Where trust

Howddy Technologies Pvt. Ltd. ("HOWDDY", "we", "us") runs an invite-only, identity-verified dating and social connection app at howddy.co.in. These Terms and Conditions cover how you use it. When you apply for the waitlist or activate a membership, you are agreeing to these terms.

If anything here does not sit right with you, please do not sign up.

• You must be at least 18 years of age at the time of registration.
• You must be a resident of India or a country in which HOWDDY has formally launched.
• You must possess a valid, government-issued photo identification document for KYC verification.
• You must not have been previously permanently banned from HOWDDY under any identity.
• You must not be registering on behalf of another person or entity.

Everyone needs to verify their identity through our KYC partner before they can use HOWDDY. It takes about two minutes: you upload a government ID and do a quick face check.

Privacy of KYC data: Your identity documents are processed exclusively by our KYC partner. HOWDDY does not store, transmit, or retain your raw ID documents or biometric data on its own servers. A cryptographic proof of successful verification is recorded. Your identity remains private from HOWDDY while your verified status is confirmed to the platform.

Providing false, fraudulent, or another person's identity documents constitutes a serious breach of these terms and may result in immediate permanent banning and referral to relevant legal authorities.

Access to HOWDDY is strictly invite-only. Each verified member is allocated four referral invitations: two for male-identifying invitees and two for female-identifying invitees. These slots are non-transferable, non-purchasable, and permanently assigned.

• Referrers accept shared responsibility for the conduct of those they invite during the invitee's first 90 days.
• If an invitee is permanently banned, the corresponding referral slot is permanently revoked from the referring member.
• Attempting to circumvent the referral system, including generating, selling, or distributing unauthorised access codes, results in immediate permanent banning.

HOWDDY operates an algorithmic gender balance system governed by a deployed smart contract (GenderRatioOracle.sol) on the Polygon blockchain. When the ratio of verified male to female members in a given city exceeds 55:45 in either direction, onboarding for the majority gender is automatically paused until the ratio returns within acceptable thresholds.

Placement on the waitlist does not constitute a guarantee of admission. HOWDDY reserves the right to adjust city-level capacities, extend waitlist durations, or close waitlists in specific cities based on operational requirements.

All members are expected to behave with respect, honesty, and decency at all times. The following conduct is strictly prohibited and constitutes grounds for strike issuance or permanent banning:

• Harassment, threats, or abusive language directed at any member or HOWDDY staff
• Sharing explicit, unsolicited, or sexually graphic content
• Misrepresenting your identity, profession, age, or intentions
• Using the platform to solicit money, goods, or services
• Attempting to move conversations off-platform to circumvent safety features
• Creating or using multiple accounts under any circumstance
• Sharing another member's private information outside the platform

HOWDDY operates a three-strike system. Each verified report of prohibited conduct, confirmed through a multi-moderator review process, constitutes one strike. Three strikes result in permanent account termination. This ban is tied to the member's verified identity and cannot be appealed or circumvented through re-registration.

If your account goes quiet for 90 days in a row, it will be automatically deactivated. To reactivate it, there is a small fee and a re-verification step. The fee is non-refundable and may change.

Members may request permanent account deletion at any time by contacting support. Following deletion, your on-chain identity commitment record is retained for enforcement purposes but no personally identifiable information is stored.

Premium and Elite membership tiers are billed on a monthly or annual basis depending on the plan selected. Annual subscriptions carry a 25% discount over the equivalent monthly rate. All prices are inclusive of applicable taxes unless stated otherwise.

• Payments are processed through Razorpay (INR) or accepted cryptocurrency gateways.
• Subscription fees are non-refundable except where required by applicable law.
• HOWDDY reserves the right to revise pricing with 30 days notice to existing subscribers.
• Subscription revenue is automatically distributed via smart contract to operational, moderation, community, and referral reward pools.

Privacy was the starting point when we designed HOWDDY. The platform complies with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP Act) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where applicable.

