Banyan

Effective October 17, 2026

Privacy Policy

Who we are

Banyan is a language-practice app that pairs you with people to exchange or practice languages. It is Banyan (operated by Nicholas Wang, Los Angeles, California). This policy explains what we collect, why, and what you can do about it. It applies to the Banyan iPhone app and to meetbanyan.com.

We keep this short on purpose. If anything is unclear, write to us at trybanyan@gmail.com.

What we collect

Account. Your mobile phone number, which we verify by texting you a code. Your number is used to sign you in and is never shown to other members.

Profile. What you enter during onboarding and later edit: first name, date of birth (shown to others only as an age), gender, the city and country you choose, the country you’re from, the languages you speak and are learning with their levels, your answers to prompts, a short bio, and your photos.

Location. The city you pick, plus approximate coordinates for that city so we can show distances. We do not track your live location, and other members never see your exact position — only a rounded distance, and only when you have both chosen Nearby.

Time zone. Your phone’s time zone, so a partner can see the local time where you are.

Preferences. Who you want to see (age range, genders, distance), whether you want language exchange, practice, or both, and whether you’re open to meeting in person.

Verification selfie. If you choose to get verified, a live photo is used to confirm you match your profile photos. The selfie is not shown to other members.

Messages. Texts, voice notes, corrections, language games and the words you save to your Notebook.

Activity. Who you like, skip, match with, hide, block or report, and the reasons you give.

Device. A push-notification token for your phone if you allow notifications, and the kind of build you’re running. Our hosting provider also keeps standard server logs (IP address, timestamps) for security.

We do not collect contacts, precise location, advertising identifiers, or payment details. There are no ads in Banyan.

How we use it

To show your profile to people who fit your preferences and whose preferences you fit, and to show theirs to you.

To deliver messages, voice notes, likes and matches between you and your partners, and to send the notifications you’ve turned on.

To keep Banyan safe: acting on reports, enforcing blocks, limiting spam, and removing accounts that break the Terms.

To answer your support messages and to meet legal obligations.

We do not sell your information, share it with data brokers, or use it for advertising.

What other members see

Your first name, age, gender, city and country, home country, languages and levels, prompts and answers, bio, photos, verified badge, the local time where you are, whether you’re open to meeting, and a rounded distance if you’ve both chosen Nearby.

Never: your phone number, date of birth, exact location, preferences, or anything you’ve reported or blocked.

Your messages

Messages and voice notes are stored on our servers so they reach your partner’s phone and stay in sync between devices. They are encrypted in transit and at rest. They are not end-to-end encrypted: the operator can technically access them, and does so only to review a report you or your partner has filed, or when required by law. We never browse conversations, and we never use them for advertising or to train anything.

A voice note sent with a listen limit becomes unavailable to the recipient after that many plays, and the file is deleted from our servers in routine cleanup.

When a match ends — either of you unmatches, blocks, or deletes their account — the conversation is removed from both phones.

Service providers

Supabase hosts our database, file storage and server functions on servers in the United States. Twilio sends the verification text messages. Apple delivers push notifications and distributes the app. Each receives only what it needs for that job and is bound by its own privacy terms.

Keeping and deleting your information

You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Delete account. This removes your profile, photos, chats, likes and matches right away; copies in our backups are gone within 30 days.

We keep a minimal record of blocks and reports after an account is deleted so that someone removed for breaking the rules cannot simply come back.

If you don’t delete your account, we keep your information for as long as it stays active.

Your rights and choices

You can see and change almost everything we hold in the app itself. For a copy of your data, or to ask a question we haven’t answered here, email trybanyan@gmail.com and we’ll respond within 30 days.

You can turn notifications off in Settings, per type or all at once, and in your iPhone’s Settings.

If you live in California, the EU, the UK or another place with privacy laws that give you rights of access, correction, deletion or portability, you can exercise them by email. We don’t sell personal information and we don’t discriminate against anyone for exercising their rights.

Age

Banyan is for adults. You must be 18 or older to use it, and we remove accounts that we learn belong to anyone younger.

Security

Access to the database is restricted by per-user rules, so a member can only ever read their own data and the conversations they’re part of. Staff access is protected by two-factor authentication. No system is perfect; if we learn of a breach affecting you, we’ll tell you.

Changes

If this policy changes in a meaningful way, we’ll tell you in the app before the change takes effect. The date at the top shows the current version.

Contact

Questions, requests and complaints: trybanyan@gmail.com.