh can see your live position on the map (only those saved in your own contacts, if you choose that setting — and then you likewise see only the pins of people who have you saved), and every committed participant can see your rounded distance to the meetup spot — both during that Sesh only; declining or leaving removes your pin (and the distance with it) immediately. A host's private contact name for a non-user invitee is never shared — it stays on their device.

Retention & ephemerality

• Seshes are ephemeral — they expire the next morning and disappear from the main list; Sesh is a coordination tool, not a chat log.
• Expired Seshes stay visible to their members in History for up to 30 days, then are permanently deleted — including names, RSVP status, and the meetup spot. Location pins never last that long: they are deleted when the Sesh expires.
• Location is never stored as history — it lives only for the active Sesh and is cleared when you stop sharing or it ends.
• You can remove your profile photo or sign out anytime.

Service providers

Sesh runs on Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Storage, Cloud Messaging, Cloud Functions) and Apple APNs for push, which process this data only as our infrastructure providers. They are contractually required to protect it to at least the standard described here and to use it solely to provide these services — not for their own purposes.

Your choices & deleting your account

Location, notifications, and contacts access are all optional and can be changed in iOS Settings anytime.

You can delete your account and personal data at any time from within the app: go to Profile → Delete Account. This permanently removes your directory entry, name, profile photo, and push tokens. You can also email the address at the top of this policy to request deletion.

Children

Sesh is not directed to children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect their data.

Changes

We may update this policy; material changes are reflected by the "Last updated" date above.