Privacy Policy

Last updated October 22, 2026

Who we are

OurNextCity (“OurNextCity”, “we”, “us”, “our”) helps two people privately compare and choose a city to live in together. We are the controller of the personal data described in this policy. The legal entity that operates OurNextCity and its registered address are set out in the “Contact” section below. If anything here is unclear, write to privacy@ournextcity.com and a real person will answer.

The short version

• We collect only what we need to run the service: your email, the answers you give, and basic billing status if you upgrade.
• Neither of you sees the other's answers while you are answering. Once you have both finished, you each see the merged shortlist and where your answers differed, including how much each of you weighted those factors and, where you chose differently, what each of you picked.
• We never sell or rent your data, and your answers are never shared with advertisers.
• In Europe, Google analytics and advertising cookies stay off unless you accept them, and you can change your mind at any time.
• You can ask us to export or delete your data at any time.

What we collect

Account information. When you sign in we store your email address and, if you use a social login, the basic profile details that provider returns (typically your name and email). Sign-in is passwordless, so we never store a password.

Your intake answers. We store the answers you give to the relocation questions, including the relative weight you place on each factor, the country you live in, your passport country, the country you want to stay near, and the household financial range you select. We use these to compute your match scores and the visa and residency notes shown in your results.

Project and partner details. A “project” is one relocation decision shared between two people. If you invite a partner, we store the email address you provide so we can send the invitation, plus the names you each choose to show. Your partner's own answers belong to them and follow this same policy.

An emailed link to your results. If you ask a locked results page to email you a link back to your results, we store that email address with your results, along with the time zone our host infers from your IP address, and use it for three emails only: the link, sent right away, one reminder about a day later, and one last offer (a lower price until midnight on the day it is sent, in your time zone) a day or two after that, unless you have unlocked your results or used the unsubscribe link in an earlier email. We use it for nothing else and add it to no list.

Billing information. If you buy the Couple Pass, payment is handled by Stripe, which also collects the email address for your receipt. We do not see or store your full card number; we keep only the Stripe payment references, the amount and currency, which project the pass unlocks, and whether it was refunded. We also keep the receipt email you gave Stripe so we can match a refund request or question to your purchase; we never use it to sign you in. For a subscription to our former Plus plan we keep a Stripe customer reference, its status, and the date the current period ends.

Technical and usage data. Like most sites, our servers receive standard request data such as your IP address and browser type. Our host uses your IP address to tell us which country you are in, which sets the currency you see and whether we ask for cookie consent. We measure usage in two ways:

• Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights, for everyone. They count page views and page speed in aggregate (page, referring site, country, device and browser type) without cookies and without storing anything on your device, and they cannot follow you across sites or from one day to the next.
• Google Analytics 4 with Consent Mode. If you accept, Google sets cookies that let us count returning visits and see which pages help, and, if we run Google Ads campaigns, measure which ads bring people here and show our ads to people who have visited before. Until you accept, or if you reject, Google stores nothing on your device and receives only cookieless signals (for example, that a page was viewed and what your consent choice is), which it may use to estimate totals. Visitors in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and the European micro-states are asked first; elsewhere these cookies are on by default and you can turn them off below. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store your IP address.

Cookies and similar technologies

We keep cookies to a minimum. The ones we use are:

• Sign-in. A secure session cookie that keeps you logged in, and, for anyone who starts or joins a project without an account, a signed cookie that links you to the right project. These are strictly necessary.
• Preferences. A small value that remembers your light or dark theme, and one that remembers if you asked your results to include cities in the country you live in, for a year.
• Your cookie choice. One cookie remembers whether you accepted or rejected Google cookies, for six months. Another, which lasts until you close your browser, notes whether your location means we must ask. Both are strictly necessary.
• Google analytics and advertising. Google Analytics sets its cookies (named _ga and _ga_ followed by our property id, kept for up to two years) only when Google cookies are allowed, as described above. If you reject them later, we delete these cookies.

You can accept, reject, or withdraw consent for Google cookies at any time: Change your cookie choice.

How we use your data

• To run the service: build your shortlist and merge it with your partner's once you both finish.
• To send transactional email: magic sign-in links, partner invitations, nudges, the “results are ready” note, and the link back to your results you ask for, its one reminder and one last offer.
• To take payment for the Couple Pass, process refunds, and manage any earlier Plus subscription.
• To keep the service secure, prevent abuse, and meet our legal obligations.
• To understand, in aggregate, which parts of the product help and which confuse, so we can improve them.

Our legal bases

Where the GDPR or similar laws apply, we rely on these bases: performance of our contract with you (to provide the service and billing); your consent (for Google analytics and advertising cookies, which you can withdraw at any time); our legitimate interests (to keep the service secure and to improve it, balanced against your rights); and compliance with legal obligations (such as keeping tax records).

Who we share it with

We do not sell your data. We share it only with the service providers that help us run OurNextCity, each acting on our instructions under a data processing agreement:

• Vercel for hosting, Web Analytics, and Speed Insights (privacy policy).
• MongoDB Atlas for the database that stores your account, answers, and projects.
• Stripe for payment processing and refunds (privacy policy).
• Resend for sending transactional email (privacy policy).
• Sign-in providers you choose to use, namely Google, Facebook, X, or Apple.
• Google (Analytics and Ads) for usage analytics and ad measurement, within your cookie choice (how Google uses this data).

City photography is served through Unsplash, but those requests are made by our servers and do not include any information about you. We may also disclose data if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety, and security of OurNextCity and its users.

What your partner can and cannot see

This is the heart of how OurNextCity works. While either of you is still answering, neither of you can see the other's answers. Once you have both finished, we show each of you the same merged shortlist and where your answers differed. For each factor where you differ, you both see how much each of you said it matters and, where you picked different options, the option each of you chose. Each city's page shows how well that city suits each of you on the factors where it divides you and, if you named different home countries, how far it is from each home. The list of cities that are not realistic for you can name the passport that makes residency hardest and the stricter of your two tax limits, and the household budget range entered for the project is shown to you both. The names and email addresses you each provide are visible within the shared project so you know who you are deciding with.

International transfers

Some of our providers may process data outside your country, including in the United States. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and answers for as long as your account is active so you can return to your results. If you delete your account, we delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we must keep limited records to meet legal, tax, or security obligations. Webhook and billing records are retained as required by law.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have some or all of these rights: to access the data we hold about you; to correct it; to delete it; to restrict or object to how we use it; to receive a portable copy; and to withdraw consent at any time. To exercise any of these, email privacy@ournextcity.com. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

Security

We protect your data with encryption in transit, scoped access controls, signature-verified billing webhooks, and passwordless sign-in so there is no password to leak. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to keep the risk low and to respond quickly if something goes wrong.

Children

OurNextCity is intended for adults. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us their data, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the product evolves. When we make a material change, we will update the date above and, where appropriate, let you know by email or in the app.

Contact

For any privacy question or request, email privacy@ournextcity.com, or write to us at our general address: hello@ournextcity.com. OurNextCity is operated by Outgrow FZE, 8th Floor, The Offices 4, One Central, Dubai World Trade Center, United Arab Emirates.