Privacy policy

Last updated 20 September 2026

Motive shows students every society event at their uni and which of their friends are going. This policy covers the Motive app and this website, including signing up for an event here as a guest.

Who we are

Motive is run by Alexander Ess, a sole trader in the United Kingdom ("we", "us"). We decide how your personal data is used, which makes us the controller under UK data protection law. For anything about your data, email hello@getmotive.uk.

What we collect

If you use the app

• Your uni email address. You sign in with it, and it shows you're a student.
• Your profile: photo, first name, degree level (Bachelors, Masters or PhD) and course.
• Societies: the ones you follow, ask to join and belong to, and your role in them. If you register a society, we also keep its name, description, logo, category and links, and your committee role.
• Events: the ones you sign up for or join the waitlist of, when you checked in, and whether you've chosen to show or hide each one from your friends. If you run a society, we also keep the events you publish.
• Friends: who you've added by scanning codes. Friend codes are random and replaced every few minutes.
• Safety: who you've blocked, and anything you report, with the reason you chose.
• Technical data: our database provider logs sign-ins and requests, including IP addresses and device details, to keep the service secure. The app keeps you signed in with a token stored on your phone.

The app uses your camera only to scan door codes and friend codes, and to take a profile photo when you choose to. Photos from your library are uploaded only when you pick one. We don't track your location, and we don't use analytics, advertising or tracking tools.

If you sign up for an event as a guest

On an event's web page you give your first and last name, your year, your course and your email address. We email you a six-digit code to confirm the address, and your browser keeps a token so you can come back and drop out. To stop abuse, we keep the IP address the code was requested from for a day, and Cloudflare Turnstile checks that a person is filling in the form. On an event that can say something about your religion, politics or background, you also tick a box to give your consent (below).

Religion, politics and background

Some societies can say something about your religion, political opinions or ethnic background, for example a faith society or a political one. UK law calls this special category data, and we treat it with extra care:

• The first time you follow, join or register one of these societies, or sign up for one of their events or an event marked as sensitive, the app asks for your explicit consent. You can also give it with the switch in Edit profile. We record when you gave it, and it's the legal basis we rely on for this data. Without it, Motive doesn't let you do any of these.
• Guests give their consent with a tick box on the event's page, and we record when.
• Your friends don't see these societies or events unless you choose to show them.
• You can withdraw your consent at any time by turning the switch off in Edit profile. We then delete your follows, memberships and sign-ups for these societies and events straight away. Withdrawing doesn't affect what we did before.

Who sees what

• Other members see your profile: photo, first name, degree level and course. They don't see it if either of you has blocked the other. Members see how many people are going to an event, but not who, except for their friends.
• Your friends see the societies you're in and follow on your profile, and that you're going to an event when they look at it, unless you hide them. Sensitive societies and events stay hidden until you choose to show them.
• A society's admins (students on its committee) see its members and join requests, everyone signed up for its events, guests included, and who checked in. They can export an event's list, with names, emails, courses and years, as a spreadsheet to run the event. Once exported, that copy is the society's responsibility.
• Motive staff see society applications, including the applicant's email, and reports.
• Anyone can see an event's public web page: its details and how many are going, never who. Members-only events have no public page.

We never sell your data, and we don't share it with advertisers.

Why we use it, and our legal basis

• To run Motive for you: your account, profile, societies, events, friends, guest sign-ups and the emails with your codes. This is necessary to provide the service you asked for (contract).
• To keep Motive safe: blocking, reports, removing accounts that break our Terms, limits on how many codes can be sent, and security logs. This is in our and our members' legitimate interests.
• Religion, politics and background: your explicit consent, as described above.
• When the law requires it: legal obligation.

We don't make decisions about you by automated means that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Companies that process data for us

• Supabase hosts our database, sign-in and photo storage, in London.
• Resend sends our emails, such as sign-in and guest codes.
• Cloudflare hosts this website and runs Turnstile, which checks that a person is filling in the guest form.
• Apple distributes the app and provides the maps in it on iPhone.

They only process data on our instructions, under data processing agreements. Supabase, Resend and Cloudflare are companies based in the United States, so data may be processed outside the UK, for example when their staff provide support. Where that happens, the transfer is protected by the UK-US data bridge, the UK's International Data Transfer Addendum or an equivalent safeguard.

How long we keep it

• Your account: until you delete it from the You tab. That deletes your profile, photos, friends, memberships, sign-ups and blocks straight away. When you change your photo, the old one is deleted. Deleted data may stay in our provider's routine backups for up to 7 days, until they're overwritten.
• Accounts that were never used: asking for a sign-in code creates an account. If the code is never used, we delete the account after a week.
• Guest sign-ups: we erase your name, email, course and year 90 days after the event. Your spot stays in the event's numbers without them. You can drop out before the event, and ask us to delete your details sooner. If you join Motive with the same email and confirm it, your spots move to your account. Confirmation codes expire after 10 minutes, and we delete them, with the IP address, after a day.
• Reports: while the account they're about exists, and for a year after it's deleted, so a removed person can't wipe the record by joining again. Reports about an event or a society go when it does.
• Removed accounts: if we remove an account for breaking our Terms, we keep a one-way hash of its email address, so it can't be used to sign up again.

Age

Motive is for people aged 16 or over. If we learn that someone under 16 has an account or has signed up as a guest, we delete their details.

Some students at uni are 16 or 17, so Motive gives everyone the same protective settings rather than a separate set for adults: your friends only see what you choose to show, sensitive societies and events are hidden from them unless you show them, we don't track your location, and we don't use advertising, analytics or profiling.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• get a copy of your personal data
• have it corrected (you can edit your profile in the app)
• have it deleted (you can delete your account in the app)
• restrict or object to how we use it
• have it moved to another service
• withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting what we did before

Email hello@getmotive.uk to use any of these. We reply within one month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. We'd appreciate the chance to put it right first.

Cookies and storage

The app stores your sign-in on your phone. This website stores a token in your browser only after you sign up for an event, so you can manage your spot. Cloudflare Turnstile may set a cookie that's needed to check the form is being filled in by a person. We don't use advertising or analytics cookies.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top, and we'll tell you in the app if the change is significant.