Sonar Connections is a proximity networking app: it helps you discover and connect with people at the same convention, campus, or venue. Proximity only works with location, and networking only works with a profile — so we are direct about exactly what we collect, why, and how you delete it. Two commitments up front:
We do not sell your data. We show no ads. There are no advertising SDKs in the app, no data brokers, and no third-party marketing use of your information — ever.
| Data | What it is & why |
|---|---|
| Phone number | Used to create and sign in to your account (Firebase phone authentication with a one-time SMS code). It is your account identity; it is never shown to other users unless you explicitly share it in a conversation. |
| Display name | The name you enter for your profile. Shown to people you are discoverable to. Screened automatically against an impersonation/profanity blocklist. |
| Photos | Photos you take or upload for your profile, and images you send in chats. Both are screened automatically (Google Cloud Vision) before anyone else can see them: a profile photo must show one clearly identifiable person — you — (incidental faces in the background are fine, but group shots and photos without a face are rejected), and any image — profile or chat — detected as sexually explicit or violent is blocked and deleted rather than delivered. The screening is automated and takes under a second; no human at Sonar reviews your photos, and images are not retained for review. See Face data below for exactly what this check does and does not do. |
| Precise location | Your GPS position while you are using the app, to power the map, venue check-ins, booth discovery, and rendezvous. We do not collect location in the background. See Section 4 for exactly how it is protected. |
| Messages | Messages and images you send in Sonar chats, stored so your conversations sync across sessions. Deleted with your account. |
| LinkedIn profile (optional) | Only if you choose to link LinkedIn for a verification badge: your LinkedIn name, email address, profile photo, and verification status. The LinkedIn access token is used once, server-side, and is never stored. You can skip this entirely. |
| Push notification token | A device token (Expo push token) so we can deliver notifications like connection requests and messages. Stored server-side, removed when your account is deleted. |
| Voice input (optional) | If you use voice commands with DRW (our in-app assistant), speech is transcribed on your device whenever possible. If on-device transcription is unavailable, a short audio clip (max 60 seconds) is sent to Google's Gemini service for transcription and is not retained as audio. The resulting text command is handled per the DRW retention rule below. |
| DRW commands | The text of commands you give the DRW assistant, stored to improve the assistant. Automatically deleted after 60 days. Commands containing sensitive values (e.g. venue passwords) have those values redacted before storage. |
| Usage & diagnostics | Anonymized-by-design telemetry: action names (e.g. profile_save), error codes, durations, app version, platform, and screen route. An automated redactor strips phone-number patterns, GPS coordinates, and long text before anything is written. It never contains names, message bodies, photos, or exact locations. Crash reports (via Sentry) are scrubbed the same way; session screen-recording is disabled. |
Sonar does not collect, store, or share face data, and never performs facial recognition. The app itself contains no face-detection code. When you upload a profile photo, our server runs a one-time automated moderation check using Google Cloud Vision, which transiently detects whether a face is present and returns technical signals about the photo (a face bounding box, a detection-confidence score, head-pose angle, and lighting/blur estimates). These signals are used once, in server memory, to produce a simple approve/reject decision and are then immediately discarded — they are never written to any database or file, never used to identify anyone, never used to create a biometric template or "faceprint," and never shared with any party other than Google Cloud Vision acting as our processor for the check itself. Face data retention is therefore zero: it exists only for the seconds the check takes to run. The only thing we keep is the approve/reject result. Your photo itself is ordinary account data, stored and deleted as described in Section 6 and Section 7.
We do not use your data for advertising, profiling for third parties, or any purpose unrelated to running Sonar.
Your data is stored on Google Firebase (Google Cloud Platform) in the United States. All data is encrypted in transit (TLS/HTTPS). Access to production data is restricted to the founding team and protected server code — client devices can never read other users' private data (including anyone's location) directly; access is mediated by security rules and server functions.
Only service providers who process data on our behalf to run the app — never buyers, brokers, or advertisers:
Other users see what you make visible: your display name, profile photo, profile fields, coarse location cell while discoverable, and messages you send them. We may disclose data if required by law, or in a merger/acquisition (in which case this policy still binds the successor).
You can delete your account entirely in the app: open Profile → Settings → DELETE ACCOUNT, then confirm. Deletion runs server-side and removes:
This works immediately — no recent sign-in required — and cannot be undone. If you cannot access the app, email founders@sonarconnections.com from a way we can verify and we will run the same deletion for you. You may also ask us for a copy of your data or a correction at the same address.
Sonar Connections is for adults — you must be 18 or older to use it. The app is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor is using Sonar, contact us and we will delete the account.
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will update the "Last Updated" date above and notify you in the app before the change takes effect. Continued use after notice means you accept the updated policy.
Sonar Connections
Email: founders@sonarconnections.com
Web: sonarconnections.com