The following data categories are handled as described:

• Identity documents: Processed by our KYC partner only. Not stored on HOWDDY servers.
• Profile photographs: Stored on IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), encrypted with your wallet key. Not stored on centralised HOWDDY servers.
• Messages: End-to-end encrypted using Signal Protocol via XMTP. HOWDDY cannot read message contents.
• Behavioural data: Anonymised match and interaction events are recorded on the blockchain in hashed form, containing no personally identifiable information.
• Waitlist submissions: Name, email, city, and gender are collected solely to manage queue position and send activation notifications. This data is not sold or shared.

All content, design, code, branding, and materials on the HOWDDY platform are the intellectual property of Howddy Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and are protected under applicable copyright and trademark laws. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from any platform content without prior written consent.

By uploading content to the platform, you grant HOWDDY a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display your profile content within the platform for the purposes of operating the matching service. You retain ownership of your content.

HOWDDY helps connect verified people, but we are not responsible for how members behave in person or outside the app. Please use common sense and look after yourself when meeting someone for the first time.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, HOWDDY's total liability to you for any claim arising from these terms or your use of the platform shall not exceed the subscription fees paid by you in the 3 months preceding the claim.

We may update these terms from time to time. If anything significant changes, we will email you at least 14 days before it takes effect. Carrying on using HOWDDY after that means you are okay with the updated terms.

These terms are governed by Indian law. Any disputes will be handled by the courts in Chandigarh, India.

For any queries relating to these Terms and Conditions, your data, account status, or any other matter, please contact us at businessallegiantshark@gmail.com. We aim to respond to all enquiries within 5 business days.

Howddy Technologies Pvt. Ltd. ("HOWDDY", "we", "our") is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, how it is stored, who can access it, and what rights you have over it. We process all personal data in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP Act) and, where applicable, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

By using HOWDDY or joining the waitlist, you confirm you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Waitlist applications: When you submit a waitlist request, we collect your first name, last name, email address, phone number (if provided), gender, city, age, and how you heard about us. This information is used solely to manage your position in the waitlist and notify you when your city opens. It is not used for marketing without explicit consent.

Registration and identity verification: During account creation, you are required to complete identity verification through our certified KYC partner (Digio). Your government-issued ID and biometric data are transmitted directly to Digio and are never stored on HOWDDY servers. We receive only a cryptographic confirmation that verification was successful.

Profile content: Name (as displayed on your profile), age, city, biography, interests, and photographs. Profile photographs are stored on IPFS, encrypted with your cryptographic wallet key. They are not stored on HOWDDY's centralised servers.

Interaction data: Basic information about how you use the app, like which profiles you view and your matching patterns. We look at this in anonymised, grouped form to improve how matching works. We never build profiles on you for advertising.

Communications: Messages on HOWDDY are end-to-end encrypted using the Signal Protocol via XMTP. We genuinely cannot read your messages. In limited circumstances, we may keep a record that a conversation happened (not what was said) for moderation purposes.

Payment information: Subscription payments processed through Razorpay or cryptocurrency gateways are handled by those providers. HOWDDY does not store card numbers, bank account details, or wallet private keys.

• Contractual necessity: Processing required to provide the service you have requested, including registration, KYC verification, and matching.
• Legitimate interests: Platform security, fraud prevention, and abuse detection, where these interests do not override your fundamental rights.
• Consent: Where you have provided explicit consent, such as receiving notifications or participating in optional features. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation: Compliance with applicable Indian laws, regulatory requirements, and valid court orders.

HOWDDY is architected with a privacy-by-design approach. The majority of sensitive user data does not reside on our servers at all. Key architectural protections include:

• Identity documents: stored exclusively with our KYC partner, Digio, under their separate data processing agreement.
• Profile photographs: stored on IPFS nodes, encrypted with user-held cryptographic keys.
• Private messages: end-to-end encrypted. Our servers carry them but cannot read them.
• On-chain records (membership status, bans, referral chains): stored on the Polygon blockchain in hashed, anonymised form.
• Waitlist and contact data: stored on secured cloud infrastructure with AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit.

