Legal
Privacy Policy
How The Yard collects, uses, shares and protects your personal data, and the rights you have under Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843).
The short version
- We only collect what The Yard needs to work: your student email, your profile, your photos, and what you do in the app.
- Other students see a secret display name (a J-name like Jessica or Jesse), your Match ID, age, programme, level, college, hall, bio, interests, Match Card answers and approved photo. Your real first name is only shown to people you match with. No other student sees your email or date of birth.
- We never sell your data and we don't show ads or use advertising trackers.
- Moderators only read a private conversation when it has been reported, and every time they do it is logged.
- You can download your data, correct it, or delete your account at any time from your Profile.
1. Who we are
The Yard is a social platform for students of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi. It is an independent student startup and is not run, endorsed or supported by KNUST.
The Yard is operated by Amo Emmanuel, who is the data controller responsible for your personal data. Postal address: P.O. Box 872, Ghana.
For anything about your personal data, email theyardgh01@gmail.com.
2. What we collect
We collect information directly from you when you sign up and use the app. We do not buy data about you or collect it from other sources.
| Information | Details | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Student email | Your @st.knust.edu.gh address, used to confirm you are a KNUST student and to send sign-in codes. | Yes |
| Profile | First name, date of birth, programme, college, level, hall or hostel area, bio and up to five interests. If you choose, also the hostel you live in. | Yes, except bio and hostel |
| Gender and who you want to see | Whether you are a woman or a man, and whether you want to see women, men or everyone. | Yes |
| Match ID and display name | A Match ID like F012 and a J-name display name we assign to you, so other students never need your real name. | Assigned automatically |
| Match Card | Your answers to the 5 Match Night questions: what you're looking for, what makes you fall for someone, looks or personality, your deal breakers, and how to win you over. | Only to join Match Night |
| Match Night activity | Which Match Nights you join, your ranked Top 3 picks, and any couple you become. | Only if you join |
| Photos | Photos you upload, plus whether a moderator approved or rejected them and why, and whether you chose to hide your photo until you match. | No |
| Activity | Who you like or pass on, your matches, messages you send and receive, when messages are read, people you block, and exam mode. | Created as you use the app |
| Reports and safety records | Reports you make or that are made about you, actions our moderation team takes on your account, and any reminder we send you to add a photo or student ID. | Only if a report is made |
| Problem reports | If you use Report a problem: what you write, a contact email or phone number if you give one, the screen you were on, and your phone and browser type. | Only if you send one |
| Consent record | Which version of this policy you agreed to, and when. | Yes |
| Technical data | Your IP address, browser type and the time of requests, recorded in server logs by our hosting providers. | Automatic |
| On your device | Your sign-in session and your Discover filters are stored in your browser's local storage. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies. | Needed to stay signed in |
We do not collect your location, phone number (unless you choose to put one in a problem report), contacts, payment details, or your full name.
3. How and why we use it
Act 843 allows personal data to be processed only for a specific, lawful purpose. These are ours, with the legal ground for each:
| Purpose | What we use | Legal ground |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm you are an adult KNUST student and sign you in | Student email, date of birth | Needed to provide the service you asked for |
| Show your profile to other students and suggest people to you | Profile, gender, who you want to see, approved photo | Your consent, given when you create your profile |
| Run Match Nights: show your anonymous Match Card, work out Yard Scores and instantly match mutual Top 3 picks | Match Card, age, gender, who you want to see, Top 3 picks | Your consent, given when you join a Match Night |
| Create matches and deliver messages | Likes, matches, messages | Needed to provide the service you asked for |
| Keep students safe: review photos, investigate reports, act on rule-breaking | Photos, reports, the reported conversation, moderation records | Our legitimate interest, and yours, in a safe community; legal obligations where they apply |
| Keep the service secure and working | Technical data, server logs, problem reports | Our legitimate interest in running a secure service |
| Respond to your requests and legal demands | Whatever the request concerns | Legal obligation |
We don't use your data for advertising, we don't sell it, and we don't send marketing emails. The only emails we send are sign-in codes and, if your profile photo or student ID is missing, a reminder to add it.
Some decisions are automated. Discover chooses which profiles to show you using your filters and both people's "show me" settings. Only students with an approved photo appear in Discover, and students who signed up with a personal email also need an approved student ID. On Match Night, a Yard Score compares two Match Cards (what you're looking for, what you fall for, deal breakers, looks or personality, and age gap) to order the cards you see. Once picks open, you're matched with someone the moment you both have each other in your Top 3. Each person can be matched once per Match Night. If you have more than one mutual pick when you save, the one with the best combined ranking, then the higher Yard Score, is chosen. None of this has legal or similarly serious effects on you.
Two Community Rules are enforced automatically. If you put a name, phone number, email, link or social handle in your Match Card answers, or the app detects a screenshot shortcut or printing while you're signed in on a computer, your account is paused for 24 hours and a person on our moderation team reviews it. They can lift the pause early. Otherwise it ends after 24 hours. Your account is also paused automatically if your profile still has no photo, or you signed up with a personal email and haven't sent your student ID, 24 hours after we email you a reminder. It stays paused until you upload it and a moderator approves it. Decisions to warn, keep you suspended or ban an account are always made by a person on our moderation team.
