Privacy policy
Last updated 14 October 2026
This policy explains what personal information VIBE finder collects, why we collect it, who receives it, how long we keep it, and your rights under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
1. Who we are
VIBE FINDER (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/607975/07, is responsible for the personal information described here. Our Information Officer is Ruan du Toit, registered with the Information Regulator under number 2026-065131. You can reach us at support@vibefinder.co.za or 069 532 1731. Our full company details, including our registered address, are in section 12 of our terms of service.
2. What we collect and why
| Information | Why we use it |
|---|---|
| Your account: your email address; a password, which we store only in scrambled (hashed) form, unless you sign in with Google; whether you confirmed your email address; and when you joined and last signed in. | To create your account, keep it secure and contact you about it. When you joined and last signed in also go into overall totals, never shown per person. |
| Setting up: whether you use VIBE finder personally or as an organiser; your confirmation that you are 18 or older (we do not ask for your date of birth); and your default town. | To set up your account, keep VIBE finder for adults, and show you events near you. |
| What you do: events you save; events you mark as Interested or Going; reports you send us; your agreement to our terms, with when and which version; and your choice about suggestion emails. | To run those features, act on reports, and keep a record of what you agreed to and chose. |
| Organisers: your organiser name, bio, profile web address, website, and the contact email address and phone number you choose to show, all of which are public; your default venue, which is private; the events you list, including their images; and, if you verify, the social account or website you verified and the result. We never ask for identity documents or ID numbers. | To show your events and profile, help people contact you, save you typing, and show a verified badge. |
| People on an account: if an organiser invites you to their Partner account, the email address they invited, the name you give, which only the people on that account see, and what the owner allows you to do. The account owner sees a log of what each person on the account does, such as events created, changed or promoted, with the person's name and the time. | To run shared accounts, and to let the account owner see who did what on their account. |
| Buying from us: what you bought, when, the price and any discount code used, how you paid, and the payment reference. | To provide what you paid for, keep the financial records the law requires, and handle refunds and disputes. |
| Location: if you tap "Use my location", your browser gives us your device's approximate location. | To find events near you for that search. We do not store it. A town you pick on the "Where are you?" screen stays in your browser, on your device. |
| Moderation records: if we act on your account or one of your events, a record of what we did and why. | To enforce our terms fairly and consistently. |
| Messages: the notifications we show you and the service emails we send you, for example to confirm your email address or reset your password. | To tell you about your account and your events. |
| Technical logs: records of what our servers do, which use an internal account number rather than your name. Some records of emails sent include the address they went to. | To keep VIBE finder working and secure. |
Counts, not people. We count views and clicks on each event per day without recording who viewed or clicked. Organisers see these counts, and how many people are Interested or Going, but never who.
3. Cookies and your device
We use only essential cookies, to keep you signed in. If you do not tick "Remember me", the cookie lasts until your browser session ends. If you tick it, or sign in with Google, it lasts 14 days and renews while you keep using VIBE finder. We use no advertising or analytics cookies.
We also keep a few settings in your browser's own storage, for example that you dismissed a notice, or a town you picked. These stay on your device.
4. Signing in with Google
If you choose to sign in with Google, Google shares your email address and basic profile with us. We keep only your email address and use it only to create and secure your account. We do not use Google user data for advertising and we do not sell it. Our use of information received from Google follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.
5. Who receives your information
We share personal information only with the service providers below, each for one purpose, and when the law requires us to. We do not sell personal information, and we use no advertising networks, analytics services or tracking pixels. Organisers never receive your personal information.
| Who | What they receive | Why | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Azure | What VIBE finder stores | Hosting our service and database | South Africa |
| OpenAI | An event's title, description, venue name and banner image, or an organiser's name and bio. No account details. | Checking listings before they go live | United States |
| Stadia Maps | Your browser asks it for map images, which shows it your IP address and the part of the map you are viewing | Showing maps | Outside South Africa |
| OpenStreetMap Nominatim | The address an organiser types, sent from our server, not from your device | Finding the place on the map | Outside South Africa |
| Only if you choose Google sign-in (section 4) | Signing you in | United States | |
| Paystack | When you pay online: your account email address, the amount and our payment reference. You give your card or Capitec Pay details to Paystack directly, on its own payment page. | Taking payments | Ireland (Paystack's data storage) |
| Resend | Your email address and the email we send you | Sending service emails | United States (Resend's data storage) |
| Afrihost | Emails you send us, and visits to this website | Hosting our email and website | South Africa |
| Google Fonts | Your IP address, when your browser loads the fonts this website uses | Showing our website's fonts | United States |
6. Information that leaves South Africa
Some of the providers above are outside South Africa: OpenAI, Google, Google Fonts and Resend in the United States, Paystack's data storage in Ireland, and our map providers. We send each only what it needs. We do this as section 72 of POPIA allows, where the transfer is needed to provide the service you asked for, or where the recipient is bound by data protection law or an agreement that gives your information comparable protection.
7. How long we keep it
- While your account exists, we keep what you have added and done on VIBE finder.
- When you delete your account, we delete your personal information, apart from the records below.
- Shared accounts: when you delete your account, your name on any organiser's account is removed, and that account's activity log shows "Deleted account" for what you did. An invitation you did not accept is deleted when it expires or is withdrawn.
- Billing records, including each invoice and credit note with the name and email address it was issued to, are kept for seven years after the transaction, because company and tax law require it, even if you delete your account. They are used for nothing else.
- Suspension records: if we suspend an account for breaking our terms, we keep a coded (one-way hashed) form of its email address, with the reason category and date, for five years, so that the address cannot be used to sign up again. It cannot be turned back into the email address. If the suspension is lifted, we delete it straight away.
- Removed events: if we remove an event for breaking our rules, we keep a copy of it as the record of our decision.
- Notifications: if an organiser deletes their account, notifications already shown to other people about their events may still show the event's title.
- Technical logs are kept only as long as we need them to keep VIBE finder working and secure.
8. Your rights
Under POPIA you can:
- ask whether we hold personal information about you, and for a copy of it;
- ask us to correct or delete information that is wrong, out of date, excessive, or that we are no longer allowed to keep;
- object to how we use your information;
- withdraw a consent you gave us, for example to suggestion emails; and
- complain to the Information Regulator.
You can see and change most of your information yourself in your account settings, and delete your account there. For anything else, email support@vibefinder.co.za. We may need to confirm who you are first.
The Information Regulator: inforegulator.org.za, enquiries@inforegulator.org.za, 010 023 5200.
9. Emails we send
We send service emails about your account and your events. We send emails suggesting events only if you choose to receive them, and you can stop them at any time.
10. Children
VIBE finder is for people aged 18 and older. We ask everyone to confirm they are 18 or older when they sign up, and we do not knowingly collect information about children.
11. Keeping your information safe
We protect your information with reasonable technical and organisational measures, including encrypted connections, hashed passwords, access limited to the people who need it, and records of the privileged actions our administrators take. If we believe your personal information has been accessed or acquired by someone without authority, we will tell you and the Information Regulator, as POPIA requires.
12. Changes to this policy
We update this policy when the way we use personal information changes, and the date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change matters to you, we tell you before it takes effect.