The short version
House by Blum & Co. is a private place for you and your people, with two separate clubs: the Men’s Club and the Women’s Club. We collect only what we need to run your club. We don’t sell your data, we don’t show ads, and we don’t track you across other companies’ apps or websites. The two clubs are kept apart: each has its own server, its own members and its own feed. The only thing that crosses between them is a private chat that two people choose to open with each other by private invite (see “Private messages across the clubs”).
This policy covers the House by Blum & Co. app for iPhone and iPad (the “App”), our website at housebyblum.com, and, for the Men’s Club, the Old Boyz Club app for Android and the website at app.oldboyzclub.com (together, the “Services”). The Services are operated by Blum & Co., LLC (“we”, “us”).
Two clubs, two separate servers
- You choose a club before you sign in. The club you choose is stored on your device and in that club’s database. Choosing a club tells us which club you are joining (the Men’s Club or the Women’s Club); we do not ask for any other information about your gender.
- Each club is its own account. The Men’s Club (the Old Boyz Club community) and the Women’s Club (the Young Galz Club community) each run on their own database, sign-in and file storage. If you sign in to both clubs, even with the same Apple ID, you have two separate accounts, and one club’s members cannot see your account in the other club.
- Feeds are not shared. Posts, stories, rooms, circles, member lists and profiles in one club are shown only to members of that club.
- One company runs both. Both clubs are operated by Blum & Co., LLC. Our admin team uses one set of admin tools to look after both clubs (for example, to review reports and manage memberships).
What we collect
- Account and user ID: the identifier from the sign-in method you use (Sign in with Apple; in the Men’s Club on Android and the web, also Google) and, if you choose to share it, the email address (or Apple’s private relay address) that provider gives us. We create an internal user ID for each club account. If you connect more than one sign-in method to one club account, we link them to that account.
- Profile: name, date of birth (used to confirm you’re 18 or older and to show your age; your date of birth itself is private), city (and, in the Men’s Club, chapter and occupation), bio, website link if you add one, profile photo, and your member number in your club.
- Profile photo check on your device: when you choose a profile photo, the App looks for a face in the photo on your device, only to suggest how to crop it. No face data, measurements or templates are stored or sent to us. Whether a photo shows your face is checked by people on our team, not by software.
- Content: posts, comments, stories, photos, videos, audio (voice notes and audio files), files, messages in one-to-one chats and circles, rooms, reactions (such as fist bumps), polls and votes, and the people you tag. In the Men’s Club also meetup RSVPs, meetups you host, and Redacted posts.
- Private messages across the clubs (Keys): if you use them, the invites (keys) you hand over, accept or take back, and the messages and media in those chats (see below).
- Safety records: reports you file, members you block or mute, warnings, and removal notices.
- Location (coarse): the city or zip code you type for your profile or chapter, and a place name only when you choose to tag a place on a story or find places near you. Your device location is used for that search when you ask for it, and is not tracked in the background.
- Purchases: your membership status in each club. Memberships bought in the App are processed by Apple and managed by RevenueCat. In the Men’s Club, a membership can also be bought through Google Play on Android or on the website through Stripe. We never see or store your full card number.
- Store orders (Men’s Club only): name, shipping address, phone number and email that you provide at checkout in the House Store through Apple Pay or Google Pay.
- Device and technical data: a push-notification token if you allow notifications, and standard technical logs such as IP address, device or browser type and timestamps that our hosting and database providers record when you use the Services.
- Invitation requests on housebyblum.com: if you request an invitation, the club you chose, your name, your email address and, if you add it, who invited you.
- Cookies and similar storage: housebyblum.com sets no cookies. The Men’s Club website (app.oldboyzclub.com) uses a cookie that keeps you signed in and your browser’s local storage to remember your choices on that device. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
How we use it
To run each club, show your profile and content to the members of your club, deliver messages and notifications, process memberships and orders, keep both clubs safe, enforce our rules, send you the invitation you asked for, and respond to support requests. We do not use your content to train advertising or AI models, and we do not sell or rent your information.
Who sees what
- Your club: your profile, your posts in The Club feed and rooms, and your stories are visible to active members of your club only. Stories disappear after 24 hours. When you send a photo or video with Send To, only the people you chose see it.
- The other club: sees nothing from your club, apart from a private chat you open with one of its members, and only that member sees it.
- Messages: one-to-one and circle messages are visible only to the people in that chat or circle. Our admin tools do not display them; we may access or disclose them only if required by law, or to the extent you or another member sends them to us in a report.
- Redacted posts (Men’s Club): hide your name and chapter from other members. We keep a private record of who wrote them so you can manage your own Redacted posts and so we can enforce our rules and meet legal obligations.
- Blocked members can’t see you.
Private messages across the clubs (Keys)
A member of one club can open a private one-to-one chat with one member of the other club, by private invite only. We call the invite a key. There is no directory and no search: nobody in the other club can find you.
- A key exists only when one person hands it over (in person or by text) and the other person accepts it. Either person can take it back at any time.
- The person who first opens a key code you hand over (also if the code was passed on to them) sees your name, profile photo, your club and your member number before deciding. You are told that your code was opened, but not by whom, and you can cancel it.
- Once a key is accepted, only the two of you see the chat: the other person sees those same details, the messages and media you send in that chat, and whether your membership currently lets you reply. Nothing else is shared: not your club’s feed, rooms, circles, stories, member list or the rest of your profile.
- Key chats are held by Blum & Co., LLC in a service that is separate from the databases of both clubs.
- You can hold up to five keys at a time, and accept at most ten keys in any 12 months.
- When a key is taken back or a person is blocked, the chat is closed at once and its messages and files are erased after 14 days. A photo, video or voice message that was already open on the other person’s device at that moment can stay viewable there for up to five minutes.