4. Sensitive information
Act 843 treats information about a person's sex life as special personal data that needs extra care. On The Yard, where students can match with each other, your gender and the gender of the people you want to see can reveal this. Some interests you choose, for example Gospel, may also reveal your religious beliefs.
We only process this information with your explicit consent, which you give with a separate checkbox when you create your profile. We use it only to show you to the right people and to show the right people to you. You can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account. We can't run The Yard for you without it.
5. Who can see your information
Other students on The Yard
Signed-in students who match your settings see your display name and Match ID, never your real name. In Discover they also see your age (not your date of birth), programme, level, college, hall or hostel area, bio, interests and your photo once it is approved. On Match Night, students in the same Match Night see your display name, Match ID, age, gender, Match Card answers and approved photo. Unless you choose to show your photo before you match, they see your initial instead until you match.
When you match with someone, that person also sees your real first name and your hostel, if you added one, and can read the messages you send them. If you become a couple on Match Night, the couple is announced to that Match Night by Match ID only. Students who aren't signed in see nothing.
Our moderation team
A small team of moderators reviews every new photo before other students can see it, and reviews reports. They can read a private conversation only when one person in it has reported the other, and every time they open one it is recorded in an audit log. Moderators see a student's email address only when they need it to confirm that the student is at KNUST. They also read problem reports sent with Report a problem, including any contact details you put in one.
Technical administrators
A very small number of authorised people can access the database to keep the service running and fix problems. They are bound to keep your data confidential.
Authorities
We share information with the police or other authorities only when the law requires it, or when we believe in good faith that someone's life or safety is at serious risk.
6. Service providers
We use these companies to run The Yard. They act on our instructions, may only use your data to provide their service to us, and are required to keep it secure and confidential.
| Provider | What they do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, sign-in and photo storage. All your profile data, photos and messages are stored here. | London, United Kingdom |
| Vercel | Hosts the website and delivers it to your browser. | Global network, based in the United States |
| Resend | Sends sign-in codes and reminder emails about a missing photo or student ID. | European Union and United States |
| Google Fonts and jsDelivr | Deliver the fonts and a code library the website uses. They receive your IP address when your browser loads them. | Global networks |
7. Storage outside Ghana
Your data is stored and processed outside Ghana, mainly in the United Kingdom, with some processing in the European Union and the United States, as listed above. We chose providers that encrypt data in transit and protect it with strict access controls. When you sign up, you agree to your data being stored in these places.
8. How long we keep it
We keep personal data only as long as we need it for the purposes above.
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, likes and photos | Until you delete your account. Deleting it removes them straight away. |
| Match Card and Match Night activity | Until you delete your account. You can change your Match Card any time, and leave a Match Night until you match or picks close. |
| Past and rejected photos | Kept with your account so moderators can see earlier decisions, and deleted when you delete your account. |
| Matches and messages | Until you or the other person deletes their account. If you unmatch or block someone, the chat is hidden from both of you but kept, so our team can review it if it's reported. |
| Reports you made | Kept after you delete your account so the safety record stays complete, but no longer linked to you. |
| Moderation records | Kept to show how safety issues were handled. Once your account is deleted they are no longer linked to it. |
| Problem reports | Until the problem is fixed, then deleted 90 days later. If you delete your account first, the report is no longer linked to you. |
| Server logs | Kept by our hosting providers for a short, limited period, then deleted automatically. |
| Backups | Deleted data can remain in encrypted backups for a short time until they are overwritten. |
| Session and filters on your device | Until you log out or clear your browser data. |
9. How we protect it
- All connections to The Yard are encrypted with HTTPS.
- Database rules control who can read each record, so students can only reach their own data and what other students are meant to see.
- Photos are kept in private storage and shown only through links that expire.
- Sign-in uses one-time codes sent to your student email, so there are no passwords to steal.
- Moderators see only what they need for a review, and their actions are logged.
- Access is limited to the people who need it and is removed when someone leaves the team.
10. Your rights
Under Act 843 you have the right to:
- Be told what we collect and why. That's this policy.
- Access your data. Use Download my data in your Profile to get a copy of everything we hold about you, or email us.
- Correct it. Use Edit profile, or email us about anything you can't change yourself.
- Have it deleted. Use Delete my account in your Profile.
- Object or withdraw consent. You can stop us processing your data by deleting your account. To hide temporarily, switch on Exam mode.
- Not receive direct marketing. We don't send any.
- Complain to the Data Protection Commission if you think we've handled your data wrongly.
To use a right by email, write to theyardgh01@gmail.com from your student email so we can confirm it's you. We respond promptly and within the time the law requires, free of charge.
11. Age limit
The Yard is only for people aged 18 and over. We check your date of birth when you sign up, and we close any account we find belongs to someone younger.
12. If something goes wrong
If we discover that personal data has been accessed or disclosed without authorisation, we will tell the Data Protection Commission and the students affected as soon as reasonably possible. We'll explain what happened, what data was involved, and what you can do to protect yourself.
13. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the version and date at the top and tell you in the app. If a change affects how we use your sensitive information, we'll ask for your consent again before it applies to you.
14. Contact and complaints
Email theyardgh01@gmail.com, or write to Amo Emmanuel, P.O. Box 872, Ghana.
If you're not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Commission, Accra, Ghana: www.dataprotection.org.gh.
See also our Community Rules.