Starmate KVKK Privacy Notice (Türkiye)

Information notice under Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK)

Data controller

Independent developer Erkan Öztürk (erkanozturk.com, Istanbul, Türkiye), contact: erozturk0381@gmail.com

Personal data processed

• Identity and contact: name, email address, account ID, sign-in method.
• Birth data: birth date, time and place (place name, coordinates, time zone), and the birth chart calculated from them on your phone.
• Profile and user content: photos, gender, bio, interests, intention, city, Match sentence; questions asked to the astrologer and its answers; chat messages and voice messages.
• Match preferences: who you want to see and the age range. Together with your gender, this preference can reveal information about your sex life and may count as special-category personal data. If you entered them in earlier (Buddy) versions, sexual orientation, religion and ethnicity fields may also be stored with your account; version 3.0 does not collect them again.
• Customer transactions: subscription and purchase records, ad reward records, AI consent record, question count.
• Security and usage: installation and notification IDs, device and OS information, IP address, app usage events, crash reports, report, block and moderation records; astrologer question records (question text, time, response time, outcome, app version, language, subscription level).

Purposes

Creating and managing your account; providing your birth chart and readings; generating AI astrologer answers if you consent; suggesting suitable people in Match and enabling matches and chats; verifying subscriptions and rewarded ads; reviewing reports, preventing abuse and keeping the service secure; fixing errors and improving the app; measuring the quality and speed of the astrologer’s answers; meeting legal obligations and answering your requests.

The data controller, Erkan Öztürk, may view astrologer question records (including the question text) only to measure quality and speed, fix errors and keep the service secure; the astrologer’s answers are not viewed.

Legal grounds

• Performance of a contract (Art. 5/2-c): account, chart, readings, Match, Chats and subscriptions.
• Explicit consent (Art. 5/1): sending data to OpenAI for the AI astrologer. You can withdraw consent in Profile.
• Explicit consent (Art. 6): your Match preference for who you want to see, and special-category data left from earlier versions.
• Legitimate interests (Art. 5/2-f): security, abuse prevention, moderation, reward verification, analytics and crash reports; tracking quality, speed and errors through astrologer question records.
• Legal obligation (Art. 5/2-ç) and establishing, exercising or defending a right (Art. 5/2-e): billing records, moderation records and responses to official requests.

Transfers

To provide the service, your data is transferred to service providers abroad: Google LLC (Firebase infrastructure; Cloud Firestore and Cloud Functions run in the United States; Analytics, Crashlytics, Cloud Messaging, Remote Config, App Check; AdMob), OpenAI, L.L.C. (United States; AI astrologer answers), RevenueCat, Inc. (United States; subscription management) and Apple (Sign in with Apple, App Store payments, birth place search with Apple Maps). Transfers abroad rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contracts under KVKK Art. 9. The explicit consent obtained for AI does not replace this transfer safeguard.

If you join Match, your profile information (photos, name, age, Big Three, Match sentence) is shown to other Starmate members, and your chat messages are delivered to the other person in the chat. Your data may be shared with competent public authorities in response to lawful requests and to the extent required by law. Your data is not sold.

Method of collection

Personal data is collected electronically through the Starmate app, from the information you enter and automatically while you use the app.

Retention

Data is kept while your account is open and deleted when you delete your account. Astrologer conversations are deleted 30 days after the last message. Astrologer question records are deleted automatically 30 days after the question; if you delete your account, they are deleted at the end of this period at the latest. Billing and ad reward records are kept with a one-way hashed ID, and moderation and audit records are kept for safety and legal claims, after account deletion. Voice message files in your chats are deleted together with the chats when you delete your account. See the Privacy Policy for details.

Your rights (Art. 11)

You have the right to learn whether your personal data is processed; to request information if it is; to learn the purpose of processing and whether it is used for that purpose; to know the third parties in Türkiye or abroad to whom it is transferred; to request correction of incomplete or inaccurate data; to request erasure or destruction under the conditions of KVKK Art. 7; to request that these actions be notified to the third parties it was transferred to; to object to an adverse outcome arising solely from automated analysis; and to claim compensation for damage caused by unlawful processing.

How to apply

Send your request to erozturk0381@gmail.com from the email address registered on your Starmate account. Include your name, your Starmate account email and a clear description of your request. Requests are concluded free of charge within 30 days at the latest; if the action requires an additional cost, the fee set by the Turkish Personal Data Protection Board may apply. If your request is rejected, the answer is insufficient, or no answer is given in time, you can complain to the Board. You can also delete your account in the app with Profile → Delete account.

This notice is not a declaration of consent.