Privacy Policy
Your privacy matters to us. This policy explains how Desi Connect collects, uses, and protects your personal information.
Last updated: 15 May 2026 • Effective: 15 May 2026
Desi Connect ("we", "our", or "us") operates the desijolz.com website and related services. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, store, and share your personal information when you use our dating and matrimony platform designed for the South African Indian community. We are committed to complying with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) of South Africa and other applicable data protection laws.
1. Information We Collect
Account Information
When you create a Desi Connect account, we collect your name, email address, date of birth, gender, location (city and province in South Africa), and profile photographs. For matrimony profiles, we may also collect information about your cultural background, religion, education, profession, and family details that you voluntarily provide.
Profile Content
This includes your bio, interests, preferences, and any other information you choose to share on your profile. We also collect your match preferences including age range, location preferences, and cultural/religious preferences you specify.
Usage Data
We automatically collect information about how you interact with our platform, including pages visited, features used, time spent on the platform, search queries, profiles viewed, and interactions with other members (likes, messages sent/received).
Device & Technical Data
We collect your IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, screen resolution, and referring URLs. This helps us optimise the platform experience and maintain security.
Cookies & Similar Technologies
We use cookies, web beacons, and similar tracking technologies to remember your preferences, maintain your session, analyse usage patterns, and serve relevant advertisements. See our Cookie Policy for full details.
2. How We Use Your Information
Core Platform Services
We use your information to create and maintain your account, display your profile to potential matches, facilitate communication between members, provide our matchmaking and matrimony services, and process your match preferences.
Platform Improvement
We analyse usage patterns to improve our features, fix bugs, develop new services, and personalise your experience. This includes A/B testing, feature analytics, and user experience research.
Safety & Security
We use data to detect and prevent fraud, enforce our Terms of Service and Community Rules, verify accounts, and protect our community from harmful behaviour. This includes automated systems that scan for policy violations.
Communications
We may send you service-related announcements, match notifications, activity alerts, and promotional communications. You can opt out of marketing emails at any time through your account settings or by using the unsubscribe link in our emails.
Advertising
We work with third-party advertising partners, including Google AdSense, to display relevant advertisements. These partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your browsing activity. We do not sell your personal data to advertisers. For more information about how Google uses data when you visit our site, please visit https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
3. Information Sharing & Disclosure
With Other Members
Your profile information (excluding your email and phone number) is visible to other Desi Connect members as part of the dating/matrimony service. You control what information appears on your profile through your privacy settings.
Service Providers
We share data with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our platform, including cloud hosting providers, email service providers, analytics services, and payment processors. These providers are contractually bound to protect your data.
Advertising Partners
We allow advertising networks such as Google AdSense to collect anonymised browsing data through cookies to serve you relevant advertisements. This may include demographic data and interests but does not include your personal contact details. Learn how Google uses this data at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Legal Requirements
We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or government regulation, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the safety of our users, enforce our policies, or respond to legal processes.
Business Transfers
In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your data may be transferred as part of the transaction. We will notify you of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information.
4. Data Security & Protection
Security Measures
We implement industry-standard security measures including encryption (TLS/SSL) for data in transit, secure password hashing, regular security audits, access controls for our team, and monitoring for suspicious activity. Your account is protected by your password, which we never store in plain text.
Data Storage
Your data is stored on secure cloud servers. We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with our services. After account deletion, we may retain certain data for up to 90 days for legal compliance and fraud prevention before permanently deleting it.
Breach Notification
In the unlikely event of a data breach that may compromise your personal information, we will notify affected users and relevant authorities as required by the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) of South Africa within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach.
5. Your Rights Under POPIA
Access & Correction
You have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you and to request correction of any inaccurate information. You can update most of your information directly through your account settings.
Deletion
You can request deletion of your account and associated personal data at any time by contacting us or through your account settings. Certain data may be retained for legal compliance as described above.
Data Portability
You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
Objection & Restriction
You can object to certain data processing activities, including direct marketing. You can also request that we restrict the processing of your data in certain circumstances.
Withdrawal of Consent
Where we process your data based on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
6. Children's Privacy
Age Requirement
Desi Connect is intended for users who are 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have collected data from a minor, we will take immediate steps to delete that information and terminate the associated account.
7. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, want to exercise your data rights, or have concerns about how we handle your information, please contact us:
- Email: [email protected]
- Contact Form: desijolz.com/contact
We will respond to your request within 30 days as required by POPIA.
8. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the updated policy on our website and, where appropriate, sending you an email notification. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of Desi Connect after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.