Our Approach to Location Privacy

Location is what makes local dating possible. It's also one of the most sensitive pieces of information you can share. Knowing that someone is "a few kilometers away" is useful. Knowing exactly which building they're in is dangerous.

When we designed how Kilig handles location, we started from one principle: we should only know as much about where you are as we need to show you good matches nearby, and other members should know even less. Here's how that principle turns into real engineering decisions.

The risk we're designing against

Precise location can leak in surprising ways. Even if an app never displays coordinates, a determined person can sometimes work backward to your position by changing their own location and watching how the distance to you changes. This technique, often called trilateration, is a known risk for any service that shows distances between people.

Our protections are designed so that technique doesn't work on Kilig, and so that a breach of our own systems wouldn't expose precise locations either.

Step 1: Your coordinates are snapped to a grid before we store them

When your device shares its location, we don't save the exact coordinates. Before anything is written to our database, your position is snapped to an approximately 1.1 km grid. In other words, we store the grid square you're in, not the spot you're standing.

This happens first, before your location is used for anything else. That means:

• Our matching systems only ever work with the approximate position.
• Your precise coordinates aren't sitting in our database waiting to be misused or leaked.
• Moving around inside the same grid square doesn't change your stored location at all.

Step 2: Distances are rounded to whole kilometers

When another member sees how far away you are, the number they see is calculated from those approximate positions, then rounded to the nearest whole kilometer. You'll see "6 km away," never "5.83 km away."

Rounding on top of the grid adds a second layer of blur. Small changes in someone's position don't produce small, trackable changes in the distance they see.

Step 3: Nobody is ever shown as closer than 2 km

The most sensitive case is someone who's very close: a neighbor, a coworker, someone in the same coffee shop. For anyone nearby, the distance shown is never less than "2 km." Whether someone is across the street or 1.5 km away, they'll see the same thing.

That minimum is deliberate. It means no one can use Kilig to figure out that you're in the same building, on the same block, or at the same event.

Step 4: You choose how much to share

Sharing your device's location gives you the most accurate matches, but it's never required.

• Set your city manually. If you'd rather not share device location, you can choose your city instead. We'll use it to find matches nearby without ever asking for your GPS position.
• Use travel mode. With Kilig Plus or Premium, travel mode lets you set your location somewhere else, which is handy if you're planning a trip or moving soon. Travel mode follows the same grid and rounding rules.
• Hide your distance. Plus and Premium members can hide their distance from their profile entirely.
• Change device permissions anytime. You can turn off location access in your browser or phone settings whenever you like.

You'll find all of these in discovery settings and privacy controls. For step-by-step help, see location and distance.

Step 5: Photos don't carry your location

Photos taken on phones often contain hidden metadata, called EXIF data, which can include the exact GPS coordinates where the picture was taken. A photo snapped in your kitchen could otherwise reveal your home address.

Every photo you upload to Kilig has its metadata stripped automatically, including GPS location, before it's stored or shown to anyone. You don't need to do anything. It's one of those protections that works best when you never have to think about it. Learn more in our photo guidelines.

What we don't do with your location

Just as important as how we protect your location is what we won't do with it:

• We don't sell your personal data, including location, to anyone.
• We don't share your location with advertisers. We don't use advertising cookies on our website at all.
• We don't show your location history to other members. They see an approximate distance, and that's it.
• We don't keep a trail of everywhere you've been. We keep your current approximate location for matching.

You can read the full details in our privacy policy.

A few habits that help, too

Our systems protect your location in the app, but what you share yourself matters as well. A few suggestions:

• Avoid photos that show your house number, street sign, car license plate, or workplace badge.
• Don't put your workplace or neighborhood in your prompts if you'd rather keep it private.
• Wait until you feel comfortable before sharing your address or where you work with a match.
• Meet in a public place for first dates, and get there on your own.

Our safety guide has more tips for protecting your personal information.

Privacy as a default, not a setting

Most of what's described here isn't something you have to turn on. The grid, the rounding, the 2 km minimum, and metadata stripping are on for everyone, on every plan, all the time. We think that's how privacy should work: built in from the start, rather than hidden behind a menu.

If you have questions about how we handle your data, you can download a copy of everything we store about you from Your data, or contact our privacy team at privacy@kilig.zowebo.com. We're always happy to explain.