← Echo
PRIVACY POLICY
Last updated September 29, 2026
This Privacy Notice for Fabiana Marselli (doing business as ECHO) ("we," "us," or "our") describes how and why we might access, collect, store, use, and/or share ("process") your personal information when you use our services ("Services"), including when you:
- Download and use our mobile application (ECHO), or any other application of ours that links to this Privacy Notice
- Use Echo. Echo is a mobile app that detects when users have been in the same place at the same time, making invisible crossings visible.
- Engage with us in other related ways, including any marketing or events
Questions or concerns? If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@echoapp.it.
SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS
What personal information do we process? When you visit, use, or navigate our Services, we may process personal information depending on how you interact with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use — including your precise geolocation, which we use to detect nearby Echo users.
Do we process any sensitive personal information? Precise geolocation is treated as sensitive personal information under some laws (for example, the California Consumer Privacy Act). We process it solely to power Echo's core proximity-detection feature — see "Geolocation Information" below.
Do we collect any information from third parties? We do not collect any information from third parties.
How do we process your information? We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law.
How do we keep your information safe? We have organisational and technical processes and procedures in place to protect your personal information. However, no electronic transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.
How can you delete your account and data? You can delete your Echo account and your data at any time, directly inside the app, in a few taps. To protect other users, a small set of safety data (reports, blocks by other users, conversations not yet deleted, and an irreversible fingerprint of your email address) is kept for up to 90 days and then deleted automatically — see "ACCOUNT AND DATA DELETION" below.
What are your rights? Depending on where you are located geographically, the applicable privacy law may mean you have certain rights regarding your personal information.
1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
Personal information you disclose to us
We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on the Services or otherwise when you contact us. The personal information we collect may include:
- Email addresses
- Usernames
- Passwords
- Age range (used only to match you with Echo users in the same age bracket)
- Contact or authentication data (including, if you choose, Sign in with Apple or Sign in with Google; with Sign in with Google, Google also shares with us the name on your Google account, which Echo does not use or show)
- How easy you find it to make the first move with people you don't know (optional): when two Echo users are near each other, the one who finds it less easy receives the notification a few seconds later, so the other has time to make the first move. Never shown to other users.
- Personality/matching answers (optional): responses to a short set of questions about your social energy, adaptability, comfort with silence, and pace, used only to improve match affinity with other Echo users. Never shown to other users directly.
- Your app settings (for example whether you are visible only while the app is open, and battery saving) and the date you accepted this notice.
In italiano: se accedi con Google, Google ci comunica anche il nome del tuo account Google, che Echo non usa né mostra. Se accedi con Apple, Echo non salva il tuo nome.
Sensitive Information. We do not collect government IDs, financial account details, health information, or biometric data. We do process your device's precise geolocation, which some laws (such as the CCPA) classify as sensitive personal information. We collect it only to power Echo's core feature of detecting other Echo users near you, as described below.
Application Data
If you use our application, we may also collect the following information if you choose to provide us with access or permission:
- Geolocation Information. We request access to your device's precise location, either continuously in the background or while you are using the app, to detect other Echo users nearby and power notifications when someone is close to you. If you wish to change our access or permissions, you may do so in your device's settings. If background/"Always" location access is not granted, Echo cannot detect nearby users while the app is closed.
- Push Notifications. We request permission to send you push notifications about nearby users, messages, and account activity. If you wish to opt out, you may turn them off in your device's settings.
- Messages and Proximity Data. When you exchange messages with another Echo user ("7 Istanti," limited to 7 messages per conversation), we store that message content only temporarily, for as long as needed to deliver it, and delete it within an hour after the conversation closes (after 7 messages or a period of inactivity). The only exception is a conversation that is reported for abuse: see "Safety Data" below. Crossing/proximity information is kept for as long as your account remains active, so the feature can work as intended.
- Safety Data. If you block or report another user, we store that information to enforce blocks and review reports. When a conversation is reported, we keep a copy of its messages as evidence for 90 days from the report, so that we can review it and protect our users. This copy is kept even if either participant deletes their account in the meantime, is accessible only to us, is used only to review the report, and is deleted automatically after 90 days. When an account is deleted, for 90 days from the deletion we also keep: the reports made by and against that account, the blocks other users placed on it, the conversations it took part in whose messages had not yet been deleted (see "Messages and Proximity Data" above), and a fingerprint of its email address. The fingerprint is a one-way cryptographic hash (HMAC-SHA256) computed with a secret key held only on our server: it does not contain the email address and the email cannot be recovered from it; it can only tell us whether a new account uses the same email. We use this data only so that deleting an account cannot be used to escape moderation: other users can still report a recently deleted account, and if the same email address signs up again within 90 days, a suspension and the blocks placed by other users apply again to the new account (and reports received by the old account count towards the suspension rule). We process this data on the basis of our legitimate interest in keeping our users safe (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). After 90 days all of it is deleted automatically.
- App Activity. When you open or use the app we record the time, linked to your account, and nothing else (not which screen or what you do). We use it only to keep Echo working: it tells us at which hours you usually use Echo, so that we can keep your phone reachable for nearby notifications at those times. It is not used for advertising or profiling, and it is deleted automatically after 180 days.
