Privacy notice
How we handle your information
Last updated 8 October 2026
Who we are
MatchIdeal, 19 Poole road, runs MatchIdeal and is the data controller for your information. Contact us about your data at privacy@matchideal.com.
What we collect
- Account details: name, email, password (stored only as a one-way hash).
- Your profile: date of birth, location, nationality, education, work, family, lifestyle, the partner you hope to marry, and your photos.
- Sensitive information: your faith and how you practise it, and anything you choose to share about health. We use these only with your explicit consent, given when you join.
- Verification result: whether your ID and selfie check passed. The check is carried out by Stripe Identity; we never receive or store a copy of your ID.
- Activity: the matches we show you, your answers, messages with mutual matches, reports, and payments.
Why we use it, and our legal basis
- To run your account, verify you and find your matches: to perform our contract with you.
- To use your faith and health answers in matching: your explicit consent (GDPR Article 9(2)(a)). You can withdraw it at any time by deleting your account.
- To keep members safe and prevent fraud, including reviewing reports: our legitimate interests.
- To keep payment records: our legal obligations under tax law.
Automated matching
Our matching is automated. It checks your requirements and other members’ requirements against each other and scores the fit. It decides who is suggested to you; it never decides anything else about you. If you want a person to review how you were matched, write to privacy@matchideal.com.
Who can see your profile
Only members you are matched with see your profile, with your first name and surname initial. Your photos are hidden until you both say yes, unless you choose otherwise. Your income, health and previous-marriage answers are shown only after you both say yes. Your phone number and chaperone details are never shown to other members.
Services we use
- Hostinger hosts the website and database.
- Stripe processes payments and runs the ID and selfie check.
- Anthropic reads your description only if you choose “Fill with AI”, to fill in your form. We don’t store that description.
- Google AdSense shows ads on public pages, and asks for your consent first where the law requires it. Ads never appear inside your account.
Some of these providers may process data outside the EU. Where they do, they are bound by the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses or an equivalent safeguard.
How we protect it
Your profile, messages, photos and expert-call notes are encrypted before they are stored. Passwords are hashed. The site runs only over HTTPS, admin access to member data is logged, and access is limited to people who need it.
How long we keep it
We keep your information while your account is active. If you don’t sign in for 24 months we email you, and a month later we delete the account. When you delete your account, your profile, photos, matches and messages are deleted straight away. Payment records are kept for six years, as Irish tax law requires.
Your rights
You can see, correct, download and delete your information from your account page at any time. You can also ask us to restrict or stop using it, or object to how we use it, by writing to privacy@matchideal.com. If you’re unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Data Protection Commission (dataprotection.ie) or the authority in your country.
Cookies
We use one essential cookie to keep you signed in. On public pages, Google may set advertising cookies if you agree to them in the consent message.
Age
MatchIdeal is only for adults aged 18 or over.