Warning: *privacy not included with this product
Plenty of Fish
Review date: 03/15/2021
Launched in 2003, Plenty of Fish is one of the OG dating services with over 90 million users around the world, mostly in North America, the UK, Europe, and Australia. It bills itself as "dating for grown ups" where users can "make a real connection." It does this by combining dating site profile searches and location-based matches with questionnaire matchmaking services . Basically, Plenty of Fish combines all the dating service services into one dating app. Free users can sign up, send messages, get matches, and more. Premium user features include viewing extended user profiles, the ability to stand out in searches, and an ad-free app experience. Plenty of Fish did leak a bunch of users' personal data back in 2019, which isn't a great thing for a dating app to be doing.
What could happen if something goes wrong
In 2019, a security vulnerability was discovered by a security researcher that potentially exposed information users had set to privacy such as zip code and first name. The security researcher did say Plenty of Fish was responsive at getting this problem fixed, which is good to hear. This dating app also asks users to provide a whole lot of personal information when you sign up -- everything from our ethnicity and whether you smoke to if you own a vehicle and if your parents were married (seriously, they ask for that!). That's a whole lot of personal information you're giving a company that has a history of security vulnerabilities. Finally, Match Group owns Plenty of Fish and at least 45 other dating sites like Hinge, Tinder, and OKCupid. When you sign up with one of these dating sites, the Match Group privacy policy states they may share your personal information with any of the other Match Groups sites for what they say are non-commercial limited and critical purposes. That's a lot of personal data you might have thought only going to once place getting shared across multiple dating sites.
Privacy
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: N/A
App: Yes
Microphone
Device: N/A
App: Yes
Tracks Location
Device: N/A
App: Yes
What is required to sign up?
Yes
Phone
Yes
Third party account
Yes
What data does it collect?
Personal
Country, city, post code/zip code, gender, date of birth, ethnicity, username, first name, gender preference, relationship, intent, smokers, kids, body type, occupation, education, ambition, income, religion, second language, marital status, longest relationship, personality type, alcohol consumption, smoker, drug use, vehicle ownership, have kids, want kids, pets, parents' marital status, siblings count, birth order, descriptions, interests, photo (minimum one), are all potentially collected.
Biometric
Eye color, hair color, height, body type are all potentially collected.
Social
If a user connects their social media account, such as Facebook, to their dating profile, Plenty of Fish collects data from that social media account. However, Plenty of Fish does not specify what data it collects and how it uses it.
How does it use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record for protecting users’ data?
In December 2019, a serious potential data breach exposed by a security research that could identify users' private info (first names and zip codes) that could put users at risk not only online but also offline. However, Plenty of Fish pushed out a security update fixing the exposed vulnerabilities.
Can this product be used offline?
User friendly privacy information?
Pretty technical even though they claim to make it accessible.
Links to privacy information
Security
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Strong password
We were able to login with the weak password 123456. However, Plenty of Fish does require two-factor authentication which helps mitigate the dangers of only requiring a weak password.
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Plenty of Fish has a bug bounty program.
Privacy policy
Artificial Intelligence
Does the product use AI?
Does the AI use your personal data to make decisions about you?
Does the company allow users to see how the AI works?
Plenty of Fish uses automated decision-making and profiling for recommendations, moderation and ads. https://help.pof.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043097291-Profiles-and-Automated-Decision-Making.
