What we collect, who sees it, and how long we keep it.

Last updated: August 2026 · Applies to fertility-match.com and the Fertility Match app.

You're sharing some of the most personal information there is. This page explains, plainly, what Fertility Match collects, who can see it, and what we do with it. The short version: your profile and story are visible only to members; some additional information may be shared after you both choose to connect, while sensitive records and screening information are only shared with the people authorized for that step, and only with the required consent; we never sell your data; and we delete old messages on a schedule.

1. What we collect

Account information. Your email address, a password (stored hashed — we never see it), your legal name for verification, and whether you've accepted our terms.
Your profile. What you choose to tell us: display name, role, city and state, a photo if you add one, your story and values, family structure, faith, education and work, and — for embryo donors — details about your embryos and any optional genetic-background information you add.
Your match preferences. The relationship questions both sides answer — identity, updates, direct contact, and connection among genetic siblings — plus geography and other preferences you set.
Private notes you keep for yourself. A small set of fields, such as family medical history, that only you can see. We no longer ask members for mental-health, psychiatric, legal, background, or financial narratives on the profile form: those belong in a clinical or legal process with a qualified professional, not a peer profile.
Verification information. What you provide when you ask our team to confirm your identity, and the date we confirmed it.
Embryo records, if you are a donor and you choose to add them. Structured details about your embryos — inventory, how and when they were created, genetic source, PGT type and the result category in the words of your report, carrier screening, storage, and outcomes. We hold the categories and who holds the report. We do not hold the reports themselves, and we never interpret them.
Clinic readiness, if you are an intended parent and you choose to add it.Which clinic you are working with and where you are with medical clearance, screening, counseling and your own legal advice. Statuses only — never a result, a report or a diagnosis.
Case and professional information. If you open a case with someone, we hold the case, its checklist, who each of you authorized, for what, when, and when that ended. Professionals and clinic organizations give us their practice details and licence information so members can see who they are dealing with.
Activity. Profiles you save, requests you send and receive, conversations, messages, reports and blocks, and basic technical logs (like when you logged in and from what kind of device).
Waitlist and contact messages. If you join the waitlist or write to us, we keep what you sent so we can reply.

We ask for city and state so members can filter by location. We never track your location from your device.

2. Who can see what

Your information sits in layers, and accepting a connection does not collapse them. Some additional information may be shared after you both choose to connect. Sensitive records and screening information are only shared with the people authorized for that step, and only with the required consent.

Nobody who isn't logged in can open a profile page.
Photos, exactly. A profile photo is served through Fertility Match, and the address checks who is asking: you have to be logged in, and neither of you can have blocked the other. The file itself sits in private storage behind a link that expires within minutes, so a photo stops being reachable shortly after a block. Photos are optional, and you can remove yours at any time.
Your at-a-glance profile and your story — display name, role, city and state, photo, headline, values, structured details like family structure and faith, and the personal statement you write — are visible to logged-in members once you've completed your profile, so they can find you.
Your match preferences — the four relationship answers and anything you add in your own words — are shown on your profile to logged-in members, and are used to name areas of alignment and things to discuss.
Your connection details — what you would like to be called, when you are free to talk, your time zone, your clinic’s city, who else is part of the decision, more about your timing, how you would like to stay in touch, and an address or number if you choose to add one — are visible only to members whose connection request you have accepted, or who accepted yours. They are stored separately from the rest of your profile, nobody browsing can read them, and neither can a clinic, an attorney or a counselor working on a case with you. Access ends when the conversation does. All of these fields are optional and start blank.
Your private notes are visible only to you. Accepting a request does not reveal them, and no other member can see them.
Records and screening information — anything that later moves through a clinic, attorney, counselor, or genetic counselor — is shared only with the people authorized for that step, only with the consent that step requires, and never as an automatic consequence of connecting.
Your legal name and verification information are visible only to our team. Other members see a “Verified” check with the date we confirmed your identity — not your documents, and not a claim that anything else has been checked.
Messages are visible to the two people in the conversation. Our administrators cannot read them: the database only ever returns a conversation's messages to its two participants. When you file a report we see what you tell us in the report itself, and we act on that.
Blocking ends your conversation, removes the saved profile in both directions, and hides you from each other in Browse and on profile pages. One exception, and we would rather be exact than reassuring: if the two of you had already opened a case, you both stay on that case and can still see each other there. A case has a clinic, records and sometimes attorneys attached to it, so blocking does not dissolve one. Closing the case does.

3. How we use it

To run the service: showing your profile to members, showing areas of alignment and things to discuss with another member (profile-based matching uses only what you've both told us, shows you why, and never produces a score or ranks one family above another), delivering messages, verifying identity, keeping members safe, answering your questions, and improving the platform. We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't sell it — to anyone, ever.

Other members, as described above.
A clinic, attorney or counselor you authorize by name — and only then. When you and another member decide to move forward, Fertility Match does not contact anyone on your behalf. Nothing is passed to a clinic automatically. You choose a named person, for one purpose at a time, and you can withdraw it.
Service providers that host our database, deliver email, and store photos, under contracts that limit what they can do with the data.
Authorities, if the law requires it or if we believe someone is in danger.

Partner clinics see aggregate activity in their dashboard (counts of requests, conversations, and matches), not your private notes or records.

5. How long we keep it

Your profile stays as long as your account does. Close your account and we delete it, keeping only what we must for legal or safety reasons (for example, records tied to a report).
Messages in ended, declined, and withdrawn conversations are kept for 60 days and then permanently deleted. Active conversations keep their history.
Identity verification information — the photo ID you send us when you ask to be verified — is kept while your account is open and deleted when you close it, apart from anything we must keep for legal or safety reasons. It is held by our team, never shown to another member, and never displayed on your profile. Other members see only that identity was verified and the date.
Waitlist and contact messages are kept until we've replied and no longer need them.

6. Security

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, with privacy and security built into the platform from the start. Access inside our team is limited to what's needed to run the service and keep members safe. We're careful not to claim certifications we don't hold, and we'll update this page as our safeguards grow. No system is perfect — if we ever learn of a breach affecting you, we'll tell you promptly.

7. Cookies

We use a small number of cookies that are necessary to run the site: keeping you logged in and, before public launch, a preview cookie for early access. We don't use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. If we add analytics later, it will be privacy-respecting and described here.

8. Your choices

Edit or remove anything in your profile at any time.
Answer the relationship questions — identity, updates, direct contact, and connection among genetic siblings — the way that fits you, including “open to discussing,” and change your answers later.
End any conversation, block any member, or report anything that worries you.
Ask us for a copy of your information, or ask us to delete your account, by writing to us.

Fertility Match is for people in the United States who are 18 or older. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone younger.

9. Changes and contact

We'll update this policy as the platform grows, and we'll tell you inside the app or by email if a change matters. Questions or requests: hello@fertility-match.com, or the contact form. See also our Terms of Use.