Privacy Policy

Effective date: 18 September 2026 • Applies to BLINK Android, web and related BLINK services.

This policy explains what information BLINK processes, why it is used, when it may be shared, and the controls available to you.

1. Information BLINK may collect

Depending on how you use BLINK, we may process the following categories of information:

Account information: name, username, email address, profile photo and authentication/session information.
Profile and campus information: details you choose to add, such as university, department, level, bio, interests, skills and other profile fields.
User content: posts, reels, images, videos, comments, polls, stories, marketplace listings and other content you choose to publish or submit.
Communications: messages, replies and related delivery/activity information needed to provide messaging and call features. We do not describe BLINK communications as end-to-end encrypted unless a feature explicitly says so.
Social and activity data: follows, likes, bookmarks, views, reports, reactions, notifications, search activity and similar interactions.
Device and technical data: device type, operating system, app version, network information, IP address, crash diagnostics, performance information and identifiers used by app services.
Advertising data: ad impressions, clicks, rewarded-ad completion events, consent choices and advertising identifiers made available by the operating system or Google advertising services where permitted.
Payment and transaction information: purchase or transaction status where paid features are used. Payment processing may be handled by third-party payment providers; BLINK does not need to store full payment-card details to provide those services.

2. How BLINK uses information

We use information to operate, secure and improve BLINK, including to:

create and maintain accounts and profiles;
show posts, reels, messages, notifications, marketplace content and recommendations;
provide search, ranking, discovery, moderation, reporting and safety features;
prevent spam, abuse, fraud and unauthorized access;
process optional rewarded ads and credit in-app rewards after eligible completion;
measure app reliability, crashes, performance and feature usage;
show and measure advertising where allowed by your privacy choices and applicable law;
respond to support, account, privacy and security requests.

3. Advertising and Google AdMob

BLINK uses Google AdMob for advertising on Android. Ads may appear as clearly labelled sponsored content in places such as the Feed or Reels, and BLINK may offer optional rewarded ads that grant in-app coins after an eligible ad is completed.

Google and its advertising partners may process device information, advertising identifiers, IP address, approximate location derived from network information, ad interactions and consent signals for purposes such as ad delivery, measurement, fraud prevention and, where permitted, personalization.

BLINK uses Google's User Messaging Platform (UMP) to request and manage advertising consent where required. When available, you can revisit these choices from BLINK's Settings and privacy → Ad privacy choices.

4. Analytics, diagnostics and notifications

BLINK may use Google Firebase services for functions such as push notifications, analytics and crash diagnostics. We may record coarse events such as app opens, feature usage, ad loading, ad impressions, ad clicks, failures and rewarded-ad completion. We aim not to include message content or advertiser creative content in ad telemetry.

5. Service providers and sharing

BLINK may share or allow processing of information with service providers that help us operate the service. These can include:

Supabase for backend infrastructure, authentication, database, storage and server functions;
Google / Firebase for services such as notifications, analytics, crash reporting, Google sign-in related functionality and Android platform services;
Google AdMob and advertising partners for ad delivery, measurement and fraud prevention;
payment providers when you use paid features or transactions;
other infrastructure providers that are reasonably necessary to operate BLINK.

We may also disclose information when required by law, to protect users or the service, to investigate abuse or security incidents, or as part of a business transfer subject to applicable legal requirements.

6. Public information

Information you publish publicly—such as your username, profile details, public posts, reels, comments or marketplace listings—may be visible to other users and, depending on the feature, may be accessible through public web pages or share links. Think carefully before posting information you want to keep private.

7. Data retention

We keep information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide BLINK, maintain security, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our rules. Retention periods vary by data type. Some security, transaction or audit records may be retained after account deletion when required for legitimate security, fraud-prevention, accounting or legal purposes.

8. Your controls and choices

Depending on the feature and applicable law, you may be able to:

edit profile and account information;
delete content you created;
manage privacy and messaging settings;
manage notification preferences;
manage advertising consent where Google UMP provides that option;
request account deletion through BLINK's account settings;
request access, correction or deletion of personal information where applicable.

In the Android app, relevant controls are available under Settings and privacy, including privacy, account security, data/storage and account-deletion options.

9. Security

BLINK uses technical and organizational safeguards intended to protect information, including authenticated backend access, permission controls and security monitoring. No online service can guarantee absolute security, so you should also protect your password, device and account recovery methods.

10. International processing

BLINK and its service providers may process information in countries other than the country where you live. Where required, appropriate safeguards or legal mechanisms are used for cross-border processing.

11. Younger users

BLINK should only be used by people who meet the minimum age required by applicable law and the rules of the platform through which BLINK is distributed. If you believe personal information was provided by a younger user in a way that is not permitted, use BLINK's account or support controls to report it.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as BLINK changes. When an update is material, we may provide notice in the app, on the website or through another appropriate channel. The effective date at the top of this page shows when this version took effect.

13. Contact and privacy requests

For privacy, data or account requests, use BLINK's in-app Settings and privacy controls, including Privacy & DM settings, Login & account security, Data & storage and Delete account. You can also use the support/contact method displayed on the BLINK website if one is provided.