This Privacy Policy explains how Nearest, LLC, doing business as Nearest ("Nearest," "we," "us"), collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you use usenearest.com and the Nearest app (the "Service"), and the choices and rights you have.
The short version: we collect what we need to verify accounts, run bookings and payments, and keep people safe. We don't sell your personal information, we don't use it for targeted advertising, and we don't share phone numbers or emails between users.
1. Information we collect
Information you give us:
Account details: first and last name, date of birth, email address, optional mobile number, and password (passwords are handled by our sign-in provider, Clerk; we never see them).
Students: school, graduation year, optional interests and communication preferences (for example, text communication or ASL).
Professionals: business name, profile photo, bio, years of experience, services and prices, hours, city, ZIP code, service address, travel radius, languages and ASL level, portfolio photos, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Pinterest links, and license information (type, number, state and expiration), plus your optional Professional Protection answer (whether you already have insurance or are interested in coverage through a future Nearest insurance partner — we don't collect your insurer, policy or documents).
Partner shop buyers (people who buy a digital download or product from a Nearest Partner's page, with or without a Nearest account): name, email address, and — for products that ship — the shipping address, collected by our payment provider Stripe at checkout. We use them to deliver downloads, send receipts and shipping updates, and handle refunds. For products that ship, the seller sees the buyer's name and shipping address so they can ship the order; the seller never sees the buyer's email address or card details.
Supporters (educators who share a statement through an invitation): name, contact email, professional title, current or former school or organization, an optional portrait, their star rating and statements, what they reviewed, any relationship with Nearest, and their agreement to publish. Their statements, name, title, affiliation and photo are published after Nearest reviews them; the contact email is never published. Supporters can correct or withdraw their statement at any time with their private link, and a withdrawn statement is removed right away.
Professional interest: when a professional sends Nearest's interest form (from a link someone shared with them), or someone working with Nearest adds them as a prospect, we keep their name, business name, service, city, county and state, email, phone, social profile or website, where they were found and any message — used only to contact them about joining Nearest. It does not create an account. They can ask us to delete it or not contact them at any time.
Profiles set up by Nearest: with a professional's permission, someone working with Nearest can create their professional account and fill in their profile from details the professional gives them or has published (name, email, phone, business, services and prices, location, hours, photos and links). The account isn't visible to students until the professional opens the link we email them, creates their own password and accepts the Professional Terms. Until then they can ask us to change or delete it.
Verification: Students provide a school ID photo (or, if their school doesn't issue IDs, a proof-of-enrollment document) and a selfie for review; Professionals provide a photo of a government ID (driver's license or state ID) and a live selfie for review (see Section 3).
Connections: verified students get a username and can Connect with other verified students. Other students see only your first name, last initial and school. Students under 18 can be found by name only by students at their own school (anyone else needs your exact username). Only accepted connections can send you professionals, and you can remove a connection anytime.
Problem reports: if something in the app breaks, you can send an automatic report that includes the error details, the page, your device type and a screenshot of your screen at that moment. It goes only to Nearest support and is used only to fix the problem.
Bookings and activity: appointments, Model Calls, messages, reviews, ratings, the required check-in and result photos for each appointment, problem reports, requests for review, favorites and searches within the app.
Find by photo: if you upload an inspo photo to find a matching Professional, it is used only for that search — it is compared with Professionals' portfolio photos on our server and, for the closest ones, by our AI service provider — and then discarded. We don't store it or show it to anyone. We keep only a record that a search happened (time, the service picked, a short description of the look and how many matches were found). Professionals' portfolio photos are analyzed to make this matching work.
Payments: payment and payout details are collected and stored by Stripe. Nearest receives limited information such as the amount, date, card brand and last four digits, and payout status — never your full card or bank account number.
Information collected automatically:
Location: your device's precise location at the moment you check in or report a problem, and — only if you tap Near Me — your approximate location to show distances (see Section 5).
Device and usage information: IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, and similar technical logs used to run and secure the Service.
Cookies: essential cookies that keep you signed in and secure your session, and a Near Me cookie that stores a rounded location on your device for one day. We don't use advertising cookies.
2. How we use information
Create and manage accounts and verify Students and Professionals.
Show Professionals' profiles, availability, Model Calls and reviews to verified Students.
Process bookings, payments, holds, releases, credits, payouts, memberships and fines.
Confirm check-ins and review problem reports, disputes, no-shows and requests for review.
Send service messages: verification codes, confirmations, reminders, receipts and account notices.
Keep the Service safe: prevent fraud, abuse and violations of our Terms, and enforce account standing rules.
Understand and improve the Service, including which areas need more Professionals or Students (using search activity within the app).
Comply with law, taxes and accounting, and respond to lawful requests.
We don't use personal information for targeted advertising, and we don't make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you based solely on automated processing. Account-standing actions such as suspensions follow the published rules in our Terms and can always be reviewed by a person on request.
3. Verification photos and biometric information
Students: your school ID photo or proof-of-enrollment document and your selfie are stored privately and can be viewed only by Nearest reviewers to confirm your identity and school. Every view is logged. The photos are permanently deleted as soon as your review is finished (approved or sent back). They are never shown on your profile or to Professionals.
