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Mobile app privacy

Aura app privacy policy.

This policy describes the Aura iOS and Android applications operated by ParaThoughtLabs LLC. It identifies the data categories Aura processes, why they are used, who receives them, how long they are retained, and the controls available to users.

Updated October 28, 2026

Current service boundary

Aura is an adult-only service. Aura has no paid subscription, premium feature tier, or advertising product. Real-money ticket purchases and organizer payouts remain disabled. Owner-authorized alpha testing uses Stripe sandbox transactions with test payment details. Aura does not sell personal data or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Ticket payments and the free app

Event artwork may load directly from Ticketmaster's image servers for its associated listing. That provider receives the network information needed to deliver the image, such as an IP address. Aura's event-artwork requests do not send Aura account credentials or set image-provider cookies, and these images are not used as Aura advertising. Source credits and links identify promotional artwork separately from representative stock photos.

Every Aura app feature is available without a consumer subscription. Aura does not serve third-party advertising. The intended revenue source is a disclosed platform fee on paid event tickets, similar to other event-ticket marketplaces.

Aura uses Stripe’s native payment and Connect components for authorized sandbox testing. Legacy ticket orders can continue through Stripe-hosted Checkout. Real-money ticket commerce requires a separate release review. Stripe may process transaction identifiers, payment status, fraud and security signals, payment-component interaction data, and the payment and organizer information described in its notice. Payment, bank and verification inputs are handled by Stripe components; Aura receives the identifiers and status needed to manage tickets and payouts. Aura will not store card numbers or security codes in its mobile apps.

When you buy a ticket, Aura keeps an order record (the event, number of tickets, ticket price, Aura fee, payment processing, total, status and dates) and links it to your account so you can see and use your tickets. Card details are entered into Stripe’s payment form and are not stored by Aura. Hosts who sell tickets give payout and tax information to Stripe.

Data Aura is designed to process

  • Account and profile: name, age confirmation, email or provider identifier, photo, biography, interests, education, work, social links, settings, verification state, friends, blocks, and free profile follows.
  • Optional mutual contact matching: after a user chooses Find friends from contacts and grants the operating-system permission, Aura normalizes email addresses and phone numbers on the device and sends only bounded one-way hashes to the authenticated AWS service. Contact names and raw address-book values are not uploaded. Aura reveals a match only when both members' recent address-book snapshots contain one another, applies an account-level request limit, expires stale snapshots, and keeps a separate default-off choice for whether the user's verified account email or phone can participate in matching.
  • Events and user content: event details, invitations, attendance, groups, messages, reactions, polls, reviews, reports, photos, videos, memories, and selected audiences.
  • Location: a selected city and, only after a separate runtime choice, precise or approximate device or live location for nearby discovery, maps, and permissioned sharing.
  • Device and operations: app version, device and operating-system information, IP address, security events, crash and performance diagnostics, notification token, and service logs needed to protect and operate Aura.
  • Safety and support: reports, blocked identifiers, moderation decisions, appeals, support correspondence, and evidence required to investigate abuse.

Do not place passwords, government identifiers, medical records, card numbers, or other unnecessary sensitive data in messages or events.

Purposes and sharing

When provider media features are enabled, Aura uses KLIPY for GIF, Clip and Sticker search, preview and playback. Direct client requests send search terms, selected media references, a random account-scoped pseudonymous customer identifier and ordinary network/device request information to KLIPY. This identifier is not anonymous. Aura does not send KLIPY Aura access tokens, private message text, friends/group membership, contact-book data or precise location coordinates. Media is delivered directly by KLIPY; Aura stores minimal message references rather than a copied provider catalog or media library. Clips start muted and need an explicit action for sound. KLIPY ads are disabled for this migration, and unrated Clips remain restricted to approved adult Test QA. The emoji picker is bundled locally and does not contact an emoji service. See KLIPY’s privacy policy.

Aura uses data to authenticate users; provide discovery, messaging, events, maps, planning, profile follows, and memories; apply privacy audiences; prevent fraud and abuse; provide support; comply with law; and maintain service reliability. Aura does not sell personal data or use it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Data may be shared with the people and audiences a user selects, event or group participants, and contracted infrastructure, identity, map, media, email, support, moderation, security, and app-store providers only as necessary for their services. Current provider categories include Amazon Web Services and Amazon Cognito, Apple and Google platform services, map providers selected by the operating system, Vercel, Resend, and the social sign-in provider a user chooses. Stripe provides enabled ticket-payment and optional identity-verification services. Alpha verification uses Stripe sandbox test outcomes; live processing requires its separate release review. Provider access is limited by contract and configuration to the service being performed.

