Privacy policy

This policy explains what personal information Bandhon collects when you use the website and app, why we need it, who can see it and what you can do about it. “We” means the team that runs Bandhon. “You” means anyone who visits or holds an account, including a family member helping someone else.

We have tried to describe what the service actually does, in plain words. Where a setting changes what happens, we say so.

We collect only what is needed to run a matrimony service. That falls into a few groups:

• Account details: your name, email address or Bangladeshi mobile number, date of birth, password (stored only in a scrambled, one-way form) and your language choice.
• Profile details you choose to add: such as location, education, profession, family background, values, lifestyle, interests, languages, photos and what you are looking for in a partner. Some of this is optional, and you can edit it at any time.
• Identity check files: the photo side of your NID and a short selfie video, used only for verification (see section 4).
• Activity on Bandhon: interests you send and receive, matches, messages, profiles you save or block, reports you make, notifications, and, if you leave it switched on, a list of profiles you have viewed.
• Technical details: information about your signed-in sessions, such as the device, browser and IP address, so you can see where you are signed in and we can protect accounts from misuse.
• Support requests: what you send us through the contact form, along with your IP address to help prevent abuse.

We read your NID number, but we don’t keep it. Our own servers read the name, date of birth and NID number from the front of your card so we can check them. They are deleted together with the NID photo. We keep only a one-way fingerprint of the number, which can’t be turned back into it, so one NID can’t verify two accounts.

• To create and secure your account, including sending confirmation codes and important account emails.
• To show your profile to eligible members, according to your privacy settings.
• To suggest matches. Suggestions use only what members have entered themselves. We do not guess traits you have not told us, and income is never used to rank people.
• To check your identity, when you choose to verify.
• To deliver interests, matches and messages between members.
• To investigate reports, enforce our terms and keep members safe.
• To answer your support requests.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it to show you third-party advertising.

Verification is required to send interests and messages, but not to browse. When you verify, you upload the front of your NID, confirm the details we read from it, and record a short selfie video in which you blink a requested number of times.

A face-matching model running on Bandhon’s own servers compares the NID portrait with the person in the video and checks that the blinks are real. Your name and date of birth on the card are compared with your account. Clear results are approved automatically. Anything else is reviewed by trained staff.

How long we keep the files: the NID photo and video are deleted as soon as a check is approved. If a check is not approved, they are kept for a limited period after the decision, 30 days by default, and then deleted. We keep a record that a check took place and its outcome.

Other members see your profile only if they are eligible to, meaning their basic preferences and yours line up, and only if your profile is set to visible. Your settings decide the rest:

• Profile visibility: all eligible members, or hidden from new people.
• Photo visibility: all eligible members; only people you have sent interest to, plus your matches; or your matches only.
• Pause discovery: stop appearing to new people without leaving.

Your email address and phone number are never shown to other members. Messages are visible only to the two people in a conversation, and conversations open only between mutual matches.

Bandhon staff can access information only where their role requires it, for example a moderator handling a report or a reviewer checking a borderline verification. When a message is reported, the moderator sees that specific message, not the whole conversation. Staff actions are recorded in an audit log.

Service providers who help us run Bandhon, for example to send emails or text messages, receive only what they need to do that job.

We may also disclose information where we are legally required to, or where it is necessary to protect someone from serious harm.

A relative may help create or manage a profile. The account still belongs to the person the profile represents, and they must agree to it. If you are helping someone, please make sure they have seen what you have shared about them.

Changing the sign-in email, downloading data and deleting the account all require the account password to be entered again.

Family accounts. A member can invite up to two relatives to a separate family account. A family account sees the suggestions Bandhon makes for that member, and can shortlist profiles for them with a note. It never sees the member’s conversations, interests or matches, and cannot contact anyone. The member can remove access at any time.

Family accounts only see profiles that are open to all eligible members, and only see photos their owner shares with all members. You can stop family accounts seeing your photos in your privacy settings. Profiles with a family account show a “Family-assisted” badge.

We keep your information while your account is open. When you delete your account:

• Your profile is hidden from everyone straight away and you are signed out on all devices.
• For 7 days you can change your mind. Signing in during that time cancels the deletion.
• After 7 days your account is anonymised. Messages you sent are replaced with a note that they were removed, except messages that are part of an open safety report, which are kept until that report is resolved.

Identity check files follow the shorter timetable in section 4.

• See and correct: you can view and edit your profile and preferences at any time.
• Download: request a copy of your data from settings. You receive a ZIP file containing your account and profile details, your activity and your photos.
• Limit: hide your profile, restrict your photos, pause discovery or switch off view history.
• Delete: close your account from settings, as described in section 7.

If you cannot do something from settings, contact us and we will help.

We protect accounts with hashed passwords, confirmation codes and password re-entry for sensitive actions. You can see your signed-in sessions and sign them out. Identity checks run on our own servers rather than an outside service. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong password that you do not use anywhere else.

You must be at least 18 to create an account. To publish a profile, members must meet Bangladesh’s legal marriage age: 18 for women and 21 for men. If we learn that an account belongs to someone younger, we will close it.

This policy is a draft and will change after legal review. When we make meaningful changes, we will update the date at the top and let members know in the app before the changes take effect.

Questions about your privacy or this policy are welcome. Use the contact form and choose “Privacy & data”, or write to [email protected].