Professionals: Nearest staff compare a photo of your government ID (driver's license or state ID) with a live selfie to confirm you're a real person using your own name. The photos are stored privately, viewed only by authorized Nearest staff (each view is logged), and deleted as soon as the review is decided. We don't create face-recognition templates. This is identity verification, not a background check.
Nearest does not sell, lease or disclose biometric information, and uses verification photos only to verify identity.
4. What other users can see
Students see a Professional's business name, photo, portfolio, services and prices, city or distance, hours, languages, ASL level, ratings and reviews, Model Calls, same-day openings, and the social links the Professional added.
A Professional's street address is shown only to a Student with a confirmed booking, starting at 12:00 AM Central Time on the appointment day. For travel appointments, the Student's address is shown to the Professional on the same schedule.
Professionals see a booked Student's first name, last initial, verified-student status, communication preferences, and booking messages.
Reviews show the rating, text and date. Check-in and result photos are kept with the booking for Nearest's dispute reviews; a result photo appears on a Professional's portfolio only if the Student chooses Yes.
Phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, school ID photos and payment details are never shared between users.
5. Location
Nearest asks your device for location only when you choose an action that needs it:
Check-in and Report a problem: we compare your precise location at that moment with the appointment location and store that single reading (distance and accuracy) with the booking so disputes can be reviewed fairly.
Near Me: your device shares its location so we can show distances. A rounded location (about 100 meters) is kept in a cookie on your device for one day. Nearest does not store it.
We don't track your location in the background. You can turn off location access at any time in your device or browser settings; check-in and on-site reports won't work without it.
6. How we share information
We don't sell personal information. We share it only as follows:
Between users, as described in Section 4, to make bookings work.
Service providers who process data for us under contract and only to provide their services: Clerk (sign-in and account security), Stripe (payments, payouts and memberships), Neon (database hosting), Vercel (website hosting and photo storage), Resend (email delivery), and the U.S. Census Bureau's address lookup (to turn addresses into map coordinates for check-in; only the address is sent).
For safety and legal reasons: to comply with law or legal process, to protect the rights, property or safety of Nearest, our users or the public, and to investigate fraud or violations of our Terms.
Business changes: if Nearest is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, information may transfer as part of that transaction, subject to this Policy.
With your direction or consent.
7. Students under 18
Nearest is not intended for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If we learn we have, we will delete it.
Students aged 13 to 17 may use Nearest only with a parent's or legal guardian's permission. For these Students we collect only what's needed to verify school enrollment and run bookings, we never use their information for advertising, and we don't sell it.
Parents and guardians may ask to review the information we hold about their minor child, have it corrected or deleted, or close the account, by emailing hello@usenearest.com from a verifiable address. We may need to confirm your identity and relationship to the Student before acting.
8. How long we keep information
Student ID photos, proof-of-enrollment documents and selfies: deleted as soon as the review is finished.
Account and profile information: while your account is open, and for a limited period after closure to handle disputes, prevent fraud and meet legal requirements.
Bookings, payments, credits, fines and payout records: as long as needed for accounting, tax and legal requirements (generally up to seven years).
Messages, reviews, problem reports and check-in readings: while the account is open and afterwards as long as reasonably needed for safety, disputes and legal purposes.
Technical logs: for a limited period for security and troubleshooting.
9. How we protect information
We use encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls, private storage for verification photos, logged access to sensitive records, and reputable providers for sign-in, payments and hosting. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a security incident that affects your personal information, we'll notify you and regulators as required by law.
10. Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live — including under the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act — you have the right to:
confirm whether we process your personal data and access it;
correct inaccurate personal data;
delete personal data you provided or that we obtained about you;
get a copy of your personal data in a portable format; and
opt out of the sale of personal data, targeted advertising, and profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects. Nearest doesn't do any of these.
Nearest processes certain sensitive data — precise location at check-in, and (for minors) personal data of a known child — only with consent or, for minors, parental permission, and only for the purposes described above.
To make a request, email hello@usenearest.com from the email on your account (or have an authorized agent do so with proof of authorization). We'll respond within 45 days, and may extend once by 45 more days when reasonably necessary, telling you why. We won't discriminate against you for exercising your rights. Some information may need to be kept for legal or safety reasons (for example, payment records or an open dispute); we'll tell you if so.
If we decline your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision with "Appeal" in the subject line. We'll respond to appeals within 60 days. If your appeal is denied, you may contact the Texas Attorney General at texasattorneygeneral.gov.
11. Your choices
Update your profile, communication preferences and interests in the app at any time.
Turn location access on or off in your device settings.
Service emails (verification, bookings, reminders, receipts, account notices) are required to use Nearest. We don't send marketing emails without your consent, and any marketing email will include an unsubscribe link.
Ask us to close your account at hello@usenearest.com. Accounts with upcoming appointments or unpaid amounts must settle those first.
12. Links to other sites
Profiles may link to a Professional's Instagram or TikTok. Those sites are run by others and have their own privacy policies; we're not responsible for their practices.
13. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy. If a change is material, we'll notify you by email or in the app before it takes effect. The "Last updated" date shows when it last changed.