Last updated 4 October 2026
The short version
We collect what's needed for friends to host friends, show it only to your network, never sell it, never track you across apps, and delete it when you delete your account.
What we collect
Your name, email (or the private relay address from Sign in with Apple), profile photo, home city, languages and the line about you; the places you list, including the exact address and house rules you choose to enter; your trips, asks, stays, check-ins, messages and thank-you notes; your host credit history; an emergency contact if you add one; who invited you and who you're connected to; reports and blocks you make.
Who sees it
Only members within two steps of you (friends and friends of friends) can see your profile, places and asks. Trips are shown to your friends by default; you can widen that to friends of friends, or keep a trip to yourself. An exact address is shown only to a guest whose stay you accept. Your emergency contact is never on your profile: it is shown only to your host, and only while your stay is happening. Messages are visible only to the two people in a stay. Thank-you notes are visible only to the person they're about; your network sees only that a stay happened. Blocked members see nothing of you.
What we don't do
No advertising, no tracking, no data brokers, no selling or sharing for marketing. The app contains no third-party analytics or advertising SDKs.
Photos
You choose photos with the system photo picker; the app never reads your library. Photos are resized on your iPhone before upload.
Finding friends from your contacts
Only if you choose to. Your iPhone turns each email address and phone number into a one-way code (a SHA-256 hash) and sends only those codes; the names, numbers and addresses in your contacts never leave your phone. We compare the codes with members' sign-in emails, show you the members you know, and keep nothing from your address book. You can turn off being found this way in Settings.
Adding friends in person
Your code (shown as a QR) lets someone you're with send you a friend request. It contains no personal information, and you can make a new one at any time.
Location
Headquarters doesn't use your device location. Cities are ones you type or pick, and trips and "I'm around" are only ever a city and dates.
Notifications
Notifications are optional and asked for in context. The weekly digest is off until you turn it on, and is sent at most once a week.
Sign in with Apple
If you sign in with Apple, we keep the token Apple gives us only so that deleting your account also revokes Headquarters' access with Apple.
Moderation
When content is reported, our moderators see it and the account involved, only to review the report.
Deleting your data
Settings › Delete account permanently deletes your profile, photos, places, trips, asks, stays, messages and credit history, and revokes Sign in with Apple.