Privacy policy

Last updated: October 14, 2026

The short version

• We collect what you give us: your email address, your quiz answers, an optional ZIP code, the topics you follow, and any story you send. We also collect a little information about how the site is used.
• We use it to send your quiz result and the emails you asked for, run your reader account, publish stories you've approved, and make Datelyst better.
• We don't sell your personal information. We don't share it for targeted advertising. There are no advertising trackers on Datelyst.
• Spark Twice, a matchmaking service, is run by Datelyst's parent company. Your email address and quiz answers are never handed to Spark Twice.
• Analytics uses cookies only after you say yes. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, analytics stays off.
• You can download or delete your data from your account page, or by emailing [email protected].
• Datelyst is for adults 18 and over.

The full policy is below. If anything in it is unclear, write to [email protected] and a person will answer.

Who we are

Datelyst ("we", "us", "our") is a guide for adults who are dating again, published at datelyst.com. Datelyst is owned by a US company, a Delaware limited liability company, which we call "Datelyst's parent company" in this policy. Spark Twice, a matchmaking service, is also run by Datelyst's parent company.

This policy covers datelyst.com, the emails we send, and Datelyst reader accounts. It doesn't cover Spark Twice (run by Datelyst's parent company) or any other website we link to. Those have their own privacy policies, and we suggest reading them before you sign up for anything.

You can reach us about privacy at [email protected], or by post at Spark Logic, 11133 Shady Trail PMB 322, Dallas, TX 75229.

What we collect

What you give us

Your email address. You give it to us when you ask for your full quiz result, subscribe to the newsletter, sign in or send a story. Your confirmed email address is also your reader account.

Your quiz answers. The quiz asks your age range, what brings you to Datelyst, how long it's been since you last dated, what you're hoping to find, whether you've used dating apps, whether anyone has tried to scam you while dating online, whether a dating site has ever taken advantage of you, how you'd like to meet people, how much time and money you'd like to spend, and (only if you choose) your ZIP code. We use these answers to choose your picks and the emails that fit your situation.

Your answers about scams. Two quiz questions ask whether someone has tried to scam you and whether a dating site has taken advantage of you. You can answer "prefer not to say". We treat these answers with extra care. We use them only to put safety first in your result and your emails. They never go to analytics, sponsors, Spark Twice (run by Datelyst's parent company) or anyone else.

Your email choices. Which of our emails you'd like to get, the topics you follow, whether you'd like events near you in the Sunday letter, and your situation and goal (which come from the quiz or the sign-up form, and which you can change at any time). The newsletter sign-up form also asks whether you're over 50, so we can send articles that fit. If you tell us you'd like to hear from us less often, we keep only the Sunday letter coming.

Your story, if you send one. The name you'd like shown (a first name or a pen name), your age, your state, your situation, your title and story, an optional photo, your email address, the boxes you ticked to give permission, and any notes we exchange while your story is reviewed.

Messages you send us. If you email any of our addresses, we keep your message and our reply.

What we collect automatically

Sign-in and security information. When you sign in, our sign-in provider records your account ID, when you asked for a code and when you used it. Like almost every website, our hosting and security providers see your IP address and basic browser information. We use this to keep the site running, limit repeated code requests, and block spam and bots.

Clicks on recommendations. When you click a link to an app, site, matchmaker or event, the link passes through a Datelyst address (it starts with datelyst.com/go/) so we can count the click. We record which listing you clicked, on which page, the time, the ID of your quiz result if the click came from one, and your account ID if you were signed in.

Email activity. For each email we send you, we record its subject and whether it was delivered, opened or clicked, and whether it bounced or was marked as spam. Our emails contain a small image and tracked links to tell us this. Many email apps block or blur it, so we treat opens as a rough signal only.

Your time zone. Your browser tells us its time zone, so the Sunday letter reaches you on Sunday morning where you are. You can change it on your account page.

Your state, for quiz results. When you take the quiz, we work out which US state you're likely in from your IP address, so your result can show services and events that work where you live. We store the state, not your IP address.

Analytics. We use analytics to see how Datelyst is used: which pages are read, where people stop in the quiz, and which emails lead somewhere useful. How analytics works depends on your choice and your browser's signals. Our cookie notice explains it in full. In short:

• Until you choose, we count visits in a cookieless mode that stores nothing on your device.
• If you say yes, analytics sets a cookie so we can recognize repeat visits.
• If you say no, or your browser sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track, we don't load analytics at all.