We conduct security reviews at least twice annually and maintain an ongoing vulnerability disclosure programme. In the event of a data breach that poses a risk to your rights, we will notify affected users and the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware, as required by applicable law.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

• KYC partner (Digio): Receives your identity documents solely to complete verification. Subject to a Data Processing Agreement.
• Payment processors (Razorpay): Receives transaction data necessary to process subscription payments. Subject to PCI DSS compliance obligations.
• Cloud infrastructure providers (AWS): Host our servers under standard data processing agreements.
• Law enforcement: Where we are legally compelled by a valid court order or statutory authority. We will notify users where legally permitted to do so.

No data is transferred to third parties for advertising, analytics profiling, or data brokerage under any circumstances.

Depending on your jurisdiction, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to erasure: Request deletion of your personal data, subject to legal retention obligations and on-chain records that are immutable by design.
• Right to data portability: Receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Right to restrict processing: Request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time without affecting prior processing.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at businessallegiantshark@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days.

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy. Waitlist data is retained for 18 months from submission or until you are onboarded or request deletion, whichever comes first. Active account data is retained for the duration of membership and for up to 12 months following account closure, to handle any outstanding disputes or legal requirements. On-chain records such as ban commitments are permanent by the nature of blockchain technology and cannot be deleted. These records contain no personally identifiable information.

HOWDDY is strictly for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. Our KYC verification process is specifically designed to confirm this. If we become aware that a minor has submitted an application or gained access, we will immediately delete their data and close any associated account.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Material changes will be communicated to registered members by email with at least 14 days notice. The date of the most recent revision is noted below.

For privacy-related queries, data requests, or complaints, please contact our Data Protection Officer at businessallegiantshark@gmail.com. If you are dissatisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Board of India or your relevant supervisory authority.

Cookies are small files that sit on your device and help a site remember things between visits. We use them to keep HOWDDY working, remember your preferences, and get a sense of how people use the site overall. We do not use cookies for ads or to track you across other websites.

Strictly Necessary: These are essential. The site cannot function without them. They cannot be disabled.

• howddy_session: Keeps you logged in. Expires after 7 days of inactivity.
• howddy_csrf: Protects against cross-site request forgery attacks. Session-scoped.
• howddy_consent: Stores your cookie preferences. Expires after 12 months.

Functional: These improve your experience. You can disable them, but some things may work a bit differently.

• howddy_city: Remembers your last selected city. Expires after 30 days.
• howddy_theme: Stores display preferences. Expires after 12 months.

Analytics: Anonymised and self-hosted only. No third-party analytics, no Google Analytics, no advertising trackers.

• howddy_analytics: Tracks anonymised session patterns so we can improve things. No personal data. Expires after 90 days.

HOWDDY does not use advertising cookies, third-party tracking pixels, social media trackers, cross-site identifiers, or device fingerprinting scripts. Full stop.

We also use your browser's localStorage to remember lightweight preferences such as whether you have seen a particular prompt. This data never leaves your device and is not transmitted to our servers. You can clear it at any time through your browser settings.

You can manage cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers let you block them, limit certain types, or clear existing ones. Just keep in mind that turning off the essential cookies will stop HOWDDY from working properly.

• Chrome: Settings › Privacy and security › Cookies and other site data
• Firefox: Options › Privacy and Security › Cookies and Site Data
• Safari: Preferences › Privacy › Manage Website Data
• Edge: Settings › Cookies and site permissions

When you first visit howddy.co.in, you will see a cookie consent notice. Accepting all cookies includes functional and analytics cookies alongside the strictly necessary ones. You can update your preferences at any time by clearing your cookies and revisiting the site. Where required by the DPDP Act or GDPR, non-essential cookies are never placed without prior consent.

If you have any questions about how we use cookies, contact us at businessallegiantshark@gmail.com.