When message notifications are enabled, Apple Push Notification service or Google Firebase Cloud Messaging receives the destination notification token, sender display name, a shortened message preview, and routing identifiers needed to open the conversation. Notifications are subject to your app preferences and device notification settings. You can hide previews on the lock screen or disable notifications in your device settings. Other people with access to an unlocked device may see permitted previews. Notification transport does not provide end-to-end encryption of Aura conversations.

A saved Home place is optional and private. Aura retains its coordinates until you remove that Home place or delete your account. Permitted story viewers receive only a generic Home label, with no Home address, coordinates, or public Home pin. Your separate live-location audience still applies to live sharing. Story location labels are optional: Aura may suggest a public place near a device location you have allowed Aura to use, processing that point transiently to find a nearby place. A shared nearby label contains the public place and an approximate distance, not the poster’s precise GPS point. An RSVP does not publish presence; event context requires an explicit “I’m here” check-in.

Control, retention, and deletion

Users can control profile, friends, event-history, attendee, and live-location audiences; stop live sharing; block people; and report profiles, events, or conversations. Runtime permissions can be denied or revoked in iOS or Android settings without losing unrelated features. Public events can allow reviews; private events do not publish reviews.

  • Account data and user content remain while the account or content is active and are erased after verified account or content deletion, subject to a documented legal or safety hold.
  • Notifications expire after 90 days. Aura does not store Stripe identity documents, selfies, document numbers or biometric templates. Aura requests provider-evidence redaction after 30 days or an earlier removal/account-deletion request. Limited consent, status and review records are retained while needed for an active badge, support or a documented legal obligation; see the identity section below.
  • Reports, moderation decisions, and appeals are retained for up to 730 days unless a shorter period is appropriate or a documented legal or safety hold applies.
  • Production application and security logs are retained for up to 365 days and test logs for 30 days. Logs must not contain message bodies, precise location, credentials, access tokens, or verification evidence.
  • Short-lived records expire automatically: stories 1 to 14 days (story media 2 days), chat context 2 to 30 days, sign-in sessions and challenges within 30 days, sign-in method history about 90 days, product feedback and calendar receipts 90 days, push and device tokens 135 to 180 days after their last refresh, and de-identified analytics keys about 400 days.
  • AWS account audit history (who changed Aura’s cloud resources) is kept for 7 years. It does not contain application data such as messages or profiles.
  • DynamoDB recovery points use the provider’s rolling window of no more than 35 days. Deleted or replaced media versions expire within 90 days in production and 30 days in test.

Users can initiate account and associated-data deletion in Profile or at the public account deletion page. See Privacy Choices for access, correction, portability, consent withdrawal, limitation, and appeal requests.

We keep order records for 7 years after the year of purchase to meet tax, accounting and dispute obligations. If you delete your account, we delete your ticket history from your profile and, after 180 days following the event, remove your account identifier from the order record. The de-identified order stays for the remaining period. Ticket check-in records are deleted 180 days after the event.

Location, verification, and sensitive information

Aura offers manual city selection when device location is unavailable. Precise or live location is optional, requires a separate permission and feature choice, is limited to the selected audience, and can be stopped at any time. Aura does not request background-location permission.

Identity evidence is processed by Stripe as described below. Authorized reviewers may view relevant evidence inside Stripe for a requested review; Aura’s backend does not request expanded reports or download verification images. Fitness and wellness interests are used as discovery preferences; Aura does not infer a diagnosis, sell consumer health data, or integrate health records.

Sign-in and optional device authentication

Aura supports email/password and configured provider sign-in. Passkeys, authenticator protection and local biometric or device-passcode unlocking are optional for ordinary accounts. Stronger server-verified authentication is required for sensitive operations. Your operating system handles Face ID, Touch ID, Android biometrics and device passcodes; Aura does not receive or store biometric templates. Sign-in security is separate from Stripe Identity verification.

Security, age, and contact

Aura uses HTTPS-only transport, least-privilege access, protected release signing, server-side authorization, and encrypted provider storage as production requirements. No system can guarantee absolute security. Aura is for adults age 18 and older, does not offer child profiles, and follows its child safety standards.

For access, correction, deletion, portability, consent withdrawal, limitation, appeal, or privacy questions, use Privacy Choices or contact privacy@parathoughtlabs.com. Identity verification may be required. Applicable users may also complain to their privacy regulator.