Analytics never receives your email address, your name, your ZIP code, your story or your answers about scams. For the quiz, it receives which step you reached and broad answer categories (such as an age range) under a random ID, so we can see where people drop off and which results are common. Session recording is switched off.

What we don't collect

We don't use passwords, so we never store one. We don't take payments from readers, so we never see card details. The quiz doesn't ask about sexual orientation, health or religion. We never ask for your exact location; the ZIP code is optional. We don't use social logins, and we don't run advertising pixels or advertising cookies.

A story is the one place where you might choose to tell us something very personal, such as your health, your beliefs or details of a past relationship. We use what you write only to review, edit and publish your story the way you approve it. Please leave out anything that could identify another person (our story guidelines explain how), and remember that a published story is public.

How we use your information

We may also publish or share totals and trends that can't identify anyone, such as "most quiz takers want a long-term partner".

We don't make decisions about you that have legal or similarly serious effects based on automated processing. The quiz picks are suggestions built from your answers, and you're free to ignore them.

AI tools we use

Our articles are written with AI assistance, and a human editor edits and approves every one. Inside our admin tools, our editor uses Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic, for drafting help, checking articles, suggesting newsletter subject lines, and summarizing a submitted story so it can be checked against our story rules. That short summary is kept with your story while it's reviewed and deleted with it. Only our admin team can start these tools, and a person makes every decision about what gets published.

This means the text of a story you send may be processed by Anthropic. When a story is checked this way, we send its title and text, not your email address. Anthropic processes it for us under commercial terms that don't allow it to train its models on what we send. We don't use your story, your answers or your email address to train any AI model ourselves.

Datelyst and Spark Twice

Spark Twice is a matchmaking service run by Datelyst's parent company. Here is exactly what that means for your information.

• Separate databases. Datelyst keeps its reader data in its own database, apart from the matchmaking service's member data. Its member data doesn't come to Datelyst.
• Your answers stay here. Your email address, quiz answers and story are never handed to the matchmaking service.
• What travels in a link. When you click through to the matchmaking service, the link carries a tag saying the visit came from Datelyst, which page it came from and, if you came from a quiz result, that result's random ID. This lets us count how many applications Datelyst sends. The ID is never used to look up your answers.
• If you apply. Anything you give the matchmaking service when you apply is collected by it under its own privacy policy. Datelyst doesn't keep a list for it, and doesn't email you on its behalf.

Who we share information with

Companies that help us run Datelyst

These companies process information for us, under contracts that limit them to providing their service to us:

We also use SerpApi to find public singles events, and the US Census Bureau's address service to place those events on a map. They receive only search phrases, city names and event addresses, never information about you.

When something on Datelyst breaks, we keep a technical error report in our own database for 90 days. We remove email addresses, ZIP codes and IDs from it first.

Services you click through to

When you click a link to an app, site, matchmaker or event, you leave Datelyst. Some of our links go through an affiliate network, such as CJ Affiliate or FlexOffers. An affiliate network is a company that tracks referrals and pays commissions. The network and the service you visit can see that your visit came from Datelyst, and they may set their own cookies under their own privacy policies. We pass along our partner code. We never pass along your email address, name or quiz answers.

Sponsors

Sponsors receive totals only, such as how many people saw or clicked their placement. They never receive names, email addresses or quiz answers.

When the law requires it, or to protect people

We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that the law requires it (for example, a valid subpoena or court order), or that it's needed to protect someone's safety, investigate fraud or abuse, or protect our rights.

If the business changes hands

If Datelyst is sold, merged or reorganized, reader information may transfer to the new owner, who would have to keep using it in line with this policy. If they want to use it in a materially different way, they must tell you first.

With your permission

Your published story is public, because you've asked us to publish it. We'll only share your information in other ways if you've told us we can.

Selling and sharing

We don't sell personal information. We don't share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, meaning ads aimed at you based on what you do across different websites and apps. We have never done either. We don't give personal information to other companies for their own marketing.

Two things on Datelyst could look like sharing, so here's why they aren't:

• Analytics. PostHog works for us as a service provider. It records how Datelyst is used for our own purposes and isn't used to target ads.
• Affiliate links. When you choose to click a recommendation, you're deciding to visit that service. We pass our partner code so we can be credited. We don't pass your personal information.