- Analytics (only with your consent). If you agree to analytics when you sign up, we also record how the app is used — for example which screens are opened and when a conversation starts or ends — and we use an analytics provider (PostHog) for the same purpose. If you do not agree, none of this is collected. Session replay (recordings of on-screen taps and navigation) is a feature PostHog offers but is not currently enabled in the app; if we enable it in the future, any text you type (such as messages or your username) will be masked and not visible in those recordings.
- Crash and Error Reporting. We use Sentry to automatically collect crash reports and error logs (such as device type, OS version, and the app state when an error occurred) so we can find and fix bugs. Reports are linked only to an internal account identifier, never to your email address. This data is used only for debugging and is not used to advertise to you or build a profile of you.
2. HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?
We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including:
- To facilitate account creation and authentication and otherwise manage user accounts.
- To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user, including detecting nearby Echo users and delivering proximity notifications.
- To enable user-to-user communications.
- To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users.
- To send administrative information to you.
- To protect our Services, including fraud monitoring and prevention, and to act on blocks and reports submitted by users.
- To evaluate and improve our Services, products, marketing, and your experience.
3. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We may need to share your personal information in the following situations:
- Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
- With other Echo users, by design. Echo's core feature shares limited signals (such as the fact that you are nearby, your age range, and messages you choose to send) with other Echo users you cross paths with. We do not share your exact identity, email, or precise coordinates with other users beyond what the in-app experience requires.
- Service providers. We share information with vendors who help us run the Services on our behalf and under contract: our database and backend provider (Supabase), our analytics provider (PostHog), and our crash/error reporting provider (Sentry). On our website, and only if you accept cookies, we also use Google Analytics (see Section 14). These providers only process data to help us operate, secure, and improve Echo — not for their own marketing purposes.
4. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?
We keep your personal information for as long as you have an active Echo account, so that we can provide the Services. When you delete your account (see Section 11 below), we immediately delete your personal information, including your profile, geolocation history, crossings, shared connections, and device data. For safety reasons, a limited set of data is kept for up to 90 days and then deleted automatically: reports made by and against your account, blocks other users placed on you, conversations you took part in whose messages had not yet been deleted, copies of reported conversations, and an irreversible fingerprint of your email address (see "Safety Data" in Section 1).
5. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?
We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process, including encrypting data in transit. However, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.
6. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?
We do not knowingly collect, solicit data from, or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at info@echoapp.it.
7. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?
You may review, change, or delete your account and personal information at any time — see Section 11 for the exact steps.
If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at info@echoapp.it.
8. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES
Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. We do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online.
9. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated date at the top of this Privacy Notice. We encourage you to review this Privacy Notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.
10. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?
If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at info@echoapp.it.
Fabiana Marselli (doing business as ECHO)
Rome, Italy
11. ACCOUNT AND DATA DELETION
You are always in control of your Echo account and data. You can request full deletion of your account and all associated data at any time, directly inside the app — you do not need to contact us to do this.
How to delete your Echo account
- Open the Echo app
- Go to Impostazioni (Settings)
- Tap Elimina account (Delete account)
- Confirm by tapping Sì, elimina tutto
What gets deleted
Deletion is immediate and permanent for:
- Your profile (email, username, password, age range, your answers to the profile questions, and your settings)
- Your geolocation and presence data
- Your registered device and push notification token
- Your crossings and proximity history with other users
- The blocks you placed, your shared connections, and invites
- Pending conversation requests
- Your authentication account
For safety reasons, and only for up to 90 days from the deletion, we keep: reports made by and against your account, blocks other users placed on you, conversations you took part in whose messages had not yet been deleted (an open conversation is closed at the moment of deletion; messages of conversations that are not reported are still deleted within an hour of closing), copies of reported conversations, and an irreversible fingerprint of your email address (see "Safety Data" in Section 1). If you sign up again with the same email address within those 90 days, a suspension and the blocks placed by other users apply to the new account. After 90 days all of this is deleted automatically. No other Echo personal data is retained after account deletion. If you are unable to access the app, you may also request deletion by emailing info@echoapp.it from the email address associated with your account; we will process the request within a reasonable time.
12. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW OR UPDATE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?
Based on the applicable laws of your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you or correct inaccuracies. You can request a copy of your data directly inside the app, without deleting anything: go to Impostazioni (Settings) and tap Richiedi una copia dei tuoi dati (Request a copy of your data). You can also make such a request by contacting us at info@echoapp.it.
13. IN ITALIANO: COSA RESTA DOPO L'ELIMINAZIONE DELL'ACCOUNT
Quando elimini l'account, Echo cancella subito il profilo (email, nome utente, password, fascia d'età, risposte alle domande del profilo, compresa quella su quanto ti viene facile fare il primo passo con chi non conosci, e impostazioni), la posizione e la presenza, il telefono registrato e il token delle notifiche, gli Sfiorati e gli incroci, i Condivisi e gli inviti, i blocchi che hai fatto tu, i segnali in attesa e l'account di accesso.
