Location Privacy
How Velvet uses your location — and how you stay in control.
Velvet is designed to help you connect with people nearby or across countries — while always protecting your privacy.
Your exact location is never shared.
Velvet uses your location in three separate areas:
1. Profile
Shows your city and country (e.g. Basel, Switzerland).
Never your exact address or coordinates.
2. Map & ListView (Nearby Section)
You appear as:
• A 1 km–accuracy location bubble
The bubble is shifted randomly within a small radius.
Your exact house, street or coordinate is never shown.
• Distance in ListView
Distance appears rounded (e.g. “2 km”, “15 km”).
Never exact decimals (not 13.1 km etc.).
This keeps everything safe and non-precise — like industry standards.
3. Explore (Country Discovery)
How you appear depends on the filter:
All Countries:
You appear with your country flag, no distance, no location.Single Country selected (e.g. Switzerland):
You appear with rounded distance (e.g. “22 km”).
Explore is not for exact location — it’s for discovering people across countries.
Who can see Me on Velvet?
On Map & ListView
Only people within your chosen distance range (e.g. up to 300 km) can see you.
On Explore
Anyone applying the same filters (Country / Age / Gender) can see your profile card.
On Pins (VelvetVibe)
If you post a Pin:
Everyone who sees that Pin (based on their filters) can tap your profile and add you.
In Groups
Members can see each other's profile card in the member list.
Your exact location is NEVER visible anywhere.
How to Control your Visibility
Velvet gives you two levels of control:
A) Full Privacy — Ghost Mode
If you want to browse quietly or prefer full privacy:
Ghost Mode hides you from:
Map
ListView
Explore
Distance lists
Online status
You can still:
Use the entire app
Chat
Join groups
Post Pins
Add or accept friends
Exception:
If YOU choose to post a Pin or join a Group, people may still see your profile card, because you publicly participated — but your location remains hidden.
B) Turn off location permissions
If you disable location in your phone settings:
Map & ListView will not work
Explore still works (country-level only)
You remain visible only where no distance is required
This is your choice — Velvet works with or without precise location.
How Velvet protects your location
Velvet never stores:
Movement history
Exact GPS logs
Past locations
Your location is processed only in real time, only to determine approximate distance.
Velvet never shows:
Your exact position
Your home
Your street
A precise pin
Real-time tracking
Why Velvet uses location
Location makes it possible to:
See who is nearby
Filter by distance
Use Boosts to appear at the top of distance-based lists
Connect with people in the same region
But always with:
✔️ 1 km accuracy
✔️ Random offset
✔️ No exact pinpoint
Privacy > precision — always.
Worrying about being seen by the Map?
Many people prefer not to appear on a map — that’s completely normal.
That’s why Velvet created Ghost Mode:
✨ For anyone who values privacy
✨ For users who want to browse quietly
✨ For people who don’t want to be shown by distance
Ghost Mode =
You’re completely hidden from all location-based lists — simple, safe, effective.
(Full details in the Ghost Mode section.)
Location permissions
Location Permissions (Precise vs Approximate)
When the app asks for location access, your phone may offer two options:
Precise Location
Gives Velvet a more accurate GPS point from your device,
BUT Velvet will never show your exact position.
Your privacy is still fully protected:
You appear only as a randomised location bubble
Distance is shown rounded
Your exact address or coordinates are never used or displayed
Recommendation: Best accuracy for distance-based features.
Approximate Location
Your phone provides a blurred location radius (often 3–10 km).
Velvet still works, but distances may be less accurate.
You will still appear:
on Map (random bubble)
on ListView (rounded distance)
on Explore (distance or flag depending on filters)
Location Denied
If you deny all location permissions:
Map and ListView will not work
You will only appear in Explore (country view)
Boost works only in Explore
You can still use Ghost Mode normally
What location Velvet shows