- If you report a key chat, a copy of the reported message, or of up to the last 20 messages the other person sent in that chat, goes to the Keys desk at Blum & Co., LLC, together with both people’s names, member numbers and profile photos. The Keys desk is the owner of Blum & Co., LLC and one person the owner names; only they hold the access key to the Keys service, and each report they open is logged. Report copies are kept while the report is open (at most 90 days) and for 30 days after it is closed, also if either person deletes their account in the meantime.
- When you delete your account, your keys, your key messages and files, and your identity in the Keys service are erased at once, except copies held in reports as described above. If you stop using keys, your identity in the Keys service (name, member number and photo) is erased after 180 days without use, or 60 days after your membership lapses. If you blocked someone or were blocked, only a bare identifier without your name, number or photo is kept, so that the block keeps working.
Photos, videos and stories
Photos, videos and voice messages you post or send are stored in your club’s file storage (key chat media in the Keys service). Stories are removed from view after 24 hours. Media in chats may be made smaller on your device before it is sent. You can save your own stories to your device. Other members can see what you show them and could, against our rules, copy it; please only share what you are comfortable sharing.
Notifications and Focus status
If you allow notifications, we store a push token for your device and send notifications through Apple Push Notification service (and, for the Men’s Club on Android, Firebase Cloud Messaging). Message notifications can show the sender’s name, photo and the start of the message, including for key chats; you can change this in your device’s notification settings. Notification pictures are kept on your device for up to 24 hours.
If you use Focus or Do Not Disturb, the App can show members you have written to one-to-one that you have notifications silenced (on iPhone, your device asks your permission once). Only that fact is shared, never which Focus you use. It expires after 12 hours unless your device reports it again. You can turn it off in Settings → Notifications, which also deletes what was stored.
Link previews and outside content
When a link is shared in a message or post, a preview (such as the page title and picture) is loaded for the card. The website behind the link may see that request under its own privacy policy. When you open a post from X or a video from YouTube inside the App, that content is loaded directly from X or YouTube, which may collect information such as your IP address under their own privacy policies.
Memberships and payments
Each club has its own yearly membership. In the App, memberships are sold and billed by Apple through your Apple Account; Apple tells us (through RevenueCat) whether your membership is active. In the Men’s Club, memberships bought on Android are billed by Google Play, and on the website by Stripe. House Store orders (Men’s Club) are paid with Apple Pay or Google Pay and processed by Stripe; shipping labels are made with Shippo. We never see or store your full card number.
Requesting an invitation on housebyblum.com
The invitation form on housebyblum.com is handled by Netlify Forms, part of our website host. It collects the club you chose, your name, your email address and, if you add it, who invited you. We use it only to review your request and send your invitation, never for marketing lists. We keep a request until we send your invitation or you ask us to delete it. The site loads its fonts from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address when the page loads.
Who we share with
Service providers that help us operate, who may only use your data to provide their service to us: Supabase (databases, sign-in and file storage for each club and for the Keys service), Netlify (website hosting and the invitation form), Apple (Sign in with Apple, memberships, push notifications, Apple Pay), Google (for the Men’s Club: Google sign-in, Google Play memberships, Google Pay and Firebase Cloud Messaging; and Google Fonts on our websites), RevenueCat (membership management), Stripe (Men’s Club website payments and store orders), Shippo (shipping labels), and Sentry (error monitoring on the Men’s Club website: it receives technical error reports and an anonymous member ID, never your name or email). We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect someone’s safety. If Blum & Co., LLC is involved in a merger or sale, your information may be transferred as part of it, under this policy.
Where your data is stored
The databases and files of both clubs and of the Keys service are stored with Supabase in Canada. Our websites are served through Netlify’s network in the United States and other countries. If you are outside those countries, your information is transferred to and processed there.
Retention and deletion
We keep your information while your account is active. You can delete your account in the App in Settings → Delete account, on the Men’s Club website, by following housebyblum.com/support, or by emailing team@oldboyzclub.com. Deleting removes your account in the club you are signed in to: your posts, replies and stories (including Redacted ones you wrote), the messages you sent and the media you uploaded, your profile details and date of birth, your notification settings and push tokens, your keys and key chats, and your sign-in. If you have an account in both clubs, delete each one separately (or ask us by email to delete both). Deletion cannot be undone and does not cancel a paid subscription; cancel it in your Apple Account (or Google Play, or the website, where you subscribed).
If you join with a gift invite, we keep a one-way, scrambled fingerprint of your sign-in after you delete your account, only so the same person cannot claim the gift again; it cannot be turned back into your email address or identity. Some information may remain for a limited time in backups, and we may keep order records as required for tax and accounting, payment records held by Apple, Google and Stripe under their own policies, report copies as described above, and reports about conduct that other members filed so we can protect the clubs. If a complimentary membership ends and you have never had a paid membership, your account may be removed after a 7-day hold, as described in our Terms; removal deletes the same information as deleting your account.
Your choices and rights
You can edit your profile, change notification settings, turn off location permission, block members, take back a key, and delete your account at any time in the App. To request a copy of your data or ask a privacy question, email team@oldboyzclub.com.
If you live in California, you may ask us what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, and ask us not to sell or share it; we do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context advertising, and we will not treat you differently for using these rights. If you live in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, you may have additional rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or port your data and to object to processing; contact us to use them. You may also complain to your local data protection authority.
Children
Both clubs are for adults 18 and older. We don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we will delete it. See our Child Safety Standards.
Security
We use encryption in transit, access controls on our databases, and separate databases for each club and for the Keys service. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.
Changes
We may update this policy and will note the date above. Material changes will be announced in the App.
Contact
Blum & Co., LLC · team@oldboyzclub.com · Chicago, Illinois