The best way to understand all of this is to see it. Take a look at our example profile, where you can view a complete sample card and switch between the protected view (what a recipient sees) and a plain view, so you can watch the protections work for yourself.
Your information is encrypted
Encryption scrambles your information so that, even if someone got hold of it, they could not read it. Your profile details, references, link notes, and photos are encrypted while they are stored, and everything travels between your device and us over a secure (HTTPS) connection. Videos are encrypted with copy protection and streamed through our video-hosting provider.
We collect as little as possible
We only ask for what we need, and we keep less than you might expect:
- A birth year is enough. A full birth date is optional, and if you add one it is stored encrypted, like the rest of your card.
- Our systems keep only a scrambled (hashed) form of internet (IP) addresses, never the raw address, and the app never uses your device's location. Our network and video-hosting providers see IP addresses as an ordinary part of delivering the service.
- We use no advertising or behavioral-analytics trackers, and we never sell your information. Limited anonymous crash reports may be sent to our error-reporting provider to improve stability, never your profile or photos.
- Our internal tools show our team only anonymous IDs, never your name, photos, or profile. Only the few engineers who run the system hold the keys that can decrypt your information.
You decide who sees your profile
You share your profile through private links that you create and control. Each link has a long, random web address that cannot be guessed, and it shows only the information and photos you have allowed, and nothing more. For every link, you can:
- add a PIN, so only someone with the code can open it (we store the PIN scrambled, never in plain text);
- set it to expire automatically on a date you choose;
- turn it off (revoke it) at any moment; and
- rely on every link being marked so that Google and other search engines are told not to list it.
Your video gets extra protection
If you share your profile as a video, it has additional safeguards:
- Protected against saving and recording. We use the same kind of copy protection that major streaming services rely on, so the video can't simply be downloaded, and on supported devices and browsers screenshots and screen recordings come out black. No protection is perfect: someone could still photograph the screen with another device.
- Every viewing is checked. Each time someone presses play, and whenever the video's playback license renews, we confirm the link is still valid. Once you revoke a link or it expires, the video will not start, and one already playing stops when its short playback license runs out.
- A traceable watermark. Each video carries a faint watermark in one corner with a code for the exact link it was shared through, so if a copy ever got out, it can be traced to that link. Someone determined could crop it out.
(Sample videos on our example page don't contain anyone's real information, so they aren't locked down.)
Locked down behind the scenes
There is a lot of work you never see that keeps everything safe:
- When you upload a photo, we automatically remove the hidden data phones attach to images, such as the location where the photo was taken.
- The database and file storage that hold your information can't be reached from the public internet.
- Your data is backed up regularly, and every week we automatically test that we can restore it.
You're in control of your information
Your information belongs to you. You can edit or delete your profile, or your entire account, at any time from Settings. Deleting removes your information from our live systems and takes down your photos, videos, and links; leftover copies in our backups are cleared on our normal backup schedule. Your Jewgo sign-in is separate and is not deleted, because you may use it in other Jewgo products. You can also ask to see a copy of your information or have it corrected. We are built to respect privacy laws such as the GDPR and CCPA.
One honest note about sharing
We will always be straight with you. Your videos are protected against downloading and, on supported devices, recording, and revoking or expiring a link blocks new views right away. Photos and the words on your profile are different: once you share them, anyone who can see them could take a screenshot, save them, or even photograph the screen with another phone, and no app anywhere can fully prevent that. (That is also why your videos are watermarked.)
So the simplest advice: share what you are comfortable being seen, with people you trust.
Our ongoing commitment
We take this seriously and keep improving. We are actively working toward independent security reviews and certifications (such as SOC 2), and we will share those milestones as we reach them. We will never claim a certification we do not actually hold.
If you ever notice a security problem, please tell us at support@jewgo.app. We will look into it right away.