Warning: *privacy not included with this product

Plenty of Fish

Wi-Fi

Review date: March 15, 2021

Mozilla says

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.

mobile

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 can be used to sign up?

What data does the company 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.

How does the company use this data?

Plenty of Fish definitely shares user data with around 45 other Match Group companies, such as Tinder, OK Cupid, and Plenty of Fish among others. The company also shares data with third parties for purposes such as advertising and analytics.

How can you control your data?

Users can request a copy of their personal information be deleted.

What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?

Needs Improvement

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

Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?

Yes

Encryption

Yes

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

Yes

Manages vulnerabilities

Yes

Plenty of Fish has a bug bounty program.

Privacy policy

Yes

Does the product use AI?

Yes

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.