Privacy Policy

Last updated: 9 October 2026

This policy explains how your personal data is processed when you use Matcher, an anonymous chat and matching service that works on WhatsApp, under Turkish Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (KVKK) and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In case of any discrepancy, the Turkish version prevails.

1. Data controller

Your personal data is processed by Matcher.com.tr (Denizli Mah. 24 Sk. 4/3 Urla, İzmir, Türkiye) as data controller. For any questions or requests: info@matcher.com.tr.

2. Data we process

• Identity and contact: your WhatsApp phone number or the user ID provided by WhatsApp (for users of the username feature) and your WhatsApp profile name. Your profile name is only visible in our admin panel and is never shown to your match.
• Profile information: gender, birth year, country and city; your university if you use University Club; your language preference and the chat topics you choose.
• Match records: who you were matched with and when, and how the chat ended.
• Messages: messages you write to your match are relayed through Matcher. We do not keep a permanent archive of messages; only a shortened copy of the last 10 messages of each match is kept temporarily so that reports can be reviewed.
• Safety records: reports (reporter, reported user, reason and a copy of the last messages), blocks and account restrictions.
• Technical records: message IDs used to process each message once and to relay read receipts.

Photos, videos, voice messages, files, locations and contact cards are not delivered to the other person and are not stored.

3. Why we process your data

• To provide the service: creating your profile, matching you with a suitable person and relaying your messages anonymously.
• Safety and moderation: enforcing age rules (16+; users aged 16–17 are only matched with each other), reviewing reports, preventing abuse and restricting access where necessary.
• Protecting your identity: automatically blocking links, phone numbers, email addresses and usernames in messages.
• Operating and improving the service: statistics such as the total number of users and matches.
• Complying with legal obligations and lawful requests from authorities.

4. Legal bases

We process your data under KVKK Art. 5/2 on the grounds of entering into and performing the service contract (c), our legal obligations (ç) and our legitimate interests (f), in particular safety and abuse prevention, provided your fundamental rights are not harmed. Your consent to the review of your recent messages in case of a report and to the processing of your data by service providers abroad is collected when you create your profile. Under the GDPR, the relevant legal bases are Art. 6(1)(b), (c) and (f), and (a) where consent is required.

5. Who we share your data with

• Meta Platforms (WhatsApp Business Platform): Matcher runs on the WhatsApp Business Platform; your messages pass through Meta's infrastructure and are subject to Meta's own privacy terms.
• Cloudflare, Inc.: the infrastructure provider hosting the service and its database. Data is stored in Cloudflare data centers in Europe.
• Competent public authorities: only where legally required.

Your data is never sold or used for advertising, and your number, name or photo is never shared with your match. Your match only sees your gender, city and country, the chosen topic and, in University Club, your university.

6. International transfers

As the service providers above are located outside Türkiye, your data is transferred abroad. Such transfers are limited to what is needed to provide the service and are carried out in accordance with Art. 9 of the KVKK and related legislation.

7. Retention periods

• Profile information: until your account is deleted.
• Copy of the last messages of a match: up to 30 days after the chat ends.
• Match records: up to 180 days after the chat ends.
• Reports and their evidence: up to 1 year.
• Technical message IDs: up to 3 days.

Data is deleted automatically when these periods expire. Data may be kept longer where needed for a legal dispute or an official request.

8. Children's privacy

Matcher is not for anyone under 16. Registration is not completed for people who are found to be under 16 when creating a profile. Users aged 16–17 are only matched with users aged 16–17. If you believe someone under 16 is using the service, you can report them from the chat or tell us at info@matcher.com.tr.

9. Security

Your data is transmitted over encrypted connections and kept on systems that only authorized people can access. Because Matcher relays your messages to the other person, those messages are processed by Matcher while being delivered; chats through Matcher are not end-to-end encrypted between the two users. We recommend that you do not share personal information (your real name, address, social media accounts, etc.) in chats.

10. Your rights

Under Art. 11 of the KVKK you have the right to learn whether your data is processed, request information about it, learn the purpose of processing and whether it is used accordingly, know the third parties it is transferred to, request correction, deletion or destruction, request that these actions be notified to third parties, object to an outcome against you resulting exclusively from automated analysis, and claim compensation for damages caused by unlawful processing. If the GDPR applies to you, you also have the rights to data portability and to object to processing.

You can send your requests to info@matcher.com.tr; we respond within 30 days at the latest. If you ask us to delete your profile, all your profile information and match history are deleted.

11. Website and cookies

matcher.com.tr only uses one cookie to remember your language preference (lang, 1 year) and browser storage to remember dismissed announcements. No analytics or advertising cookies are used, and fonts are served from our own servers. Our infrastructure provider Cloudflare may process technical information such as IP addresses for security and content delivery.

12. Changes

We may update this policy. We will announce important changes through the service; the current version is always available on this page.