Even so, we treat a Global Privacy Control signal as a request to opt out of sale and sharing, and we also switch analytics off when we see it. If we ever start anything that counts as selling or sharing, we'll update this policy first, add a "Do not sell or share my personal information" link, and honor opt-out signals for it.

Cookies and tracking signals

Our cookie notice lists the cookies and similar tools we use. Here's how we respond to browser signals:

• Do Not Track: we treat it as "no analytics" and don't load analytics.
• Global Privacy Control: we treat it as "no analytics" and as an opt-out of sale and sharing.

No other company is allowed to collect information on Datelyst about your activity across other websites over time.

How long we keep information

We keep information only as long as we need it for the reasons in this policy. These are our current periods:

Your rights and choices

Wherever you live in the US, you can:

• See and download your data. Use "Download my data" on your account page, or email us.
• Correct it. Change your preferences, situation and goal on your account page, or ask us to fix anything else.
• Delete it. Use "Delete my account" on your account page, or email us. Deleting your account removes your quiz answers, saved articles and unpublished stories. If you want a published story removed too, say so, or remove it from your account first.
• Stop marketing emails. Use the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or your email preferences page. It works at once.
• Change your analytics choice at any time with "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page.
• Withdraw a story at any time from your account or by emailing [email protected].

How to make a request

Use your account page, or email [email protected] from the address on your account and tell us what you'd like. To protect you, we confirm requests by sending a code to the email address we have for you. We won't ask for more information than we need.

We'll confirm we've received your request within 10 business days and answer within 45 days. If we need longer, we'll tell you why within those 45 days, and we can take up to 45 more.

You can ask someone else (an authorized agent) to make a request for you. We'll ask for your signed permission and may ask you to confirm the request yourself.

We won't treat you differently for using any of these rights.

If we say no

If we turn down all or part of a request, we'll explain why. You can appeal by replying with "Appeal" in the subject line. Someone who didn't make the first decision will review it, and we'll answer within 45 days. If you're still not satisfied, you can contact your state attorney general.

California residents

California law gives you the right to:

• know what personal information we collect, where it comes from, why we use it and who we disclose it to, and get a copy of it;
• delete it;
• correct it;
• opt out of its sale or sharing (we don't sell or share it);
• limit the use of sensitive personal information (we use sensitive information only for the purposes the law allows, as described in this policy, so there is nothing further to limit);
• not be discriminated against for using these rights.

Here is what we collect, in the categories California law uses:

We collect each category for the purposes in "How we use your information", and keep it for the periods in "How long we keep information". In the last 12 months we haven't sold or shared any of it, and we don't knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

Residents of other states

A growing number of states, including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas and Oregon, have their own privacy laws. They generally give you the right to access, correct and delete your personal information, to get a portable copy, and to opt out of targeted advertising, sale and certain kinds of profiling. Some also treat certain information, such as being the victim of a crime, as sensitive. We don't do targeted advertising, sales or that kind of profiling. Your answers about scams are optional, and we use them only to make your result safer. We give every reader the rights in this section, whatever state you live in, and we honor universal opt-out signals such as Global Privacy Control.

Children

Datelyst is for adults 18 and over. The quiz and the story form both ask you to confirm your age, and nobody under 18 may create an account, subscribe or send a story. If we learn we've collected information from someone under 18, we delete it. If you think that's happened, email [email protected].

How we protect your information

Datelyst runs over encrypted connections. Our database lets each reader see only their own information, and admin access needs a second sign-in step with an authenticator app. We don't store passwords at all: sign-in codes expire after 10 minutes and allow 5 tries. Story photos stay private until a story is published. Every change made in our admin is logged.

No system is perfectly secure. Because sign-in codes go to your email, please keep your email account protected. If a breach ever affects your information, we'll tell you as the law requires.

If you're outside the US

Datelyst is written for readers in the United States, and our service providers store and process information in the United States. If you use Datelyst from another country, your information will be handled in the US under this policy. You can still use the rights in this policy by emailing [email protected].

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll tell subscribers by email and put a notice on the site before it takes effect. We won't use information we've already collected in a materially new way without asking you first where the law requires it.

Contact

Email [email protected], or write to us at:

Spark Logic, 11133 Shady Trail PMB 322, Dallas, TX 75229