Per proteggere chi hai incontrato, e solo per 90 giorni dall'eliminazione, restano:
- le segnalazioni fatte da te e quelle ricevute;
- i blocchi che altre persone hanno fatto verso di te;
- le chat a cui hai partecipato, con i messaggi non ancora cancellati (una chat aperta si chiude al momento dell'eliminazione; i messaggi delle chat non segnalate si cancellano comunque entro un'ora dalla chiusura) e le copie delle chat segnalate;
- un'impronta cifrata della tua email: un codice calcolato in modo irreversibile (HMAC-SHA256) con una chiave segreta che sta solo sul nostro server. Non contiene l'email e dall'impronta non si può risalire all'email: serve solo a riconoscere se un nuovo account usa la stessa email.
A cosa servono: a fare in modo che eliminare l'account non sia un modo per sfuggire alla moderazione. Nei 90 giorni un account appena eliminato si può ancora segnalare; se ci si iscrive di nuovo con la stessa email, la sospensione e i blocchi fatti dalle altre persone valgono di nuovo per il nuovo account, e le segnalazioni ricevute dal vecchio account contano per la regola della sospensione. Base giuridica: il nostro legittimo interesse a tenere al sicuro le persone che usano Echo (art. 6, par. 1, lett. f del GDPR). Questi dati li vediamo solo noi e li usiamo solo per la moderazione.
Dopo 90 giorni si cancellano automaticamente anche questi. Nessun altro dato personale resta dopo l'eliminazione dell'account. Per domande: info@echoapp.it.
14. THE ECHOAPP.IT WEBSITE: COOKIES AND ANALYTICS
This section is about our website echoapp.it, not the app.
- Google Analytics (only with your consent). On the home page, if you click Accetta (Accept) in the cookie banner, we use Google Analytics, provided by Google Ireland Limited, to count visits and understand how people reach the site: pages viewed, the site or campaign you came from, your approximate location (country/city), device and browser type, and clicks on the App Store and Google Play buttons. Google stores cookies on your device (
_ga and _ga_<ID>, which last up to 2 years). Google Analytics does not store your IP address. Data is kept for the retention period set in our Google Analytics account (at most 14 months) and may be transferred to the United States under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).
- How to refuse or change your mind. Until you choose, Google Analytics is not loaded and no Google cookie is set. If you click Rifiuta (Refuse), nothing is loaded and the site works the same. Your choice is remembered in your browser. You can change it at any time with the Preferenze cookie (Cookie preferences) link at the bottom of the home page: if you withdraw consent, the Google Analytics cookies on echoapp.it are deleted.
- What the site stores without asking. Only what is needed for it to work: your cookie choice (in your browser's local storage), and a marker in your browser's session storage so that our own visit counter, which records only the time, the printed material you scanned (if any) and whether you use a phone or a computer, does not count the same visit twice. No cookies, no IP address, nothing that identifies you.
- GoatCounter. The launch page (lancio.html) counts visits with GoatCounter, a privacy-friendly service that uses no cookies and keeps only aggregate numbers (pages, referring site, screen size, browser and country), without identifying visitors.
15. IN ITALIANO: IL SITO ECHOAPP.IT, COOKIE E STATISTICHE
Questa parte riguarda il sito echoapp.it, non l'app.
- Google Analytics (solo se accetti). Nella pagina principale, se nel banner dei cookie tocchi Accetta, usiamo Google Analytics, un servizio di Google Ireland Limited, per contare le visite e capire come le persone arrivano al sito: pagine viste, sito o campagna di provenienza, zona approssimativa (paese o città), tipo di dispositivo e browser, tocchi sui bottoni di App Store e Google Play. Google salva dei cookie sul tuo dispositivo (
_ga e _ga_<ID>, che durano fino a 2 anni). Google Analytics non conserva il tuo indirizzo IP. I dati restano per il periodo impostato nel nostro account Google Analytics (al massimo 14 mesi) e possono essere trasferiti negli Stati Uniti nell'ambito dell'EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Base giuridica: il tuo consenso (art. 6, par. 1, lett. a del GDPR).
- Come rifiutare o cambiare idea. Finché non scegli, Google Analytics non viene caricato e nessun cookie di Google viene scritto. Se tocchi Rifiuta, non parte niente e il sito funziona uguale. La scelta resta salvata nel tuo browser. Puoi cambiarla quando vuoi dal link Preferenze cookie in fondo alla pagina principale: se ritiri il consenso, i cookie di Google Analytics su echoapp.it vengono cancellati.
- Cosa salva il sito senza chiedere. Solo quello che serve a farlo funzionare: la tua scelta sui cookie (nella memoria locale del browser) e un segno nella memoria di sessione del browser, perché il nostro contatore di visite, che registra solo l'ora, il materiale stampato che hai inquadrato (se c'è) e se usi un telefono o un computer, non conti due volte la stessa visita. Niente cookie, niente indirizzo IP, niente che ti identifichi.
- GoatCounter. La pagina di lancio (lancio.html) conta le visite con GoatCounter, un servizio che non usa cookie e tiene solo numeri complessivi (pagine, sito di provenienza, dimensioni dello schermo, browser e paese), senza identificare chi visita.