UniMate
Privacy Policy
UniMate (unimate.club) is a verified platform made for students ("UniMate", "we", "us", "our"). Our flagship service, FlyMate, helps verified students connect with others travelling to the same university or city around the same dates.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it. It applies to unimate.club and all related services. Please read it together with our Terms & Conditions and Data Protection Policy.
1. Who we are
The data controller responsible for your personal information is UniMate (unimate.club). You can reach us at privacy@unimate.club.
2. The information we collect
Account information
When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and (optionally) your phone number, along with your destination country, intended university or city, and approximate travel dates.
FlyMate verification documents
To verify that you are a genuine, travelling student and to enable accurate matching, FlyMate registration requires you to submit the following documents:
- Passport (identity and nationality)
- Admission letter — your offer letter or Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE)
- Air ticket — your travel itinerary, including travel dates
These documents are temporary
Your passport, admission letter, and air ticket are collected and stored only for the limited period needed to verify you and complete your journey. They are permanently and irreversibly deleted 30 days after your class commencement (start) date. After deletion you will not be able to retrieve, view, or download these documents, and neither will we. See Section 6 for full details.
Usage and technical information
Like most websites, we automatically collect limited technical data such as your device type, browser, IP address, and how you interact with the platform. This helps us keep the service secure and working properly.
3. How we use your information
- To verify your student and traveller status before you can use FlyMate.
- To match you with other verified students travelling to the same university or city around the same dates.
- To enable first contact between matched students by email (see Section 5).
- To process your activation fee and provide customer support.
- To keep the platform safe, prevent fraud and misuse, and comply with our legal obligations.
- To send you essential service messages. We will only send marketing messages where you have given consent, and you can opt out at any time.
4. Our legal basis for processing
Depending on the applicable law, we rely on the following grounds:
- Your consent — for collecting and processing your verification documents and for any optional sharing, such as making your phone number visible.
- Performance of a contract — to provide the FlyMate service you have signed up for.
- Legitimate interests — to operate, secure, and improve the platform, balanced against your rights.
- Legal obligation — where we are required to retain or disclose information by law.
You may withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing consent for your verification documents may mean we can no longer provide FlyMate to you.
5. How and with whom we share information
Other verified students
When you are matched, other matched students can see your basic profile (such as your first name, destination, and university or city). First contact is by email only. Your phone number stays private by default and is shared only if you choose to opt in. We never publish your verification documents to other users — those are seen only by our verification team.
Service providers
We share information with trusted providers who help us run the platform — for example, secure hosting, document storage, OCR (text-recognition) assistance for verification, and payment processing. They act on our instructions and are bound to keep your data confidential and secure.
Legal and safety
We may disclose information where required by law, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights, safety, and security of our users or the public.
We do not sell your personal information.
6. How long we keep your information (retention)
| Data | Retention period |
|---|---|
| FlyMate verification documents (passport, admission letter, air ticket) | Deleted permanently 30 days after your class commencement date |
| Account information (name, email, profile) | Kept while your account is active; deleted on account closure (or after a short legal hold period where required) |
| Payment records (activation fee) | Retained as required by applicable tax and accounting law |
| Technical/usage logs | Retained for a limited period for security, then deleted or anonymised |
The deletion of verification documents is permanent and cannot be reversed. We recommend you keep your own copies of these documents elsewhere.
7. How we protect your information
We apply appropriate technical and organisational safeguards, including encryption of documents in transit and at rest, strict access controls limited to authorised verification staff, and secure, access-logged storage. Full detail is set out in our Data Protection Policy.
8. International data transfers
Because UniMate connects students travelling from India to Australia (and other corridors over time), your information may be processed in countries other than your own. Where we transfer personal data across borders, we take steps to ensure it remains protected to a standard consistent with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Australia's Privacy Act 1988, and the EU GDPR principles, as applicable.
9. Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you.
- Correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Request deletion of your information (note that verification documents are deleted automatically as described above).
- Withdraw consent you have previously given.
- Object to or restrict certain processing, and request portability of your data where applicable.
- Nominate another person to exercise your rights in the event of death or incapacity (under India's DPDP Act).
- Lodge a complaint with us and, if unresolved, with the relevant data protection authority.
To exercise any right, email privacy@unimate.club. We will respond within the timeframes required by law.
10. Cookies
We use essential cookies to operate the site and limited analytics cookies to understand usage. You can control cookies through your browser settings. For more information, see our Cookie Policy.
11. Children and eligibility
UniMate is made only for students aged 16 and over who are travelling abroad to study. It is not intended for anyone who is not a travelling student, or for anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16.
Because data-protection laws — including India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the EU GDPR — treat anyone under 18 as a child, students aged 16 or 17 may use UniMate only with the verifiable consent of a parent or legal guardian, and we handle their information with the additional protections those laws require. If you believe a person under 16, or a 16–17 year old without parental or guardian consent, has provided us with personal data, please contact us so we can remove it.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised version here with a new "Last updated" date and, where changes are significant, notify you directly.
13. Contact us
For any privacy question, email privacy@unimate.club. We will respond within the timeframes required by law.
This policy should be read alongside our Terms & Conditions and Data Protection Policy.